Variants functionality

You can use the variant functionality to depict similar processes that differ only partially. You can easily display the differences.

Variants are used to create models and/or objects that "know" their masters through a variant relationship. This enables you to create models that are modeled differently or to create objects with different attribute assignments, which are related to one another in a variant relationship.

Create object or model variants

You can create variants of objects or models. When you create model variants, the system also creates variants of all objects contained in the selected models if they are not stored in exclusion groups.

Procedure

  1. Click Application launcher Application launcher > Models and objects Models and objects. The Models and objects view in the repository is opened.

  2. Select the database group that contains the objects or models of which you want to create variants. The Models tab is activated.

  3. If you want to create object variants, activate the Objects tab.

  4. Enable the check boxes of the objects or models for which you want to create variants.

  5. Click Create variant Variants > Create variant. The Select group to save variants dialog opens.

  6. Select the group in which you want to save the variants.

  7. Click OK.

The variants are created and saved in the selected group.

Use exclusion groups

You can define exclusion groups to store objects to be excluded from variant creation. If model variants are created, objects stored in exclusion groups are placed as occurrence copies instead of object variants.

Warning

If you create an object collection before using the objects in models, keep in mind that objects not used in models are deleted during a database reorganization.

Define exclusion groups

You can define exclusion groups to store objects to be excluded from variant creation. If model variants are created, objects stored in exclusion groups are placed as occurrence copies instead of object variants.

Prerequisite

  • You have the ARIS Enterprise Admin license privilege.

  • You have the Database administrator function privilege.

Procedure

  1. Click Application launcher Application launcher > Administration Administration. The Configuration Configuration view is shown.

  2. Click Databases.

  3. Click Application launcher Application launcher > Administration Administration > Configuration Configuration > Databases.

  4. Click the name of the database in which you want to define an exclusion group and click Properties Properties > Variant management Variant management.

  5. Click Add exclusion group. The bar opens and you can expand the database groups.
    If you want to create a new group as an exclusion group, click Create group, enter a name, and click OK.

  6. Select the group you want to exclude from variant creation and click Add exclusion group. The selected group is listed.

  7. Follow the same steps to exclude other groups.

  8. Enable the check box Consider exclusion groups in ARIS Architect if the groups should also be considered as exclusion groups in ARIS Architect. If you have enabled the Enhanced variant management check box, Consider exclusion groups in ARIS Architect is gray because ARIS Architect does not provide enhanced variant management.

You defined the groups that contain objects, which are excluded from variant creation.

Remove exclusion groups

You can remove the Excluded status for groups so that variants are created instead of occurrence copies for the content when creating model variants.

Prerequisite

  • You have the ARIS Enterprise Admin license privilege.

  • You have the Database administrator function privilege.

Procedure

  1. Click Application launcher Application launcher > Administration Administration. The Configuration Configuration view is shown.

  2. Click Databases.

  3. Click Application launcher Application launcher > Administration Administration > Configuration Configuration > Databases.

  4. Click the database that contains the exclusion group you want to delete and click Properties Properties > Variant management Variant management.

  5. Enable the check boxes of the exclusion groups you want to remove so that variants can be created again for their contents.

  6. Click Remove exclusion groups.

  7. To confirm the action, click Delete.

The selected exclusion groups are removed.

Create variants for group content

You can create variants of the content of one or several groups.

Procedure

  1. Click Application launcher Application launcher > Models and objects Models and objects. The Models and objects view in the repository is opened.

  2. Select one or several database groups containing the contents of which you want to create variants.

  3. Click Create variant Variants > Create variant. The Select group to save variants dialog opens.

  4. Select the group in which you want to save the variants. The selected group must not be a subgroup of a group you have selected for variant creation.

  5. Click OK.

In the selected group, the variants of models and objects are stored in copies of the groups in which the master models and master objects are stored.

Create variant relationship

You can create variant relationships between existing models/objects. This makes one model/object the master and the others the variants.

Procedure

  1. Click Application launcher Application launcher > Models and objects Models and objects. The Models and objects view in the repository is opened.

  2. Select the database group that contains the object or the model for which you want to create a variant relationship to another object or model.

  3. Select the relevant item in the details view. The selected item becomes the master.

  4. Click the restrict button Models or Objects to restrict the contents displayed for models or objects.

  5. Enable the check box of the object or the model for which you want to create variant relationships.

  6. Click Create variant relationship Variants > Create variant relationship. The Select object(s) as variant(s) dialog opens.

  7. Navigate to the groups in which the elements to which you want to create variant relationships are stored. All objects or models of the same type as the selected one are offered for selection.

  8. Select one or several elements in one or several groups.

  9. Click OK.

The variant relationships to the selected elements are created.

Find masters and variant

You can find the masters and the variants of an item.

Procedure

In the Published content view

For process models, such as EPCs and Value-added chains, the Overview fact sheet displays variant relationships.

Prerequisite

The relevant database is published.

Procedure

  1. Click Application launcher Application launcher > Published content Published content.

  2. Navigate to the database group in which the relevant item is saved.

  3. In the navigation bar, select the model for which you want to show the master or the variants.

    The Models and objects view contains the database content and editing buttons to edit models and objects. The editing buttons that can be applied to the selected item are displayed.

    The following image shows the Models and objects view of the Classic view. The Models and objects view may look different depending on the selected view or customizations that were made.

    Navigation bar

The Overview fact sheet is displayed. If the model is a variant of another model, the section Master is displayed that shows the master model. If the model is the master of other models, the section Variants is displayed that shows its variants.

In the repository

In the repository, you can display variant relationships for models and objects.

Prerequisite

You have the ARIS Connect Designer license privilege.

Procedure

  1. Click Application launcher Application launcher > Models and objects Models and objects. The Models and objects view in the repository is opened.

  2. Navigate to the database group in which the relevant item is saved.

  3. Enable the check box of the model or the object for which you want to display the variant relationships.

  4. If the Details bar is not open, click Details Details on the button bar.

  5. In the Details bar, activate the Variants tab.

The master and the variants of the selected item are displayed. If you click the name of the master or of a variant, the master or variant is displayed in the group in which it is stored, and its check box is activated.

You have displayed the master or the variants of the selected item.

Remove variant relationships

You can remove a variant relationship between models or objects.

Prerequisite

You have the ARIS Connect Designer license privilege.

Procedure

  1. Click Application launcher Application launcher > Models and objects Models and objects. The Models and objects view in the repository is opened.

  2. Navigate to the database group in which the relevant item is saved.

  3. Enable the check box of the model or object whose variant relationship you want to remove.

  4. If the Details bar is not open, click Details Details on the button bar.

  5. In the Details bar, activate the Variants tab.

  6. On the Variants tab, move the mouse pointer over the master or the relevant variant and clickMore More. The menu is displayed.

  7. Click Remove variant relationship Remove variant relationship. A confirmation dialog is displayed.

  8. Click Yes.

The variant relationship is removed.

Special features of variants

Group treatment

Objects that are placed in models can be stored in various groups.

When you create variants of group contents or model variants, the group structure in which the sources are stored is duplicated in the group you select for the variants.

Variants of objects that are stored in the same group as the source models are stored in the same group as the model variant. Variants of objects stored in another group as the source models are stored in copies of the source groups.

If a target group with variants is to be created as subgroup of the source group, a message is displayed that variants cannot be created. You must select another group to save the variants.

Exclusion groups

You can specify groups whose objects are to be excluded from variant creation. If variants are created from models that contain objects in these groups, occurrences are created from these objects instead of variants.

Difference between parallel and sequential variant creation

You can create multiple model variants at a time by selecting more than one model or selecting one or several groups for variant creation. You can also create variants for the models individually one after the other.

If models contain the same objects, the results of the variant generation of both procedures are different.

Parallel variant creation

Only one variant is created for objects that are used in more than one of the selected models.

For objects that are used in more than one of the selected models, only one variant is created. This variant appears as an occurrence copy in the model variants.

Sequential variant creation

Each time you create a model variant, a new variant of the contained objects is created. This also applies to objects that are contained in more than one of the processed models as an occurrence copy. In this way, a new variant is created for each object, even though it exists in these models as an occurrence copy.

You can compare variant and master models.