Getting Started with the Design Data Management System
To provide a system that caters for all aspects of data management – from the humble domain model to the board design itself – Altium implements a Design Data Management model that:
- Allows for the creation and management of design-reusable Items – released data entities for use in the actual designs themselves. Stored in a centralized repository for access by the design team, they are version-controlled and lifecycle-managed.
- Allows a formal definition of the links between the design world and the supply chain that is ultimately responsible for building the actual products. Achieved by mapping the design data to specific production Items (blank and assembled boards) that the supply chain is actually going to build.
With this model in place, and with a range of supporting features and technologies, the software enables you to design in a controlled way without loss of design freedom, with the assurance that you are using revisions of components and schematic sheets that are managed and approved for design use. Subsequently, once the design is ready for release, you can pass data from the design domain to the production domain in a pain-free, streamlined, and automated fashion – generating data output of the highest integrity, literally at the touch-of-a-button!
Further Reading
For a tutorial-like pass through the process of setting up and releasing a configuration of a design project, take a look at the article A Walk Through the Board Design Release Process.
For a walk through of Altium's Vault-Driven Electronics Design methodology, as it is currently defined and implemented by the Hardware Team at Altium today, take a look at the article A Walk Through...Altium's Vault-Driven Electronics Design Methodology.
For answers to some of the most commonly asked questions in relation to the Design Data Management System, be sure to take a look at the Design Data Management System - FAQs page.
For answers to some of the most commonly asked questions in relation to Altium's Vault-Driven Electronics Design methodology, be sure to take a look at the Vault-Driven Electronics Design - FAQs page.