Synchronizing Windchill with ELM Global Configurations

With IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) 7.0.2, the way backlinks are discovered in ELM applications has changed.

Previously, it was enough for Windchill to associate a Change Management artifact ^[1] with a Global Configuration (GC) to allow ELM Configuration-Management-enabled applications to discover backlinks ^[2]. Now, not only the Change Management artifact needs to be associated (linked) with the GC, but this GC itself must also be linked with Windchill... in other words, a double link is required.

This double link can be managed automatically by Windchill. What this means is:

Global Configurations are no longer associated directly to the Windchill Change Management artifacts [1]. Instead, Global Configurations are declared in the Product or Library administration, and change artifacts associate only with Global Configurations declared by a Product or Library administrator.
When a Global Configuration is declared in Windchill Product or Library administration, an attempt is made to synchronize the remote GC by linking it with Windchill. This attempt can only be successful if logged in with a GCM user with the right permission/role (Configuration Lead or Administrator).
Likewise, when a Global Configuration is removed from the Global Configurations table in Windchill Product or Library administration, an attempt is made to remove the link on the remote GC.
At any time, the Windchill Product or Library administrator can see whether the Global Configurations used by Change Management artifacts ^[1] require a synchronization on the GCM application. Out-of-sync Global Configurations show a warning icon and a Synchronization required message in the Global Configurations table. The Synchronize... button opens a wizard to attempt linking with the remote GC.

Note that in order to display the Global Configuration Application picker dialog, the friending of a Global Configuration Application must have been done in Managing Friends.

Note that the synchronization between Windchill and GCM only occurs with ELM 7.0.2 or more recent versions. However, in order to allow creating links between Windchill Change Management artifacts and external resources that participate to a GC, this GC needs to be declared in the Product or Library administration first, independently of the ELM version.