Design Data Management (DDM)

For ASIC design

Design Data Management comes mainly in 2 flavors

File-based (all file stored in a directory-tree in the Vault/Repository)
Module-based (files grouped in separate directory structure, located in a Vault, or different Vaults)

Module-based DDM requires really a different approach w.r.t. the setup of a Vault structure and the access to it.

The main benefits of Module-based DDM are:

Far better control over what is released.
Who has access to what part of the Vault/Design Data
Just populate into a Workarea a cut-out part of the whole design with or without changing the directory structure
Allows a better Bill-Of-Material implementation
Speed-up Work-space handling on Population, Tagging, Content Checking
...

Main challenges Module-based DDM:

More pre-work due to Module definitions
Pre-work on AccessControl (incl. Vault structure)
Training for for users
Higher level of customization (scripted support)
Getting the mindset correct with the team-members

The (short) Story:

Coming from many file-based HW-DDM assignments, I experienced how various engineering roles handle DDM.

Introducing Modules-based DDM is a challenge with most roles in the design flow.

But, Modules-based Data Base Management will result in a better defined set of released data.

The latter is crucial when a First-Time right approach is one of the objectives.

In order to control the additional (Modules) layer, effort needs to be spend to report and control the Design-Data :

On Modules Preparation (Creating a defined Modules structure for the target design)
On Modules Configuration in Workspace (How users can control the state on the Modules)
On Modules Release (For Main and Intermediate releases)

DesignSync GUI (DesSync) supports a limited set of Modules commands.

The stclc (DesignSync internal tcl implementation) supports a wide variety set of commands, to allow scripting the required commands and WoW to handle Modules.

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