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Cradle Public Training Courses 2022

Training Course Dates for 2022

3SL are offering a number of Cradle public training courses in 2022.

Cradle Online Training
Online Cradle Training

Public courses are ideal for companies;

    • with a small number of candidates
    • starting using Cradle but not needing an industry tailored course
    • using more advanced features

These courses are an alternative to the tailored, industry/implementation specific consultancy and training offered by 3SL. This makes for a cost effective solution, where you’ll benefit from all the normal learning, with the advantage that a public course will have the chance to network and share with other virtual attendees from other industries.

Following feedback our online courses have been split into smaller part day sections. (a two day course will now be delivered over four ½ days). This will allow candidates a longer break from training screens and more of an opportunity to put in practice some of the topics covered. When returning to the following session any questions can then be resolved.

This calendar is subject to change. Courses may be added removed or altered depending on demand. Booking will become available through the website shop for credit/debit card transactions prior to each course. For purchase orders and transfer payments please contact 3SL.

Details:

 

DateSubjectVenueCostDetails
March – 21st to 24thDocument PublisherOnline learning tutored course.
4 * ½ days.		£570+VATdocument-publisher-march-2022
April – 20th to 21stProject AdministrationOnline learning tutored course.
2 * ½ days.		£285+VATproject-administration-april-2022
May – 23rd to 26thRequirements ManagementOnline learning tutored course.
4 * ½ days.		£570+VATrequirements-management-may-2022
JulyTBA
August – 15th to 18thRequirements ManagementOnline learning tutored course.
4 * ½ days.		£570+VATrequirements-management-august-2022
September – 20th to 21stRisk ManagementOnline learning tutored course.
2 * ½ days.		£285+VATrisk-management-september-2022
October – 5th to 6thUserOnline learning tutored course.
2 * ½ days.		£285+VATuser-october-2022
October – 17th to 20thDocument PublisherOnline learning tutored course.
4 * ½ days.		£570+VATdocument-publisher-october-2022
November- 21st to 24thRequirements ManagementOnline learning tutored course.
4 * ½ days.		£570+VAT
requirements-management-november-2022

If you would like to be kept in touch with the details for Cradle public training courses 2022, please send an email to salesdetails@threesl.com.

Buy Now

All courses are available for direct purchase online.

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Six Marketing Tips

Promise What You Can Deliver

Porridge 'just right' based_on_klara-avsenik--eLS9k_uhUc-unsplash
Just right porridge

Don’t over promise and under deliver. This will win no favours or repeat business. Over engineering may keep your customer happy but will cost you dearly. When expectations are met precisely and on time, that’s just right.

Know Your Audience

Car Park Ticket Advertising - Not appropriate for all products
Car Park Ticket Advertising

If you are selling burgers, advertising on the back of a car park ticket to customers who are in town makes complete sense. It would be fairly ineffective for a sub sea valve manufacturer to take the same stance.

Equally even if you are a country or worldwide retailer, advertising your Autumn range of formal attire in a national farm supplies journal is unlikely to make many sales. That’s in no way implying our farmers don’t dress for occasions. However,  at the time they are looking through a trade magazine looking for a replacement slurry pump impeller, the Rotary Club** harvest dinner is not going to be top of their mind.

Use Multiple Avenues with the Same Message

3SL QR codeIf you hand out a leaflet at a trade fair, there’s nothing wrong with having a matching landing page with the QR code on the back of your business card.

Email Campaign screen shot
Email Campaign

Emails with the same matching message can be a ‘reminder’ of the previously seen message. Additionally posting a related story on your social media re-enforces the message and makes it easier for a customer to find the details they need.

Select Related Imagery

Fell Chips logo based on based on_pexels-miguel-á-padriñán-343457
FellChips

Pictures invoke a speedier reaction in the brain compared to text alone. However, it should be something connected with your product or service.  An electronics OEM (Original equipment manufacturer)  might find the image of an IC (chip) a bit lacklustre as an advertising image, a whole PCB (printed circuit board) or related components would be better.

Fell Chips Fell logo based on carlitos-Generic-40-pins-IC_pexels-jude-mitchellhedges-8409988
Associated Image

However, a view of a lovely landscape, just because they are based near the fells* is going to confuse. However, used in the right way could be a distinguishing identity.

Keep Your Brand Clear

Logo confusion with a large mix of styles
Logo confusion with a large mix of styles

There is no point building a brand only to have it confused with others brands. It is important to look at, your competitors, those with a similar name, logos of a similar nature. A few years back the trend for a ‘swish’ under the company logo swept across a number of re-brands. For each brand they may have believed they were modernising, indicating a forward moving company. However, it became difficult to tell some of these brands apart.

Logo adaptations
Brand Variants

Once you have done your research and decided you have a stand-out identity, keep plugging the brand to build familiarity. You don’t want your customers to be confused as to whether there is more than one company with a similar product. If you do rebrand, gradual changes can work well, otherwise a huge investment into establishing your new identity is needed.

The Unrelated Can Work

Campaigns with outside the box imagery, songs or unexpected tales can catch people’s attention. This can drive traffic to your real goal. In B2C (business to customer) marketing it can be very effective. Unless that is to become your trademark marketing though, it should be used with caution, as over use can tire.

It is not found as often in B2B (business to business) marketing, but that’s not to say you shouldn’t try. You, after all, are trying to provoke a reaction and get noticed.

 

*Fells: Mainly Northern British: An upland stretch of hills. From the old Norse word ‘fell’ which signified the parts of the mountains that are usually located above the endpoint of the alpine trees.

**Rotary Club: Part of the rotary.org/en organisation usually involved in local community / charitable operations

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January 2022 – Newsletter

Happy New Year

Happy New Year 2022
2022

We hope all those celebrating over Christmas had a safe and happy time, and were not too badly affected by Covid 19. Welcome to the January 2022 – Newsletter.

Into a new year and a time to reflect on both your company’s achievements and problems. Whilst the turn of a date is nothing magical, the psychological effect of a new term can really help enthuse and help us focus.

If a project wasn’t quite on track, a root cause analysis can help identify where things went astray. Use this as a positive for new projects and look out for the ‘gotcha’ next time round. It is also important to identify the successes, the team and company can lever the feel-good factor on jobs well done.

Training

Cradle Online Training
Online Cradle Training

We’re putting together this year’s public training course calendar.  These courses are open to all and are delivered online in a shared environment with a live instructor. The biggest benefit of live training is that you can ask questions as the course progresses.

If your company has a large number of trainees or wants the course tailoring contact salesdetails@threesl.com

Release

Cradle 7.6 Splash screen
Cradle 7.6

If you have not already don’t forget to grab the latest Cradle 7.6.1 release: see https://www.threesl.com/blog/cradle-7-6-1-released/

Social Media

Twitter

 

CSE Tweet 17th Dev 2021
CSE Tweet Dec 2021

We looked how encryption technology now fits in our palm rather than a filing cabinet!  and how the early pointer telegraph has progressed.

We looked at how to lock users out of a Cradle project so you can administer backups for example.

 

YouTube

Complex project - Requirements management
Complex Project?

Whatever the scale of project you are starting in 2022 we can help with your Requirements Management.
That’s all for the January 2022 – Newsletter

 

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Public Online Training Course – Requirements Management May 2022

Requirements Management May 23rd – 26th 2022

The first RM training this year is – Requirements Management May 2022 course.

“A great opportunity for small teams, or a couple of new team members to get started with RM and Cradle”

Cradle Online Course based on Photo by Andrew Neel from Pexels
Online Course

Businesses that are introducing Cradle and full Requirements Management processes into their operations, can book training for all aspects of the roll-out, from the basics through to specialist administration courses – See here. These courses are tailored and held at your premises / virtually depending on restrictions and requirements and are ideal for getting a team up and running.

Public Requirements Management May 23rd – 26th 2022

If, however, you have one or two people new to a project or only have a very small team, this may not be a viable solution. With 3SL’s public online courses, you’ll benefit from all the normal learning, but will have the chance to network and share with other virtual attendees from other industries. This can be a cost effective solution to get you up to speed with Cradle and Requirements Management.

Details:

DateSubjectVenueCostPre-RequisitesProvision
May 23rd – 26th 2022Requirements ManagementOnline learning tutored course.
4 * ½ days.		£570+VATPC/Laptop – internet browser & Cradle installed **Soft copy course materials, and printed certificate

If you would like to be kept in touch with the details for this Training Course – Requirements Management May 2022 please send an email to salesdetails@threesl.com

Buy Now

All courses are available for direct purchase online.

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Public Online Training Course – Requirements Management August 2022

Requirements Management August 15th to 18th 2022

The second RM training this year is – Requirements Management August 2022 course.

“A great opportunity for small teams, or a couple of new team members to get started with RM and Cradle”

Cradle Online Course based on Photo by Andrew Neel from Pexels
Online Course

Businesses that are introducing Cradle and full Requirements Management processes into their operations, can book training for all aspects of the roll-out, from the basics through to specialist administration courses – See here. These courses are tailored and held at your premises / virtually depending on restrictions and requirements and are ideal for getting a team up and running.

Public Requirements Management August 15th to 18th 2022

If, however, you have one or two people new to a project or only have a very small team, this may not be a viable solution. With 3SL’s public online courses, you’ll benefit from all the normal learning, but will have the chance to network and share with other virtual attendees from other industries. This can be a cost effective solution to get you up to speed with Cradle and Requirements Management.

Details:

DateSubjectVenueCostPre-RequisitesProvision
August 15th to 18thRequirements ManagementOnline learning tutored course.
4 * ½ days.		£570+VATPC/Laptop – internet browser & Cradle installed **Soft copy course materials, and printed certificate

If you would like to be kept in touch with the details for this Training Course – Requirements Management August 15th to 18th please send an email to salesdetails@threesl.com

Buy Now

All courses are available for direct purchase online.

Continue reading “Public Online Training Course – Requirements Management August 2022”

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November 2021 – Newsletter

Deciduous or Evergreen

Tree Types

“If you were a tree, what type would you be?” OK, we’re not attempting to delve into a mindfulness session, but drawing a comparison in terms of ongoing development.

Drop or Retain?

Evergreen and Deciduous forest based on pexels pixbay and enric-cruz-lópez images
Evergreen/Deciduous

Each year deciduous trees protect themselves by shedding their leaves. The likelihood is the water will freeze and damage their leaves, or winter winds will apply a greater force to the trunk. Shedding them before the winter, allows them to renew with vigour the following year.  They may also have become damaged in the summer by bugs or ripped in the autumn by winds, the shed leaves will act as nutrients for the following year. Evergreens, however, protect their leaves with a waxy coating and forms of antifreeze. Their leaves are often smaller, so the tree needs more of them to absorb the sun’s energy.

Start Anew

In the following year after the shut down, deciduous trees still retain their main structure, and the knowledge of how to build new leaves. The evergreens have to be content with the quality of the leaves they have, or have to try and grow new ones while simultaneously shedding the old ones.  However, they have been able to continue absorbing energy through their leaves all year round.

Renewing Project Elements

Projects undergoing through lifecycle upgrades often have to decide which route to take. Do you remove the facility, rebuild (possibly including changes) and then deploy, or do you attempt to keep all the existing features in place while swapping out old functionality/parts and replacing them with new ones? Partly this will depend on the ‘down time’ that can be tolerated. A strip and replace is often more efficient, if allowed. The advantage projects have compared to trees, is all the new ‘leaves’ can be prepared in parallel, as long as they fit the trunk it’s a shorter operation to remove and replace the leaves. Whilst the ongoing partial replacement may allow continued operation, there are likely to be cases where parallel components/functions during the swap will have conflicts and interactions that will need to be managed. Of course in either case sometimes fiddling round with the leaves brings no new benefits, if the trunk or limbs are not where they are needed a completely fresh start is needed.

Release

Cradle 7.6 Splash screen
Cradle 7.6

Cradle 7.6.1 is now available for download. For details of the patch release fixes please see https://www.threesl.com/blog/cradle-7-6-1-released/

Social Media

Twitter

November 2021 Saab eWROV TweetWe looked at the power being built into ROVs for underwater repair and construction with Saab‘s eWROV

We looked at how Roles can speed up administration of Cradle users.

 

YouTube

Industry sectors investing
Industry Sectors

For an insight into which industry sectors are spending on Requirements Management and Systems Engineering, checkout our mini presentation in this YouTube video

Finally

Remembrance
Remembrance

Drawing the November 2021 newsletter to a close, we hope all our customers, suppliers and staff that celebrated Dewali, All Hallows Eve and All Saints day or remembered the defeating of the Gunpowder plot had a happy and safe celebration. 3SL remembered those who fought and fallen on Remembrance day.

 

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Cradle 7.6.1 Released

3SL is pleased to announce the release of Cradle-7.6.1

This is available for download from the 3SL website.

Cradle-7.6.1 is the first patch release for Cradle-7.6, it is completely compatible with your 7.6 security code. Users with 7.6 do not need a new security code and can download and install without charge. Users on older versions of Cradle such as 7.5.3 or earlier can move to this version as long as they have maintenance. Simply request a new security code from the 3SL support team and get started!

Cradle 7.6.1 Released
Cradle 7.6.1 Released

Bug fixes included in the release are:

  • Issue found when copying items with change history turned on.
  • Bug found when exporting information when frame versions are missing.
  • Printing diagrams to PowerPoint was not printing them to the full size of the page.
  • Issue found when publishing certain documents which related to changing the UI max list preference.

Cradle 7.6.1 released in October 2021, see what others have said about Cradle or add your own review in Capterra, or SourceForge .

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Investment in Requirements Management and Systems Engineering by Sector 2020/21

A Wide Range of Sectors

We’ve seen investment from a wide range of market sectors, all of whom have very differing products. However, there are many similarities in the processes that they use, based on their need to manage the same types of complexity.

Project Needs and Goals

Which industries invest in RM / SE
Your Industry

Every project seeks to satisfy a set of requirements in a way that maximises compliance and minimises time, effort and cost. All projects must demonstrate that they have met the requirements by passing a variety of acceptance or validation checks. Therefore,  RM (requirements management) is not unique to any individual industry.

Depending how you classify your ‘system’, the concepts and activities of Systems Engineering are also not ‘industry specific’. SE (systems engineering) may sound a little grandiose for some projects, but that depends where you draw your system boundaries. You could be modelling sensor data and control signals coming in, describing how these are manipulated and what outputs are expected. Alternatively you could be describing goods inward, shelving process and booking out.

What constitutes a ‘system’ depends on your industry sector, but the need for careful engineering of systems is common to all sectors.

Sector Investment 2020/21

Discover which industries are investing

Using 3SL’s end of year results grouped by sector we have highlighted an interesting change in RM and SE investment over the last year. Whereas aerospace, and military and defence projects had dominated in the past, construction and energy industries have made a heavier investment this year.

Percentage spend on RM SE by by sector 2020/21
Percentage spend by sector 2020/21

Is Requirements Management and Systems Engineering Right for Your Industry?

If you make, design, or maintain a product, process or a development area, the answer is likely yes. Projects are most successful when; they can capture the needs of the stakeholders; help plan and develop the solution;  provide traceability and reporting at the end. Rather than asking whether you need a RM and/or SE tool, ask why you wouldn’t want to keep control of your project operations.

Available Options

    • Ignore Systems Engineering principles and do nothing
    • Document using spreadsheets, word processor documents, paper files, cloud drives.
    • Invest in an integrated tool
Nothing

This first choice is hardly an option at all. How do you explain to your customers and stakeholders that you don’t really know what needs doing? You don’t know what the risks or boundaries are? You don’t know what you think you need to do to get to your undocumented goal?

Disparate tools

Electronic or paper documents are a great start. They can support a basic set of activities, the skeleton of a process. At the very least you have notes as to what, how and where your project is going. The major problems are:

    • Managing complexity
    • Recording changes and defining the consequential effects of change
    • Recording dependencies between documents and using these dependencies to ensure that consistency, once it has been achieved, is maintained as the information in all documents changes
  • Your workload increases enormously as your documentation grows and you must keep each individual element under configuration control and then providing links between each of those documents. How long do you need to spend in that document reference register keeping each need linked to the appropriate design spreadsheet entry……
    Integrated Solution

    It is no surprise that we would suggest that an integrated tool as the most appropriate and efficient way to work; to link all parts of your design lifecycle together; provide the means to capture, store and process those requirements; optionally link in system engineering designs;  provide full traceability to the output. (Report, document, views etc).

    Cradle

    When selecting a tool it is important that it is a good fit for your process. It must meet the needs of your process without being so complex to use that it becomes self-defeating by transferring large amounts of work to manually maintain your documentation set into large amounts of work to manage the complexity of your software tools. This is the main reason why multiple tools can be a substantial drain on your resources, even assuming that you can actually interface the tools to each other.

    Cradle can support some or all of your process… it is your choice. You decide which part or parts of your process could be helped by Cradle’s automation, its ability to link and cross reference information, and its ability to automatically track changes. The schema that you build in Cradle reflects how much of your process is Cradle to support, such as to manage and link:

      • needs -> user requirements
      • user requirements -> acceptance criteria
      • user requirements -> system requirements
      • system requirements -> validations
      • ⁣⁣system requirements -> SBS
      • system requirements -> functions / behaviour
      • SBS -> architecture
      • architecture -> functions / behaviour
      • architecture ->  verifications
      • functions / behaviour -> test cases
      • test cases -> test results

     

  • These process elements exist in the creation of aerospace / defence platforms, traditionally the main user of these sort of tools and methods.  The design of process control systems, and the specification of I&C (instrumentation and control) systems in power plants has many parallels, and this is where we have noticed growth. However, we are pleased to say looking at the detailed data it can be seen that the processes are being applied in  a wide range of other situations in so many sectors. The discipline of systems engineering is being applied to great effect to help to manage all their issues in so many industries. We build Cradle to try to automate and simplify the application of these systems engineering techniques, no matter what industry you are working in. Cradle provides our customers with the functionality giving them RM and SE power at their fingertips.

    Convinced?

    Still not sure whether you could benefit from an RM / SE tool? We’d be more than happy to discuss your projects and processes and make a recommendation. Book a webinar now.

Play video on YouTube

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October 2021 Newsletter

Eight?

Digit Number 8
Octo 8

As we’ve pointed out before, October was originally the eighth month, until King Numa Pompilius, inserted January and February. Until then ‘Winter’ was seen as monthless, with only 304 days belonging to named months. A bit of a design flaw. However, as with many systems, it was too onerous to start again, so the sticking plaster situation left us with October, November and December shifted two months from their name origins.

Eight In Life

    • In physics it is the second ‘magic’ number where either protons or neutrons, are arranged into a complete shell within the atomic  nucleus.
    • Electronics and computing eight  is the number of bit in a byte. 8 bits representing -128 to 127 or 0 to 255.  If the last three bits of a number (when represented in binary) are 0s then the number itself will be divisible by eight.
    • In maths, other than 1, it is the only perfect cube in the Fibonacci sequence.
    • Your wisdom tooth is the eighth tooth in each quadrant of your mouth.
    • Eight is seen as a lucky number in Asian countries.
    • It the number of notes in an octave, a note of a frequency and its double.
    • There are 8 vertices to a cuboid.

Eight is Agile

Agile 8
Plan / Implement / Evaluate

Consider the two loops of the figure of 8 as the design and implement areas. As you trace round the outside, you start designing and planning and then you sprint round to implement a phase, before returning once again to consider achievements and plan the next step. This Scrum style operation breaks the problem down into small manageable chunks with an ongoing evaluation and planning. If you’re planning or adjusting a process in a Kanban style this repeated return allows changes to be measured and new bottle necks to be identified and alleviated.

An agile approach is an alternative to the traditional waterfall model to design and implement. It has its strengths in development of new or innovative solutions, especially where a degree of trial and prove/reject is also required. However, it should not be seen as a hackers remit. It only works if you clearly break down the problem, set goals and measure achievements. It could be viewed as a series of small waterfall operations defining each iteration.

Don’t Get Caught In A Loop

Figure of 8 progression
Iterative Progress

If your project is analogous to walking round and round a circle, something is going wrong. Walking in a figure of 8 gives you the opportunity to look forward and backwards as you trace your steps. your aim is for a steadily increasing climb.

Training Course

Cradle online training course
Cradle Online Training

Last chance to get booked onto the last public training course Document Publisher this year. Document Publisher Course 22nd – 25th November 2021
Following feedback this two day course has been spread over 4 * ½-day sessions to give candidates more time to practice what they have learned, and ask follow up questions at the next session. We’re busy putting together the 2022 schedule and would like to hear from you if there are any topics you would like to see covered, contact salesdetails@threesl.com

Features

Cradle TER module - Test Case
Test Case

When you loop round your design and implement cycle, testing is an important step to validate your efforts.

Cradle’s Test, Execution and Recording module allows a controlled, rigorous way to record, and link your tests, design and requirements. Watch here. For more information read our blog.

Social Media

Twitter

Kuka UK Robot Tweet Oct 2021
Kuka UK Robot Tweet Oct 2021

We noted that in very hazardous environments robots are needed to repair other robots in this tweet by Kuka UK.

We also liked the nifty electric boat highlighted by Integral Powertrain that ‘flies’ or floats on the water depending on the speed.

If you want to bring some colour to your text frames in #Cradle we reminded you that you can set the text colour based on a category value.

YouTube

YouTube channel - Subscribe
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
Our #3SL Cradle YouTube channel now has a new URL youtube.com/c/3SLCradle
We’d love you to hop over and have a peek, and don’t forget to subscribe.

Finally

Our October 2021 newsletter finishes by reminding you to put your clocks back and don’t arrive an hour early for work in November!

Article Updated 19/11/2021 – Spelling mistake