Security Labels and Agreements

Out of the box, the Agreement basic life cycle template is available. When security labels and agreements are enabled, this template can be applied to the agreement object. For more information, see the agreements help.

Working with Life Cycle Templates

The Life Cycle Template Administration utility displays a list of existing life cycle templates and their locations. Using the buttons on this page you can create, edit, view, and delete life cycles. You can also import and export life cycles, among other functions.

You can sort the templates list in ascending and descending order by clicking on a column header.

From the Life Cycle Template Administration utility, you can create a new life cycle or edit an existing one:

•Click New to open the Create Life Cycle window.

•Click Edit to open the Edit Life Cycle window.

Editing uses essentially the same procedures as creating a new template, but you modify information, rather than creating a new template. When you edit a life cycle, it is automatically checked out.

You must have the necessary access permissions to create or edit a life cycle. If you do not have the required permissions, the New and Edit buttons are enabled, but you get an error message when you try the operation. For the necessary access control permissions, see Access Control for Life Cycle Administration on page 330 .

When you create a life cycle, you define the following:

•The properties of the life cycle, including name, location, the object types to which the life cycle applies, and whether the life cycle is enabled. (See Life

•Phases and gates defining the life cycle. (See Defining Life Cycle Phases and

•Transition rules to help determine the path from the selected state to any other state within the life cycle template. (See Example of Defined Transitions on

In addition, the following are defined for advanced life cycles only:

•Roles, such as Submitter or Promoter, for each life cycle phase. These roles are mapped to users, user-defined groups, organizations, actors, or other roles.

•Access permissions for the roles associated with each life cycle phase. (See

•Workflow processes to be associated with each phase and gate. (See Associating a Workflow Process with Phases and Gates on page 323

Life cycle templates may be moved if the following conditions are met:

•The life cycle template must be checked in.

•There must be a higher level context in the hierarchy than the one in which the life cycle template currently resides.

•The name of the life cycle template must be unique in the target context.

•If there is a workflow template attached, the workflow template must be at a higher context level than the life cycle template. The workflow template may be either at the same context level to which the life cycle template is moving or at a higher context level.

For more information on moving life cycle templates, see the life cycle help.

You can view the iteration history of a life cycle from the Life Cycle Template Administration utility.

Select a life cycle template on the Life Cycle Template Administration utility navigation panel and then click Iteration History. A list of all the life cycle iterations appear with the date and time of last modification, and the name of the modifier. Select any iteration, and click View to view the life cycle.

Life Cycle Properties

The properties of a life cycle template are available when viewing or editing a life cycle template. The upper half of the screen displays a graphical view of the life cycle’s phases and gates while the Properties panel appears in the lower half of the screen. When no phases are selected, the Properties panel shows properties of the entire life cycle. These properties include the life cycle name, type, location, description, class, enabled status, and routing availability.

For more information about life cycle properties, see the life cycle help.

The following figure displays the Edit Life Cycle window, with the Default life cycle and its properties displayed:

The Class display in the example above provides a tree view of all object types subject to life cycle management. You must choose the type to which this life cycle applies. Because Windchill types are hierarchical, the life cycle is applicable to the selected type and all of its subtypes. A type can inherit more than one life cycle; you can directly associate a life cycle with a given subtype. For example, you could associate a life cycle with the type WTObject, and all its subtypes would also be associated with that life cycle. You could also associate those subtypes (for example a change request, WTChangeRequest2) with other life cycles.

When users create objects that are subject to a life cycle, a life cycle must be selected as part of the creation process. The list of selectable life cycles is dependent on what has been defined in the object initialization rules for the selected type. If the user does not have create permission based on the initial state of a life cycle, that life cycle will be filtered out of the list.