The main difference between the two hierarchies provided out of the box, is the way plants are stored in the system. In the Hexagon default hierarchy, each configuration will be one plant, whereas the cross-plant interaction hierarchy can store multiple plants in the same configuration. This makes the cross-plant interaction hierarchy suitable for both CFIHOS and non-CFIHOS compatible sites, whereas the Hexagon default hierarchy can only be used for non-CFIHOS compatible sites.
The configuration is the strict boundary for your data in the system, also known as the “SPFPlant” or “ConfigLevel1”. This provides a strict container for the data you store in it and allows you to grant and restrict access rights.
The Hexagon default hierarchy will not allow you to interact between the Plants, as they are strictly separated by the configuration. The cross-plant interaction hierarchy enables cross-plant interaction, such as relating tags and documents from different plants to each other, having cross-plant projects, and so on.
Hexagon default hierarchy
Cross-plant interaction hierarchy
The following applies to CFIHOS 1.4. If you are using CFIHOS 1.3, see Differences between the two provided PBS hierarchies (modified in an update).
Advantages and disadvantages for each hierarchy
Hexagon default hierarchy |
Cross-plant interaction hierarchy |
---|---|
Configuration contains one plant |
Configuration can contain one or more plants |
Main functional breakdown is four levels deep |
Main functional breakdown is three levels deep (SPFPlant is just a “configuration”) |
No cross-plant relations possible |
Cross-plant relations possible |
Access and security segregation between plants |
No access and security segregation between plants |
Tag names are unique within the configuration as the configuration is the plant |
Tag names are unique within the plant, but are not unique within the configuration itself |
PBS items can be created both manually in the Web Client and by loading using the Load Manager |
PBS items can only be loaded using the Load Manager |