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Workspace setup

When a new workspace is created in MatStream, the platform automatically seeds a set of base configuration to give you a meaningful starting point. This page describes what is seeded and what you need to configure yourself.

What is seeded automatically

When your workspace is created, MatStream seeds the following:

Root folder

A root folder entity is created automatically. This is the top-level container in the Explorer folder tree. It cannot be deleted and is not visible as a regular entity — it is the structural anchor for the folder hierarchy.

Base categories

A small set of base categories is created:

Category Family type Notes
Root Root System category for the workspace root. Not selectable.
Folder Folder Used for folder browser entities. No lifecycle assigned.
Task Occurrence Carries the Task behaviour — due date, assignee, estimated hours.
Occurrence Occurrence Generic linked occurrence.
File Occurrence Occurrence An occurrence that carries a file.
Document Definition For file-based library entities.
Item Definition Generic item definition.
Person Definition For person records.
Company Definition For company / supplier / customer records.

All of these except Root and Folder are assigned the default lifecycle (see below).

Note

These are starting-point categories. Your administrator can add, rename, and configure additional categories to match your organisation's specific requirements.

Default lifecycle

A lifecycle definition named Default Lifecycle is created with the following states and transitions:

States:

State Role
Work in Progress Initial state — entity is being worked on
For Review Submitted for review
Approved Approved, ready for release
Released Final released state

Transitions:

From To Purpose
Work in Progress For Review Submit for review
For Review Approved Approve
For Review Work in Progress Reject back for rework
Approved Released Release
Released Work in Progress Start a new revision cycle

All base categories (except Folder) are assigned this lifecycle by default.

Note

The default lifecycle is a starting point. Your administrator can create additional lifecycle definitions and assign them to specific categories to match your approval processes.

Administrators group

An Administrators user group is created and the workspace owner is added to it. This happens as part of workspace creation, so a workspace always has an administrator whether or not anyone runs the Setup Wizard. It is a system group and cannot be deleted.

Base properties

The following properties are created and available across all categories:

Property Type Searchable
Description Text Yes
Birth Date Date No
Comments Memo Yes

These properties are not automatically assigned to any category's display tabs — your administrator adds them to the relevant categories via the Properties tab in category configuration.

What you need to configure

After workspace creation, your administrator should:

  1. Review and extend categories — add domain-specific categories for your organisation (e.g. Purchased Part, Assembly, Work Instruction)
  2. Configure properties per category — assign the relevant properties to each category's display tabs
  3. Configure lifecycle definitions — create additional lifecycles if different categories need different approval processes
  4. Configure revision schemes — set up revision schemes and assign them to categories that require formal revision tracking
  5. Configure numbering schemes — set up automatic numbering for each category
  6. Set up user groups — configure groups with appropriate permissions and add workspace users

Most of this can be done faster with the Setup Wizard, described below.

Setup Wizard

The Setup Wizard, available from the workspace's Setup page in MatStream Manage, seeds ready-made configuration templates instead of building categories, lifecycles, and properties by hand. It offers three templates — Engineering Project, Document Control and Integrations — each with options you can check independently.

Using the wizard

  1. Open the workspace in MatStream Manage and go to Setup.
  2. In the Choose step, check what you want to apply. Checking a template selects everything under it; you can also check its options individually.
  3. Click any item in the tree to see a short explanation of what it sets up in the panel on the right.
  4. Click Next to review your selection, then Apply.

While it runs, a progress bar shows how far along it is and the log below lists each item as it is created. Anything that already exists is skipped silently — it advances the progress bar but stays out of the log, so what you see listed is what was actually added. That also makes the wizard safe to re-run.

Engineering Project

Engineering Project → Engineering Project Configuration is the main option, and it sets up considerably more than its name suggests — it builds a complete engineering and procurement workspace.

The project itself

  • Engineering, Purchasing, Production and Document Control user groups, ready to be granted lifecycle transition permissions.
  • A Project folder category with the Project behaviour, its own lifecycle (In Preparation → Work in Progress → On Hold → Closed / Cancelled), and core properties (Title, Description, Client PO Number, SO Number, Shipping Address, Client).
  • Contact Persons, Documents, Tasks and Milestones tabs, so a Project immediately has somewhere to track people, files, work and dated checkpoints.
  • A Company library with Is Client / Is Supplier / Is a Lead flags — the same record serves as customer and supplier.

The engineering model

  • Definition categories Part, Assembly, Weld Assembly, Instrument, Equipment and WPS, grouped in the category tree under a parent called Item.
  • A shared Stock Number numbering scheme, so an item's number is its name.
  • BOM / Uses tabs on Part, Assembly and Weld Assembly, plus a Welds tab on Weld Assembly, and Documents and Drawings tabs throughout.
  • An Engineering Lifecycle (Work in Progress → For Review → Approved → Released → Obsolete) applied to all six definition categories, with Senior Engineers and Junior Engineers groups and per-transition permissions already configured.
  • A BOM Folder folder category, so the placed BOM sits in its own folder inside the project and can carry its own Explorer column layout.

Procurement

  • Purchase Order, with Material Requirement Line and Purchase Order Line grouped underneath it.
  • A Procurement Lifecycle (Engineering → Ready for Procurement → Reserved / Ordered → Delivered → Assembled) attached to BOM Position, so an engineer can flag an item as ready to buy.
  • A Purchase Order Lifecycle (Open → Issued → Received → Closed).

Engineering Project Sample Data, checked by default, additionally seeds a Sample Engineering Project containing a real piping BOM (a Lube Oil system with around 30 parts and a welded header), example milestones and tasks, and a client and a supplier company. It is the fastest way to see the whole model working before you configure anything of your own. Uncheck it if you want the configuration only — an empty workspace ready for your own data.

Expand the BOM to see it

In the sample project, the BOM folder contains one item — the Lube Oil system. Expand it and its bill of materials is materialised into the Explorer tree as individual parts, each one a real entity with its own lifecycle that a buyer can act on.

Document Control

Document Control → Document Control Configuration installs a complete, revision-aware issue process:

  • Controlled Document, Transmittal, Submittal and hidden Document Issue Line categories.
  • Separate controlled-document, outgoing-transmittal and incoming-submittal lifecycles.
  • Alphabetic document revisions and DOC / TR / SUB numbering schemes.
  • A Documents tab on each package for adding controlled documents through Library Search.
  • An issue automation which pins every package line to the exact document version visible when the transmittal is issued or the submittal is received.
  • A4 landscape Word print templates for outgoing and incoming document registers.
  • Live worklists for open packages, awaiting and overdue responses, and rejected document lines that require an update.

Document Control Sample Project seeds Projects/2026/P-2026-0042 - Cooling Water Pump Skid. It contains five controlled documents, client / supplier / third-party companies, four outgoing transmittals and two incoming submittals. One transmittal is issued while the General Arrangement is revision A; the document is then advanced to revision B. Opening or printing the original transmittal still resolves revision A. The sample also includes received remarks, a rejected manual and overdue responses.

Steps the wizard does not do

Two things still need a person after the wizard runs:

  1. Add users to the Senior Engineers and Junior Engineers groups. The groups are created empty, so until someone is a member, only administrators can move items through the Engineering Lifecycle. See Users & groups.
  2. Attach and configure the Create Material Requirement automation on the Procurement Lifecycle's Engineering → Ready for Procurement transition, if you want requirements raised automatically. See Automations.

Tip

Other domain templates — Quality Management, Inventory Management — are added over time. Check the wizard tree for what's currently available in your version of MatStream.

Re-running the wizard

Everything the wizard creates is matched by name, so re-running it is safe — existing items are skipped rather than duplicated, and the summary tells you how many of each were created versus skipped.

The flip side is that matching by name means the wizard will not update something that already exists. If a category, property or lifecycle is already present, its settings are left exactly as they are — even if the template would now create it differently. To pick up changed template settings you either adjust the item by hand or start from a new workspace.

If the wizard reports "did not fully apply", fix the reported problem and click Run again — it resumes from where it stopped.