Altium 365 - Altium Designer Workspace

Applies to version: 19.0

An integral part of the Altium 365 cloud-based infrastructure platform (provided with Altium Designer Subscription Services, or by having Altium Concord Pro (hosted on Altium 365)), the Altium Designer Workspace is a dedicated, cloud-hosted server for all your managed content. It facilitates the seamless connectivity of, and the mechanics for moving data between, the design, manufacturing and supply domains. It works seamlessly, and harmoniously with Altium Designer to provide an elegant answer to the question of handling design data with secured integrity. The Altium Designer Workspace not only provides rock-solid, secure storage of data, but also enables re-release of data as distinctly separate revisions - essentially tracking design changes over time, without overwriting any previously released data. It also caters for the lifecycle of the data to be managed, allowing people that need to use the data to see, at-a-glance, what stage the data has reached in its 'life' and therefore what it can be safely used for.

Depending on your level of access to Altium 365, the Altium Designer Workspace can accommodate all managed data, including components, domain models, schematic sheets of circuitry and design templates. Indeed, you can even create and manage your entire design projects directly within the Workspace, with a CAD-centric management view that facilitates collaborative review and commenting of a design and revisions of its released BOM. Through a dedicated Manufacturing Portal you can view and navigate the released Assembly and Fabrication data, inspect the BOM, and ultimately download the data into a manufacturing Build Package. A chosen release can also be shared - as a Manufacturing Package - directly with your manufacturer.

By furnishing a set of reusable design 'building blocks' within the Altium Designer Workspace, you can embark on fresh projects safe in the knowledge that each model, component, and higher-order design element has been ratified and approved for use, with no having to reinvent the wheel as it were. The Workspace becomes both the source and destination of design elements, with each new design utilizing elements released to, and managed through, the Workspace. And by designing only with elements from the Altium Designer Workspace, the integrity of those designs is inherently assured.


Server Items

Within the Altium Designer Workspace, each design entity that can be stored, managed, and reused, is represented as a specific type of Item. An Item is uniquely identified within the Workspace and can contain any number of Revisions, where a revision contains the data for that Item. Each time a change is made to the data contained within a revision - which for most Item types can be edited directly within an associated temporary editor - it is committed (or re-released) into a new revision of that Item, meaning that no existing revision can ever be overwritten, and thereby ensuring the highest integrity.

An Item can have any number of revisions, which are essentially an evolution of that Item over time. A change is made and the new data content is committed/uploaded/released into a new revision. The data stored in each revision of an item is therefore typically different. To identify between these different revisions of an Item, a revision identifier (ID) is used, which in combination with the Item ID creates a unique identifier for each release of an Item. This gives us the Item-Revision.

Another important aspect of an Item Revision is its Lifecycle State. This is another identifier that can be used to quickly assess what stage that revision has currently reached in its life, and what designers are therefore authorized to do with it. Where the Revision reflects design changes made to the Item, the Lifecycle State reflects the state of the item from a business perspective, such as Planned, New From Design, For Production, Obsolete, and so on.

Read about Server Items.

The Explorer Panel

From within Altium Designer, component management is streamlined through use of the Components panel and Manufacturer Part Search panel. However, another interface to your Workspace is Altium Designer's Explorer panel. From this panel you can perform many activities, including :

  • Creating and managing the organizational structure used in the Workspace.
  • Creating any number of Items, each representative of a design object.
  • Direct editing and placement of Item Revisions.
  • Reviewing and managing the lifecycle of Item revisions.
  • Interrogating the usage of a particular Item revision (Where-Used).
  • Browsing and managing supply chain information for Component Items.
  • Downloading stored data, including data generated through the managed release of board design projects.

The Explorer panel becomes your trusty right-hand, presenting a collection of features that can really enhance your productivity when working with the Workspace through Altium Designer.

While much of your day-to-day working with the Altium Designer Workspace will be through the Components panel and Explorer panel, you will also need to interact with the Workspace through its browser interface - especially for accessing the CAD-centric management view for a project, and also for administrative purposes. The browser interface is intuitive, streamlined and with functionality and familiarity that will have you feeling like you have never left the comfort of your Altium Designer software. For more information, see Exploring a Workspace.

Direct Editing

The Altium Designer Workspace provides a flexible and secure method of centralizing the storage and management of all types of design data used in Altium Designer. From the schematic model to the component, from managed sheets through to completed PCB designs, the Altium Designer Workspace delivers an ideal method of storing and managing your electronic design data.

Many design entities can be edited and released into the initial revision of a corresponding, and newly-created server Item, courtesy of the Workspace's support for direct editing. Direct editing frees you from the shackles of separate version-controlled source data. You can simply edit a supported Item type using a temporary editor loaded with the latest source direct from the server itself. And once editing is complete, the entity is released (or re-released) into a subsequent planned revision of its parent Item, and the temporary editor closed. There are no files on your hard drive, no questioning whether you are working with the correct or latest source, and no having to maintain separate version control software. The Altium Designer Workspace handles it all, with the same great integrity you've come to expect, and in a manner that greatly expedites changes to your data.

And at any stage, you can come back to any revision of a supported Item in the Workspace, and edit it directly. Simply right-click on the revision and choose the Edit command from the context menu. Once again, the temporary editor will open, with the entity contained in the revision opened for editing. Make changes as required, then commit the release of the document into the next revision of the item.


Managed Components

Altium Designer, with its unified design approach, has traditionally used a component model that extends across all aspects of the electronics design process. However, to seamlessly fit the process of electronics design into the encapsulating product development process as a whole, this model needs to evolve - extending to cover other aspects including other design processes (in particular MCAD and Industrial Design), as well as business processes (such as procurement and manufacturing) that intersect with the product development process.

This evolved object model is known as the Unified Component Model.

Under this modeling paradigm, the design component, as seen by the designer, is separated from the Manufacturer and/or Vendor parts. This information is not defined as part of the component. Instead, Part Choices are used to map the design component to one or more Manufacturer Parts, listed in a Part Catalog, which in turn can be mapped to one or more Vendor parts, allowing the designer to state up-front, what real parts can be used for any given design component used in a design.

These components, along with their part choices, are stored in the Altium Designer Workspace. A component is stored as a series of revisions of a uniquely-identifiable Component Item. Each revision is lifecycle-managed, providing collections of certified components, authorized to be re-instantiated into new design projects, manufactured into prototypes, or used for production runs. In short, a catalog of components implemented through server-based 'libraries'.

Full managed component support is available with Altium Concord Pro on Altium 365. Altium Designer Subscription Services supports Cloud Components. Cloud Components are a lite variation of Managed Components, without lifecycle management and advanced where-used capabilities.
Altium Designer's Components panel provides a powerful interface with which to interact with all your components - both managed (server-based) and library (file-based). And for your managed components, the panel provides a filter-based parametric (faceted) search capability, for specifying target component parameters. In addition, the panel also offers options to edit a managed component through the Component Editor (in its Single Component Editing mode), view the component in its source server via the Explorer panel, and perform component management functions such as component creation and cloning, or editing the selected component's Part Choices and Type.
By using Altium Designer's Manufacturer Part Search panel, you can search for real-world manufactured parts, then acquire those parts into your Workspace. Acquisition involves creating a new managed component - using the Component Editor in its Single Component Editing mode - and releasing to the Workspace.

Centralized Project Management

The Altium Designer Workspace, in conjunction with Altium Designer, brings support for Managed Projects. Managed Projects target the development stage of the project lifecycle, simplifying the creation and ongoing workflow for version controlled projects. Centralized storage under the control of the Altium Designer Workspace also enables this feature to be a foundation for other collaborative services.

Some key benefits to using Managed Projects are:

  • Simplified storage. No need to make decisions about storage locations. Backup and other basic services are taken care of.
  • Foundation for collaborative features.
  • Enforced version control.
  • Beneficiary of a dedicated commenting system.
  • Notifications and status. Document status including local modifications is visible to entire design teams.
  • Concurrent PCB design works without any complex setup.

Management is performed through the Projects page of the Altium Designer Workspace's browser interface. New managed projects can be created through this interface, or through the Create Project dialog in Altium Designer.

You can also access a manufacturing orientated CAD-centric view of the project which offers Design, BOM and Manufacturing view options:

  • Design - display and navigate source project design documents, view design object properties and place review comments. This view uses the Web Review interface. This view is for the latest version of the source project data, rather than a specified release from that project, and so could be considered to be a work-in-progress (WIP) view. You can view the base design, or any defined variant thereof.
  • BOM - view the source project's Bill Of Materials information.
  • Manufacturing - view the releases for the project. Access is provided for opening a release, which will be presented on a separate tab through a Manufacturing Portal. From this portal you can view and navigate the released Assembly and Fabrication data, inspect the BOM, and ultimately download the data into a manufacturing Build Package. A chosen release can also be sent - as a Manufacturing Package - directly to your manufacturer. The Altium 365 platform provides a Global Sharing service. At the heart of this service is a dedicated Package Viewer, which allows others to view a manufacturing package from any web browser - anywhere in the world - but outside of your Workspace, so that your designs themselves, and other valuable IP, are kept off limits.
The beauty of Managed Projects is that they are version controlled by default, and can be collaboratively worked upon without having to worry about shared drives, servers, agreements etc. Version control is handled courtesy of the Altium Designer Workspace's built-in GIT version control service.
Alternatively, you can keep your project unmanaged (a regular, or VCS-based project), but make a synchronized copy of it available online - sending it to your cloud-based Workspace. This enables you to take advantage of the collaborative benefits offered through Altium 365. 

ECAD-MCAD Co-Design

Most electronic products that are designed are fixed to some kind of mechanical structure - either a chassis, or an enclosure. Finding a mechanical conflict between board (ECAD) and chassis/enclosure (MCAD) late in the design process can be a costly experience. And while you could get a 3D model exported from Altium Designer, it is a manual process that needs conscious decision and action to do so. In reality, this is performed very infrequently, with the result being that the MCAD designer is never quite sure if what they've got is the latest and greatest. It really shouldn’t be so hard to ensure you’re not about to waste a pile of money just because your tools don’t talk.

Altium 365 provides native ECAD to MCAD collaboration where data flows seamlessly between domains. No more polling for updates, and no more uncertainty. Data is pushed between domains as the design evolves, ensuring design coherence.

The following MCAD platforms and versions are currently supported:

Use of the ECAD-MCAD capability requires no additional licensing when working with Autodesk Inventor or PTC Creo. To work with SOLIDWORKS, you will need to obtain the relevant licensing through your SOLIDWORKS Channel. Note that this is a matter of compliance - reflected through Altium 365's EULA. It is your responsibility to obtain the relevant licensing from SOLIDWORKS, in order to satisfy this compliance.
ECAD-MCAD co-design capability is available only when you have active Altium Subscription for your Altium Designer licensing, and have Altium Concord Pro (hosted on Altium 365). An additional page - MCAD Plugins - will be available through your Altium Designer Workspace's browser interface. From here, you can acquire the plugin required to add this co-design functionality to your MCAD design software installation. Both Altium Designer and the MCAD software Push and Pull design changes back and forth via a panel in the software. The panel (MCAD CoDesigner panel) is always available in Altium Designer's PCB editor, for the MCAD software (where it's called the Altium CoDesigner panel, or Tab) it requires the installation of the corresponding plugin.

Component Synchronization

The Altium Designer Workspace facilitates the uni- or bi-directional synchronization of component data (including part choices) with your enterprise systems. A configuration file allows you to specify the direction of synchronization and therefore which parameters are mastered in which system. Component data synchronization between the Workspace and the target enterprise system uses a built-in synchronization process. which may be manually triggered or set as timed repeating event.

In addition, direct support is provided for the following enterprise systems:

  • PTC Windchill® PLM (11.0 M030)
  • Arena® PLM
  • Oracle® Agile™ PLM

Interface configuration is performed through the Workspace's browser interface, with the connection setup and parameter mapping defined within an XML-based configuration file (uploaded to the Workspace). A smart configuration generator is also included to help in creating custom connection to enterprise systems.

When the synchronization process first adds a component's data in the target system, the generated item number is passed back to the component in the Workspace as a PlmPartNumber parameter.  This acts as the key parameter when synchronizing data between the Workspace and the enterprise system instance. In addition, the configuration can be arranged so that item parameters/attributes on the enterprise system side will update properties in the Workspace (configurable per field), without having to formally release a new revision of that Component Item.

This capability is available only when you have active Altium Subscription for your Altium Designer licensing, and have Altium Concord Pro (hosted on Altium 365).
The Altium Designer Workspace does not offer full PLM integration - this level of integration is only available through Altium NEXUS.

Part Source Configuration

Each Altium Designer Workspace has its own dedicated Part Catalog. This is a managed part catalog database, dedicated to the management and tracking of manufacturer parts and their associated supplier parts. The catalog works only with the Altium Designer Workspace.

The Part Catalog stores items representative of actual Manufacturer Parts, along with one or more items representative of Supplier Parts - the incarnations of those Manufacturer Parts, as sold by the Suppliers/Vendors. Each Supplier Part is a reference to an item in the aggregate parts database of the Altium Parts Provider (which itself interfaces to, and gathers the parts from, enabled Suppliers).

Which Suppliers are actually used - a list of Approved Suppliers - is managed by the Altium Designer Workspace, through the Part Providers page of its browser-based interface. This facilitates centralized supply chain management, with designers across the entire organization using the same approved list of Suppliers, with which to source supply chain intelligence for parts used in their designs.

With Altium Concord Pro on Altium 365 you also have the ability to add custom ODBC-based part providers.

Data Acquisition

Altium facilitates the ability for an organization to copy the content they need from a source server, and deliver it to a second target server - a process referred to simply as Server Data Acquisition. By acquiring design content, ownership is placed firmly in the hands of the receiving organization, who are free to make modifications and maintain the content - in their Altium Designer Workspace - as they desire moving forward. And by keeping a link between the acquired data and its original source, intelligent handling of the data can be performed, including notification when the source of any copied content is updated. And no matter if additional releases have been made to an item in the Altium Designer Workspace, there is always the possibility to revert to a previous revision from the source server - all by keeping a link back to the item's original source, or Origin.

Acquisition is performed using the Content Cart dialog. Access to this dialog is made from within the Explorer panel. While browsing the source server from which you wish to obtain data, simply right-click on the revision of a supported Item type that you wish to acquire (or a folder of components, for example), and choose the Add to Content Cart command from the context menu.

 

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