Design Reviews

Select the button on the Design Reviews page to create a Design Review instance that applies to the currently open design project.

The created Design Review opens in its Overview summary mode and applies to a snapshot of the current design, as available for viewing and commenting through the Design Snapshot option in the navigation tree.

Edit the review’s title and description to best identify the Design Review to other Workspace members. Note that the current committed version of the design can be opened by selecting the version tile immediately below the title/description entry. This is the latest commit by default, and the name will include its Tag if available.

In the version tile, click on the commit name entry to set the Design Review to another/previous project commit from the drop-down options.

Use the Reviewers options to add Workspace members who are required to action the review. Choose from the Suggested names or begin typing an email/name in the field to select from matching Workspace members. You can enter any other user's email address, but they will need to become a Workspace member to access Design Reviews – see Inviting other Users to Your Workspace for related information.

Click the button to confirm your selections. When an added Reviewer does not have access to the design, the Share window will open automatically with that user preselected for sharing. If the user is not member of the Workspace – or is an existing Guest – then the external sharing window will open with the Invite these people to your Workspace option as a fixed selection, since only Workspace members can participate in Design Reviews.

Optional: Add a preconfigured list of review check items from the available Checklist Templates. Multiple templates can be added to the review's Checklist, which can include your own custom templates.

The selected template will add its check items to the review instance. Use an entry's control to remove a check item from the list (a number have been removed in this example), or the upper control to remove the entire list.

Select the control if you wish to add another Checklist template to the current Design Review.

Choose from the available Checklist templates in the Add Templates to Checklist window. These include sample templates and any custom templates you have created – see Checklists view for more information. Here, the custom Parts Acceptance template is selected.

The Parts Acceptance template has added three check items to the current review Checklist. During the review process, Reviewers can confirm any check items as completed, not completed, or not applicable.

A further custom check item (or an item list) can be added manually at any time through the upper ‘Add item' field, which will be appended to any existing list of check items.

Note that the current list of check items can be saved as a new Checklist Template () – for related information, see the Checklists view on the Admin – Settings page. Hover over a Checklist entry to access its Delete option (), click on the entry to edit its text, or drag the entry to a new position in the Checklist order.

Optional: Use the Attach Files option to add (upload) files that relate to the project Design Review and will assist in the review and sign-off process.

The ability to compare the Design Review's BOM, Schematic and PCB snapshot documents with their previously committed version is directly available though the Design Review interface.

The ability to compare the Design Review's BOM, Schematic and PCB snapshot documents with their previously committed version is directly available though the Design Review interface.

The ability to compare the Design Review's BOM, Schematic and PCB snapshot documents with their previously committed version is directly available though the Design Review interface.

Available in all Workspace Tasks views, Design Review process tasks can be progressed by their assigned user. Select a task tile to open the view's Information pane.

The Information pane provides access to the process task’s details, its Assignee voting options, and links to its source Design Review (Open Review) and the review details view mode (the Activity entry).

The pane’s Activity view provides details of the Design Review related to the current Task, including its progress, associated users, associated project, and its review Mode. You can use the view’s Terminate option to close the Design Review – all tasks will move to a completed state.

An example of a Design Review instance as seen by a Reviewer. Note that most items (name/description, attached files, assigned reviewers, etc) cannot be edited.

Completing Checklists is not mandatory to successfully submit the review. Any Checklist items that have been completed are effectively 'resolved' by the Reviewer.

When the Reviewer has completed their assessment, it can be confirmed in the Review pane by choosing to Approve or Reject the review and adding any relevant notes.

The Reviewer then uses the button to finalize their review process and feedback by submitting the results.

On completion of the process, the review state associated with the Reviewer's name entry will change from Pending to Approved or Rejected (depending on the Reviewer's assessment). This is visible to all Design Review stakeholders including other Reviewers and the review Initiator (creator).

An example of a Design Review instance as seen by the review Initiator when the assigned Reviewers have completed their review process. An entry's highlight color and icon indicate the Reviewer's Approve or Reject assessment.

You can hover over a Checklist entry to see which Reviewer completed the item and when this occurred. Note that Checklist items can be edited until resolved by a Reviewer, and removed or reordered at any time until the Review is closed.

The Design Review Initiator concludes the review process by specifying the closed state of the review as Completed or Rejected from the drop-down options, or Cancelled from the upper menu.

The finalized Design Review is marked as the selected state (such as Completed) and then closed as a read-only review instance when confirmed ().

The submission process completes and locks the Design Review task for the initiator and all other users. It remains accessible for review auditing and assessment purposes.

Back on the project’s Design Reviews page, the finalized review can viewed by enabling the Completed entry (or by disabling filters with Clear all) in the Filters drop-down pane, which exposes In Progress reviews only by default.

The first interactive Set Review Type Task in the process – handled by the user that invoked the design review (the Initiator) – includes a Form that requires the selection of the review type. This is designated the Domain variable, with options to select Schematic, PCB or Both (review flows). The following Branch logic directs the flow to either review Task, or both. 

Each of the review flows (Schematic and PCB) use the specific Design Review Task, which includes an inherit Vote variable to record the Reviewer’s decision (Accept/Reject). The Schematic review task is assigned to the SCH Eng user Group and the PCB task to the PCB Eng Group. Also included are added variables for the reviewer(s) to provide Quality and Manufacturability conclusions (Good, Adequate, Bad). 

The review decision from both review Task flows is handled by the Initiator in the review Summarize Task, where its Form provides a Summary variable with OK to proceed and More work required selectable options. The following Required Task Completed Event will wait until all review Tasks have been completed. The final Branch logic routing then closes the Design Review process with a Completed OK or Unacceptable status.

Additional process workflows that use the dedicated design review features (such as the Start Review element) become available when invoking a new Design Review. Here, the custom DRplus process is selected.

The user that started the review – the review Initiator – is required to select the type of review flow (Domain), as defined by the underlying custom process workflow. The workflow progress is indicated by the Process preview image.

Select the Process link to open the workflow diagram and view its current procedural step. The user who is required complete the active task – and move workflow to its next step – is indicated by their email address.

The custom review requires the Initiator to choose between Schematic, PCB or Both review flow paths, which will define the workflow’s Domain variable.

In this example, the Both option is selected. This will enable both the Schematic and PCB review tasks when the settings are confirmed (). 

Each review task is automatically assigned to the user Groups specified by the underlying workflow – the Schematic review task to the SCH Eng group, and the PCB task to the PCB Eng group (in this example there is one user in each Group).

The workflow diagram indicates that both the Schematic review and PCB review tasks are now active and assigned to the specified Reviewers. Note that at this point there are no tasks available to the Initiator, since they have been completed (for now).

An assigned Reviewer, in this case the member of the PCB Eng Group, has the active Design Review available to them, which can be opened and their Task completed.

The Reviewer is required to complete the PCB review task by choosing a Vote, Manufacturability and Quality (optional) selection, and then confirm these settings ().

The Reviewer assigned to the Schematic review task – by virtue of their SCH Eng Group membership – can complete their required task in a similar way. The Process preview indicates the current step positions within the process workflow.

As an alternative to completing the review actions through the interface’s My Tasks pane, a Reviewer can proceed from the Design Reviews Tasks page, which also shows both the active and completed Tasks for the current review.

The Reviewer’s Task is moved to completion (Resolved) by submitting their Vote, and optionally, a Quality rating and Comment notes.

Once all previous tasks are completed (as required by the workflow’s Related Tasks Completed event), the final Summarize task becomes active for the Design Review Initiator. Note that both Reviewer entries are highlighted in green to indicate the completion of their respective tasks.

The final step is for the review Initiator to select a summary option and confirm the result ().

The process workflow diagram will show the final conclusion of the now closed Design Review process, as highlighted in red.