Roundtripping

According to whatis.com - the definition for "roundtripping" is:
In information processing, roundtripping is the conversion (or, in some usages, the repeated conversion back and forth) of a document in one format such as Microsoft Word to a document in another format such as WordPerfect or HTML and then back again.

My definition is:
In Pro/ENGINEER data management, roundtripping is the checkout of a Pro/ENGINEER dataset to a Pro/INTRALINK workspace, modifying the design in Pro/ENGINEER and checking it back into Pro/INTRALINK.

Data from one large PTC industrial customer showed that check out and check in are the top two most frequently executed Pro/INTRALINK operations, accounting for 58% of the Pro/INTRALINK operations done over the course of a typical work week.

So what are the recommended Pro/INTRALINK 8.0 best practices for roundtripping? I'm glad you asked.

Roundtripping consists of 4 steps:

• Find the Pro/ENGINEER design you want to make changes to
• Get the Pro/ENGINEER design into Pro/ENGINEER
• Make the changes
• Check the design into Pro/INTRALINK

Here's one way to roundtrip in 3.x:

• Start Pro/INTRALINK 3.x
• Search with Pro/INTRALINK Locate Browser
• Review the search results
• Check out the Pro/ENGINEER dataset to a workspace
• Open the Workspace browser
• Launch Pro/ENGINEER
• Open the Pro/ENGINEER dataset in Pro/ENGINEER
• Make your model changes
• In Pro/ENGINEER, choose, File Check In, Auto Check In

Here's the quickest way I know to roundtrip with Pro/INTRALINK 8.0 and Wildfire.

• Start Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 2.0
• Log into Pro/INTRALINK 8.0 from Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire
• Search Pro/INTRALINK from the embedded search (the yellow cabinet icon with binoculars on it) in Wildfire
• Drag and drop the model into Pro/ENGINEER
• Start to make your model changes - When you attempt to make the modification, Pro/ENGINEER will alert you that "Object is read only as it is not checked out".
• So check out the model "on-the-fly" by clicking in the field below the Action column and choosing "Check out now". This will "Check out" the file - which means the model is "Locked" and no one else can check in the model but you!)
• Make your model changes
• In Pro/ENGINEER, choose, File Check In, Auto Check In

In both cases the "File Check In, Auto Check In" action in Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire will save the model or models that were modified to the Pro/INTRALINK workspace and check them into Pro/INTRALINK.

Next time will I'll talk about Pro/INTRALINK 3.x statuses and their equivalents in Pro/INTRALINK 8.0.

Thanks for reading - more to come soon.