How to use IBM App Connect with Siemens Teamcenter SLM

Siemens Teamcenter Service Lifecycle Management (SLM) is a service used to interact with Teamcenter and execute SLM specific operations.

Availability:
  • A connector in IBM App Connect Enterprise as a ServiceApp Connect Enterprise as a Service connector
  • A connector in IBM App Connect on IBM CloudCloud-managed connector
  • A local connector in a Designer instance of IBM App Connect in containers (Continuous Delivery release)Local connector in containers (Continuous Delivery release)
  • A local connector in a Designer instance of IBM App Connect in containers (Extended Update Support)Local connector in containers (Extended Update Support release)
  • A local connector in a Designer instance of IBM App Connect in containers (Long Term Support)Local connector in containers (Long Term Support release)

Connecting to Siemens Teamcenter SLM

Complete the connection fields that you see in the App Connect Designer Catalog page or flow editor. If necessary, work with your Siemens Teamcenter SLM administrator to obtain these values.

Table 1. Siemens Teamcenter SLM connection fields and their description
Connection field Description
Active Workspace service path Specify the endpoint path parameter for the Active Workspace service. For example, awc.
Teamcenter service path Specify the endpoint path parameter for the Teamcenter service. For example, tc.
Service Lifecycle Management (SLM) asset management path (optional) Specifies the end point path parameter for accessing the Teamcenter Service Lifecycle Management (SLM) Asset Management services. For example, slmassetmgmt.
File management service path Specify the endpoint path for accessing the Teamcenter volume. For example, awc/fms.
Username The username for your account.
Password The password for the specified username.
Network name (optional) Specifies the name of the network that IBM® App Connect on IBM Cloud will use to access your system. Required only if connecting to a system in a private network.

If you have already configured a network in IBM App Connect on IBM Cloud with access to the private network, you can select that network. Otherwise, you need to configure a network (download and configure a Secure Gateway) for use with a private network. For more information about how to configure a network, see Configuring a private network for IBM App Connect on IBM Cloud®.

Important: Ensure that the Secure Gateway Client has been started. If you need to, you can start the Secure Gateway Client as described in Configuring a private network for IBM App Connect: Finally, start and configure the Secure Gateway Client.
Fully qualified URL of the Siemens Teamcenter web service The fully qualified URL of the Siemens Teamcenter web service.
Tip: For more information about Fully qualified URL of the Siemens Teamcenter web service, see the Teamcenter Gateway for Enterprise Applications Connectivity Guide.

To connect to a Siemens Teamcenter SLM endpoint from the App Connect Designer Catalog page for the first time, expand Siemens Teamcenter SLM, then click Connect. For more information about ways to connect to Siemens Teamcenter SLM, see Managing accounts in App Connect.

Tip:

Before you use the account that is created in App Connect in a flow, rename the account to something meaningful that helps you to identify it. To rename the account on the Catalog page, select the account, open its options menu (⋮), then click Rename Account.

Siemens Teamcenter SLM limitations

Consider the following scenario where you are using the Retrieve all physical structures action in Siemens Teamcenter SLM to retrieve records and create the corresponding assets in IBM Maximo®.
Example of flow using Siemens Teamcenter SLM and IBM Maximo
The following are the current limits for the maximum number of items to retrieve in different instances of App Connect:
Table 2. Instances and their maximum retrieve limits
Instance Maximum retrieve limit
App Connect on IBM Cloud 1000
App Connect in containers 50000
However, for App Connect in containers, the current speed of processing (retrieving records and creating corresponding assets) is around 1000 records per hour, and the framework has a total time limit of 24 hours.
Note: The speed of processing depends on tree size and structure. So, as the complexity increases, the speed of processing decreases.

So, as an example, if you are planning to traverse more than 20000 records, it takes more than 24 hours to complete the operation, and so the flow execution stops due to the time limit.

Thus, currently, you can traverse only less than 20000 records in a flow.

General considerations

Before you use App Connect Designer with Siemens Teamcenter SLM, take note of the following considerations:

  • (General consideration) You can see lists of the trigger events and actions that are available on the Catalog page of the App Connect Designer.

    For some applications, the events and actions in the catalog depend on the environment (IBM Cloud Pak for Integration or App Connect on IBM Cloud) and whether the connector supports configurable events and dynamic discovery of actions. If the application supports configurable events, you see a Show more configurable events link under the events list. If the application supports dynamic discovery of actions, you see a Show more link under the actions list.

  • (General consideration) If you are using multiple accounts for an application, the set of fields that is displayed when you select an action for that application can vary for different accounts. In the flow editor, some applications always provide a curated set of static fields for an action. Other applications use dynamic discovery to retrieve the set of fields that are configured on the instance that you are connected to. For example, if you have two accounts for two instances of an application, the first account might use settings that are ready for immediate use. However, the second account might be configured with extra custom fields.

Events and actions

Siemens Teamcenter SLM events

These events are for changes in this application that trigger a flow to start performing the actions in the flow.

Note: Events are not available for changes in this application. You can trigger a flow in other ways, such as at a scheduled interval or at specific dates and times.

Siemens Teamcenter SLM actions

These are actions on this application that you want a flow to complete.

BOM windows
Create or reconfigure BOM windows
Contexts
Open contexts
Datasets
Commit dataset files
Create datasets
Get dataset write tickets
Files
Upload file
GRM relations for primary
Expand GRM relations for primary
Object property policies
Set object property policy
Set object property policy for service plan
Objects
Load objects
PLF details
Retrieve PLF details
Physical structures
Retrieve all physical structures
Preferences at locations
Set preferences at locations
Queries
Execute saved queries
Get saved queries
Relations
Get relations
Traversed objects by rule
Get traversed object by rule service plan
Get traversed objects by rule
Get traversed objects by rule BOM Line
Type descriptions
Get type descriptions