Linked Lines#

Overview#

The Linked Lines feature provides a logical mechanism to associate resources that belong to the same production line and to enforce line continuity during Material processing.

Once a Material begins processing on a line, subsequent dispatch operations are validated against that line. This prevents a Material from being dispatched to a Resource on a different line that shares the same service, ensuring that materials follow a defined line throughout the process.

Concept#

The feature tracks line assignments using the following attributes:

• MedDevResourceLine – defined on a Resource, identifies the line it belongs to.
• MedDevCurrentLine – defined on the Material, stores the line the Material was last processed on.
• MedDevOriginalLine – defined on the Material, temporarily holds the current line when the Material enters a Rework or Off-Flow. Cleared when the Material returns.
• MedDevReturnToOriginalLineOnReworkExit – defined on a Flow, it will determine if the value of the Material's MedDevCurrentLine attribute is saved in its MedDevOriginalLine once it enters the Flow in the context of a Rework or Off-Flow action.
• MedDevClearCurrentLineOnReworkEnter – defined on a Flow, it will determine if the Material's MedDevCurrentLine attribute is cleared once it enters the Flow in the context of a Rework or Off-Flow action.

All line values reference the MedDevProcessLines Lookup table.

Assumptions#

• Resources belonging to the same physical line share the same MedDevResourceLine value.
• Resources that are shared across lines, or not part of any line, have MedDevResourceLine left empty.
• A Material with an empty MedDevCurrentLine is not subject to line validation at dispatch.

Configuration#

Feature Security#

Lookup Table#

Populate the MedDevProcessLines Lookup table with the line names that will be used.

Resource Attribute#

Set MedDevResourceLine on each Resource with the appropriate line value from MedDevProcessLines.

Leave the attribute empty for resources that are not assigned to a specific line.

Flow Attributes#

For Rework and Off-Flow flows, configure the following attributes as required:

Dispatch Validation#

Dispatch and Dispatch & Track-In operations include a pre-validation check that compares the Material's current line against the target Resource's line.

Logic#

If MedDevCurrentLine is empty OR MedDevResourceLine is empty:
    - No validation error. Process continues normally.

If both have values AND they match:
    - No validation error. Process continues normally.

If both have values AND they differ:
    - Error raised. Operation blocked.

Track-Out Behavior#

Track-Out applies the following logic (post-processing):

Materials created via Partial Track-Out follow the same logic. The newly created Material's MedDevCurrentLine is set or cleared based on the same Resource line rules.

Rework and Off-Flow Handling#

On Entry#

When a Material is sent to a Rework or Off-Flow:

1. If MedDevReturnToOriginalLineOnReworkExit = true:
   • MedDevOriginalLine will be replaced with current value of MedDevCurrentLine
2. If MedDevClearCurrentLineOnReworkEnter = true:
   • MedDevCurrentLine is cleared

On Return#

When a Material returns from a Rework or Off-Flow:

GUI Resource Filtering#

The Resource selection list in Dispatch and Dispatch & Track-In is filtered based on the Material's current line.

This filtering is implemented via the MedDevDispatchLinkedLineResourceFilter DEE.

Change Material Line#

Operators can manually update a Material's MedDevCurrentLine directly from the interface using the Change Line action.

Access#

The Change Line button is available in the following views:

• Material Details
• Step View (with selected Material)
• Resource View (with selected Material)

The button is only displayed to users who have been granted the MedDev.ChangeLine feature permission. Users without this permission will not see the button.

Wizard#

When the Change Line button is clicked, a single-step wizard titled Change Line is displayed containing:

• The Material's current line, shown as read-only (display empty value if the current line is empty).
  
  
• A drop-down populated from the MedDevProcessLines Lookup table to select the new line.
  
  

On confirmation:

• The Material's MedDevCurrentLine is updated to the selected value.
• The wizard closes.

Attribute Reference#

For a complete description of the Lookup table, see the Tables artifact reference.