FROM EDN EUROPE: Project-management software keeps out of sight

Telelogic has added active configuration management to the Synergy product line. The Synergy tools for project management handle complex projects with multiple files, encompassing both the hardware and software of overall designs on which many engineers, possibly in many locations and time zones around the world, are working. The previous tool set allowed you to manage check-in and checkout of design files, version control, and releases; you could also track dependencies between files so you would know when changes in one file affected another.

Active configuration management provides a new layer of software that sits between the tool set and the user's environment (Windows, typically). It makes the features of the tool transparent to the designers who access the data. Using the system as a designer, you simply access the files you need; all of the checkout, check-in, versioning, conflict detection, and report generation happens invisibly. As a manager, you get new facilities to monitor progress against a project roadmap, as the various elements of the design reach their individual goals. Or, in Telelogic's terms, you define a series of tasks—what you are going to do and which parts of the design you are going to do it with—and a complete set of tasks constitutes a release. Per-seat pricing of the system is $3000 to $7000, depending on the required features.

Telelogic, +44 121 234 6623, www.telelogic.com.