Printed Circuit Design & Fab - December 2008 - (Page 28)

DESIGN BaSicS Data Management 101 When data management is an integral part of the design environment, it works with designers rather than against them. by ROB EVANS In all fields of engineering, a key factor in the success of any design project is having the right information available at the right time. A misinformed choice at such a seminal stage becomes increasingly difficult to correct as the design progresses, and its effect reverberates throughout all aspects of the design. For electronic product design, it might be as simple as selecting a component that has been discontinued or is in short supply, or perhaps more expensive than expected. Changing that part creates a design re-spin and triggers a flow-on increase in costs and product development time. Either way, a mistake induced by design data that lacks ‘integrity’ is costly. In addition, that cost is amplified when the problem is exposed later in the design process; such as the procurement stage, when the part’s current price and availability status have become clear. In this case, the problem has propagated throughout the design chain and forced a redesign delay late in development. This lack of integrity in the design data has most likely been caused by a failure in data management. Design data management, in itself a fairly broad term, is not a new challenge for electronics designers. It has traditionally existed at the local design level through the control of component libraries and file naming systems that keep track of design revisions. This approach works reasonably well in an isolated system where one task is performed because the integrity of the design data is managed at an application level–where design is done. The scope and formality of data management might be scaled to a company’s particular demands, but its effectiveness has always been linked to how successfully it is adopted by those within the design workflow. However, data management systems have subsequently evolved in a way that is disconnected from the design process, making the challenge of implementing effective data management far greater. 28 The Rise Of Complexity As the number of stages and the people involved in the product design process have increased, localized data management has given way to overarching systems that aim to collectively manage design data. This change tends to result in a complex system, or a collection of interconnected systems, that collates, logs and controls the design data generated and passed between the various design applications. It is an administrative layer imposed over the top of the existing workflow. In a typical design environment based on a collection of ‘connected’ tools, the onus is on the design data management system to maintain and to track a wide range of unrelated data from a myriad of sources. The collection of specialist design tools use and store design data in very FiGurE 1. a connected and rigorous approach to design data management ensures the integrity of data and improves collaboration between designers and teams. DECEMBER 2008 printEd CirCuit dESign & fAB

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Printed Circuit Design & Fab - December 2008

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - December 2008 Contents Our Line Market Watch Around the World Happenings ROI Global Sourcing EMC for the Real World Interconnect Strategies On the Forefront Final Finish Forum Test and Inspection Electronic System Design Data Management 101 Designers Take on Technology Challenges in 2008 PCB Signal Integrity, Power Integrity and EMC Challenges What’s in a Name? Ad Index PCB Dielectric Materials for High-Speed Applications Off the Shelf Marketplace BGA Bulletin

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - December 2008

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