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WorkBench is the main application at the heart of the Cradle suite.
WorkBench is a customisable tool which can be used for both browsing and manipulating Cradle databases. WorkBench is fully integrated with all desktop tools, including Word, to view any type of data in database items’ frames. Audio, video, figures, documents and tables embedded in database items can be accessed from WorkBench forms or table cells, launching applications as necessary.
WorkBench allows tailored views of the Cradle database to be created for different groups of project engineers and external users. It is for groups who benefit from a tailored environment. It can provide a view of just what they want to see and how they want to see it.
WorkBench can become a portal into all project data, showing the project as one or more tables whose cells link to any type of data.
The usability of Cradle is discovered in the multi-functional sidebars, there is also the customisable Quick Access Bar that can rapidly reduce the time it takes to complete common tasks or run common queries or search pre-defined views, making your use of Cradle easier, more intuitive and much faster.
WorkBench delivers both flexibility and continuity through the entire project lifecycle. It enables a project team to manage every aspect of a project from concept to creation, or sub-sets of the project. From initial requirements capture and project set-up at the start, through analysis and design to testing then implementation feedback enhancement and final decommissioning.
Users can import data from a range of other industry standard tools, at any point in the project. These can be functional requirements, systems requirements, resource requirements, functions, processes, models or entire systems. These can be linked to processes and functions in a wide selection of industry standard models. WorkBench also supports transitive links right across the system. This means that Item A can be linked to Item B, Item B is also linked to Item C and Item C is linked to Items F and G. If Item A is altered, and this effects Item G indirectly, then the transitive link to G can alert stakeholders to the likely impact of that change. Or users can create queries to search across multiple cross references to locate valuable data.
These items, (requirements, events, processes, functions), can be analysed and systems designed using a wide range of recognised models and methodologies. Each item, whether a requirement text, image, process, function, flow, data item or issue, or whatever, can be linked throughout the system to all points of relevant use to provide real-time, useful information to all stakeholders.
Cradle interfaces to a variety of other industry tools so one can analyse data from other tools in WorkBench, and that data is secure and available to the relevant stakeholders in the rest of the system.
All deliverables can be matched against the initial requirements, or subsequent changes, to check for full compliance and verification.
Control over the project, over who does what, when and where, is provided by the built-in administration section of WorkBench. Control what projects, teams, users can and cannot do in the project to maintain control and keep to the project plan. You control the rules of the project and through this gain the knowledge and peace of mind that you control the project.
The robust built-in Configuration Management System means that every version of every item in every baseline can be controlled through Change Requests and Change Tasks and linked and tracked throughout the system. Cradle workflows make the CM process customisable to your requirements. The workflow mechanism is associated with items, Change Requests and Change Tasks. A workflow is defined to be a set of steps performed by one or more users that collectively achieve a desired end result upon one or more items in a Cradle database.
Full traceability of every item, from the first registered requirement source document through to the final check of the final item to be disposed at the end of use and everything in-between, can be recorded, tracked, numbered and recalled to be output by Cradle in a document or report. With the extensive edit histories, every single change to a system, throughout the entire project can be checked. As a Project Director or Manager, you CAN know exactly who did what when and why every step of the way!
The flexibility built in to the WorkBench interface frees you to work with your data in the way that is most convenient for you. From viewing the same data in list, table, document or tree view, or as a query showing multi-row or nested views of data. You can easily see what items are linked to any other item. You can view what is linked to any requirement, or process or function. This means that you can make sense of your data and search to find what you need, much faster and in a more natural way.
Custom queries allow you to search across many levels and domains with transitive and multiple cross references for precisely the data you need and you can save and store these queries to the Quick Access Bar so that you can get to your data far more rapidly.
With the capability to produce a wide range of models, covering analysis models, architecture models and design models in one tool WorkBench can use these models in combination to produce integrated model designs of any kind of system. This gives you the power to view the system from any angle at any level and really understand how the system works and how well the project is meeting the criteria as laid out in the requirements for the system.
As a busy Project Director or Project Manager or Systems Engineer, we know that anything that makes your job easier, quicker and allows you more freedom to plan ahead, to organise efficiently and get on with the job more effectively is going to help you work more professionally, improve your reputation and increase your profitability.
Once your project's requirements have been captured you can develop further layers of granularity, create system requirements, link references, project standards to suit your needs.
WorkBench allows tailored views of the Cradle database to be created for different groups of project engineers and external stakeholders. It is for groups who benefit from a tailored environment. It can provide a view of just what they want to see and how they want to see it.
Models are abstractions of some part of the reality of a system. They are developed to assist analysis and design, to aid communication and understanding and as an improvement over linear sets of textual statements. In the context of Systems Engineering, we construct system models. Such models are abstractions of the final system that are developed from a particular perspective (such as a user or implementor) and at a particular level of detail.
There are typically three contexts for models:
Cradle supports many different modelling notations.
It is common for managers to manage by exception. That is managers devote their time to solving problems or ensuring that resources are deployed to solve problems. As such, the primary need for information is to know whether all aspects of a project are progressing well, whether there are aspects of the project which are of concern, and whether there are serious problems to be addressed.
It is common to use the term Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the aspects of the projects that are being monitored. Examples of KPIs are:
This allows managers to manage by exception, so that they can quickly assess the state of the project through the colours shown for the KPIs. If everything is green, they can move on to the next phase or project. Areas that are red should be investigated. Investigation only requires a click of a mouse on the coloured box to open that KPI and see what caused it to be red.
The Dashboard feature is shown in the sidebar:
WorkBench can utilise the following Cradle licences:
