Syndeia 3.5 - New Features and Improvements

Owned by Debesh Roy Chowdhury
Last updated: Sept 24, 2022 by Manas Bajaj
11 min read

Syndeia is the digital thread platform for model-based engineering. Since the beginning, our vision of Syndeia has been a cloud-native, API-first, scalable platform for our users to build and manage federated digital threads for their products/systems by browsing, visualizing, querying, and transforming models/data distributed in enterprise tools/repositories. 

  • Syndeia 3.2 introduced the 1st version of Syndeia Cloud as an API-first, cloud-native backend store for data managed by Syndeia.

  • Syndeia 3.3 introduced the 2nd version of Syndeia Cloud as a scalable cloud-native microservices platform with a rich REST API and the ability to execute graph queries and visualize results on the digital thread via Syndeia Web Dashboard. 

  • Syndeia 3.4 introduced 6 new and moved existing integrations to Syndeia Cloud, and made them available via Syndeia’s powerful REST API. The Digital Thread Explorer made it possible to seamlessly navigate and visualize digital threads as graphs across federated repositories. Syndeia 3.4 was also the first commercially available application integrating the standard SysML v2 API.

The Syndeia 3.5 release takes our journey to supercharge Syndeia for the enterprise to the next level. It brings new integrations, including a generic RESTful Integration to connect to any enterprise tool or service that provides a REST API, and the ability to authenticate Syndeia users with your enterprise Single Sign On (SSO) services using the SAML2 protocol. The Syndeia Cloud REST API brings extensive support for pagination and artifact attributes in integrated repositories, and for the first time, the release includes Jupyter data science notebooks demonstrating the REST API for using leveraging Syndeia’s integrations and running digital thread graph queries and analytics. The Web Dashboard introduces many usability improvements based on feedback from Syndeia users (Thank you ). The release also includes infrastructure upgrades aimed at the Cybersecurity hardening of the Syndeia platform. For details on all the new features, improvements, and bug fixes, read the section below.

New Integrations and Improvements to Existing Integrations

Collaborator (SmartBear)

Syndeia 3.5 brings a new integration with Collaborator - a software application for peer-review of code, models, and documents - from SmartBear. Users can connect to multiple Collaborator repositories (servers) and browse Reviews and related artifacts such as participants, defects, review materials, and linked items (e.g. Jira issues) directly from the Syndeia Dashboard, as shown below. Reviews can be connected with artifacts from other integrated repositories, such as requirements (e.g. DOORS NG), system architecture (e.g. SysML), software (e.g. GitHub), hardware (e.g. PLM/CAD), and others, in the context of the digital thread for a system. Navigation and graph queries on the digital thread will show Reviews connected with other engineering artifacts.

The Collaborator integration is accessible via the Syndeia Web Dashboard, Syndeia Client Dashboards, and the Syndeia Cloud REST API.

For more details, refer to the following.

RESTful Integration

Enterprises deploying digital engineering solutions need to integrate 100s to 1000s of tools, services, and data sources - commercial (COTS), government (GOTS), home-grown, and open source (OSS).

Syndeia 3.5 brings a generic RESTful Integration capability that enables users to connect to any service, tool, or data repository that provides a REST API, directly from the Syndeia Dashboard with no code. Users can add requests to the REST API endpoints for each service/tool, curate collections of requests, and view detailed responses in the Syndeia Dashboard, as shown below. Users can connect RESTful artifacts to artifacts in other repositories integrated with Syndeia (e.g. Jama Connect, Jira, Windchill, etc.), including other RESTful repositories, to build digital threads. Video tutorials demonstrating the RESTful integration capability are included with the 3.5 release, such as with Jenkins CI/CD automation software, Vitech GENESYS, DataStax AstraDB, OpenMBEE, Sonatype Nexus Repository, and others.

Since most modern applications provide a REST API, the number of services and tools that can be integrated with Syndeia is now limitless. The RESTful Integration capability in Syndeia 3.5 will make it possible for any digital engineering repository, that provides a REST API, to be connected with digital threads.

The RESTful integration is accessible via the Syndeia Web Dashboard, Syndeia Client Dashboards, and the Syndeia Cloud REST API.

For more details, refer to the following.

SysML v2 (OMG)

The SysML v2 language and API are under development at the Object Management Group. Intercax is playing a leading role in the development and validation of the SysML v2 standard API. Syndeia 3.4 introduced the first commercial integration to SysML v2 API (2021-03 release). Syndeia 3.5 upgrades that integration to the latest 2022-08 internal release of SysML v2 API. With this upgrade, Syndeia users can view and navigate SysML v2 elements and relationships in projects branches and tags, as shown in the view below. Users can connect SysML v2 elements in any branch, tag, or commit to artifacts in other repositories and visualize intra-model and inter-model relationships in the Digital Thread Explorer.

VOLTA (ESTECO)

Syndeia 3.5 brings a new integration with VOLTA - the Simulation Process and Data Management (SPDM) and Design Optimization software from ESTECO. Users can connect to multiple VOLTA repositories (servers), browse, and search simulation artifacts such as models, sessions, plans, and files with simulation inputs and outputs, all from the Syndeia Dashboard. Users can connect VOLTA simulation artifacts with requirements, system architecture, hardware (PLM/CAD), verification tests, and other artifacts in integrated repositories to build digital threads. An example digital thread would connect system requirements (e.g. in Jama) with system architecture elements (e.g. in SysML), hardware assembly design (e.g. in PLM/CAD), verification test (e.g. in TestRail) with simulation model and results in VOLTA. Users can visualize these digital threads in the Syndeia Web Dashboard and run graph queries to trace requirements to simulation campaigns.

The VOLTA integration is accessible via the Syndeia Web Dashboard, Syndeia Client Dashboards, and the Syndeia Cloud REST API.

For more details, refer to the following.

XML

Syndeia 3.5 brings XML integration to Syndeia Cloud. Syndeia users can expand XML files version managed on GitHub and GitLab, browse XML element trees, and view attributes of XML elements from the Syndeia Dashboard. Users can connect XML elements to artifacts in other integrated repositories. In most organizations, data from legacy tools and services are often available as XML files. The XML integration available in Syndeia 3.5 will enable users to integrate data (as XML) from many legacy tools and services in the digital thread for products and systems.

Authentication

Industry Standard SAML2 SSO

Syndeia 3.5 introduces delegated authentication to an organization’s choice of Identity Providers (IdPs) that support the OASIS standard “Security Assertion Markup Language 2.0” (SAML 2.0). Organizations that have deployed Single Sign-On (SSO) services using their preferred IdPs (e.g. Okta, Ping Federate) can configure Syndeia Cloud to delegate authentication to those IdPs using SAML2. Users signing in to Syndeia Cloud Web Dashboard will be redirected to the IdP and navigated back to the Web Dashboard after successful sign-in.

For more details, refer to the following.

LDAP Groups

Since the beginning, Syndeia Cloud has offered delegated authentication to industry-standard and commercial Secure LDAP Identity Providers (IdPs). In Secure LDAP authentication, Syndeia Cloud connects to your organization’s LDAP server using SSL and LDAP for authentication. Syndeia 3.5 adds support for LDAP groups for authentication. Syndeia admins can specify LDAP group membership(s) constraints in addition to LDAP username when Syndeia verifies LDAP users during authentication.

For more details, refer to the following.

Jama OAuth Support

Syndeia 3.5 adds support for OAuth2 when connecting to Jama repositories from Syndeia Cloud Web Dashboard. Jama OAuth2 support was already available via Syndeia clients (Plugins and Standalone) in earlier versions of Syndeia. With Syndeia 3.5, users can connect to Jama repositories using basic authentication or OAuth2 from the Web Dashboard.

Cybersecurity

Syndeia 3.5 makes significant strides in the cybersecurity hardening of the Syndeia platform.

  • Syndeia 3.5 uses updated Open Source libraries which have improved their cybersecurity scores.

  • Syndeia 3.5 depends on later versions of industry-leading IT services that have improved their cybersecurity scores. Each dependency on Cassandra, JanusGraph, Kafka, and Zookeeper has advanced.

  • Intercax routinely scans its software and its supply-chain software for the latest vulnerabilities using the services of Snyk.io and of the OWASP Dependency Check tool and service.

Web Dashboard

Pagination

Syndeia 3.5 brings pagination for integrated repositories via the Web Dashboard. In the Tree View for integrated repositories, a Cloud icon indicates additional pages of data. Users can click the Cloud icon to load additional pages. The Cloud icon is hidden when there is more data to load. Pagination works at all levels of the repository tree, such as when fetching containers (projects), fetching artifacts in containers, or fetching relationships to other artifacts. Since Syndeia is an API-first platform, this capability is made available in the Syndeia Cloud API and used in the Web Dashboard. See the API updates in the following section.

Network Connection and User Credential Verification

Syndeia 3.5 provides users the ability to test network connections and user credentials when adding or updating repositories in the Syndeia Web Dashboard. A Test button is available in the Repository creation and Repository update forms. The test action is triggered when a user presses the Test button or the Create/Update button. If a network connection cannot be established or the user authentication fails, repositories cannot be added or updated via the Syndeia Web Dashboard. Since Syndeia is an API-first platform, this capability is made available in the Syndeia Cloud API and used in the Web Dashboard. See the API updates in the following section.

Usability Improvements

Syndeia 3.5 brings several usability improvements to the Web Dashboard. Some of the key usability improvements are listed below.

Adding and updating repositories

The add () and settings () icons for adding and updating repositories have been relocated from the top of the page to context menu icons to reduce the number of clicks.

  • Hovering over the repository type shows the menu to add a repository

  • Hovering over a specific repository shows the menu to view the repository settings and update

Streamlining addition and deletion of relations

The menu icons for adding and deleting relations from/to artifacts in the Relations panel have been streamlined and improved.

DTE relation keys or names

In the Graph Display Preferences for the Digital Thread Explorer and Graph Query visualization, users can chose to display names or keys of both intra-model and inter-model relations, as shown below.

Improved Edge Labels

The layout and display of edges on both the Digital Thread Explorer and the Graph Query visualization have been improved. If the name of a relation is displayed, text wrapping will be done automatically so that the head and tail of the relation edges are clearly displayed.

Syndeia Cloud REST API

Syndeia Cloud API Cookbook - Jupyter notebooks

Syndeia 3.5 includes the first release of the Syndeia Cloud API Cookbook, a collection of demonstration examples and patterns for using the Syndeia Cloud REST API. The package includes a collection of Jupyter notebooks using the Python client of the Syndeia Cloud REST API. The notebooks demonstrate using Syndeia Cloud API to (1) connect, query, and fetch data from integrated repositories, e.g. Jira, Jama Connect, and Teamwork Cloud; and (2) build and query digital thread for a system where artifacts from multiple repositories are connected together. The Python client for the Syndeia Cloud API is available as a Conda package.

The Syndeia Cloud API Cookbook is available with the Syndeia 3.5 installation downloads. Refer to API Cookbook and REST API for more details on getting started.

Pagination

In Syndeia 3.5, the Syndeia Cloud REST API brings extensive support for pagination. Query parameters for specifying page number/reference and page size (perPage) are available with the endpoints. All API responses include a Page Info object that provides details of the current, previous, and next pages. This is available for both: (1) Endpoints for integrated repositories, e.g. for fetching containers (projects) and artifacts (issues) in Jira, and (2) Endpoints for core digital thread data, e.g. fetching integrated repositories, Syndeia containers, and inter-model relations in Syndeia containers.

Syndeia Dashboards use this pagination capability. See Pagination under the Web Dashboard section above.

Attributes

In Syndeia 3.5, the Syndeia Cloud REST API brings extensive support for fetching attributes of integrated repositories. Artifact and search endpoints for most repository integrations have the includeAttributes query parameter, as shown above, that can be used to specify the attributes that should be fetched with artifacts from integrated repositories, e.g. Jira, Jama Connect, TestRail, etc. Users can specify:

  • list of attributes that need to be fetched

  • specify “all” to fetch all attributes - results in a larger payload in the response

  • list nested attributes using dot (.) notation, e.g. priority.name

Attributes are included in the Artifact JSON response, as shown below

Test endpoint

In Syndeia 3.5, the Syndeia Cloud REST API includes a /test endpoint for each repository integration. This /test endpoint is used to verify network connection and user authentication when connecting to integrated repositories. This endpoint is also used by the new Test button/action available in the Repository creation and update forms in the Web Dashboard.

Bug Fixes

Syndeia 3.5 includes several bug fixes from Syndeia 3.4. These fixes were rolled out incrementally with the release of Syndeia 3.4 Service Packs - SP1, SP2, and SP3. All the fixes in the Syndeia 3.4 Service Packs are also included in Syndeia 3.5. For a detailed list, see below.

Tutorials and Training

Syndeia 3.5 comes with over 200 tutorials with videos and step-by-step exercises. These tutorials are available as part of this documentation.

In addition to the tutorials, demonstration videos are also available via our website and YouTube channel (check out the Syndeia 3.5 Playlist). Subscribe to the channel to get notified when new demonstrations are added.

The Syndeia Training Program has significantly expanded. It is a live, online training program with 6 classes (2 hrs. each), diving into all aspects of the Syndeia platform - Overview, Web Dashboard, Plugins, REST API, Graph Queries, and Installation. The program is held at regular intervals throughout the year. To get the latest schedule, visit https://intercax.com/services/syndeia-training-programs/.