Product, data management or PDM is a vital process for efficient product design and engineering. And at the heart of it is the workflow. Workflows allow permissions, revisions, data cards, tasks and notifications to be controlled at different stages of development. Files reside in a workflow state at any given time, which can control visibility and checkout rights for users. But the real power of the workflow comes from moving between states which we can achieve using transitions with SolidWorks. PDM Professional. We can take this a step further using automatic and parallel transitions to maximize your efficiency. Automatic transitions are, as the name suggests, automatically triggered when a file enters a particular state or is checked in and meets the permission and condition requirements for the transition. These can be used to automatically move files into new state, triggering actions such as updating the data card and sending notifications based on conditions, all without having to manually trigger the transition. An example of this in use is in a set revision workflow which sets the internal PDM revision to match the revision variable in the data card, vastly reducing the manual input. When importing legacy data, it then moves the file to the correct workflow state based on the revision and watermark variables. Automatic transitions are very similar to standard transitions in setup, with a few key exceptions. To make a transition automatic, you can choose the automatic type in the transition properties, actions, revisions and notify. Collections can all be set up in the same way as normal transitions. But dynamic notification selection is not possible with an automatic process. It's important when setting up automatic transitions that you apply conditions to each of them and that they are mutually exclusive. If a file encounters two automatic transitions and meets the conditions of both, its behavior can become unpredictable and therefore may produce unexpected results like this part, which has entered the drawings state. Parallel transitions are the other type of transition that's available. These require multiple users to sign off before moving to the next state, ensuring more eyes are on the project going to approval. An example of this in practice would be a specification document requiring two approvers and a manager to approve it before it's released to engineering. When changing state using a parallel transition, it will show a progress number. For example, two out of three showing that of the three uses required to have already performed the transition until the transition is fully completed, meaning that all of the required users have carried out the transition. None of the transitions normal functions will be actioned only once the final user signs off on the transition. Will it move the file to the new state, triggering any configured actions, including updating data card variables to create a parallel transition? The type can be changed using the dropdown in the transition properties, similar to how we create an automatic transition when parallel is selected. The roles tab will appear, prompting you to choose who and how many people must sign off on the transition. Clicking Add role allows you to create a group of which a specified number of users must trigger the transition. You can give the role a name, then add users and groups by clicking add member and modifying the required user's number. You can add more roles as in our example, where we require two approvers and one manager to sign off the required users column shows how many are required out of how many total users are in the role in the set. Variable transition actions. There'll be a new mapped approvers section where you can configure which users from each role will have their data added to the variable. Here will set the first approval variable to be written by an approver and the second approval variable to be written by a manager. In this example, multiple approvers perform the transition. So which one gets their initials added to the variable as the approvers role is mapped to the first approval variable. The last approver to carry out the transition will have their details added to this variable. And as there's only one manager required and the managers group is mapped to the second approval variable, their initials will be added to the second approval. In this next scenario, all users required for the transition are in the same approvers role, but two names need to be written on the data card. Multiple transition actions have been added to write two different variables with the same mapped approvers. When the transition is completed, the actions will be triggered in order from the top of the actions list. For example, these two actions have been set up to write to two variables first approval and second approval in this order. When both users perform the transition, each users initials are written to the respective variables in the order that they approved it, and the date that the transition was finalized is written to the approved on variable. SolidWorks PDM is a powerful addition to your design toolbox, and with parallel and automatic transitions, you can literally streamline your workflow and build intelligence into your approval process and design workflows. So if you need a robust and highly configurable data management solution for your business, then get in touch with our expert PDM consultants via the details on screen to explore your options.