Ace 2010 Aras Federation Workshop

1. 2010 International Conference
Federation Workshop
Peter Schroer
300 Brickstone Square
www.aras.com Suite 904
Andover, MA 01810
Andover, MA 01810
[978] 691‐8900
www.aras.com
Copyright © 2010 Aras All Rights Reserved. aras.com

2. Welcome
Workshop Goals
Understanding of why use Federation
Enough Knowledge of the Aras Federation
E hK l d f th A F d ti
Approach to Plan a Project
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3. Agenda
1. Build a working definition for Federation
Understand Federation vs. Integration
2. Discuss Federation Approach Alternatives
3. Aras Innovator Federation
4. Federation Modes
4 F d ti M d
5. Discuss Pseudo‐Code Examples
6. Federation Data Access Techniques
7. Additional Resources
7 Additional Resources
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4. Definition
PLM is never standalone: ERP, corporate document
management systems, manufacturing and quality
management s stems man fact ring and q alit
software, etc.
Replicating data between systems is a common
Repli atin data bet een s stems is a ommon
approach, but synchronization of edits between
systems is complicated and risky
systems is complicated and risky
Federation
F d ti
Creating a pointer within PLM to data objects stored in the
other business systems
other business systems
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5. Federation vs. Integration
We use Federation when we want to see (and manage)
the objects in the other system, through the Aras user
the objects in the other s stem thro gh the Aras ser
interface, and use those objects in Aras workflow and
configurations
configurations
Integration (e.g. CAD integration) is a technique for
moving data from one system to another, usually
moving data from one system to another usually
triggered by user action of lifecycle transitions
Integration is often batch oriented
I i i f b h i d
Federation is about real‐time accessing and aggregating
of data from multiple sources
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6. Definition (continued)
Federation creates a wrapper around data objects from
remote systems, and then extends their definition with
remote s stems and then e tends their definition ith
PLM functionality
We aggregate data from many sources in this way in
We a re ate data from man so r es in this a in
order to:
o Present the aggregated data in a single window for the user
Present the aggregated data in a single window for the user,
e.g. a Mash‐Up
o Execute business rules, BI dashboards, or Reports against the
consolidated data set
o Add advanced PLM capabilities such as BPM workflow or
Secure web interface to legacy systems
Secure web interface to legacy systems
Done well, the end‐user is not aware of the sources of data
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7. Scenarios
Corporate doc management system
Documents checked in to the PLM system are transferred
directly to a corporate document archiving solution
Searching and viewing documents is performed within the
Searching and viewing documents is performed within the
PLM interface, directly accessing remotely stored data.
Cost and inventory on hand fields in ERP displayed on
C t di t h d fi ld i ERP di l d
the PLM Part form
Material cost may be maintained in the ERP system, but is
Material cost may be maintained in the ERP system but is
useful information to engineers using PLM
p
The PLM part form contains data from both PLM and a real‐
time ERP query
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8. Federation Approaches
Client Based Federation
The PLM client application initiates 2 queries, one to
each system: the PLM server and the 3rd party server.
The data is merged on the client
Aras client is HTML / JS and developers can use AJAX
Aras client is HTML / JS and developers can use AJAX
to easily make calls from a Form to 3rd party servers
Technique has limited usefulness beyond merged data
h h l d f l b d dd
onto a form for an aggregated view
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9. Federation Approaches
Server Based Federation
Data exchange with the other system is executed on the
PLM server
The PLM client is sent a single data set, and is not aware
that core business objects have been modified with
remote properties, or that the data objects are not native
remote properties or that the data objects are not native
Advantage because integration of remote data objects is
encapsulated on the server, eliminating client customizing
encapsulated on the server eliminating client customizing
Additional advantage that server‐side business rules such
as Permissions, LifeCycle, and Workflow logic can act on
as Permissions, LifeCycle, and Workflow logic can act on
the 3rd party data objects
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10. Aras Innovator Federation
Aras Client expects AML to be returned on every
transaction ‐ this is key to the simplicity of Federation
transaction this is ke to the simplicit of Federation
No customizations normally on the client
o As long as AML is returned, the client is happy to work with
any data it receives
o Exception is file check‐in handling ( ** discussed later )
Use standard Server Events to add the Federation logic
g
o OnAfterGet to merge federated properties
o OnGet to return 100% federated items
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11. Simple Exercise
Create an ItemType named Test with 1 Property
Add a Server Event OnGet for a Method that creates
and returns an XML string
<Item type=‘Test’ id=‘1234’><name>Hello</name></Item>
Select this item on the TOC
Grid will populate with the ‘fake’ data
NOTES:
o Had to create an ID for each row
Had to create an ID for each row
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12. Federation Modes
1. Federate either a complete ItemType or a subset of
Properties on a standard managed ItemType
Properties on a standard managed ItemT pe
2. Federation Models
2 Federation Models
View only of data from the other system
Use remote objects in configurations and workflows
Use remote objects in configurations and workflows
Full access: OnGet, OnAdd, OnDelete
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13. Pseudo Code for View
Assume “MyFederation” OnGet event ‐ VB Method
Assume entire ItemType has been Federated
Properties for the remote object, TOC Access, Form
Views are defined in Aras Innovator
2 Modes:
2 Modes:
1. Simple Searching and Viewing
2. Use Federated Item in Relationships or as Item
2 U F d dI i R l i hi I
Properties
For example: Part to Document Relationship with a
F l P D R l i hi i h
set of Federated Documents
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14. Pseudo Code for View #1
User query parameters from the Simple Search grid
row are Properties on the Me object
ro are Properties on the Me object
Check if this is a Get for one record or a set. How?
Build the query for the remote system, passing the
query parameters from the client
Run the query code ( ** discussed next )
Create an AML string from the query result
Add a dummy ID for each row
Return AML
Return AML
QUIZ: Is there an ItemType table for this item?
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15. Pseudo‐Code for View #2
Federated Items will be used as Item Properties,
or either the Source or Related in a Relationship
h h l d l h
ItemType is not flagged as Federated this time
because we do want an Aras Innovator table
because we do want an Aras Innovator table
QUIZ ‐ What properties must this table store?
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16. Pseudo‐Code for View #2
3 properties are required to maintain configurations
ID
Federated‐ID
Keyed‐Name
Solution: in the OnGet method we add a function to
register the data objects found via user queries,
register the data objects found via user queries,
assigning a new Aras Innovator ID to each
I use a small stored procedure to execute this efficiently
p ff y
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17. Integration Techniques
Web Services
o Building an ASPX page as a wrapper
o Using Visual Studio to make a Proxy
o XMLHTTP object
ODBC
Commercial API from other system
QUIZ
How to register a DLL (either API or VS Proxy) so that
How to register a DLL (either API or VS Proxy) so that
you can use the DLL directly in methods ?
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18. Other Design Considerations
File check‐in to a Federated source
After check‐in move file from Aras vault to remote vault
Aras client does direct file upload
Actions for Add, Update and Delete are possible
More important to consider permissions and access
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19. More Resources
Federation test package
Innovator ‐ to – Innovator federation used for testing of
the Server Events.
Aras Wiki articles
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