WIP Design Data Management – Asset or Liability?
Quick – if someone says work-in-process design data management, which word first comes to your mind: asset or liability?
Do you think asset, because you view a WIP design data management system as easy to use and well integrated into the product development process, and as such, is essential to your overall productivity?
Or, do you instead think liability, because you view a WIP design data management system as cumbersome to use and detached from the product development process, and as such, is an impediment to PCB design?
Your opinion, of course, is influenced by any past or current experience that you’ve had with WIP design data management. Work-In-Process design data management should always maximize the productivity of the multiple users and disciplines that need to work on a given design. It must efficiently manage all design data that is created, reused, imported, or released. Specifically, a best-in-class ECAD WIP design data management system should include the following features and characteristics:
- Understand the ECAD data in its native format
- Manage the multiple files and versions in WIP state independently
- Support the definition and management of design security permissions
- Provide data traceability (history) and versioning
- Facilitate effective collaboration
- Allow web/cloud based design review, markup, and approval
- Generate outputs and create release packages based on an approved set of data
The design data management system should optimize work-in-process design collaboration across all disciplines, including system development, schematic design, PCB layout, simulation, and manufacturing. The Xpedition tool suite addresses the challenges of WIP design data management, enabling users to reduce design cycle times and design environment costs of ownership through increased efficiency and security, better resource management, and reduced defects. Two short videos, Work-in-process Design Data Management and Enterprise Design Release Process, along with an on-demand web seminar entitled Xpedition Work in Progress Design Data Management, are all available for more in-depth information.
