RBD Libraries

RBD Libraries in Relyence RBD enable you to store entire block diagrams, RBDs, for streamlined usage in your RBD analyses.

RBDs stored in an RBD Library can be small, large or any size in between. For each RBD in the RBD Library, all block Properties are stored. Once an RBD is stored in the RBD Library, it can be used in any RBD analysis.

You can update the RBD Library as needed and then push those changes out to all your Analyses that use the Library RBDs. Data Pushes are controlled by you, and you can also set permissions as to who can update Libraries and perform Pushes.

Opening an RBD Library

To open an RBD Library, click Libraries in the Sidebar and select RBD.

Note that if you have more than one RBD Library, the RBD option will expand to show them and simply click the one you want to open.

The RBD Library displays the All RBDs pane on the left with a list of all RBDs included in the RBD Library and the RBD pane on the right with the image of the selected RBD and the properties of the selected block. You can also store and view any plots associated with any RBD in the library on the RBD Plot pane.

Notice that the background when you are in an RBD Library is yellow to make it easy to distinguish from your RBDs in your Analysis, which has a blue background.

Setting RBD Properties in an RBD Library

To set RBD Properties in any RBD Library, click Properties from the Sidebar menu when the RBD Library is open. For more details on the property settings, see the RBD Library Properties topic.

Adding RBDs Directly to an RBD Library

To insert an RBD, in the All RBDs pane, click the top part of the Insert button.

The Insert RBD dialog appears. 

Enter a Name for the new RBD and click Insert. The new RBD is created and displayed in the All RBDs pane and in the RBD pane with Start and End notes as a starting point. You can build this RBD just as you would build any RBD in an Analysis. See the Building your RBD topic of this guide for more details. 

You can also use the Insert button to create a new RBD from an RBD Library.

To add a new RBD from an RBD Library, click the dropdown arrow next to the Insert button and select RBD From Library.

The Search RBDs dialog appears.

You can perform an RBD Library search using Name, Identifier and/or Description. Enter in a portion of the text, or the full text, in the Name , Identifier, and/or Description fields.

As needed, use the Options link to establish your preferred sorting option.

Use the Sort By options to select your preferred sort order:

• Usage Count - sorts based on the count of number of times the library item is use across Analyses
• Name - sorts alphabetically based on the library item Name

Click Search to start the RBD Library search. The list of matches will appear in the table. The search results table includes other information: other related RBD data, the usage count (the number of times the particular RBD is used in your Analyses), and which RBD Library the match is from. The table is sorted by Usage Count in descending order by default, unless you opt to sort by Name.

Select the RBD you wish to insert as a new RBD by selecting the Insert checkbox. Click one of the Insert buttons to add the RBD to your Analysis.

Click Insert as Copy if you want to insert the RBD as a new RBD which is not linked to the RBD in the RBD Library. When the RBD is inserted as a copy, is it not linked to the content in the RBD Library and you can make any necessary changes to it after its insertion.

Or, click Insert as Link if you want to insert the selected RBD as a new RBD linked to the RBD in the RBD Library. When the RBD is inserted as a link, it is linked to the original in the RBD Library and it can only be modified by pushing updates from the RBD Library containing the original RBD.

Click Back to Analysis in the Sidebar menu to return to your Analysis.

Building up the RBD Library from your RBDs

The most common method of building up your RBD Library is adding information from a completed RBD analysis to it. 

To add RBDs to an RBD Library, from within the RBD pane of the RBD you wish to add, and click Add to RBD Library from the Library toolbar button drop down.

If you have more than one RBD Library, the Library dialog appears, which allows you to select the preferred RBD Library. Once selected, click OK.

Otherwise, the Add to RBD Library dialog appears.

Click Yes to add the RBD to the RBD Library.

If an RBD with the same name already exists in the destination RBD Library, you are prompted whether or not to continue. Click Yes or No.

If any Blocks in the RBD have links to another Relyence module, such as Reliability Prediction, you are prompted whether or not to continue. Click Yes or No.

The Add to RBD Library dialog appears once the data in the RBD Library has been updated.

Click Close to dismiss the confirmation dialog.

Note how it now shows the RBD and any Subdiagrams with a grey linked ring icon in the All RBDs pane, indicating the details for the RBD(s) are stored in a Library. The RBD and its blocks, which are linked to the RBD Library, cannot be edited directly in the Analysis; details in the RBD pane and Properties panes are displayed but disabled, except for the Description field. Updates to the RBD must be made in the RBD Library and pushed to the Analysis; or the RBD must be unlinked from the RBD Library in order to allow edits. Use the options from the Library toolbar button - Go to RBD Library and Unlink from RBD Library, as needed.

The steps above explain how to add a single RBD to an RBD Library from within an Analysis. Note that you can also build a new RBD Library to store all RBDs from the Analysis by using the Build Library option from the Libraries menu in the Sidebar. Building an RBD Library with the RBDs in your Analysis is explained in the Building an RBD Library from an Analysis topic of this guide.

Using the RBD Library when performing RBD Analysis

The power of the RBD Library becomes apparent when you utilize it when performing your RBD analysis. As you are working on your RBD analysis, you can search the RBD Library using the built-in search capabilities to locate RBDs stored in it and pull that data into your current RBD analysis. As your RBD Library grows, the effort required to build your RBDs is significantly reduced.

To search the RBD Library while in your Analysis, in the All RBDs pane click the dropdown arrow next to Insert and click RBD from Library to search the RBD Library.

The Search RBDs dialog appears.

You can perform an RBD Library search using Name, Identifier and/or Description. 

In the Search dialog, enter in a portion of the text, or the full text, in the Name, Identifier and/or Description fields. Click the Search button to start the RBD Library search. The list of matches will appear in the table. The search results table includes other information: other related event data, the usage count (the number of times the particular event is used in your RBDs), and which RBD Library the match is from. The table is sorted by Usage Count in descending order, unless you use the Options to sort by Name.

As needed, use the Options link to establish your preferred sorting option.

Use the Sort By options to select your preferred sort order:

• Usage Count - sorts based on the count of number of times the library item is use across Analyses
• Name - sorts alphabetically based on the library item Name

Select Insert for the RBD you wish to insert into your Analysis by selecting the Insert checkbox. Click the Insert button to insert the RBD into your Analysis.

Click Insert as Copy if you want to insert the selected RBD as a new RBD which is not linked to the original RBD in the RBD Library.

Or, click Insert as Link if you want to insert the selected RBD as a new RBD linked to the original RBD in the RBD Library. Upon review of the newly added RBD from the Library, you will see it is noted as linked with the grey linked ring icon next to the Name.

Click Close to close the Search RBDs dialog and return to the RBD in the Analysis.

RBDs that are linked to the RBD Library show the graphical image and Properties as read-only in the RBDs pane.

In the RBDs pane, from the Library toolbar button, you can:

• click Go to RBD Library to review and/or edit the RBD in the RBD Library to which it is linked; any updates made in the RBD Library can then be pushed to be applied within any Analysis where the RBD is linked.
• click Unlink from RBD Library to unlink the RBD and make any necessary edits to the RBD in the Analysis; once unlinked, any updates made to the RBD in the RBD Library will not be applied to the RBD in the Analysis when updates are pushed.

Pushing out RBD Library updates

Another powerful feature of RBD Libraries is in keeping all your RBD data tied to the RBD Library in sync. For example, you may have an RBD in the RBD Library that is used in multiple places in one or more Analyses. If any data, for example, changes for that RBD, you can change the data once in the RBD Library and use the RBD Library Push feature to propagate that change to all uses of the RBD in all applicable Analyses.

You manage the Push function, so you are in control of how and when the updates are made to your RBDs. For example, you may want to let your teammates know about a data push prior to initiating. Or, you may want to only push the changes at certain times, perhaps weekly or monthly. You can find details regarding controlling Push updates in the Setting Permissions section of Managing your Users, Groups, and Permissions.

To perform a push, open the RBD Library where you've made changes to an RBD and click Push from the toolbar.

The Push Library Changes dialog appears.

If there are no changes to be pushed, the dialog will indicate this. In this case, click the Close button to close the dialog.

Otherwise, the dialog will display a list of all the Analyses, Revisions, and Libraries that will be updated. Review the list and select or deselect the Analyses, Revisions, and RBD Libraries which should be updated by the Push.

When you want to proceed and complete the Push, click Yes, otherwise click No to return to the library.

All updates to your RBDs tied to the RBD Library information will automatically be made. 

Once the Push is complete, the Push Library Changes dialog appears.

You can review where changes were made in any Analysis, Revision and RBD Library. When you have completed reviewing, click Close to close the dialog.

Click Back to Analysis in the Sidebar menu to return to your Analysis.

Viewing data ties to RBD Libraries

You can view usage of RBD Library data at any time by opening the RBD Library, selecting an RBD, and clicking View Usage from the Library toolbar button drop down list.

The Library Usage dialog appears with the list of Analyses where the RBDs from this RBD Library are used.

Click Close when finished viewing.

Creating Multiple RBD Libraries

Relyence will create and maintain a single RBD Library for you. You can rename this RBD Library, or create additional RBD Libraries using the Manage Analyses function which appears in the Account Management dropdown menu in the upper right of the Header Bar.

For more details, see the Using the Manage Analyses Function topic of this guide.

New RBD Libraries can also be created from the View All dialog; for more details, see the Using the View All Function topic of this guide.