Viewers, markups, and investigation requests in Upchain

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The PDF viewer allows you to view more than just PDF files from within Upchain. You can also view Excel, Word, CAD drawings and images.

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The viewer also allows you to add additional information to these files through the use of markups.

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Start by locating the document you wish to view. For example, this assembly item in our project has various files attached to it.

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In the details panel, we can open the documents tab to see what has been attached.

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From here, we can open the cBOM to view the 3D CAD files,

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or the drawings tab if we know drawings have been associated with this item.

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We could also open the translation section to view any translations that Upchain may have generated.

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We can clearly see the PDF version of the drawing file attached to our item.

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We can open the drawing by clicking the little eyeball next to the name.

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Now that we have our document open, we have a number of options available to us in order to add annotations and markups to our document.

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If you've used a PDF editor before, many of these may look familiar to you.

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Let's navigate down to the last page of this document and add in our comments.

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In the middle of the screen, we can find our main editing toolbar.

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This is used to add further content to the document or call attention to things that need to be reviewed,

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changed or updated within the specific part or assembly.

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Let's start by highlighting the details that we would like our CAD user to take a look at.

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Let's zoom in on our detail,

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and make use of the annotate tools to highlight a particular portion of the drawing.

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From here, we can zoom in further roughly sketching further detail however we like.

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Just to make sure our designer is aware of what we need here, we could add a note regarding our comments.

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"Decrease diameter to 2 inches dimension,

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and include spec here".

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And move our text as we see fit.

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We can now make use of the measure tool to add in a dimension here.

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Perhaps we want this to be something specific, like 2 inches,

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and we can be clear about that by either adding a comment or even editing the dimension to be what we need.

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If this particular modification needed to be issued immediately, we are free to select the "Create IR" button up in the top right.

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This will fire off our markup to the relevant people for review. We will come back to investigation requests specifically in an upcoming video.

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Let's zoom out back to how we had our drawing previously.

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Next, let's use our shape tool to create a revision cloud around the area that needs attention,

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just to make sure that our designers don't miss the markup that we made on this page.

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Each object is created and logged as a separate comment.

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We can open up the comments toolbar here to view all the changes that we've made so far today.

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We can even select these and make further comments or add in additional information.

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While we've been quite thorough with our markups today, of course, if we were pressed for time,

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we could have simply added only one or two comments and issued that without any further effort.

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We can also insert or attach particular files here as the references to our comments,

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but I'm going to move over to the fill and sign section, so that I can add my signature to endorse these edits today.

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Let's add in today's date as well, seeing as we can do this with a simple click.

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We have quite a few more options available to us within the PDF viewer.

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So don't be afraid to experiment with these tools and see what might work for you.

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Our Upchain help section also provides information on every single function available within the PDF viewer.

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When we are done, we can use the save feature to save our markup specifically.

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Give it a name...

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And hit "Save".

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The markup will now be available to other users within Upchain and free to send out via investigation request.

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Note that a list of already created markups can be viewed by clicking on the markups list button.

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This will bring up a window of markups created by yourself and other users.

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So we have now seen how we can open the documents within the PDF viewer and the tools available in order to add comments and markups.

00:04

In this video, we show you how to open the 3D viewer from your BOM interface in the web application,

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how to work with camera features and then create markups as well.

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To access the 3D viewer, we need to select the item we want to look at in more detail.

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So let's go ahead and select it within our BOM.

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Similar to the PDF viewer that we used in the previous video, once again, we will click on the documents icon in the item details panel.

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This time, we want to expand the cBOM section of the documents because we want to view the 3D CAD model,

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and that is found in the CAD bill of materials.

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We can now click on the view icon for the CAD model to open the 3D viewer.

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A faster way to open up the 3D viewer for an item is to simply click on the thumbnail in the item details panel.

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So now that we have our CAD model open, let's take a closer look at our winding assembly.

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On the left hand side, we can see the top level assembly that we selected and any child items or subassemblies listed beneath it.

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Since we have the live CAD model displaying in the center,

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we can select any of child items on the left hand side and immediately see in 3D what that particular item looks like,

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where it's located and its relation to its surrounding items.

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This helps us easily identify each item within the BOM relative to its CAD representation in the model.

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You can also show or hide various parts in order to get a better look at others.

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We can make use of our item details panel on the right hand side to check various information about top level assembly item.

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And this panel is consistent with what we have seen previously in the PDF viewer.

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Here, we can quickly confirm that the item number, status and revision number are correct,

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before we exercise good practice by checking the history and "Where use" tab.

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The history tab will display various actions taken regarding this item,

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and we can make certain that nothing has happened to this assembly that we are unaware of.

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When working on a new item, it is a good idea to also consult the "Where used" tab.

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Here, we can familiarize ourselves with where else this assembly exists.

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Its genealogy or lifespan and other important information.

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Here in the center, we have the 3D representation of our item.

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We can orbit by clicking and dragging the left mouse button or the middle mouse button.

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We can also zoom in and out as you would in most software to more closely interact with the model.

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We can also reset the camera at any time.

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Looking at the nature of our assembly, we can see that a top down view is going to serve us best for markups.

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Also, making use of the hidden line visual style will give us a better understanding of our model from within this view.

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Let's zoom in a bit further and make use of the measurements function to confirm some sizes.

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We have options to measure angle, distance, edge, and point.

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I'll use point to point to measure here because the tool understands 3D geometry,

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and allows us to snap dimensions to specific points as we would in a CAD software.

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Note that these dimensions remain persistent even when moving around the model.

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A few extra tools exist in our 3D viewer arsenal.

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A handy explode tool allows us to pull the model apart and take a closer look at particular elements and their connections,

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and create markups on the exploded view.

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This could be saved as a separate markup or even attached to the previous markup as additional information.

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If we move out or orbit, our markup will be lost.

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The dimensions are ever retained in the original view we created them in.

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In addition to the exploded view, a cutting plan can be created and adjusted in order to create various sectional views.

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It can be dragged and manipulated according to what you need to see and create markups of.

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Let's cancel out here as we already have what we need for our intended markup.

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In this instance, our designer has already received information from the manufacturer and is aware of a potential problem with this bracket.

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As such, we can simply send these dimensions on in the form of a markup as is.

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We have the option to update the thumbnail if necessary, save the markup or download the markup for use outside of Upchain.

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Let's save our markup for future use.

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Be sure to give it a descriptive name that helps other users easily identify it.

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Finally, it's important that we send this markup onto members of the team immediately to both notify them and create record of the issue.

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We can do this all from the item details panel directly here in the 3D viewer.

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The create IR button will allow us to launch an IR with a single click or alternatively in the business processes tab,

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we can click the “+” icon and select one of many options available including QA,

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project task, investigation request and change requests.

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This provides a fast and straightforward way to directly initiate order from Upchain's 3D viewer,

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once we have completed our comments and markups.

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So we have now seen how the 3D viewer gives users the ability to view the item,

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and navigate directly within Upchain as they would in a CAD application.

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We have also seen how to create markups for coordination and review.

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The final step for this lesson will be to dig deeper on the investigation request process.

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In this video, we explain what an investigation request is in Upchain, how to create one and how it can be resolved.

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So let's take a look.

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Investigation requests of business processes is used to initiate the change process and promote discussions internally about a particular product,

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item or assembly.

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Investigation requests or IRs are usually one of two types.

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Design related or an RFQ, request for quote, from supplier.

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Unlike change requests, they do not affect the status of the item.

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In the previous video, for example, we came across some issues with this winding assembly and we saved the markup of our comments within Upchain.

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We would now like to generate an investigation request in order to have the part reevaluated by certain users,

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as well as create a logged entry of the problem.

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Let's open up the 3D viewer by clicking on the thumbnail.

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Now with the 3D viewer open, we can open up a list of previously created markups from the markups tab.

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From here, we can double click on a markup to have it displayed.

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Once we found the relevant markup, we can go ahead and create an investigation request to act on these changes.

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As we mentioned previously, there are multiple ways to create an investigation request directly from our 3D viewer.

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The most straightforward way is to simply hit the "Create IR" button in the top right.

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This will start the process for creating an IR and associating this markup to it as we can see here.

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Regardless of how we create the IR, we will need to fill out the pop up window that appears.

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We'll need to plug in a name and add a detailed description.

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This could include information about the changes, the part itself or whatever suits your organization.

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We need a start date to assign it to the relevant role or team member via the drop down.

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Next, we will need to select the workflow for the IR. We can use an out of the box workflow or a custom one created by our tenant admin.

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Lastly, let's choose a type, design or RFQ.

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We can also attach additional documents or additional Upchain documents if required.

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Once we have all the information input, we can go ahead and click on the "Create and start" button.

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Upchain will now run the workflow and start the process.

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There are other ways to create an investigation request, such as from our BOM interface.

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Simply select the relevant item from the main panel in your BOM, click on the options and select "Create Investigation request".

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From here, we will be presented with the same window, except now this investigation request is not immediately linked the markup we showed earlier.

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This graphic shows us a potential life cycle for an investigation request as it moves through different users within the project.

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When Paul logs into Upchain, he can see within his activity stream that the project has been assigned to him,

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and can already view the task in his assignments.

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From here, it's visible that the investigation request is regarding the winding assembly for the fishing reel project,

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that Ryan is currently working on.

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If the update has already been completed, Paul could just mark the IR as complete at this very moment and move on with his day.

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If on the other hand, Paul needs additional documents and comments prior to completion,

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he can do so via the edit button and fill out various relevant fields and attach the documents required.

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From there, he can save the changes and complete the investigation request.

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And all of this can be done from Upchain's CAD plugin within the CAD software.

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Whichever way it is completed, it will send the IR back to the creator, in this case, me.

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So switching roles back to me, we can then view the results of the investigation request,

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and then determine if the IRs can be closed by accepting or if it requires further investigation by clicking on "Reject".

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In our example, if everything looks good, we can go ahead and click on "Approve".

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So, we have seen how investigation requests can be used to promote changes to products,

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and open discussions between project team members to make improvements and enhancements or fix issues to the product.