Cross-Module Features (v4.0 and Better)
Baselining
The newly introduced Baseline view is one of the features added to enhance collaboration in teams and provide a version tracing mechanism. A baseline may be defined for any one of three scopes: project, folder or document/diagram. Create a new baseline whenever appropriate to reference a given scope’s status. In order to do so, right-click the desired entity and select Team → New Baseline:
You will be prompted for a suitable description:
The Baseline view will show the newly created entry:
Collaborators on the same project will be able to identify who created a baseline, whose name / description should convey some information about the baseline and its status (e.g., “Early draft proposal”, “Changes to Model X”, or suchlike).
Baselines enable, by way of the context menu, comparisons across document (or, as the case may be, folder/project) versions. The Editor (Model Compare) will visualize the differences at structure and attribute levels. To review the baselines created for a given project, access the Views menu, where Baselines is a sub-entry under SOX Common (alternatively, filter by entering a suitable search string).
To compare any two baselines, select them and right-click. So doing will bring up the following context menu:
As a shortcut, it is possible to select Compare with previous, effectively showing a diff file for the current vs. the next-to-current baseline. Compare With Each Other will open this type of visualization:
The Compare With … option bifurcates into “Dialog” vs. “Editor”:
Example representation of dialog-based comparison:
Presence UI
This feature introduces an interface designed to provide “presence” information within the team context, i.e., members will be able to follow which documents another team member is currently editing (CDO Topics). The CDO Topics view will also identify any locked documents/diagrams.
Locking
Use this feature temporarily to prevent other users from editing a certain document or diagram. So doing is a failsafe way of preventing any version conflicts regarding the object being edited. The locking feature uses scopes, comparable to Baselining. Only documents and diagrams are susceptible to locking, however. In common with Baselining again, access to the feature is via the Team object. In order to effect a lock, right-click on the document or diagram and from the context menu select Team → Lock diagram.
The GUI will visualize the lock by displaying, in the CDO Topics view, to the ‘locking’ user a tiny green padlock next to the document icon; a tooltip will further indicate that the document in question is no longer editable by other users.
All other users will see a red padlock icon, along with an indication of the semantical form, “Locked by N.N.”
Closing a locked document will not release the lock but closing the associated project or exiting the software will. It is also possible to choose Unlock diagram from the context menu.
Manual Save Operation
It is now possible to opt out of the default autosave mode, i.e., to not automatically save on the fly and to dismiss changes made on closing the application. Differently stated, changes to the model need to be actively saved to become effective. Any remote conflicts are resolved by rolling back to the most recent clean state. In scenarios where rollback is not an option, or to preempt conflicts, consider use of the Locking logic.
In order to enable Manual Save, right-click a project and make the relevant selection from the context menu:
Under manual save mode, status is indicated using a ‘traffic lights’ symbolism having the following semantics:
green - clean
yellow - dirty
red - conflict.
Your project will initially go to status green (clean): as autosave was enabled previously, there cannot be any unsaved changes. The GUI will draw a green frame around your editor window; the project icon will also be a green hue:
Any changes to your project will now move it to yellow (dirty) status:
The taskbar icons for saving will no longer be greyed out now:
Apart from saving manually, another way to return to clean/green status exists in the guise of the Revert Changes option:
As the name suggests, making this choice will revert (undo) all unsaved changes.
Quitting the application whilst in yellow will prompt the user to save (or dismiss) the changes:
Conversely, red (conflict) status cannot be resolved by the software. The only remedy is a revert by (at least) one of the users involved.
To prevent conflicts from arising in the first place, a user may resort to use of the locking facility.
Git Export
In addition to the traditional Export to archive mechanism, CSOX introduces an option to export to a directory target (eliminating the need to use compression), as well as to a Git repository.
To achieve the last-named objective, select Git Repository, which will give you three basic options:
clone a repository
use an existing (local) repository
create a new (local) repository.
Thus, choose the relevant radio button in the above dialog and click Manage… So doing will represent the aforementioned choices within the Git Repository view:
Example result of creating a new local Git repository:
Right-clicking the repo and selecting Commit will open the Git staging view, which needs to be populated initially by selecting the relevant repository and then refreshing.
If you cloned a remote repository, transactions like Push to upstream will be additionally available.
Interfaces to 3rd-Party Systems/Protocols
IBM Doors Next Generation (DNG)
https://enco-software.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SUD/pages/2826797057
Intland Codebeamer
Codebeamer is an Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) platform for advanced product and software development. The open platform extends ALM functionalities with product line configuration capabilities and provides unique configurability for complex processes.
https://enco-software.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SUD/pages/2811789313
Jama
Jama Software is the leader requirements management software for complex products, systems, and software development. Jama Software's industry-leading platform helps teams manage requirements with Live Traceability™ through the systems development process for proven cycle time reduction and quality improvement.
Jama Connect is engineered to ensure quality with frameworks aligned to key industry standards which streamline design, development, testing, and risk management while maintaining compliance. Teams can quickly see the full historical context around a requirement when they contribute to a project—reducing the probability of errors as well as the time and overhead spent on risk analysis.
https://enco-software.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SUD/pages/2982510593
PTC
Manufacturers have never needed real-time information sharing, dynamic data visualization, and the ability to collaborate more than they do today. With easy, secure data access for multi-disciplinary and geographically distributed teams, quality-focused processes, and a data driven approach to manufacturing, Windchill is elevating how product development gets done.
Windchill’s open architecture enables easy integration with other enterprise systems, including IoT, providing a solid foundation for a product-driven digital thread. PTC's PLM system provides comprehensive out-of-the-box functionality and highly configurable role and task-based apps. Expand self-service access of traceable product data to non-experts who don’t typically use PLM, while avoiding over-customization and complexity.
PTC’s PLM software is optimized to support the extended enterprise and external partners with a high degree of automation and interoperability for cross-discipline configuration management.
Polarion
Polarion is a unified application lifecycle management solution where you can define, build, test and manage complex software systems in a unified 100 percent browser-based solution that serves small teams or thousands of users. It enables end-to-end, enterprise-grade application development on a unified, modular, browser-based software environment.
Innovate, problem-solve, and unlock synergies across distributed teams.
Flexible architecture and licensing enable organizations to go as they grow.
LDAP
The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is an open, vendor-neutral, industry standard application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services over an Internet Protocol (IP) network. Directory services play an important role in developing intranet and Internet applications by allowing the sharing of information about users, systems, networks, services, and applications throughout the network. As examples, directory services may provide any organized set of records, often with a hierarchical structure, such as a corporate email directory.
A common use of LDAP is to provide a central place to store usernames and passwords. This allows many different applications and services to connect to the LDAP server to validate users.