Conversations are threaded discussions between collaborators within a Review Session. They serve as a structured way to communicate change requests, design questions, and review feedback — all linked to specific entities in the module.
Access: Open the Conversations window from the Review Session Ribbon (Conversations panel).
🏭 Pharma Example — Discussing a Valve Position Discrepancy During Review
During a FAT review of a CIP acid wash process, the client's validator notices that valve VP-210 is set to "closed" during Step 4 (Acid Recirculation), but the P&ID specification requires it to be "open" for acid return flow. The validator creates a conversation linked to "VP-210 status in Step 4," describing the discrepancy. The process engineer replies with an @mention of the project lead, quoting the original design note. After discussion, the engineer corrects VP-210's state and the validator re-validates the step. The conversation is then closed, and the resolution is permanently recorded in the session history.
📋 Conversations List
The conversations window displays all conversations in the current review session. Each entry shows:
🖱️ Actions
Each conversation entry provides:
|
Action |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Locate button |
Automatically navigates the Module Ribbon to the referenced entity — switches to the correct Process, Step, Condition, or selects the Valve on the P&ID |
|
More options |
Menu with options to Locate or to Open/Close the conversation topic |
Click on any conversation to open the message thread.
💭 Message Thread
Inside a conversation, messages are displayed in chronological order. Each message shows the author, timestamp, and content.
✍️ Text Input Features
The message input supports:
|
Feature |
How |
|---|---|
|
Syntax highlighting |
Process names, Step names, Valve tags, and other entity references are automatically highlighted in the text |
|
@Mentions |
Type @ to mention any collaborator — a popup appears with the list of project collaborators to select from |
|
Reply / Quote |
Right-click any message to reply to it — the original message is quoted in your reply for context |
Note: Both the input field and existing messages display entity references with highlighting, making it easy to identify which entities are being discussed.
➕ Creating a Conversation
Press the + button at the bottom-right of the conversations window. Fill in:
|
Field |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Subject |
A descriptive topic for the conversation |
|
Entity |
The entity this conversation is about — selected from the currently active context |
🎯 Available Entities
The entity dropdown shows entities based on your current navigation state in the Module Ribbon:
|
Available Entity |
When Shown |
|---|---|
|
Active Process |
When a Process is selected |
|
Active Step |
When a Step is selected |
|
Active Condition |
When a Condition is selected |
|
Selected Valve's Status |
When a Valve is selected in the current Step |
Tip: If the entity you want to discuss is not in the list, navigate to it first using the Module Ribbon navigation controls. The list updates dynamically based on your current selection.
🔓 Opening and Closing Conversations
Conversations have two states:
|
State |
Meaning |
|---|---|
|
Open |
Active discussion — the topic is unresolved |
|
Closed |
The discussion is concluded — the change request has been addressed or the question answered |
To change the state, use the More options menu on the conversation entry and select Close or Reopen.
Important: When completing a Review Session, a warning appears if there are still open conversations. All conversations should be closed before finalizing the review.
🔗 Relationship with Validation
Conversations and Validation work together within a review session:
-
A conversation can raise a concern about an entity -> the entity may need to be modified -> modification invalidates the existing validation -> the entity must be re-validated
-
Closing all conversations and completing all validations are both criteria for session completion
-
The entity localization on each conversation helps validators quickly navigate to the exact entity under discussion
🔗 Related Pages
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Review Sessions — parent page for collaborative review
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Validation — hash-based entity validation system
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Review Session Ribbon — ribbon panels including Conversations panel
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Module Ribbon — navigation controls for entity selection