Associations

Overview

Object associations can be used to provide intuitive grouping and navigation of similar or related items. Associations can also be used for a variety of reporting and 3rd party interface purposes. You can assign associations to any object in the system.

Associations Page

The Associations page lists object associations as well as a list of all objects that the current object is associated to (Where Associated list). The Associations page contains the following sections:

Section	Description
Toolbar	Quick access to common functions
Associations List	Current listing of objects that have been assigned as association to the current/open object
Where Associated List	List of objects that have associated the current/open object

The Associations Toolbar contains the following commands:

Icon	Command
	Add an Association
	Paste Associations from the Buffer
	Show/Hide the Options Panel
	Expand all items
	Compress all items
	Refresh/Reload the list
	Copy the associations list to the buffer

To open any object on the list, click the hyperlink on the number column.

Display Options

The Associations page provides various viewing options. To set/modify the options, select the Options toolbar button. This will invoke the Options slide-out panel.

The Options pane provides the following options:

Option	Description
Display association hierarchy	If checked, the Associations list will display all association hierarchy. If unchecked, the Associations list will display only the objects associated with the current/open object.
Display parent data	If checked, the Associations list will include the parent number and description of the associated object.
Display general data (Status, Type, etc.)	If checked, the Where Used page will include the status, type, revision, etc. of the associated objects.
Display Where Associated list	If checked, the system will display the "Where Associated" list (described above).
Display all revisions	If checked, the Associations list will display all revisions of the objects. If unchecked, the Associations list will display only the active revision of the objects.

Hierarchy Display

The Associations list can display the complete relationship (hierarchy) of associated objects. Checking the Display association hierarchy in the Options panel will enable the hierarchical display.

In the above example, the Quality/CAPA item: CAPA-00001 is associated with Change/ECO: ECO-00003 and ECO-00003 is associated with the open/current item: 01-0007-00.

You can navigate through the hierarchy by clicking the expand/compress buttons.

Adding

To add an associated item, click the Add toolbar button. This will invoke the Add Association dialog.

From this form you can select the desired object type.

You can then search the key fields to find the desired item.

You can add objects by clicking the Apply button (form will remain open) or by clicking the Number hyperlink (closes the panel).

Removing

To remove an association, click the Remove button.

Copy/Paste

To copy the associated items to the buffer, click the Copy toolbar button. This will display the Copy Objects panel.

To copy objects to the buffer, check the desired items and then click the Copy Selected button.

To paste objects from the buffer, click the Paste toolbar button. This will display the Paste/Assign Objects panel.

To assign the buffer items, check the desired items and then click the Paste/Assign Selected button.