Product information within reach
Find answers without another file request
Help non-specialists reach the models, drawings and documents relevant to their work. Less reliance on forwarded files gives people a clearer basis for everyday decisions.
Product information for the wider team
Windchill Navigate.Give every role a working view.
Bring the right product information to the people who need it. Shape access around the task, with the source record and its responsibilities still connected.
Discuss your Navigate use caseA task-sized view of the productKey product features:
Key product features:
Role, task-based, and custom PLM apps
Start with the job someone needs to complete. Navigate combines standard viewing and participation tasks with supported role tailoring and custom application tools; the three groups below explain what each brings to a working view.
Read the product through the right view.
A reader may need a drawing, a model or the supporting document rather than the full authoring environment. Viewing functions bring those references into a focused task.
For example, a service colleague can inspect a component and its supporting files before discussing a replacement with engineering.
- Drawings and comparison
- View drawings and compare them to help identify differences between references.
- 3D product context
- Supported model views include animation or sequence playback, attribute-based cross-selection and local-language support.
- Supporting attachments
- View and download available attachments and secondary documents alongside the relevant product information.
Confirm the viewing functions, formats, role tailoring, release and license for the proposed environment.
Connect a defined action to its evidence.
Participation tasks let occasional users contribute to established PLM work without taking ownership of the engineering definition.
For a change reviewer, identify the supporting record, the response expected and the person responsible for the next decision.
- Digital change participation
- Support defined workflow actions, including change-related work and problem reporting, through task-focused applications.
- Manufacturing guidance
- Bring configuration-specific 2D/3D work instructions to production participants. The manufacturing section below explains the task and acknowledgment boundaries.
- User and group permissions
- Control access through the configured users, groups and source permissions; a simpler view does not expand a person’s rights.
Task availability and actions depend on the workflow, permissions and entitlement; viewing access does not imply contribution rights.
Explore manufacturing task detailsTailor first. Extend where the task needs more.
A standard task is the starting point. Role configuration, reusable development components and supported connectors offer different ways to address a remaining information need.
If a purchasing task also needs an enterprise-system value, agree its owner and permitted use before scoping a connected application.
- Role-based configurations
- Tailor standard applications and the information presented for the intended audience.
- Reusable application components
- Use the rapid application development environment to build a supported custom app around a specific organizational requirement.
- Integration connectors
- Off-the-shelf and configurable connectors can bring non-PLM context into the application, subject to the target systems and configured interfaces.
External connections need their own access, ownership and validation plan. Confirm deployment and compatibility rather than assuming every system is connected.
Eight focused viewing tasks
Available apps, measurements, integrations and participation depend on the licensed release, configuration and underlying permissions. Custom apps require suitable development and end-user entitlements.
Manufacturing tasks, ready for a working pilotPut the task into practice.
Put the task into practice.
Prepare the people.
Navigate 10.0 highlights View Work Instructions and View & Acknowledge. Use these manufacturing tasks to frame a practical pilot: help people understand the intended work, then define how a response returns to the process.
View Work Instructions
Assess the instructions and available 2D/3D context presented for the selected work. A production participant needs the intended product configuration and instruction version.
Can the operator identify the correct instruction for this job?
View & Acknowledge
Define the acknowledgment, permitted participant and workflow record. E-signature and audit-trail capabilities require the appropriate configured task and environment.
What does the response mean, and where is it recorded?
Prepare one representative task.
Agree what a useful result looks like before widening the rollout.
- Role and records
- Choose the participant, representative product records and intended action. Involve the owner of the source information.
- Permissions in practice
- Test with representative accounts, including what happens when a record or action is unavailable.
- People and support
- Document the task and assign training, support and review responsibilities.
Confirm Navigate and Windchill release compatibility, available applications, licenses and deployment scope before the pilot. A task’s permissions and configured workflow determine the data and actions available.
Review the Windchill release guideApply a task to a product contextDifferent products.
Different products.
Specific working questions.
Use one of these planning examples to select a focused pilot. The sector guides explore the wider business context.
Service information
Industrial machinery
Choose a machine option and a service component. Review how a reader reaches the appropriate drawing, parts context and document.
Can the reader identify the intended machine configuration?
Change participation
Automotive
Take one component change and an occasional reviewer. Check the assigned task, supporting context and response ownership.
Can this reviewer understand their action without becoming an author?
Controlled information
Aerospace & Defense
Use a program-specific document or drawing request to review source permissions and the information exposed to the role.
Does the view respect the program’s intended access boundary?
Before extending accessNavigate questions.
Navigate questions.
Clear working boundaries.
Bring the role, task and current environment to a TriStar discussion.
Does Navigate replace Windchill authoring?+
It provides task-focused access for extended users. Viewing information and participating in a defined process are different from owning and editing the engineering product definition.
Does tailoring a task grant access to its source data?+
No. Review source permissions and licensed task access as well as the tailored interface. Test representative users against the actual records and actions they should receive.
Should we start with a custom app?+
First evaluate a standard task and its supported tailoring. Consider a custom application when a defined requirement remains, with a clear source-system, access and maintenance plan.
Are all tasks included in every installation?+
No. Available tasks and functions depend on Navigate and Windchill releases, licenses, configuration and deployment. Manufacturing applications and connected systems need their own scope review.
What should we bring to a first evaluation?+
One role, a representative record or workflow, the action people need to perform and the owners of the information and access rules. Include the current platform releases and the people responsible for testing and support.
Make wider access usefulBegin with the job.
Begin with the job.
Connect the right people.
Bring one role and one task. We’ll help frame the information, permissions and next step.
Talk to TriStar