Using the Windchill Integration with CoLab

1. How does the CoLab Windchill add-in work?

The CoLab Windchill add-in allows you to push models and drawings directly from an active Windchill session into your CoLab Workspace. This allows you to immediately share design information in CoLab without having to leave the Windchill interface.

2. How do you access it? 

To start working with the CoLab add-in for Windchill, you need to log into CoLab via a new option in the Quick Links menu. Access is limited to specific users. You must have a CoLab login as well as a Windchill account to be able to use the functionality. Within CoLab, users are only able to see the files within the Workspaces that they have access to.

3. How do you upload files to CoLab? 

The CoLab add-in is accessed in the Actions section of a Windchill file. From there, you can select ‘Share for Review’ to bring the Windchill file into your desired CoLab Workspace. Once the upload is complete, you can open the Workspace to view the file in CoLab.

When uploading assemblies, you will have the following options:

• upload the version of the referenced components that were included in the most recent checked-in version of the assembly

• upload the assembly with the most recent versions of the referenced components that are checked-in

The version, revision, and state will be viewable in Drive.

4. How do you upload revisions?

To share a new revision of an existing file in CoLab, simply re-share the new revision to the same Workspace. CoLab uses an ID value from Windchill to determine that the file has already been uploaded to that Workspace, and will create it as a new revision instead of a separate file.

5. What is involved from your IT team?

Your Windchill Administrator will need to do a one-time installation of the add-in on the Windchill server where you would like CoLab to be available. This typically involves installing and testing the add-in in an integration environment as a first step. CoLab’s integration team will work closely with your IT team to complete the installation process. The add-in does not get installed on end user computers.

6. Who updates it?

If there is a Windchill upgrade, the add-in needs to be updated by your Windchill Administrator. If there is an update to Windchill itself, no re-installation of the CoLab add-in is required.