Configuring a shell consists of activating it and organizing it into a hierarchy.
Note: Before you configure shells it is worthwhile to plan the shell hierarchy with your users and uDesigner user. The instance, and cost settings affect how you will use the shell and its relationship to other shells. Planning will help you achieve the result that will meet your business needs.
To configure the shell types in the Shell Manager
- Go to the Company Workspace tab and switch to Administration Mode.
- Click Configuration > Shell Manager in the left Navigator.
- Select a shell type and click the Open button. The Configuration <shell name> window opens.
- Complete the General tab as described in the first table below.
- Click the Organize tab. On this tab you can specify the sub-shell types that are allowed under a shell type.
This tab is where you establish the shell hierarchy, by selecting allowed sub-shells. For example, assume you have configured a shell called Region, which has the sub-shell types Properties and Buildings. Also, Properties has Buildings as a sub-shell. Unifier performs validation during shell configuration, and manages the relationships among the shells that you configure. The second table below shows the relationships among the shells described above.
Click the Add button to add sub-shell types from the list of imported shells. You can add sub-shell types to the sub-shell type you are currently configuring. Click Add and select the sub-shell types to add. Select the types to add, and click OK. You can only add shells that have the Active status.
- Select the Active checkbox for the sub-shell types you want to activate. You can deactivate sub-shell types that you do not want users to use for sub-shell instance creation. You can deactivate sub-shell type even if sub-shell instances have been created with that type.
Note: You can remove a sub-shell type from the list by clicking Remove, as long as an instance of the sub-shell type is not created under the shell.
- Click Apply to save changes as you enter information, and OK when you are ready to save information and exit the Configuration window.
- Complete the configuration steps for each shell type.
In this field | Do this |
|---|---|
Enable automatic numbering | Select to allow automatic numbering of projects based on the specified Format and Start values. You can deselect this checkbox to disable automatic numbering. This checkbox is selected by default. |
Format/Start | Specify the format and starting number for projects if automatic numbering is enabled. Format determines the format of the numbering schema. Start determines the starting number of the numeric schema. By default, Format is blank and Start is 0001. The numbering schema format cannot be changed after a user creates shell instances using the originally specified format. |
Cost Codes: CBS/Generic | Displays the type of cost code specified in uDesigner for the shell type.
The default selection is determined by which cost code was specified in uDesigner. |
Status | Status can be Active or Inactive. Users cannot access shells types with the status Inactive. The default is Inactive. If a shell type is Inactive, users cannot create shell instances of that type. |
Shells-> | Parent | Child | Grandchild |
|---|---|---|---|
Subshells that are allowed | |||
Parent | No | No | No |
Child | Yes | No | No |
Grandchild | Yes | Yes | No |