Experience the Power of Community at the ACE 2025 Tech Summit
It’s that time of year again! Our annual Aras Community Event (ACE) is right around the corner. This year the event is taking place near Aras’ hometown of Boston from March 31 to April 3. This year’s ACE is special as it marks the 25th anniversary of Aras as a company. The event is shaping up to be one of our best yet, with tons of great presentations and breakout sessions for everyone. Like most who have attended it, the Tech Summit is my favorite part of the event. It will be on Monday, March 31. In previous years, it was invite-only. This year, we're opening it up to the entire community, welcoming anyone who wants to participate. We hope to bring in some new technical voices who might not have participated in the past. Email Beth Ewing after completing your ACE registration to register for the Tech Summit. The session lasts most of the day and allows the Aras Innovator® tech community to get together and discuss all things Innovator. In the past, we’ve covered everything from new features to best practices, and even explored ways to enhance the product based on feedback from users like you. The Tech Summit provides a space to hear how our partners and customers are using Aras Innovator. This year we’ll have presentations from customers and partners, in which they will share some of the interesting modifications they’ve made to our platform. Community presenters will: Show capabilities they built in Aras Innovator and discuss how they did it (ex: Impact Matrix extensions, pervasive search) Demo the tools they use to manage their Aras Innovator development projects Share how the next generation of engineers are building PLM skills and knowledge with Aras Between Aras presentations, customer showcases, and open discussion, the Tech Summit is a favorite part of the ACE experience. (It certainly was my favorite part of last year’s event!) The summit will be followed by a welcome reception, and the following days are filled with interesting sessions to attend. If any of the above topics are interesting to you or someone you know who is attending ACE, register now to save your place! Here's a quick breakdown of the Tech-Summit agenda: Welcome & Introductions - get to know the attendees and presenters Community Demos - community members show off what they've built and share their knowledge AI Spotlight - AI demos and insights from Aras Lab Lunch Community Update - what's new and what's coming Open Forum Discussions - bring your questions and ideas! This session is all about connecting with your fellow Builders and learning from the group's collective experience. I’m looking forward to ACE this year and to meeting some of you there. Please feel free to reach out if you have questions regarding this year’s Tech Summit or want to get involved. To secure your spot for the Tech Summit, email Beth Ewing after completing your ACE registration. Registration is open right up to the event, but I’d recommend locking in your registration and hotel as soon as possible!Requirements Engineering and Variant Management Updates in Release 33
The recent rollout of Aras Innovator® Release 33 included upgrades to some of our existing applications. Our goal is to improve the user experience for Aras's Variant Management and Requirements Engineering applications. Let’s take a look at what’s new in Release 33. Variant Management In our newest release of Variant Management, we’ve introduced the concept of Configurator Context. Since products are always evolving, Configurator Context captures the applicable features, options, and rules for specific scopes of work, streamlining the concurrent management of past, present, and future product designs. When resolving Variability Items, you can now select a specific Context to automatically resolve particular features and options based on the selected context: In this example, the RP Series 2024 robot arm is specifically for Palletizing; no other valid options exist, so none are displayed. This is also visualized more clearly in the Configurator Context ItemType within the Variability Structure Tree Grid View. Here you can see that for the same RP Series Robot Arm, we can quickly see which options for each feature applies to the given context: And these can be set directly for each context within the Context Editor tab, shown below: Requirements Engineering In addition to the upgrade to Variant Management, there is also a new version of the Requirements Engineering document. This brings the Requirement Document Itemtype more in line with our standard Technical Document Framework. This comes with multiple benefits and the ability to better customize your Requirement Documents to fit your needs. Let’s take a look at the changes. The Technical Documentation Framework is a flexible and powerful tool for customizing documents and creating powerful links between items. We’ve written blogs on how you can modify your technical documents to contain new content, and those should still function as expected with the new version of RE. The main difference you’ll notice between the old Requirement Documents and the upgraded version is in the amount of options you have for authoring your Requirements. Many of the standard Tech Doc elements are now at your disposal. These can be inserted directly into your individual requirements, which can then be embedded in your Requirement documents. Formatting and spacing should be preserved when embedding. Here’s a quick example of what a more complete Requirement document would look like: As you can see, each requirement has sub-components which can be individually modified. Try experimenting with all the new components available for more powerful and relevant Requirements Documents. That was a quick overview of some of the big upgrades to applications in Release 33. Applications like Manufacturing Process Planning and Enterprise Search were also changed for compatibility and other minor improvements. There are exciting things coming down the pipeline, and there are great reasons to be on recent releases of Aras Innovator. To learn more, consider registering for our annual Aras Community Event (ACE), March 31 – April 3, 2025 in Boston! We hope to see you there.Streamline Collaboration with Aras Supplier Management Solutions
Supplier Management Solutions is new to Aras Innovator and supports Releases 22+. This new application allows you to collaborate seamlessly with your suppliers. Your suppliers can see relevant data approved by your organization through an external portal. The SMS application includes additions to our data model and the Aras Portal, and we’ll go over both below. The Aras view This application adds multiple new ItemTypes, which, in typical Aras fashion, are completely customizable to fit your needs. The package includes a hub for suppliers and additional Item Types linked via properties and relationships. These include all the Items you’ll need for assessment, procurement, and risk management. These items can also be augmented to link directly to other standard or custom Item Types. The Aras portal view The Aras Portal is a separate web service that runs alongside your Aras Innovator server. It connects directly and securely with your server while respecting our complicated permission model. It’s a great way to ensure that suppliers have whatever access they need, without exposing critical business information. The Aras Portal can be accessed either via desktop or mobile, with both views being shown in the screenshots below. It’s important to note that things like our viewers (CAD, PDF) and SSVC are all available in the Aras Portal. This allows for direct, in-context communication between suppliers and manufacturers, whether logged into Aras Innovator or your portal. After showing this application off at ACE 2024, customers expressed great interest. This connectivity between manufacturers and suppliers opens the door for collaboration and efficiency. If this seems like something you could use, let us know in the comments or reach out to our presales team directly for a demonstration and consultation on how to get started using Supplier Management Solutions. For a closer look at this exciting new application, register now for our upcoming webinar, Optimizing PLM Supplier Management Solutions, on November 5. It’s not too soon to start thinking about ACE 2025. Hope to see you there!Key Takeaways from Our Inaugural Aras Virtual Tech Summit
On September 19, 2024, we held our first-ever Aras Virtual Tech Summit. Our Tech Summit is something we’ve done at our annual Aras Community Event (ACE) conference for many years. It’s an incredible opportunity to chat with members of our technical community; you can read about my experience at ACE 2024 here. This week’s virtual summit was designed to be similar to our in-person event while being accessible to those who are unable to travel to our annual ACE conference. Summit Snapshot We had over 50 attendees from across the globe who joined us for our roughly 2-hour session. We started by sharing demonstrations by myself, other Aras employees, and even our partner Essig PLM. The demonstrations varied from Configurable Web Services demonstrations to Digital Twin Core extensions. Essig’s solution showed the ability to build a CAD representation of a product based on a Variant Management structure. It’s always incredible to see what people in our community are doing with Aras Innovator® daily. Seeing and discussing these solutions is my highlight of these events. Even if the solutions aren’t relevant to my work, I’m always inspired by how creative people can be. The final half hour of the day was an open discussion. Anyone could join, and we heard from folks across different partners and customers. Some customers wanted to see if any other customers were facing issues similar to their own, while others had suggestions on ways Aras Labs and Aras as a whole could better serve our community. Community Call to Action Part of my demonstration provided an overview of our community resources. The three that I highlighted were my ACE 2024 blog, our Aras Labs GitHub page, and our Community forums. We’re going to put more effort into new Community Projects and be more active on the forums. Labs is a small team, and we need all the help we can get. We would love to have more active community members on the Forums and make more external projects available to our community members. What Next? Although we experienced some technical hiccups, overall, it the event was a great opportunity to reconnect with members of our community. In the coming weeks, we’ll make the recording of the demonstration portion of the event public for people who couldn’t make the event. We’ll take a look at the feedback and make sure that our next event is even more targeted to topics that are top of mind. A huge thank you to Eli Donahue and Erica Schumann, who put our event together very quickly. I’d also like to thank everyone who attended and participated. This kind of event is really dependent on participation, and many of you stepped up to make your voices heard. Stay tuned for future announcements of similar events, both virtual and in person. Don't forget to save the date for ACE 2025, coming to Boston, March 31 - April 3.
Aras Builders! The Virtual Tech Summit is Just Around the Corner
Want to see some real-world challenges developers have solved with the Aras platform and learn how they did it? Want to connect with other Aras Community members in an open forum? Want to do it all for free? Join us for the virtual Aras Tech Summit live on September 19 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM US EDT. What's a Tech Summit? The Tech Summit is a small, 1-day pre-conference session we host at our onsite Aras Community Event (ACE) in the US and some of our Aras Connect events in Europe. The format is simple: In the morning, Builders—developers and other hands-on folks who create solutions on the platform—gather for "show & tell" to showcase their projects and get inspired by others' cool ideas. Then, participants regroup after lunch for open forum discussions, where everyone can ask and answer questions or exchange ideas on various technical topics. It's a beloved tradition that Aras Labs’ AJ Sebastian summed up well in his post-ACE blog this year. Why (virtually) mess with a good thing? While we love our in-person events and plan to continue to host them, two factors are behind our decision to try a virtual format for this event: frequency and inclusivity. Optimize frequency We often hear feedback that attendees would like to engage with the technical community more frequently. Supplementing the onsite events with an online offering means we can help folks connect between our conferences. Convenience and accessibility Onsite events pose logistical constraints (like travel restrictions) and exclude potential participants who can't secure the budget or time to travel to our in-person events. Now, you can attend from anywhere, with a shorter time commitment to expand the reach and increase networking opportunities. Access Expert Knowledge Gain direct access to industry leaders, innovators, and technical experts who might not otherwise be available at in-person events. Virtual summits provide opportunities to hear from top-tier speakers without geographical limitations. Virtual Tech Summit Highlights Here are some highlights attendees can look forward to: Get the inside scoop The new Aras SVP of Product Management, Igal Kaptsan, will introduce himself to the community and share key insights into his product philosophy. We'll also share a quick update on the Build with Aras initiative our CEO, Roque Martin, announced at ACE US in March. Learn how they built it We have great presentations lined up that demonstrate not only a solution built on the Aras platform but also how and why it was built. Builders from Aras and the Aras Community will outline a business problem, discuss how they built the solution, and show the result. These speakers will touch on various PLM and technical topics, including web services, low-code modeling, mobile-friendly applications, serialized part manufacturing, and BOM to CAD management. Learn what's coming up for the Aras Community We'll have a quick update on upcoming events for the Aras Community. Be ready to mark your calendars with the next online and in-person events! Connect with fellow Builders We'll wrap up the virtual event with an open forum discussion for all participants. This segment is an excellent opportunity to ask other community members how they've solved a similar problem, exchange ideas, or ask follow-up questions of the day's presenters. Don’t miss this opportunity! If the virtual Tech Summit sounds like your kind of event, be sure to sign up and save the date: September 19 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM, US EDT. For more information on the event, visit our event page. You can also skip that step and register now!
The Mapped Document Elements Enhancement
Mapped Document Elements (MDE) are a core feature added to the existing Technical Document Framework (TDF) application, released in Aras Innovator Version 12 Service Pack 5 for all users. This enhancement allows for the association of Document Elements in a TDF-enabled document to a Property of a referenced Item. A Document Element to Item Property association means that the properties of the Item in the Tech Doc will update as the Item’s property is updated. Additionally, the Element can be flagged with ‘write’ permissions to allow for editing and saving the Property value directly from the Tech Doc. MDE is a useful feature for ensuring a Tech Doc’s references to an Item stay updated as the Item’s properties are changed. One application of this feature is documenting the most recently calculated cost of Parts in an assembly. This blog post will cover enabling MDEs for Part Items and mapping a Part Item’s name property to a Technical Document. Enabling Mapped Document Elements in TDF By default, the new Mapped Document Elements are not included in the Standard schema, to prevent any unexpected behavior with existing ItemInfo Elements in Tech Docs. We’ll need to create a new schema to utilize the enhancement. Go to Technical Documentation > Document Types in the TOC Right click and select Create New Document Type Fill in the name field with ‘MDE Enabled’ In the content section, copy and paste this code: gist.github.com/.../24420dfa39e6af880ce0a17f456c56f1 In the Stylesheet tab, click Add New Document Style Enter the name ‘MDE Enabled Stylesheet’ Right click and select Stylesheet > Open In the style section, copy and paste this code: gist.github.com/.../3d5e5e5eaecbd8c302874fea7fb1ea2a Click on the Validate button, the schema should be valid Click Done to save Adding an MDE to the Document Now that the schema is made, we can start to build our Tech Doc. First, we’ll want to create a Tech Doc that uses our new Schema: Go to Technical Documentation > Technical Documents in the TOC Right click and select Create New Technical Document Fill out the form’s required information: Document Number – ‘MDE-0001’ Name – ‘MDE-Test’ Schema – MDE Enabled Save (but don’t close) the new Tech Doc Click on the Tech Doc Editor tab that was added to the left side column From the Editor tab, we can start adding elements to our Tech Doc. Adding a Mapped Document Element is like adding any other Element to a Tech Doc, with some additional steps for selecting the specific Part. Just follow the steps below: Right click on the root element and select Insert > Item Info > Add Item. In the dialog, search for and select the desired Item, then click OK Right click the ItemInfo entry in the tree and select Insert > PartStatement > Add Item. In the dialog, search for and select the desired Item, then click OK Right click the PartStatement entry and select Insert > Any Property Right click on the AnyProperty entry and select Edit Attributes to open a dialog In the property field, enter ‘name’ Select ‘write’ for the mode Click apply Save (but don't close) the Tech Doc While the Tech Doc is claimed and in edit mode, you can double-click on the Property in the editor pane to open a pop-out field editor. When selected, an MDE with write permissions will have a gray dashed border, while a read-only MDE will have a solid red border. Changes made in that field can be added or discarded by clicking on the check or x boxes, respectively. Once a change is made, the element in the tree and its parent element will be marked as changed with a pencil icon; clicking on that icon will open a dialog prompt to revert the changes. To save any changes made to an Item, just click Save or Done. On a save, any changes to Properties will be validated by the system. Additionally, if changes have been made outside of the Tech Doc, the property in the editor will be highlighted with a red dashed border. The right click menu on the PartStatement tree element will now contain a Version menu, which gives you option to update the data to reflect the latest version, ignore the current version, or ignore this and all new versions and changes. We’re excited to share this enhancement to the Tech Doc Framework; this core feature will enable other new features in future Requirements Engineering and Technical Documentation application releases. To take advantage of the range of options available in Technical Documents, check out our previous blogs that cover other ways to customize your Tech Docs, such as custom content generators, adding links to Documents, and creating templates. We also have a GitHub repo with a number of custom Technical Document examples to use as ideas for your own Tech Docs.
