| Cradle PDM The Cradle-PDM module provides the infrastructure that supports all other Cradle
modules. Its scalability and flexibility gives an industrial strength, proven, shared data environment for even the largest projects.
The Cradle-PDM module provides the
infrastructure that supports all other Cradle
modules. Its scalability and flexibility gives
an industrial strength, proven, shared data
environment for even the largest projects.
Cradle databases are infinite capacity. They
contain items, and links between items. Any
number of new types of item can be defined,
assigned any number of attributes, and
changed at any time. This project schema is
defined by a point and click interface, and
does not need any database administration
or scripts. Databases can be centralised or
distributed, even through firewalls.
Items manage any volume of any types of
data, including text, audio, video, graphics,
and desktop applications. Data is held in the
database, or is referenced in an external file,
environment (such as a drawing control or
document management system), or a URL.
Items evolve through a series of versions that
are managed in baselines and controlled by
an integral CM system. This CM system has
mechanisms for formal review and approval,
baseline and version control, change control
and management, and audit trails.
Records of all edits can be kept in history
records for each item. A generation feature
keeps a record of the changing contents of
items from each edit, and allows them to be compared. It is in addition to the historical
record contained in the multiple versions of
items maintained by the CM system within
the succession of formal project baselines.
Cradle has an annotation mechanism so any
user (even read-only) can add comments to
items. Combined with its messaging system
(optionally linked to e-mail), Cradle can
coordinate even the most widely distributed
projects. Alerts are also automatically raised
to prompt users of changes in the CM state
of the project.
Variants can be used to manage types of
system or product. Builds can be used to
manage implementations independently of
baselines. This allows a project to manage a
set of related systems, such as a set of related
products, or multiple models of a product
(such as different models for a type of car).
Items are cross referenced by links. Any
number of user-defined types of link can be
defined, together with optional groups of
such link types. Links contain attributes to
record data. Link attributes, types and
groups can be used in searches. Links are
direct and transitive, with impact analysis,
unreferenced item and recursion detection.
Links can be viewed, edited and navigated
through graphical hierarchy diagrams, and
created by drag-and-drop. They can be
viewed and navigated in Explorer® style
trees. Links are translated into hyperlinks, in
websites published from Cradle databases,
and in web browser access to databases.
Access controls apply to all items based on
user accounts, skills, privileges and security
clearances. Projects can group users into
teams, and create any access control scheme,
including the representation of customers,
subcontractors and IV&V groups. Rules
can be defined to control the creation and
manipulation of links, by item and by user.
Basic text and graphics reporting tools are
included with a wide range of pre-defined
reports, sufficient for most internal project
needs. Output to a variety of printers and
application formats is provided, including
multi-sheet printing of diagrams onto large
format (A0, A1, D and E) paper sizes.
Cradle has floating, dynamic licensing and
low cost read-only users. Licences, databases
and the project schema are interchangeable
across all platforms, UNIX and 2000, XP and 2003
Feature-Benefit
| Features: |
Benefits: |
| Arbitrarily extensible database schema |
Any process can be reflected in the Cradle environment |
| Variants and builds |
Support multiple system variants or types of a basic product, manage consistent sets of data items independently of evolving item histories in configuration management baselines |
| Direct and web-based access |
Three levels of access, from engineering toolset, from customisable WorkBench sessions, and across the web |
| Infinite capacity, distributable database |
Cradle scales effortlessly to accommodate the changing and growing needs of your projects, easily supporting projects with over 1,000,000 items and 8,192 concurrent users |
| User-defined item and frame types |
Store, manage and link any types of data so that all aspects of the project are subject to formal controls and are traceable |
| User-defined link types and attributes |
Reflect different types of relationship with different types of link; all links contain attributes to record information and to aid searches and impact analyses |
| User defined link groups |
Create groups of link types for massively flexible searching and information retrieval |
| User defined link rules |
Control creation and manipulation of links, between specific item types and link types optionally restricted to specific users and groups |
| Graphical cross reference hierarchies |
View and manipulate cross references graphically, from requirements to source documentation, analysis and design models, and to all other item types in the database |
| User accounts, teams, skills and security levels |
Represent any project organisation, including external and customer agencies, within the Cradle project and define an access control scheme that provides the correct level of access by each user group to each data set in the database |
| Integral configuration management and control |
Control the development, approval, baselining and change of all project data, and ensure that all such changes are auditable |
| Flexible data storage options |
Use the Cradle infrastructure to manage access to data, whether held within Cradle, or held as external files, or within external environments (such as drawing control or source code control systems), or held at a URL |
| Automatic launching of external applications |
Use the Cradle infrastructure to launch applications from your systems engineering environment for increased productivity |
| Annotations |
Any users, even Read-Only users, can annotate (comment upon) items in the database, allowing all design decisions to be captured; by exchanging sets of annotations, even separate databases can be kept synchronised |
| Alerts messaging system and e-mail connections |
Internal messaging to advise project members of outstanding actions and project events, efficient communications within the Cradle environment and with the outside world |
| Automatically maintained edit histories |
Log of all changes made to the requirements, or comments to them |
| Automatically maintained generations |
Optionally maintains a revision history of edits to requirements |
| Pending delete status |
Deleted items are held in a pending state, for un-delete or cleanup |
| Interoperability of data |
Move data between platforms, create once use anywhere |
| Interoperability of platforms |
Deploy any or all Cradle components on any or all supported platforms to take best advantage of existing IT resources |
| Firewall support |
Allows Cradle systems at different locations to communicate securely over open telephone lines or the Internet |
| Floating and dynamic licences |
Use licences from any machine on the network (or by remote access), where licences are consumed when tools start and are released when tools complete (even if other tools are running) for maximum cost benefit and minimum licence count |
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