Programs & Designs

Programs and Designs provide the organizational hierarchy for managing product development in Cascadia PLM. Programs represent projects or product lines, while Designs are versioned containers for engineering items.

Understanding the Hierarchy

Cascadia uses a three-level hierarchy:

Organization
  └── Programs (permission boundary)
        └── Designs (version containers)
              └── Items (Parts, Documents, Requirements)

Programs

Programs represent:

• Product development projects
• Customer programs or contracts
• Product lines or families
• Internal R&D initiatives

Programs define permission boundaries - users are assigned to programs and can only access items within their assigned programs.

Designs

Designs are version containers that:

• Hold related items (parts, documents, requirements)
• Support Git-style branching for change control
• Track baselines and release history
• Can be organized into families and variants

Programs Management

Navigating programs and designs: viewing program details, designs list, and BOM hierarchy.

Programs List

Navigate to Programs in the sidebar to see all programs.

Summary Statistics

Statistic	Description
Total Programs	Count of all programs
Active	Programs currently in development
On Hold	Programs temporarily paused
Completed	Finished programs

Creating a Program

1. Click + Create Program in the top right
2. Fill in the program details:

Field	Description
Code	Short unique identifier (e.g., "PCART")
Name	Full program name (e.g., "Power Cart Development")
Status	Active, On Hold, or Completed
Customer	Customer or stakeholder name
Contract Number	External contract reference
Start Date	Program start date
Target End Date	Planned completion date
Description	Program overview and objectives

3. Click Create Program to save

Program Detail View

Click on a program code to open the detail view.

The program detail page shows:

Overview Section

• Program code and status
• Customer and contract information
• Start and target end dates
• Description

Designs Section

• List of all designs in this program
• Design type badges (design, family)
• + Add Design button to create new designs

Designs Management

Design Types

Cascadia supports two design types:

Type	Purpose
Design	Standard design for a product variant
Family	Parent design that groups related variants

Design Hierarchy

Designs can be organized hierarchically:

Family (PC-FRAME-FAM - Frame Assembly Family)
  ├── Design (PC-FRAME-L - Frame Long Variant)
  ├── Design (PC-FRAME-M - Frame Medium Variant)
  └── Design (PC-FRAME-S - Frame Short Variant)

This allows:

• Grouping related product variants
• Sharing common components
• Managing variant-specific differences

Creating a Design

From a program detail page:

1. Click + Add Design in the Designs section
2. Fill in the design details:

Field	Description
Code	Short unique identifier (e.g., "PC-PROTO")
Name	Design name (e.g., "Power Cart Prototype")
Description	Design purpose and scope
Type	Design or Family
Parent Family	Optional parent design for variants
Planned Quantity	Expected production quantity

3. Click Create Design to save

Design Detail View

Click on a design to open the detail view.

Header Information

The header shows:

• Design code with type badge (design/family)
• "Main" badge for the main branch
• "Change Control" badge when under ECO control
• Branch selector dropdown
• Edit and Archive buttons

Metadata Section

• Description
• Program link
• Planned quantity
• Parent family (if applicable)

Tabs

Tab	Description
Structure	BOM hierarchy for the design
All Items	List of all items in the design
History	Version history and commits
ECOs	Change orders affecting this design
Baselines	Tagged snapshots of the design

Design Structure Tab

The Structure tab shows the Bill of Materials hierarchy for the design.

Features:

• Expandable tree view of the BOM
• Filter by item number or name
• Expand All / Collapse All buttons
• + Add Part to add items to the design

All Items Tab

Lists all items belonging to this design:

Features:

• Search items by name or number
• Filter by item type (Part, Document, etc.)
• Filter by state (Draft, Released, etc.)
• Click item number to navigate to detail

History Tab

Shows the version history and commits for the design.

ECOs Tab

Lists all Engineering Change Orders that affect this design:

• ECO number and name
• Current status
• Number of affected items
• Branch name (e.g., "eco/ECO-002")

Baselines Tab

Baselines are tagged snapshots of the design at a point in time:

• Release baselines (production releases)
• Review baselines (formal reviews)
• Custom baselines for any milestone

Working with Branches

Main Branch

The main branch represents the current released state:

• Contains all released revisions
• Read-only for direct modifications
• Updated when ECOs are released

ECO Branches

When an ECO is created:

1. A branch is created for the affected design(s)
2. Changes are made on the ECO branch
3. When released, the branch merges to main
4. Revisions are assigned during merge

Branch Selector

Use the branch dropdown to:

• View the design on different branches
• See work-in-progress on ECO branches
• Compare branch states

Design Families

Creating a Family

1. Create a new design with type "Family"
2. This becomes the parent for variants

Adding Variants

1. Create new designs with type "Design"
2. Select the family as "Parent Family"
3. Variants inherit the family structure

Benefits

• Shared BOM components across variants
• Variant-specific customizations
• Unified change management

Best Practices

Program Organization

• Create separate programs for distinct projects
• Use meaningful program codes
• Document program objectives clearly

Design Structure

• Use families for product variants
• Keep design scope focused
• Plan the BOM hierarchy before creating items

Version Control

• Use ECOs for all changes to released designs
• Create baselines at key milestones
• Document changes in ECO descriptions

Next Steps

• Parts Management - Creating and managing parts
• Change Orders - Making controlled changes
• Workflows & Lifecycles - State management