Revisions#

In Critical Manufacturing MES, entities can be versioned or non-versioned. Some characteristics are intrinsic to the entity itself, rather than tied to a specific version. Revisions are used when an entity has dependencies or ongoing processes that cannot be disrupted or modified immediately (for example, active scenarios or complex data exchanges). Revisions provide a high-level definition that allows changes to be made to entities with shared core definitions without impacting those currently in use by the system.

As an example, let's imagine a Flow, which is a versioned entity. When processing a Material at that Flow, the Material starts on a specific revision of that Flow. While the Material is being processed, some changes can be made to the Flow and fall under two different types:

• Affecting - changes that affect any Material that reference that Flow revision and take effect immediately.
• Non-Affecting - changes that do not affect Materials that reference that revision and will only be applied to other Materials not yet under processing.

Affecting changes are implemented through a new version within the revision while non-affecting changes are handled through the creation of a new revision. Multiple revisions can coexist and are independent from each other, allowing different versions to be created that reference different revisions, all associated to the same entity. Versioned entities will have a Revision property in addition to their own Version property.

In summary, entities in Critical Manufacturing MES can be divided into three hierarchical levels:

Table: Hierarchical entity levels

Some information that should be taken into account:

• An entity with different revisions means that they are not interchangeable and should exist to support major changes.
• An entity with different versions within the same revision are interchangeable and exist to support minor changes, with each version retaining the form, fit and function of the entity.
• Some properties may still need to reference specific versions, typically runtime properties that bind to the original entity (usually entity instances) to a particular revision and version combination.

graph BT
subgraph  
subgraph Entity Level
Entity[Entity]
end
subgraph Revision Level
RevisionA[Entity.A] ---> Entity[Entity] 
RevisionB[Entity.B] ---> Entity[Entity] 
RevisionC[Entity.C] ---> Entity[Entity] 
end
subgraph Version Level
Version1[Entity.A.1] ---> RevisionA
Version2[Entity.A.2] ---> RevisionA
Version3[Entity.A.3] ---> RevisionA
Version4[Entity.A.4] ---> RevisionA
Version5[Entity.A.5] ---> RevisionA
Version6[Entity.B.1] ---> RevisionB
Version7[Entity.B.2] ---> RevisionB
Version8[Entity.C.1] ---> RevisionC
Version9[Entity.C.2] ---> RevisionC
Version10[Entity.C.3] ---> RevisionC
Version11[Entity.C.4] ---> RevisionC
end
end

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classDef mermaid_start color:#000, fill:#fafafa, stroke:#fafafa, color:#fafafa, stroke-width:0x, font-size:100%, visibility: hidden;
classDef mermaid_businessdata color:#000, fill:#65CDE8, stroke:#65CDE8, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_nonbusinessdata color:#000, fill:#B7DEE8, stroke:#B7DEE8, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_entity color:#000, fill:#FB9F53, stroke:#FB9F53, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_entitylinked color:#000, fill:#FCD5B5, stroke:#FCD5B5, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_context color:#000, fill:#B9CDE5, stroke:#B9CDE5, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_optional color:#000, fill:#B7DEE8, stroke:#65CDE8, stroke-width:1px, font-size:100%, stroke-dasharray: 5 5;
classDef mermaid_state color:#000, fill:#d7e4bd, stroke:#000, stroke-width:1px, font-size:100%, font-weight:300;
class Entity mermaid_entity
class Version1,Version2,Version3,Version4,Version5,Version6,Version7,Version8,Version9,Version10,Version11 mermaid_businessdata
class RevisionA,RevisionB,RevisionC mermaid_entitylinked

Naming#

EntityTypeName.SetRevisionName

Revisions can be either automatically named or you can provide your own name.

Whenever a new revision is created, a specific DEE Action (called ResolveNameGenerator) is called to determine the proper Name Generator to call from the contexts currently configured in the system, depending on the entries in the NameGeneratorContext smart table. At least one entry is supplied out of the box in the Critical Manufacturing MES in order to determine the default Name Generator for revisions, called RevisionNameGenerator, that defines all the necessary tokens that will generate the name for each revision.

This Name Generator is configured with a specific token that is configured as an alphabetical ordered string sequence by default:

For more information, see Name Generators.

State model#

Revisions can exist in three possible states, with only one of the revisions for an entity being considered as default at any single time.

• Default - the default revision is the one that is loaded when no specific revision is referenced.
• Active - exists in the system and can be referenced when needed, however it must be explicitly referenced when used, otherwise the default revision will take precedence.
• Obsolete - existing objects can continue to reference the revision, but a revision in obsolete state cannot be referenced by a new object. Also, new versions cannot be created from an obsolete revision.

Here is a simplified state model diagram for revision states:

graph LR
Active[Active] --> DefaultTest{Revision has<br>effective version<br>AND<br>Entity type supports<br>default revision dates}
DefaultTest -->|Yes|Default
Active --> |Mark as Obsolete|ObsoleteTest{There is another revision<br>with an effective version}
Default --> |Mark as Obsolete|ObsoleteTest{There is another revision<br>with an effective version}
ObsoleteTest -->|Yes|Obsolete
ObsoleteTest -->|No|DefaultObsolete[Default/Obsolete]
Obsolete -->|ReactivateRevision|ReactivateTest{There is another revision<br>with an effective version}
DefaultObsolete -->|ReactivateRevision|ReactivateTest{There is another revision<br>with an effective version}
ReactivateTest -->|Yes|Default
ReactivateTest -->|No|Active

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classDef mermaid_start color:#000, fill:#fafafa, stroke:#fafafa, color:#fafafa, stroke-width:0x, font-size:100%, visibility: hidden;
classDef mermaid_businessdata color:#000, fill:#65CDE8, stroke:#65CDE8, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_nonbusinessdata color:#000, fill:#B7DEE8, stroke:#B7DEE8, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_entity color:#000, fill:#FB9F53, stroke:#FB9F53, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_entitylinked color:#000, fill:#FCD5B5, stroke:#FCD5B5, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_context color:#000, fill:#B9CDE5, stroke:#B9CDE5, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_optional color:#000, fill:#B7DEE8, stroke:#65CDE8, stroke-width:1px, font-size:100%, stroke-dasharray: 5 5;
classDef mermaid_state color:#000, fill:#d7e4bd, stroke:#000, stroke-width:1px, font-size:100%, font-weight:300;
class Active,Default,Obsolete,DefaultObsolete mermaid_entity
class DefaultTest,ObsoleteTest,ReactivateTest mermaid_businessdata
class L1,L2,L3,L4,L5,L6 mermaid_entitylinked
class C1,C2,C3,C4,C5,C6 mermaid_context
class N1,N2,N3,N4,N5,N6 mermaid_nonbusinessdata

Transitions#

Transitions between Active/Default states and Obsolete states can be performed by two different operations:

• Mark Revision as Obsolete
• Mark Revision as Obsolete and Reactivate Revision

Entity / Revision / Version Properties#

All properties can be associated to a specific level of an entity, with different requirements for change control as detailed below:

Table: Change control for properties per level

Most properties are bound to any of the versions that exist and reference any revision. Some specific properties are bound to the revision:

• Sequence - value that determines the sequence of the revision in the association to the entity.
• Default From Date - used to configure the default revision dates. For more information see Manage Default Revisions.
• Default To Date - used to configure the default revision dates. For more information see Manage Default Revisions.
• System State - current system state of the revision, which can be Active or Obsolete.
• Is Default Revision - defines whether the revision is set as default.

Default Revision#

The default revision is the revision that will always be used as a default in the system and will be displayed and loaded by default when referencing it in other objects unless another revision is specifically set as the reference. For more information and the algorithm used to define the default revision for each entity, see Manage Default Revisions.

Displaying Revision and Version#

Below the top ribbon on a versioned entity page, from left to right you can see the entity name, followed by a dropdown where you can select the revision and another one where you can select the version:

The visual conventions for revision and version are described below:

Entity [ Revision . Version ]

As an example: Product X [A.1] indicates that it is version 1 of revision A of Product X.

To select a specific revision in an entity page, use the revision dropdown available just below the top ribbon and right next to the entity name.

Filtering Revision States#

In the landing page of any versioned Entity Type in the Business Data menu, along with the default query and the search bar, you can also filter the available objects of that Entity type by their revision state.

Creating a Revision#

For more information on creating revisions, see Create Revision.

Cloning a Revision#

For more information on cloning revisions, see Clone.

Terminating and Unterminating Revisions#

For more information on terminating revisions, see Terminate and Unterminate.

Available Pages#

Dive into the pages below to explore more about Revisions:

Main Page#

• Revisions

Generic Operations#

• Creating a Revision

Specific Operations#

• Manage Default Revisions
• Mark Revision as Obsolete and Reactivate Revision