CMvue

Configuration Management

As programs evolve and begin to accumulate specifications, drawings, parts lists, and software items, the need to effectively manage the data and its inter-relationships becomes more and more crucial. Often, such data is split into different databases or spreadsheets, with no trace-ability between related items. The end result is an enormous amount of work required to manually cross-reference the different data to determine what's needed to get the job done.

Am I looking at the current revision of this specification?

TopVue's CMvue module manages the identification of critical program elements such as documents of all types, system identifiers (also referred to as configuration items), drawings, parts, software items, and change documents of all types (requests, orders, proposals, etc.).
Each of these is identified with standard attributes such as number, vendor, name, revision, and status, and all attributes related to the data may be customized to meet the needs of the organization.

What fielded systems use this specific part number?

With program data identified in CMvue, the real power of the system lies in the ability to manage the data inter-relationships. Specifications are related to the hardware and software that they describe, drawings are related to their part numbers, and change documents are related to their affected items. The result is complete trace-ability throughout a program's configuration data, meaning that engineers, planners, and program managers can easily locate the information they need - just by following the data trail. Gone are the days spent searching for data needed to make decisions - CMvue puts that data as close as your web browser.

Are there any tools to help evolve my program's data through its lifecycle?

CMvue incorporates several processes into its integrated data environment, assisting with the management and evolution of a program's data. When a change order is approved against a document or drawing, you can use that order to authorize rolling the revision of the affected items. A change history of the affected item is automatically maintained and available as needed in the future. Data hierarchies enable building parent-child relationships of hardware and documentation, so that you can graphically depict an Indentured Part Breakdown (IPB), or a specification tree. Both of these processes are interactive and enable the user to navigate through a system, drilling down to the required detail when needed.

For my joint-program, how can we get notification of changes to the specifications owned by the other agency?

CMvue incorporates the ability to generate customized review routings, which are processes identified where people need to do specific tasks by certain dates. These reviews can be as simple as a few different people collaborating on a proposed specification change, to a major review process involving users located in different areas of the country. Because CMvue is accessed via web browser only, users from literally anywhere can be active participants in reviews, with their comments and decisions being captured and maintained for historical purposes.

CMvue can be support additional levels of automation using its integrated business rules engine. Routings can also be customized to alert users of their tasking via email, tasking can be modified based on approval levels within the review itself, and additional reviews can be automatically generated if certain routing conditions occur. Once these rules are established within the system, their processing becomes automatic and they are re-usable for as long as desired.