Related Objects

You can use ArcFM to establish relationships between features, between features and objects, and between objects in your geodatabase. To do so, a relationship class must exist for each type of relationship. Information about creating a relationship class is available in the ArcFM Solution Configuration Guide.

There are multiple methods for creating a relationship between features, objects, or between features and objects:

Add Related Object: Associate related features or objects with a feature or object before it is placed on the map.
Create Related Object: Create a new feature or object and relate it to an existing feature or object.
Locate and Relate Object: Uses the Locator tool to search for an existing feature or object and relate it to a selected feature or object in the map.

Cardinality: All relationships are created with cardinality rules (e.g., one to one, one to many, many to many). ArcFM respects this cardinality when establishing relationships between features. For example, a user may want to related a Support Structure and a Transformer:

One to One: Only one Support Structure may be assigned to one Transformer and vice versa. ArcFM allows neither multiple Support Structures on a single Transformer nor multiple Transformers on a single Support Structure.

One to Many: Assume the cardinality is set such that one Support Structure can have multiple related Transformers (this is an example; yours may be different). It will not allow multiple Support Structures to be assigned to a single Transformer. ArcFM does not enforce custom business rules regarding cardinality (e.g., the specific number of Transformers that may be assigned to a Support Structure).

ArcMap only supports soft relates to unversioned features or features outside the workspace. If the related object resides inside the workspace and is versioned, you will need to construct a relationship class to capture version differences in the related table.