Lifecycle Management in an Altium 365 Workspace

The Workspace provides the ability to define and manage lifecycle definitions through its browser interface, complementing the ability to do this through Altium Designer. And providing better visibility of the states and transitions involved, each lifecycle is built in a graphical way, showing at-a-glance the flows involved. Many of the management controls you are accustomed to from the Edit Lifecycle Definitions dialog in Altium Designer are present, but in a far more intuitive setting, allowing you to quickly build and modify your definitions with streamlined ease.

Access

Access to your Workspace's lifecycle definitions can only be made by an administrator (a member of the Administrators role). Once you have accessed your Workspace through the browser-based Altium 365 Platform Interface (https://365.altium.com), use the nav tree on the left to navigate to the Admin – Settings page (within the Workspace region of the interface). Then, in the tree that is presented, click on the Lifecycle Definitions entry.

Accessing lifecycle definitions through the Workspace's browser interface. Here, the default definitions are shown.

A Graphical Interface

Defining and managing a lifecycle definition through the Workspace's browser interface is very much a visual affair. A definition is built rather like a flow diagram, using various graphical objects representing the states and state transitions (and stages if using an Advanced style of management).

Define your lifecycle definitions in a visual way, with graphical objects representing the stages, states, and transitions.

Adding & Defining a Lifecycle Definition

Add a new definition by clicking the button, back on the summary page. A single-stage default definition will be created, using the Advanced style of management.

A newly added lifecycle definition, Advanced-style, with single stage, initial state, and released state. A single transition connects the two states.

The controls available will be familiar from management on the Altium Designer side, including:

• Giving the definition a name.
• Defining which content types the definition can be used by – click the see all/change link to access the Content Types window with which to enable and define use of the definition per content type.
• Choosing the lifecycle management style – Simple or Advanced.
• Linking stages to the levels of revision naming scheme (for an Advanced-style definition only).

Then create the (stages), states, and transitions as required to build up the definition 'diagram'. Key things to note in doing this are:

• There is always an initial stage (usually called DESIGN) and an initial state (usually called Planned).
• Click the button to add a new stage graphical entity. This will be added below the DESIGN stage. Initially, the stage will be named NEW STAGE 1. Change this as required in the Stage Properties window, accessed by double-clicking on the stage graphic.

• Click the button to add a new state graphical entity. Click and drag this to the position required. Initially, the state will be named New State 1. Change this as required, along with other state properties, through the State Properties window, accessed by double-clicking on the state graphic.

Hover over the button to access a menu of existing stages – click an entry to add the new state to that stage directly. If you don't use this, a new state will be added to the first stage and you can drag it to the correct stage as required.

• Click & hold on the border of a state graphic to add a state transition – drag to the required target state and release when an orange 'valid' circle appears. Define transition properties through the Transition Properties window, accessed by double-clicking on a transition entity. Newly added state transitions will be public by default – change control as required through properties.

The State Transition Permissions option can be set as Controlled – lifecycle transitions available to specific Users/Roles – or Using Approvals – transitions available through a request submission and subsequent approval by specified Users/Roles. Note that the latter option requires Altium Designer Enterprise Subscription.

• To remove a stage, state, or state transition entity, hover over it and click the removal cross that appears – (stage/state), (state transition).

• To change the point along a state at which a state transition enters/leaves, hover over the transition and click and drag an end arrow.

Once defined as required, click the button. Clicking the button will essentially restore the diagram to its last saved state.

Exporting a Lifecycle Definition

You can quickly export the graphical portion of the lifecycle definition currently being viewed/defined, allowing you to share with others for feedback. To do so, click the button. Export is to PNG file format, with the image (<LifecycleDefinitionName>.png) downloaded to your browser's default download folder.

Removing a Lifecycle Definition

To remove a lifecycle definition, click on its associated delete control (), on the page presenting the summary listing of definitions. If that definition is currently being used by at least one revision of an Item in the Workspace, then a pop-up will alert you to the fact that it cannot be deleted.