This activity is used to copy an existing serial structure into a new structure without serial numbers. This function is useful when the serial structure you are building is more similar to an existing serial structure than to the template structure. This could happen if the serial structure uses alternates in many places. When this activity is used, you can select to automatically generate serial numbers for the serials in the copied structure or leave the serial number empty to enter at a later stage.
When a new serial is created, the next level of the serial structure is created automatically with empty structure positions. Empty structure positions, also called Not Installed structure positions, refer to the structure positions where expected serials or parts are missing from the serial structure. When a serial structure is copied to the new serial, the structure positions will be marked as installed, i.e., the Item Installed option will be selected. Note: If the serial structure you are copying is an incomplete structure containing empty structure positions, these empty structure positions will be copied to the new serial structure as well.
If serial data has been entered into an empty structure position prior to performing this activity, this structure position has become installed and you will not be allowed to copy a serial structure. However, if the structure position is disconnected, i.e., through a part or serial removal, and there are no structural items connected to the new serial, you can then perform the copy of a serial structure.
You can open the Copy Structure From Serial assistant by selecting the Copy Serial Structure option in Serial Structure dropdown of Manage Serial Structure/Consist of tab.
An alternative to copying a serial structure is to import an entire template structure or level by level. For more information on importing template structures, refer the activity Import Template Structure.
To perform this activity, the node in the serial structure to copy must have been created.