Copies of Objects and Structures (SAP Library - Integrated Product and Process Engineering (iPPE))

Copies of Objects and Structures

Use

In the automotive industry and plant engineering and construction, developed products and their data are often used as the basis for designing and developing new products. In the iPPE workbench, you can copy complete iPPE objects and structures, or parts of them. You can then rename the copies, assign them to different classes and edit them.

This considerably reduces the time and effort required to create new data for a new product.

Integration

When you copy a structure or object that has already been edited using Engineering Change Management, all the change statuses for all the objects are copied when you enter the relevant change number.

If there are component variants and assembly items for which you use status management, the possible statuses are copied along with their current settings.

You can copy objects and structures from the product structure into a focus, where they are converted in to the corresponding focus objects.

When you copy a node that has variants, the system does not copy the alternatives and ignores the subordinate structures.

Features

You can copy objects and structures from the product structure and process structure.

You can copy individual nodes, variants, alternatives, and also structures. You can decide what is to be copied and how detailed the copies are to be.

You can provide a prefix or suffix for copies, so that you can easily recognize them as copies.

When you copy objects, you can convert them into different objects providing that you have made all the relevant settings in Customizing.

Example

When copying, you wish to convert a structure node (technical name S_ST) into a node type that is not contained in the SAP standard system.

In this case, you must create a suitable variant type, node type, relationship type, and layout for the tab pages in the Customizing for X_ST. You must assign the layout to a profile and make the necessary settings for displaying the objects in the navigation tree and detail area in the iPPE Workbench.

Recommendation

Work with the object types provided by SAP.

You can copy objects in the work context of a focus. See also: iPPE Focus.

Actions

Copying an Object:

In the navigation tree, load the object that you wish to copy.

Right-click the object and choose Structure Node (Access Node, Activity, and so on) ® Copy.

The Copy Object dialog box appears. The system displays a window with a log of all the messages related to the copying process.

The object you selected is displayed on the first line, along with the class, class type and application.

In the New Identification section, enter a name for the new node and change the class and class type if necessary.

Ensure that the copy mode is set to Object Copy.

Choose

Detail.

The system displays tab pages in the lower section of the dialog box. You can decide which information and data are to be copied from the object.

Alternative:

If the object you are copying is a node and has alternatives, you can state whether the alternatives are also to be copied. You can rename the alternative and enter a change number for the copy of the alternative.

Variant:

As for the alternatives, you can decide whether to copy variants of the node and give a change number for the copies.

iPPE Relatshp:

You can decide whether to copy any relationships that point from the object or its alternatives to other objects.

Applic:

You can decide which additional data is also to be copied from the object.

Choose Copy.

The object is copied and the system displays all messages that are related to the copying process in the log.

Note

If there are errors in the copy, the system displays a dialog box and you can decide whether the system is to save the data or to reject the incorrect copy immediately.

To save the result, choose .

Copying a Structure:

In the navigation tree, load the object that represents the header of the structure you wish to copy.

Right-click the object and choose Copy Structure from the context menu.

The Copy Structure dialog box appears. The system displays a window with a log of all the messages related to the copying process.

In the New Identification section, the system proposes the first 4 letters from the user’s name as a prefix for all copied objects.

Change this proposal if necessary.
Ensure that the copy mode is set to Structure Copy.

Select a radio button to state whether you wish to copy all the structure levels (Multi-Lvl) or only one (Sing.-Lvl).

Choose Details.

The system displays two tab pages in the lower section of the dialog box:

New Classes:

You can decide whether to assign the copied structure to a different class than the original.

Features:

You can decide

Which additional data is also to be copied from the objects on the previous tab pages
Whether to copy relationships that are used for forming a sequence within an application, between activities, for example
Whether to copy assignments that exist between applications (such as structure node or component variant <-> activity)

Choose Copy.

The object is copied and the system displays all messages that are related to the copying process in the log.

Note

If there are errors in the copy, the system displays a dialog box and you can decide whether the system is to save the data or to reject the incorrect copy immediately.

To save the result, choose .