A design is seen as some larger scale integrated group of functions, achieved by interconnection of sub-design elements like IP blocks. For example a serial communication interface circuit design could have some control circuitry, a number of transmitter and receiver circuits, each made up of a group of interface, amplifier, modulator and demodulator and digital data handling circuits.

The trend to design re-use and common building blocks mean that roles and teams responsible for larger scale designs also need to support re-use in the same manner as IP Blocks. So these scenarios are similar in this initial release. The main differences are - the change process is more driven from product of system level enhancement or change requests (i.e. traceable to and authorized by), and that the scale (size) of work scoped within an Change Request will relate to the design composition. It is good practice to scope out change requests or related sub-tasks to enable reasonable visibility of demand and progress – too fine grained and to much burden is put on designers, too coarse grained and work is always “in progress”, rather than having clear completion. Organizing units of work around the higher value- higher risk circuit behaviors, collaboration between sub-system interfaces and increasing integration of core functions is a reasonable basis for design teams.

This scenario involves the update of a design and the optional update of a library release. The design is likely to include a hierarchy of IP blocks used which may or may not have been changed. In practice there are likely to be multiple contributors and reviewers, especially for a more complex design with multiple specialized functions.

The current scenario focuses on a design containing analog IP blocks such as used in custom or analog-mixed signal semiconductor designs. The change may involve updates to design schematics or physical layout, such as for analog semiconductors.

The major capabilities supported are:

• Change request definition, routing and tracking
• Design configuration management
• Cross-functional activity management
• Design and library release
• Collaborative design review
• Integration between Electronic Design Automation circuit schematic and layout design
• Change and Configuration Management

The major business objectives addressed are:

• Engineering cost reduction
• Design cycle time reduction
• Design release accuracy
• Engineering project risk reduction

Related scenarios not currently addressed directly:

• Product and systems requirements or specification traceability
• Design release planning
• Design release involving multiple libraries
• Design variant handling
• Workload assignment across multiple contributors
• Support for Design analysis, verification and validation
• Traceability of design changes to the system or product level
• Release of specific generated files for downstream processing e.g. netlists, GDSII files