Compare and align a variant FMEA

with the master FMEA

You can compare a variant FMEA with its master to identify the differences between their structures and align them as needed.

Procedure

1. Open the master FMEA object.

2. Click the FMEA Variants tab.

This tab displays all variants that are derived from the master FMEA.

3. In the Latest Version of All Derived Variants section, select the variant that you want to compare with the master FMEA.

Option Description

Split

Shows the selected master and variant FMEA side-by-side in the split view. For more information, see View master and variant FMEA structures in the split view.

Compare

Analyzes and identifies differences between the selected master and variant FMEA.

Show Comparison Displays the compare results in the Comparison panel.

4. Click Compare .

In the Compare Criteria dialog box, from the Type list, select one of the following.

Select To

FMEA Compare only the root node properties

System Element Representation Compare the FMEA root node and system elements

Function Representation Compare the FMEA root node, system elements, and functions.

Failure Representation Compare the FMEA root node, system elements, functions, and failures

Quality Action Compare all FMEA objects including actions.

To specify if you want to generate the difference summary report asynchronously, in the message box, click Run in Background.In the Alerts tab, you receive a notification when the compare process is completed.

5. From the Alerts, open the compare context object. In the Split View, the comparison of the source and target FMEA objects is displayed. The source FMEA is the version of the FMEA that you select in the Latest Version of All Derived Variants. The target FMEA is the master FMEA that you used as reference to create the variant.

6. From the Comparison panel, select one of the following options to specify what you want to view in the comparison results.

Comparison option Description

Modified

Shows objects that exist in both master and variant FMEAs, but they have different attributes.

Differences

Shows differences between master and variant FMEAs in the following categories:

All- Lists all the differences in structure, source and in target.

Structure - Shows where system elements, functions, or failures differ in their hierarchical relationships between source and target FMEAs. For example, when a function is under a different system element, or when a failure mode has moved to another system element or function in the FMEA structure. This includes structural changes (structure modified) and cases where both structure and metadata are different (structure and meta modified).

Source - Lists the differences in the source FMEA but not present in the target FMEA.

Target - Lists the differences existing in the target.

Similarity

Shows objects that are identical in both source and target FMEA.

7. From the Modified or Differences section, select one or more objects to align with the source FMEA.

The available alignment commands depend on your selection:

Single object - Both Align and Align Details commands are available. Use Align to align all details of the object, or use Align Details to selectively align specific properties and references.
Multiple object selection - Only the Align command is available. All details of all selected objects are aligned.

8. Click Align Details.

9. From the Details Alignment dialog box, select the details to align from the source to the target.
   The Align Details command enables you to control which properties and references are synchronized, rather than aligning all details automatically.

10. Click Align. Based on a specific scenario, the alignment happens accordingly.

Scenario Result

An element is missing in the variant FMEA that:

exists in the master FMEA

has a relationship with an element in the variant

The missing element is created in the variant and automatically aligned with the corresponding source element.

Elements are missing in the variant FMEA that: exist in the master FMEA

have relationships with another missing element in the master FMEA

are selected for alignment while their related elements are not selected

When you align: only the selected element is created in the variant FMEA the unselected related element is not created the relationship between elements is not created

Elements are missing in the variant FMEA that:

exist in the master FMEA

have relationships with each other in the master FMEA

are selected for alignment

When you align:

both related elements are selected

both selected elements are created in the variant FMEA

the relationship between the elements is established

Elements in the variant FMEA that:

exist in both master and variant FMEA

have different meta properties for example, name or description, from master FMEA

are selected for alignment

When you align:

meta properties of selected elements are updated in the variant FMEA

updated properties match those in the master FMEA

changes apply only to selected elements

Elements in the variant FMEA that:

exist in master FMEA

have structural changes such as added or removed linked elements

have different meta properties such as name or description, from master FMEA

are selected for alignment

When you align:

structural changes from master FMEA are applied to variant FMEA

linked elements are updated to match master FMEA structure

relationships between elements are synchronized

Elements in the variant FMEA that:

exist in master FMEA

have modified meta properties such as name or description

have structural changes such as added or removed relationships

appear in both the Modified tab and the Differences tab under the Structure section

are selected for alignment from either tab

When you align:

both meta properties and structural changes are updated

changes are synchronized regardless of which tab was used for selection

complete alignment occurs in a single operation

Elements in the variant FMEA that:

do not exist in master FMEA

appear in the Differences tab under the Target section

When you align:

selected elements are deleted from variant FMEA

all relationships to these elements are removed

variant structure is synchronized with master FMEA

Elements in the variant FMEA that:

exist in master FMEA

are missing from variant FMEA

appear in the Differences tab under the Source section

When you align:

missing elements are created in variant FMEA

all necessary relationships are established

elements are added with properties from master FMEA

variant structure is updated to match master FMEA

If any of the creating, editing, or removing elements operation fails during alignment. The alignment process: continues with the remaining operations logs the failure details for review

If the source FMEA is not released.

The align operation is failed with an error message.

If the variant FMEA is compared with a newer released version of the master FMEA (different from its original source). The variant FMEA is automatically updated to reference the latest released version of the master FMEA.

If you attempt to align the released version of the variant FMEA.

The align operation is blocked. An error message is displayed stating that modifying released objects is not allowed.

If you attempt to start an alignment process while a previous alignment is already in progress. The align command is disabled to prevent overlapping operations.