PDM-UG: Approval
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This page belongs to the PDM Usage Guide.
Approving in the PDM Schema is accomplished by establishing an approval entity and relating it to some construct through an applied_approval_assignment. The applied_approval_assignment entity may have a role associated with it through the entity role_association and its related object_role entity to indicate the reason/role of this approval related to the particular element of product data.
Approval may be represented as a simple basic approval (see Basic Approval), or it may represent a more complex approval cycle involving multiple approvers, on different dates/times, and possibly with different status values (see Approval Cycles and Multiple Sign-off Scenarios).
In the case of a single approval instance with multiple people signing off on the approval, approval_person_organization can be applied to the date_and_time_item select type.
In the case where an approval is made up of multiple approval instances, and these approvals involve hierarchical relationships, applying date to an approval_person_organization should not be used, because in Multiple approvals with Hierarchical relationships an applied_data_and_time applied to approval_person_organization is not needed. In these kinds of approvals, there should be an approval_person_organization and approval_date_time for each approval instance. Date and time are already available by instantiating an approval_date_time construct for each approval in a multiple approval hierarchical relationship structure.
Approval is part of the select type organization_item, and it provides the capability to assign an organization to an approval in the role of "scope" of the approval.
In a number of STEP APs, constructs that require an approval are allowed only one approval assignment. This might lead to the misconception that only one person at one date/time can approve something. This is not the case. The approval constructs actually support an approval cycle (see Approval Cycles and Multiple Sign-off Scenarios). However, an approval may only need one signature corresponding to the simple basic approval scenario.
The level of an approval is understood to represent the aspect for which the approved object is endorsed. This level represents a "state" for which the approved object requires approval. The approval status indicates the level of acceptance given the object for the specified state.
NOTE - The entity product_definition exists to represent different views on a part version. Each view is characterized by a type and a life-cycle stage. Various part view "types" correspond to different states that a part assumes throughout its life cycle. The decision to represent the "state" of a part as a level of approval on a view definition or an entirely different view definition is dependent upon individual business processes. In the STEP PDM schema, different view definitions are typically characterized by different life-cycle stages such as 'design' and 'manufacturing'. Approval levels are various "states" defined within a given life-cycle stage view, and are typically dependent upon the approval cycles within an individual business process. The "gates" associated with each defined "state" are described by the approval status values leading towards the status 'approved' indicating achievement of the particular level, or "state".
