Cognition Cockpit. Version 5.5 Release Notes. January, 2010

Transcription

1 Cognition Cockpit Version 5.5 Release Notes January, 2010 Copyright Cognition Corporation 2010

2 This document is the sole property of Cognition Corporation and is not to be distributed outside of Cognition without Cognition s express permission. Use of this specification is reserved exclusively for Cognition s personnel, sales and marketing partners, and Cognition Customers. The information and drawings contained herein are the sole property of Cognition and shall not be divulged to any third party without prior written consent of Cognition. The information in this specification is subject to change without notice. Copyright 2010 by Cognition Corporation. All rights reserved. Knowledge Center is a registered trademark of Cognition Corporation. BasicScript is a registered trademark of Summit Software Company. ObjectStore is a registered trademark of Progress Software Corporation. Excel, Internet Explorer, Visual C, Windows, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Work Object System is a trademark of Process Dynamics, Inc. General Notice: Some of the product names used herein have been used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective manufacturers and sellers. Revision history: 0.9 December 23, 2009 Created first draft 1.0 December 29, 2009 Add table wizard, bug fixes, and incorporated comments from review 1.1 January 20, 2010 Fixed image for table wizard. Updated dates. Published and printed in the USA. Cognition Corporation 213 Burlington Road Suite 109 Bedford, Massachusetts

3 1 Introduction These release notes describe the enhancements and changes that are part of version 5.5 of the Cognition Cockpit. Features in version 5.4 and earlier are described in the release notes for those versions. The changes in version 5.5 include: Support for a new Native Excel document that includes a bidirectional link between Excel workbooks and the Cockpit A new Google search capability that significantly enhances the speed and functionality of searching for information in the Cockpit database Significant improvements to the FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) capabilities within the Cockpit A new table definition wizard has been added which makes it easier to create custom table formats The following sections define the detailed functional changes and any user interface modifications that are associated with these changes. Many other bug fixes and minor improvements were also included in this update. These items are listed in the last section of these release notes. 3

4 2 Native Excel Documents With version 5.5 of the Cockpit, Excel now allows bi-directional connectivity to nearly all items and many different data fields on each item. This allows persistent Excel documents to be used to produce formatted, interactive reports, or for other similar purposes. 2.1 Making an integrated Excel document Integrated Excel documents are created within the Documentation branch of the Cockpit Table of Contents (TOC). New documents can be created at the Documentation level or within any subdirectory. To create a new document, the user simply right clicks on the directory and chooses the New Excel Document command. The dialog then displays the options available for the new document. In addition to a document name, an existing Excel file (on disk) can be specified. If no Excel file is selected, a blank file is automatically incorporated. 4

5 After clicking finish on this dialog, a new Excel document appears in the table of contents (as shown below). 2.2 Connecting Content to Excel Excel data is connected by creating a series of sections (headings) within the document. These sections can link to individual cells, rows, columns or tables. To create a new heading, select the document (or an existing heading) and right click. In the menu that appears, select the New Heading command. In the subsequent dialog, choose With simple text to create a brand new section with no associated objects, or one of the Documenting items to connect to another object. For a simple text section, the following dialog appears allowing for configuration of the section. In the Format drop list, there are four Excel styles: Excel Cell, Excel Row, Excel Column, or Excel Table. This choice can also be selected after the fact on the details page of the section. 5

6 2.3 Excel Cells The simplest connection to Excel is a single cell. The image below shows the content of a section created with the Excel Cell format. Once the blank section is created, a requirement or other item can be linked into the section. Only one item can be linked in and used for this format. The sheet and cell values are entered into the document section. In the Data area, indicate the content to connect to the Excel cell. The choices in this select list initially show default options for all object types if no item (requirement, test, etc ) is connected to the section. Otherwise, the list will include all the possible attributes for the type of object linked into the section. 6

7 Additionally, once an object is connected, the document section shows a representation of the portion of Excel that is linked. When the field is not read-only, the content can be edited directly within the document. Any general descriptive content can be added in the Description here area. In addition to new items, existing items can be linked by creating a New Heading and choosing Documenting an existing item. In this case, an option appears (as shown below) to select the type of item to connect. After selecting an option (e.g. Existing Requirement), a dialog appears that allows for object search and selection. 7

8 After clicking done, a new section is created in the document (as shown in the TOC), that directly links to the existing requirement. The document now includes a section 2.0, shown below. This section can be filled out, and because a requirement is linked, the option for Active Target is now available. 8

9 2.4 Excel Rows The next level of complexity is connecting a single object to a Row of data in Excel. If the connector type of Row is chosen, an additional option appears to select the Number of Columns. In the figure below, a new section is created, documenting a new group. Once the number of columns is entered, additional fields appear to select what data should be included for each column. 9

10 When these choices are made, the data table shows this content in a fashion similar to what it will look like in Excel (and editable when applicable). Excel Columns are similar to rows, except that the data is connected to a vertical range of cells. 2.5 Excel Table The most powerful connection to Excel is the Excel Table section. If a new section is created with the Excel Table format, the document section appears as shown below. 10

11 When connecting multiple objects to Excel, an option appears to restrict what kind of items in the document section should be linked. This item type is also used to determine what kind of object to dynamically create if new rows are added to the table in Excel. In this section, new items can be added in the Cockpit via linking or using the New Item option on the right-click dialog (shown below). 11

12 In the image below, a new group has been added to the table, and the column data has been specified. Note that for some options, like Metric, additional data might be required to describe the linked data. 2.6 Opening and editing the document After the basic connectivity is described, the Excel file can be edited in the Cockpit. To open the Excel file, select the Excel document in the table of contents. At the top of this document, choose the Open option. An additional window will open that will display the associated Excel file. When the file opens, it will display a status message indicating that data is being transferred from the Cockpit to Excel. Until this message completes, Excel is not useable. 12

13 In the open Excel window, edits can now be made as necessary, including changing values, formatting, etc. Additionally, cells or rows can be moved as necessary (including to new sheets) without creating an issue with the Cockpit connectivity. Any cells that are not connected to the Cockpit can be changed as desired. 13

14 In the figure above, the Target value has been added to cell B1, and a new row was added to the table for section 4.0. After the edit has been completed, the Save command can be selected from the File menu in the Excel window. 14

15 Once selected, status information will be displayed showing the progress of the save. Open completion, a message will appear to indicate that the changes have been saved. In this example, saving the data results in the creation of a new group in Cockpit (as shown in the table of contents and in the document data table). 15

16 2.7 Excel Templates Once an Excel document is created, it can be used as a template for future integration. This is done using the existing Cockpit template capability. To make a document into a reusable template, right click on the document in the table of contents. If you have Administrative rights, an option will appear to Add To Templates. When this is selected, subsequent screens will ask for both a template category and name. If existing categories or names exist, these can be selected. 16

17 When Done is selected, a template file is automatically created from the document and loaded into the templates directory. The existing document is left unchanged. To create a new document from a template, the normal New Excel Document option is selected, but now the Create a new document from a template option is selected. 17

18 Subsequent prompts allow for the selection of the template by category and then name. 18

19 Upon completion, a new document is created that has the sections and file from the template. 19

20 3 Built-in Google Indexing and Retrieval Another feature new to the Cockpit involves Google. We believe that projects get late one day at a time and finding what you need is often painful. Searching for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, an hour or more is not uncommon. It adds up and it s frustrating. Quick decisions are easier when you have the data you need, and shared drives are often a mess. Leveraging past experience and knowledge is hard as well. If you can t find it quickly, it s easier to just start over. Mistakes are often repeated. With the new feature, everything you put in the Cockpit will be automatically crawled and indexed each night with a supplied Google Appliance on your network, not public. Specifically, every piece of research, every interview, every VOC, every requirement, every specification, every test, every protocol and V&V plan, every risk, hazard, mitigation, PowerPoint, Visio, Excel, meeting minutes, marketing document, business plan, characterization study, etc. They will all be indexed. The next morning and thereafter, you will have sub-second retrieval of all of it. For example, suppose you want to find specifications that relate to a certain topic: The following requirement will be found (among other items): 20

21 The complete response looks like this: To get started, click on the new Google icon in the top right of the screen: Next, type a search string and click search. You can also experiment with the dozens of built in examples by clicking on the help button: 21

22 The following side-window will appear: Additionally, the Google feature itself is also available in the slide-out window, allowing you to look for things without disturbing your current view. 22

23 This new Google capability must be purchased as a separate option to the Cockpit. The purchase includes the Google hardware and setup of your hardware and Cockpit domain. Please contact your Cognition sales representative for more information. Also, a more detailed presentation on this new feature can be found on the Cognition web site by clicking on the following link: Google Search Presentation. 23

24 4 ISO Compliant FMEA and Hazard Analysis We know not everyone is a Risk Expert. Yet, often, we re the ones leading the FMEA. Harms, hazardous situations, hazards got it. My cause is your effect no problem. The process is often very inefficient and likely noncompliant. Getting it wrong can be tough. Getting it right would mean that compliance audits would be a whole lot safer, and everyone would have risk-aware decision support. Customers might even get a better product. To begin using this new feature, you would probably want to start with one of Cognition s templates: 24

25 In the end, your tables will look like this: If your column headings are different, or if you use detectability, etc., then simply go to the Details page of the section and modify one of its many items. The page looks like this: 25

26 With experimentation, you ll see that the Cockpit has no limit for the depth of FMEA, as illustrated here: As you fill out the FMEA, all the items are being added to Cockpit s library of failure modes, etc. and they may be used in other areas of FMEAs: 26

27 In summary, with the Cockpit, you don t have to be a risk expert. Templates can guide you through every step, and a single database allows you to trace everything: Subsystems or process steps to functional requirements Requirements to failures modes or hazards Failure modes to their causes Causes to their mitigations Mitigations to their controlling specifications If anything changes, notification messages are sent to the owners of connected items, such as requirement, etc. Libraries of failure modes can be Google searched and used in any project any time. Table formats can be customized to meet your standards. More detailed information is available on the Cognition Web Site by clicking on the following link: FMEA & Hazard Analysis Presentation. 27

28 5 Table Definition Wizard A new table definition wizard has been added so Cockpit users can more easily create custom table formats. Prior to this version you would need to write customization code to implement a new table definition. Now a wizard like interface leads you through the table definition and automatically generates the necessary customization code. These new table definitions can include existing Cockpit attributes, user defined attributes, and custom data queries. To create these custom formats choose Site Setup from the Main Menu. You will need to have enough privilege to modify site level customizations. Once you have opened the Site Setup, expand the table of contents down to the Table Definitions folder. To create a new table definition, right click on the Table Definitions folder and choose Create a new table definition. A dialog will be displayed so you can enter a name, description, and choose the type of item that can use the new table definition. 28

29 In the example above, a table definition is being created that can be used by any requirement in the Cockpit. Click Done to create the table definition. When the table definition page is displayed, click on the Wizard item at the top to display the Wizard page. Enter the number of columns for your table and you will see detailed sections for each column. Choose the attribute to display for each column, the title for the column, whether the item should be editable (this will only be allowed if the user has permission to edit), a prompt to display for an editable value that is empty, the width of each column, and the alignment of the column header and values. The width values can be in pixels using the format 100px or in percentage using the format 50%. You should use the same value type for all columns to avoid display problems with the table. Once all of the information is entered, click the Generate button to create the code that will be used for the table. The table is now available for use in the Cockpit. The easiest way to use a new table is using the Adhoc List format in a document section. The above table can be selected on the Details page of a section using this format. 29

30 On the details page, the Adhoc List format is selected, the Requirements is chosen for the type, and the new table format is chosen as the table format to use for the list. The resulting table will look something like the example below. Existing custom table format should automatically display the new UI by parsing the code that exists for the custom table. 30

31 6 List of Other Items Addressed in This Release The following table lists other notable items that have been fixed in this release. BugID Summary Custom items are not properly exported by KEYWORD if more than ONE keyword is selected Need to add a risk notification capability Header and Footer images are lost when a document is copied Support color status for test icons Support a new rich text mitigation field Sandbox on a large tree hangs browser Would like the CPM Info report to not include quantity parameters Don't automatically apply the default sandbox percentage to qty parameters Don't filter parent and child requirements on requirement trace page if Requirement filter is off When a group contains requirements in folders, the requirements are reported twice in the status table on the group home page Project validation takes a long time when there are lots of items with access information different than the project 31