This note will help Builder Users avoid unintended changes to material composition when a material is reused in multiple HPDs.
A material is entered into the HPD Builder, the name of the material can subsequently be searched on and the material can be selected for reuse in multiple HPDs published by the same manufacturer. This feature is intended to ease data entry for manufacturers where the same material is used in multiple products with no variation. All information associated with that material is intended to be identical in all HPDs where the material is used.
Once a material has been created, it is possible to alter the information about the Material. This can be done by editing the material as it appears in any HPD in which it has been included in the Content Inventory list. However, if you edit any of information about the material in one HPD, it will be automatically changed in all other HPDs where that material is used. If, in fact, you do not wish to have other uses of the material in HPDs be altered, it is necessary to create a new material, rather than attempt to edit the existing material.
Alert to Users: At this time, if any changes in a material are made in one HPD, they will automatically propagate into other HPDs where the material is present. There will be no notification within the Builder of these automatically propagated changes.
We recommend judicious reuse of existing material records, in order to avoid unanticipated and/or unwanted changes in other HPDs where the material is also present.
To avoid unwanted changes to other HPDs, you must create a new material, with a distinctive name, as illustrated in this example:
Example: if the existing material is "Latex Precoat," enter "Latex Precoat-1 for the second use of the material, where one or more characteristics (including weight, role, manufacturer, etc, as well as included substances) need to be altered.
Further notes on entering materials: If you enter or select the name of an existing material, whether in the "Use Existing Material," or in the "Add a New Material" section of the Builder, all information associated with that material will be added to your HPD. To avoid this automated population of the data, select "Add a New Material" and enter a name that is not presently in use. (You can determine if the name you are entering is currently in use by examining the drop-down list presented under "Choose an Existing Material.")
At this time there is no warning to the Builder user that a material name is already in use in other records, or method to determine where those other uses are. It is also not, at present, possible to load in the existing material and edit the name to create a new material, if any characteristics are to be altered. All data must be reentered under a new material name. We are working to implement this additional functionality to make it easier for Builder users to create new materials based on existing materials, and will notify Builder users when this functionality is available.