Aras Innovator

Prerequisites

User Privileges

Create a user in Aras Innovator that is dedicated for OpsHub Integration Manager. The user shouldn't perform any other action from Aras Innovator user interface. Refer to Add User in Aras Innovator section to learn how to add a new user in Aras Innovator.
The user identity of the user dedicated for OpsHub Integration Manager must have the following permissions for the 'item type' to be integrated:

Permission Types

Justification

Needed When

How To

Get

To get values of each field for particular item of 'item type' to be integrated

Aras Innovator is source system,target system or both.

To learn how to provide user with the Get permission, refer to Give Necessary Permissions to User for Itemtype section.

Can Discover

To get the list of items present for a given itemtype.

Aras Innovator is source system,target system or both.

To learn how to provide user with the Can Discover permission, refer to Give Necessary Permissions to User for Itemtype section.

Update

To update an item.

Aras Innovator is target system. Also,when Aras Innovator is source system and Update Permission is required for Remote Id or Remote Link configuration in Integration .Please check '''Tracking Id and Link of Entities Across Systems''' section on Integration Configuration page to learn about Remote Id and Remote Link.

To learn how to provide user with the Update permission, refer to Give Necessary Permissions to User for Itemtype section.

Can Add

To create an item: The user is allowed to create record from the Aras Innovator System (through the UI and API both) only when the user's identity is allowed in the "Can Add" tab

Aras Innovator is target system.

To learn how to assign "Can Add" permission to user's identity on particular itemtype, refer to Allow Can Add permission to User section.

Life Cycle State Transition

To update the state during transition, the role in Life Cycle transition needs to be set as '''Administrators''' for the Integration User [configured in the OpsHub Integration Manager].

When Aras is the target system.

To learn how to provide user with the Lifecycle State Transition permission, refer to Assign Life Cycle Transition Permission for Item Type section.

Versionable Item Type

For any Item Type in Aras Innovator, the versions/history for the item gets generated only when the item is versionable. Hence for OpsHub Integration Manager to synchronize the items with their revisions, they need to be versionable.
In case they are not versionable, OpsHub Integration Manager will synchronize the item as per the current state of that item, available at the time of synchronization. Follow Make Item Type Versionable in the Appendix section to learn how to make item types versionable.

Hosting Opshub Aras Service

OpsHub Integration Manager requires this service to communicate with Aras Innovator server. It acts as a communication layer between Aras Innovator and OpsHub Integration Manager.

System Prerequisites

Configure OpsHub Integration Manager Aras Service on a machine that has .NET Framework version 4.7.2 or a higher version installed.
Please refer to the following link for information on software and hardware requirements for installing .NET Framework 4.7.2.

Installation Steps

Follow the steps for installation given below:

Locate the path <OPSHUB_INSTALLATION_PATH>\Other_Resources\Resources
Extract the OpsHubArasService.zip package
Check the availability of port 9494 as OpsHubArasService will be using port 9494. Refer to section Check Availability of Port to learn how to check if particular port is available. Refer section How to change the port of service to learn how to change the default port of service.
Open the command prompt with Administrator Privileges and navigate to the folder extracted in Step -2, where the user can find registerArasService.bat
Now, execute "registerArasService.bat"
Once the command is executed, go to Windows Services and look for a service with the name 'OpsHubArasService'.
- Please start the service in case the service has not started yet.
Test the web service by opening the URL in browser: http://<hostname>:<9494>/ArasService, for example: http://localhost:9494/ArasService

System Configuration

Before the user continues with the integration, he/she must first configure Aras Innovator System. Refer to System Configuration to learn step-by-step process to configure a system. See the screenshot given below for reference:

Field Name

Description

System Name

Provide a unique name to the Aras Innovator System.

Version

Provide version for Aras Innovator Instance. Check Get Aras Innovator Version in the Appendix section to learn how to get Aras Innovator version.

Aras Innovator Instance URL

Provide URL for Aras Innovator Instance. Example: <hostname>/InnovatorServer/Server/InnovatorServer.aspx

Aras Innovator User Name

Provide username of the user dedicated for OpsHub Integration Manager. Please ensure that user has the necessary permissions. Refer to User privileges for permissions required by user identity.

Aras Innovator User Password

Provide password of user dedicated for OpsHub Integration Manager - use plain text if FIPS is disabled, or MD5-hashed if FIPS is enabled.

Aras Innovator Database name

Provide Aras Innovator Database name to which the connection needs to be done. Refer to Get Database Name in the Appendix section to learn how to get Database name.

Aras Innovator Web Service URL

Provide URL for the hosted OpsHubArasService. Refer to Hosting opshub Aras service to learn how to host OpsHub Integration Manager Aras Webservice.

If the system is deployed on HTTPS and a self-signed certificate is used, then the user should import the SSL Certificate to be able to access the system from OpsHub Integration Manager. Check Import SSL Certificates to learn how to import SSL certificate.

Mapping Configuration

Map the fields between Aras Innovator and the other system to be integrated to ensure that the data between both the systems synchronize correctly. Check Mapping Configuration to learn the step-by-step process to configure mapping between the systems.

Integration Configuration

Set polling time as the time after which the user wants to synchronize data between Aras Innovator and the other system to be integrated. Also, define parameters and conditions, for integration, if any. Check Integration Configuration to learn the step-by-step process to configure integration between two systems.

Criteria Configuration

If the user wants to specify conditions for synchronizing an entity between Aras Innovator and the other system to be integrated, he/she can use the Criteria Configuration feature.
To configure criteria in Aras Innovator, integration needs to be created with Aras Innovator as the source system. The user can set a query on a particular ItemType.
Go to Criteria Configuration section on Integration Configuration page to learn in detail about Criteria Configuration.
Aras Innovator Query format is [ItemType].<field_internal_name>='<value>'

Criteria samples

Field Type

Criteria Description

Criteria snippet

Lookup

Synchronize all ECR with priority set to 1

[ECR].priority = '1'

Date

Synchronize all entities created after certain date

[ECR].created_on > '2020-01-31T00:00:00'

Text

Synchronize all ECR with Title Demo entity

[ECR].title = 'Demo entity'

Text and Lookup

Synchronize all ECR with unit EA and Status new

[ECR].unit = 'EA' AND [ECR].status = 'New'

Lookup or Date

Synchronize all ECR with priority set to 1 or Effective Date greater than

[ECR].priority = '1' or [ECR].effective_date > '2020-01-31T00:00:00'

Target LookUp Configuration

Provide Query in Target Search Query field so that it is possible to search the entity in Aras Innovator when it is the target system.
Go to Search in Target Before Sync section onIntegration Configuration page to learn in detail about how to configure Target LookUp.
Target LookUp configuration is similar to the Criteria Configuration where in the Target Search Query field, the user can provide a placeholder for the source system’s field value in-between ‘@’.
Target Look Up Query based on internal id of source itemtype: Example query: [ECR].custom_text='@oh_internal_id@'

Known Behaviors

Remote ID Synchronization

In Aras, custom entity types don't have Item Number (which stores Display Id) field by default. Hence, in such cases, OpsHub Integration Manager will use entity's Internal Id as Remote Id to be synchronized to the other end system.
To show the 'Display Id' as Remote Id, it is required to add the Item Number field in Aras. Refer to Add Item Number Field for more details.

Known Limitations

Only English alphabets(A-Z,a-z), numeric digits(0-9) and special characters (Example:- :,<,?,>,],[,!,@ etc.) are supported for Criteria Configuration.
Attachment as a field is not supported.
"No Related" Relationship Type is not supported.
For Aras Innovator as Target System, if the attachment filename contains Windows special characters (/,,",:,*,?,<,>), then file will not be added in Aras Innovator. As a result, the user will encounter a processing failure. This is because Aras Innovator does not support Windows special characters in filename. Please check Synchronise file with Windows special characters to find how to synchronise attachment with Windows special characters in filename.

Limitations to be Resolved in Upcoming Releases of OpsHub Integration Manager

To synchronise File as Attachment to Itemtype being synchronised, there should be unique relationship type between Itemtype and File.
Comments with attachments are not supported.
Synchronisation of Inline image in a Formatted text field is only supported for External Files of Image type. Inline image synchronisation in Formatted text fields is not supported for Aras Innovator's Internal Images.

Appendix

Add Users

Login to the Aras Innovator with user having Administrator Privileges (by default root/admin user has Administrator Privileges).
Navigate to Administration → Users → Create New User. Refer to Check Administration Tab to learn where to find Administration tab.
Provide necessary details for fields like Login Name, Password, First Name and so on
Check the Logon Enabled box so that user can login from the UI

How to Change the Port of Service

Open file explorer and navigate to the service installation folder (Ex: C:\Program Files\OpsHub\Other_Resources\Resources\OpsHubArasService).
Open the file named ArasService.exe.config in any text editor.
Search <baseAddresses> tag in the file. In <add baseAddress> tag, change the <9494> with the port on which you want to deploy service. Save the changes. Refer to the image below for reference.

How to Check Availability for Port 9494 for Aras Service

Open the Command Prompt in administrator mode.
Type netstat -ano | findStr "9494" and press Enter.
If the port is being used by any application, it will show the application’s detail. The last column is the PID (process ID).
If the port is available, there will be empty output for this command.

Assign Identity in "Can Add" Tab of Item Type

Login to the Aras Innovator with user having administrator privileges.
Navigate to Administration → ItemTypes. Refer Check Administration Tab to learn where to find Administration tab.
Search for the ItemType to which you want to assign an identity.
Open the Item Type in the edit mode.
Click Can Add tab.
Click .
Select the identity of the user from the pop-up.

Assign Life Cycle State Transition Permissions for Item Type

Login to the Aras Innovator with user having administrator privileges.
Navigate to Administration → ItemTypes. Refer Check Administration Tab for more details.
Search for the ItemType for which the user wants to give permission to user identity.
Open the Item Type in the edit mode.
Click Life Cycles tab.
Open the Life Cycle you want to edit.

Click on the arrow of transition state you want to edit.

Change the role to Administrators so that the Integration user is allowed to update the state.
Save the changes made in Life Cycle Transition.

Give Necessary Permissions to User for Itemtype

Login to the Aras Innovator with user having Administrator Privileges (by default root/admin user has Administrator Privileges).
Navigate to Administration → ItemTypes. Refer toCheck Administration Tab to learn where to find Administration tab.
Search for the ItemType for which the user wants to give permissions to user identity.
Open the Item Type in edit mode.
Click Permissions tab.
Click to select from existing permissions. Refer to Add Identities to Permissions to add new identities.
Click to create new permissions.

Add Identities to Permissions

Double-click the existing permission or click in the Permission tab of Itemtype.
Give a name for the permission (for new only).
Click .
Select the identity of the user from the pop-up.
Tick checkboxes for Get, Update, and Can Discover for the user identity.
Click Done to apply the permissions.

Make Item Type Versionable

Login to the Aras Innovator with user having Administrator Privileges.
Navigate to Administration → ItemTypes.
Search for the ItemType that you want to make versionable.
Open the Item Type in edit mode.
Check the Versionable checkbox under Versioning.

Create Custom Entity

Login to the Aras Innovator with Administrator Privileges.
Navigate to Administration → ItemTypes → Create New Itemtype.
Fill in all mandatory fields and ensure Versionable is enabled.
Assign TOC View and TOC Access.

Refer to Create custom property to add properties after creating ItemType.

Set Item Number for Custom Entity

Navigate to Dashboard.
Open ItemTypes page.
Select the entity type and open in edit mode.
Under Properties tab, add a row named item_number with Sequence data type.
Set Keyed Name Order to 1 and save it.