Import or Sync from XFRACAS

If your organization uses ReliaSoft’s XFRACAS for incident/failure reporting and team-based problem resolution, you can import or synchronize data with related analyses in XFMEA, RCM++ or RBI. The available options depend on the database you are working with.

Enterprise Databases – In an enterprise database that has an XFRACAS website, the icon in the XFRACAS Associated Hierarchy Item column in the System Hierarchy (if displayed on your computer) indicates that the desktop item is "associated" with a template part in XFRACAS.

When an association exists, you will be able to synchronize the following:

• Certain item properties:

• • Item name

  • Part number (if enabled in the desktop project)

  • Version (if enabled in the desktop project)

  • Item category (if there is a corresponding detail field in XFRACAS)

• Failure and cause descriptions (called "failure mode" and "root cause" in XFRACAS)

You can also view the number of Observed Occurrences reported in XFRACAS for a particular part and failure mode.  

The following actions require the "Synthesis – Read Failure Mode Data" permission in XFRACAS:

• Import XFRACAS Items adds new items in the desktop system hierarchy  that are associated to the XFRACAS parts they were copied from.

• Associate Item creates association(s) for a desktop item or branch that already exists.

• Remove Association breaks the association(s) for an item or branch.

• Synchronize Item updates part names, dependents and/or failures and causes in the desktop to reflect any changes to associated records in XFRACAS.

• Import Failures adds or updates failures and causes in the FMEA based on failure modes defined for the XFRACAS template part.  

Tip: For users with the required admin permission in XFRACAS, the Template page provides similar options to a) import desktop items, b) remove the association to a desktop item and/or c) update part names, dependents or failure modes to reflect any changes to associated desktop items. In other words, users in either application can choose to copy more recent data from the other. If you will be importing desktop items into XFRACAS and plan to be creating serialized incidents using those items, you must make sure that the Part Number field is enabled and populated for each item.

Standard Databases – If the file is connected to an enterprise database that has XFRACAS data (see XFRACAS Connection), the Import XFRACAS Items or Import Failures commands will copy data from XFRACAS without creating an association.

Observed Occurrences

For desktop items that are associated with an XFRACAS template part, the Observed Occurrences column in the FMEA Hierarchy (if displayed on your computer) shows the number of occurrences reported in XFRACAS for a particular part and failure mode.

Depending on your selection on the FMEA Hierarchy page of the Application Setup, the quantity can be calculated based on one of the following XFRACAS record types:

• Incidents – the quantity of XFRACAS incidents that match the "responsible part" and "failure mode."

• Problems – the quantity of XFRACAS incidents that are assigned to an XFRACAS problem that matches the "part category" and "failure mode." This may be useful if the XFRACAS entity is configured to assign the failure mode at the problem level rather than for each individual incident. If a problem matches the part and failure mode but does not have any assigned incidents, it will not be counted.

• Failure Analyses – the quantity of XFRACAS failure analysis reports that match the repaired/replaced part ("incoming part") and the "failure mode."

Tip: Although failure modes can be assigned in XFRACAS as a combination of failure mode and root cause, the quantity of observed occurrences is based only on the failure mode. For example, "Failure Mode1 > Root Cause1" and "Failure Mode1 > Root Cause2" will both be counted as occurrences of "Failure Mode1." If both of those root causes are assigned to the same incident or failure analysis report, it will be counted as 2 occurrences of the failure mode. If both root causes are assigned to a problem that has 5 incidents, it will be counted as 10 occurrences.

Import XFRACAS Items

Choose System Hierarchy > XFRACAS > XFRACAS > Import XFRACAS Items.

• Select Entity – select from a list of entities that you have permission to import from in XFRACAS.

• Select Parts – select from a list of template parts in the entity you selected.

• An icon indicates that failure modes have been defined for the part in XFRACAS. Select the Import associated failures and causes check box if you want to import these "failure modes" and "root causes" to start new FMEA(s) for the new item(s).

In an enterprise database, the new desktop items will be associated with the XFRACAS template parts they were copied from.  In a standard database, the data will be copied without creating an association.

Associate Item

Select an item in the desktop system hierarchy that a) is not associated with an XFRACAS part and b) is not the dependent of an item that is associated. Then choose System Hierarchy > XFRACAS > Associate Item.  

You may be prompted to select an XFRACAS entity and template part. If you also want to copy any failure modes that don’t already exist in the FMEA, select the Import associated failures and causes check box. Note that:

• If the XFRACAS part has different item properties (i.e., name, part number, version and item category), this will update the properties of the desktop item.

• If the XFRACAS part has dependents, this will also create associations for any desktop item dependents that have the same names. If the names of the dependents do not match, this will create new desktop items that are associated to the XFRACAS parts they were copied from.

Remove Association

Select an item in the desktop system hierarchy that a) is associated with an XFRACAS part and b) is not the dependent of an item that is associated.  Then choose System Hierarchy > XFRACAS > XFRACAS > Remove Association.

If the item has dependents that are also associated, you will be prompted to select:

• Remove association from current item only

• Remove association from current item and its dependents

Synchronize Item

Select an item in the desktop hierarchy that is associated with an XFRACAS part and choose System Hierarchy > XFRACAS > XFRACAS > Synchronize Item.

You can choose which updates will be performed if applicable for the current data.

• Current item changes the item properties (i.e., name, part number, version and item category) of the desktop item to match the current properties of the associated XFRACAS part.

• Current item's failures and causes changes the descriptions for any failures and causes in the current item's FMEA that were previously synchronized with XFRACAS failure modes. This option will not be available if the FMEA has an active change log with no open revision.

• Sub-items changes the properties of the desktop item’s dependents to match the current properties of the associated XFRACAS parts. If there are any unassociated dependents of the desktop item that have the same names as dependents of the XFRACAS part, this will create the associations.

• Sub-items' failures and causes changes the descriptions for any failures and causes in the dependents' FMEAs that were previously synchronized with XFRACAS failure modes.  This option will not be available if any dependent's FMEA has an active change log with no open revision.

You can choose to update only records that are already associated (Only update existing), or to also add and associate new records (Update existing and add new).

Import Failures

Select an item and choose System Hierarchy > XFRACAS > XFRACAS > Import Failures.

In the first window, select an entity and a part that has failure modes defined in XFRACAS (indicated with an icon) and click OK.

In the second window, you can compare the failure modes already defined in the existing FMEA (on the left) to the failure modes that have been defined for the part in XFRACAS (on the right), and select which records you want to import or update.

• Pink indicates that the failure/cause does not exist in the FMEA; select the check box if you want to import it.

• Yellow indicates that the failure/cause has been previously imported but the description has changed in XFRACAS; select the check box if you want to update the desktop description.

• Green indicates that the failure/cause already exists; the check box is disabled.

For failure modes that have not been previously imported, you can use the Associated Function column to either create a new function or select an existing function. When applicable, effects will be created with a default description ("<Undefined>") that you can modify after the import.