Day: 12 June 2018

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June 2018 Newsletter

Halfway

June, halfway through the year, its easy to measure and define when we reach that point. Fundamentally that’s because the length of the year is clearly defined and we can measure when we reach the 1/2 way point.

Projects are not that simple.

If we’re unlucky we have no idea where we are or how far through the pile of requirements we have moved.

In a better position we have an idea how many requirements we have and how many have been linked to design solutions and possibly how many of those have been tested. A dashboard can help you quickly visualise these measurements.  The real problem, however, is knowing how much effort you have expended and how much is still needed. Numerically you may have completed 90% of your requirements, with 80% of your budgeted effort. Can the remaining 10% be completed with the remaining 20% budget?

metric showing the LoE expended so far
Effort / Completeness

One method would be to assign an LoE (Level of Effort) to each of the tasks. This then allows a weighted metric to be produced showing the numeric percentage of completed design elements compared to the current weighted effort expended.

This example show that although there are only 13% of the Design elements to complete we expect there is 46% of the total work still to be completed. Better check the budget and required finish date pronto!

Cradle Version 7.4

Cradle 7.4 Logo
Cradle 7.4

It’s great to see so many downloads of Cradle 7.4 and we hope you are enjoying the new features. We’re adding blog entries to cover these, and you can search for these using the  blog tag “cradle-7.4”

If you’ve not had a new security code and have a maintenance agreement, request a code by email.

Charity

User 3SL30 for a £30 discount see https://www.threesl.com/blog/birthday-voucher-30/ ‎
Discount code

We have a special “Secret (not!) Birthday Discount”  offer of £30 off single user prices and licences.

However, those buying Cradle Enterprise licences can choose to donate £30 per licence bought to a charity of their choice.   Ts&Cs apply

circus tent - based on unsplash.com photo
Circus

Last month our we chose to make a donation to  Circus Starr “The Circus with a Purpose” ‘A touring circus boasting world-class, professional artists from across the globe. It was first founded in 1987 and provides free seats for thousands of disadvantaged, disabled or vulnerable children, whilst helping to raise much needed funds for local charities.’

Banking Changes

Piggy bank
Banking Changes

As we have said previously, there have  been some changes in UK banking as some banks have been split so as to  isolate traditional banking from  investment banking activities.  Barclays have confirmed the new SWIFT BIC code is BUKBGB22. Our sort code and account numbers have stayed the same but our IBAN numbers have changed.  This is especially important to our distributors and overseas customers. Please contact salesdetails@threesl.com to request our IBAN numbers. Updates are  posted here.

GDPR

padlock over computer based on images from negativespace.co pixabay.com on pexels.com
GDPR

Our new policies have been released, if you didn’t see the last email please read  Privacy Policy Update article.

If you’ve got any noteworthy GDPR stories / articles that would be worth sharing let us know social-GDPR@threesl.com !!

Social Media

Twitter

tweet from @fluenceenergy
Big Battery

We love keeping an eye on what’s new with our customers and what’s changing in the engineering community. This development is one BIG battery engineering challenge.

 

And on a lighter note we celebrated Chocolate Chip Day.

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Attribute Sets

Uniqueness Across Single or Multiple Parameters

There are occasions where you want a number of components of an item to be unique, aside from its Identifier. Attribute sets allow you to specify combinations of attributes that are to be unique for an item type.

Set Components

They can be defined for requirements and  system notes. Each attribute set can contain one or more attributes chosen  from:

  • Key
  • Category (single value and multiple value categories)

Sets

You can define as few as one or as many as thirty three attributes (all categories and the key) for each set.

An item type can have multiple attribute sets.

In Practice

As an easy to explain concept, this example shows an asset register. The managers of the multiple Town Lodge sites each have assets installed in the building. To aid maintenance and asset recording, they want to ensure combination of:

  • the Building it’s in
  • the Location within the building
  • the Item type for the equipment
  • and an identifying index

are unique.

By setting each of these components as categories in the  ASSET item type, and then selecting Attribute Sets adding an Attribute Set called “Asset identifier” made from these categories, they can check for uniqueness.

Setting an attribute set in Cradle project schema
Attribute Set – Setup

 

As the user is assigning new items into the asset register, when they attempt to save the item, a uniqueness check is calculated. In this instance the combination has been used before, so the user is not allowed to save this item. In this case all they need to do is up the index of the ‘routers’ in the reception area. Obviously this can be any meaningful combination for your project.

seeing the user interface warning when an attribute entered is not unique
Attribute Set – Operation

Note:

These Attribute Sets checks are not as restrictive as an item’s identity.  You would not be allowed to create a duplicate ID/Version/Draft of an item in the database. It is applied when editing and saving an item. This allows you to freely copy items without having to decide on multiple unique combinations at the instant of copying. On subsequently editing and attempting to save the item, the checks would be performed. In a similar manner to ‘Mandatory Categories’.