Sister project concepts and terminology

Sister project terminology

Using the Sister Project Management functionality of Plant Modeller requires that you are familiar with the following terminology.

sister project management	The name of the CADMATIC workflow for updating 3D model objects, groups, lines, and drawings repeatedly from one project to another in a managed way. To benefit from using Sister Project Management, the projects involved in this should have a common design and be able to share the same project settings.
source project	The project that acts as the sender of the data in a sister project update.
target project	The project that acts as the receiver of the data in a sister project update.
model query	The sister project model query defines which objects of the source project are copied to the target project when the project administrators perform a sister project update. This Query is defined at the beginning of the sister project process and should not be changed after that, if possible. Important: If a sister project model query is modified after it has been used for exporting sister project data, any objects that were included in the previous query, but are not included in the revised one, will no longer be exported. Consequently, these objects will be removed from the target project in the next export–import cycle, unless they have been unlinked from Sister Project Management in the target project. See also Sister project model query and dependent objects.
sister project update	The process of exporting data from the source project to a sister project export file and then importing that file to the target project. In the course of the design projects, these updates can be performed as often as necessary.
sister project export file	The data package (.sse file) that is exported from the source project and imported into the target project.
linking linked object	An object in the target project is called a linked object if it has been created by importing the sister project export file and is therefore linked to the respective object in the source project. A linked object is always read-only in the target project. A linked object is automatically updated in the target project whenever the content of the object has been modified in the source project and a new sister project update is performed. If you use the link status color-coding in Plant Modeller or the BOM browser, a linked object is shown in the color of linked objects. See Color by sister project link status.
unlinking, unlinked object	When a linked object is unlinked in the target project, the object is removed from the scope of Sister Project Management. An unlinked object is like any other editable object in the target project, except that it still stores the information that it used to be linked. You should only unlink objects when you expect no more updates from the source project and you must finalize the documentation of the target project. You can also unlink objects in the cases where you have to replace an individual linked object with a locally modifiable target project object. If you use the link status color-coding in Plant Modeller or the BOM browser, a linked object is shown in the color of linked objects. See Color by sister project link status. See also Unlinking sister project objects and Manage BOM Group.
relinking, relinked object	You can return an unlinked object back to the scope of Sister Project Management by relinking it with the Link command. After relinking an object, perform a sister project update to restore the object as it was when exported from the source project. If you use the link status color-coding in Plant Modeller or the BOM browser, a linked object is shown in the color of linked objects. See Color by sister project link status. See also Re-linking sister project objects.

Sister project model query and dependent objects

The model query used by Sister Project Management enforces that objects that are managed as a unit are always exported together. For example, a duct spool group and all its members are always exported together, even if the model query only matches one of them. The following entities are exported as units:

Isometric group and its members (*)
Spool group and its members
Pipe/Duct main document group and its member spools (*)
Pipe/Duct spool group and its member spools
Service Space and its host object
Duct flange/frame and the host duct
Support group and its members
Location plan group and its member support groups (*)
Weld group and its members
Unit group and its members

*) If the parent matches the query, then also its children are exported, but if only a child matches the query, then its parent is not exported. For example, if a pipe main group matches the query, then the spool groups and its members are also exported, but if a spool group matches the query but the pipe main group does not, then the parent main document is not exported.

Unlinking sister project objects

Using the Sister Project Management functionality of Plant Modeller requires that you understand how the Unlink command works on different types of entities.

The purpose of unlinking is to remove an entity from the scope of Sister Project Management updates, but when using it, be aware that some related entities might stay linked, as described in the table below.

If you unlink a...	The result is that...
drawing object	The drawing object is removed from Sister Project Management. If there are linked objects in the BOM group of the drawing, they stay linked. When opening the unlinked drawing, you are notified if there are BOM members that are still linked. You can unlink linked objects in the Manage BOM Group dialog, as described in Manage BOM Group.
3D object or a group object	The 3D object is removed from Sister Project Management. If it is a group object, then its linked members stay linked. If the object is a member in a linked group, then this group stays linked. This includes the Line objects.
member object of a dependent group	When you select the first object of a dependent group, all the dependent objects get automatically selected, resulting in the whole group to be removed from Sister Project Management.
pipeline, duct line, or cable tray	Only the Line object is removed from Sister Project Management. The member objects stay as they are.

CADMATIC uses groups to implement certain fixed object hierarchies for document production. Working with these hierarchies applies the following exceptions to the general unlinking rules.

If you unlink...	The result is...
member object of a pipe spool	All objects in the spool and the spool group are removed from Sister Project Management. If the object belongs to an isometric group, then any other spool groups that belong to the same isometric group and their members are also removed from Sister Project Management. If spool documents and isometric documents exist, then they are also removed from Sister Project Management.
member object of a duct spool	All objects in the spool and the spool group are removed from Sister Project Management. If a spool document exists, then it is also removed from Sister Project Management.
member object of a support group for a pipe, duct, or cable way	All objects in the support group and the support group are removed from Sister Project Management. If a support drawing exists, then it is also removed from Sister Project Management.

If you unlink...

The result is...

member object of a pipe spool

All objects in the spool and the spool group are removed from Sister Project Management.

If the object belongs to an isometric group, then any other spool groups that belong to the same isometric group and their members are also removed from Sister Project Management.

If spool documents and isometric documents exist, then they are also removed from Sister Project Management.

member object of a duct spool

All objects in the spool and the spool group are removed from Sister Project Management.

If a spool document exists, then it is also removed from Sister Project Management.

member object of a support group for a pipe, duct, or cable way

All objects in the support group and the support group are removed from Sister Project Management.

If a support drawing exists, then it is also removed from Sister Project Management.

Re-linking sister project objects

Previously unlinked sister project objects can be assigned back to the scope of Sister Project Management. You can do this by using the separate Link command on those objects in the target project. This restores the original link between the source project object and the target project object. You can only relink objects if the object is owned by the root COS server of the target project.

The linking behaves similarly to unlinking in that certain groups of objects are treated as a single unit (see Unlinking sister project objects). If the unlinked object has been modified locally in the target project and the object becomes linked again, then the next sister project update overwrites the current content of that object in the target project.

Important: As linking of unlinked objects can cause loss of design data in the target project, only project administrators can use the Link command.

Also unlinked sister project objects that have been deleted can be restored and relinked to Sister Project Management. You can do this by exporting the objects from the source project and importing them into the project from which they have been deleted; the import relinks the objects automatically. See the following commands:

Linking sister project and integration objects

The P&I diagrams created by the CADMATIC P&ID application are not included in the base project export of Sister Project Management. Instead, the diagram documents that are needed in the target project are to be transferred with CX export/import in the Manage Diagrams dialog, using the special Export to sister project command for the export and the normal Import from CX File command for the import. This can be done when the design of the source project is either completely finished or at a stage where it needs to be separated from the target project. You cannot reverse this operation; if there is still need for modifications, you must update both projects separately. After importing the diagrams to the target project, update the integration data from the P&ID application to the 3D model at least once, and then link the integration objects to the 3D model as described in Automatically link to diagram and EDM.

COS objects that are of type "Electrical Device", "Externally Provided P&I Data" (EPD) or "External Data Management" (EDM) are not "linked objects" in the sense that this term is used in Sister Project Management, meaning that they are not transferred from the source project to the target project. Instead, these so-called integration objects are created locally in the target project; CADMATIC Electrical creates Electrical Devices, CADMATIC P&ID creates EPDs, and EDMs are created by external systems connected to CADMATIC.

Normally, model objects can be automatically linked to integration objects based on their position ID. This is also the case when the model objects are sister project objects.

If integration objects already exist in the target project when you import the model objects from the sister project export file, the model objects are automatically and immediately linked to the respective integration objects.
If you create new integration objects after importing the model objects, you can link them to model objects as described in Automatically link to diagram and EDM.

Managing unwanted linked objects

When you unlink an object in the target project, the purpose is to stop updating the object from the source project. The target project stores the linking information in case you need it for relinking, but the object is now a regular object in the source project that you can also delete if necessary.

Because the book-keeping is based on object IDs, it can happen that changes in the source project cause some new linked objects to surprisingly appear in the target project. This is usually the result of some late-stage design changes that involve new objects being created instead of editing the existing ones.

Sister projects and CADMATIC Hull

At the moment, CADMATIC Hull is not included in the context of Sister Project Management.

You can use CADMATIC Hull in projects where CADMATIC Outfitting utilizes the Sister Project Management tools.

Sister projects and 3D import

You can use the 3D Import Manager tool to import 3D objects that you want to include in Sister Project Management. For example, in the marine design industry, the hull might be designed in some other software than CADMATIC Hull, and in the plant design industry, it is common to import the structural model of the building from an external file.

If you use associative 2D annotations, you need to follow a specific procedure to maintain the associative annotations of the linked drawings in the target project. Contact Cadmatic Customer Support for the details.

Sister projects and cable router

The cable routes are based on a network of nodes and segments that are generated based on the cable ways (cable trays, cable pipes, and penetrations) that exist in the 3D model. When cables are linked via Sister Project Management, the changes that are made in the source project are updated to the target project. In practice, this requires identical cable ways (all of them should remain as linked), identical cable routing settings, and identical route node naming, so that exactly the same route is available in both the source project and the target project.

If you change the cable way objects in the target project, they no longer match the cable routing network defined in the source project, and this affects the routed cables.

If you check out a linked cable in the target project, the cable is unlinked. If you unlink some of the cables, it is difficult to foresee all the consequences. For example, if cables are routed simultaneously in both projects, it cannot be guaranteed that the fill rates of penetrations are not exceeded in the target project. If you recreate the cable routing network in the target project, all the cables are unlinked. Unlinked cables and cable network parts can be relinked as described in Link objects to sister project.

Therefore, we recommend that you do not start the Cable Manager tool in the target project until the project reaches the phase where the cable routes start to deviate between the projects and there is a clear need for separate cable routing in the target project.

Before starting to use Cable Manager in the target project, make sure you update all the latest changes in the cable way objects and cables from the source project to the target project.

You do not need to unlink cable ways that can be used in both projects; you only need to unlink the cable ways that you want to modify or remove in the target project.

Then, we recommend that you unlink all the cables and the cable routing network at the same time. This you can do by opening Cable Manager in the target project and generating a new cable routing network, as described in Recreate.