This activity is used to define what can be installed in a certain structure position depending on what has been installed in a different position. The contents of a structure position (the part installed in the position) can put constraints on what can and cannot be installed in other structure positions of the same serial structure template. This is an extension to the defined alternates for each of the structure positions, and requires definition of alternates prior to definition of dependencies.
Each dependency is a rule between the master structure position (the structure position that requires something from other positions) and the dependent structure position (the structure position the requirement is put upon). Each rule is defined by:
A combination of type Requires for a certain structure position will result in requiring a set of parts being installed in other positions, while a combination of type Excludes for a certain structure position will result in excluding a set of parts being installed in other positions.
If no dependency rules are defined it means that no dependencies are required for the positions. This is to make the functionality as generic as possible, and customers that do not want this functionality will not have to establish all possible combinations as allowed.
The serial structure template must be defined, and alternate parts must be defined.
The dependencies are available to use in serial structures, and the configurations of serial structures will be validated against this definition.