An InfraLink Functional Location, or a "Location" for short, is a logical representation of a known, well-defined, area or space that may be associated with installation of System Elements and/or with performance of maintenance work. Locations are hierarchical, and the hierarchy is based on the parent-child relationship between the various Location Types. Examples of common Location Types include: Campus, Building, Level, Room, etc., which correspond with the types of physical spaces that the Locations represent. Even though a Location represents a physical space, some Locations may be defined without specifying an Address or a Geo Reference (lat/long).
Location Types should accurately represent a physical or virtual space related to the System design and relevant to System maintenance operations. The Location Types should represent the projects’ root locations and the sub-locations which define more detailed spaces within the associated root location.
Locations, care should be taken to avoid overlaps between child groups. For example, Location Type A is broken down into child Location Types B and C. So, there must be a clear boundary between the physical locations represented by B and C. Also, if B and C are the only two direct sub-locations of A, their combination should represent all of A.
Location Types are defined at the Instance level. Administrative Permissions are required to create, modify, or delete those global definitions. It is important to note this differs from the Permissions needed to create, modify, or delete the actual Location records, which can be granted at the global and contract levels, as the respective entities may be associated with one or more Contracts. Location records may temporarily exist outside of Contracts.
This article introduces the following topics related to Location Type configurations:
Creating Location Types
The first step in populating the InfraLink Locations databases is defining the Location Types and Hierarchy schema. These definitions will guide the creation of every new Location. You should create Location Types from the top down. Create parent Location Types first and subsequently create the child locations that provide more granularity as you go.
To create a Location Type:
- Click on the Main Menu within the top-level navigation toolbar and select Manage Location Types from the Configuration Baseline stack.
- This opens the Location Types dictionary.
- Click the New button at the top of the viewing pane.
- Name the new Location Type, using a name that is distinguishable.
- Check the box next to Allow location of this type to be root only if you wish for this new Location Type to be set up as a Root Location under a Contract. A Root Location has no parent Location associations. It is beneficial to review the Locations Hierarchy grid view (Main Menu → Manage Locations) to understand the Locations Hierarchy used in your Instance.
- Under Allowed parent types, check the box next to each existing Location Type that the new Location Type could be a possible child Location to. From our lists of sample Location Types above, the Location Type “Room” can exist under Location Type “Floor” or “Level”. So, when creating the Location Type “Room”, you would want to check the box next to both “Floor” and “Level”. Alternatively, for Storage/Warehouse Locations, you may only want a “Bin” Location to be created when the associated “Shelf” Location is known. In that case, you would only check the box next to “Shelf” when setting up the new Location Type, “Bin”. The Allowed parent type selections for each Location Type will define the Location Hierarchy schema.
- Enter a Description of the new Location type that will clearly distinguish it from other Location Types.
- Click the Create button to save the new Location Type.
Editing Location Types
To edit an existing Location Type:
- Click on the Main Menu within the top-level navigation toolbar and select Manage Location Types from the Configuration Baseline stack.
- This opens the Location Types dictionary.
- Select the desired Location Type from the Location Type dictionary. This will open the Location Type Details panel along the right side of the viewing pane.
- Click the Edit button in the top right corner of the Location Type Details panel.
- Make the desired changes to Location Type Name, root location option, Allowed parent types, and/or Description.
- Click Save to save your edits to the Location Type.
Deleting Location Types
To delete a Location Type:
- Click on the Main Menu within the top-level navigation toolbar and select Manage Location Types from the Configuration Baseline stack.
- This opens the Location Types dictionary.
- Select the Location Type you wish to delete.
- Click the Delete button at the top of the viewing pane.
- InfraLink will ask you if you are sure you want to delete the Location Type. Click Yes to delete the selected Location Type.
Location Type Custom Fields
InfraLink Custom Field capabilities allow the Instance Administrator to define the custom attributes associated with the various Location Types.
To access the Location Type Custom Field configuration window:
- Click on the Main Menu within the top-level navigation toolbar and select Manage Location Types from the Configuration Baseline stack.
- This opens the Manage Location Types view (i.e., Location Types dictionary).
- Review the list of existing Location Types. Use filtering options or search field, as needed, to locate the Location Type for which a Custom Field should be assigned.
- Select the desired Location Type. This will open the corresponding Location Type Details panel along the right side of the viewing pane.
- Click the Custom Fields button from either the top of the grid view or the top right corner of the Location Type Details panel.
- You will be presented with the Location Type Custom Fields configuration window, and the selected Location Type will appear in the search box at the top of the window.
See Custom Fields guidance for more information on the configuration and management of Custom Fields.