Digital Thread Projects

Owned by Manas Bajaj
Last updated: Apr 30, 2024
4 min read

A Digital Thread Project is a container for digital threads created between artifacts in different repositories/tools. In Syndeia, digital threads are structured using Digital Thread Projects. The term Digital Thread Project is being introduced in Syndeia 3.6 and replaces the term Syndeia Project.

In https://intercax.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SYN36/pages/3330091179, we presented an overview of Syndeia and introduced the concept of Digital Threads. On this page, we will present the concept of Digital Thread Projects using examples.

Let us begin by introducing a few basic Syndeia concepts below.

  • Repository - Specific server or database (cloud or on-prem) where digital engineering models/data are stored and version managed, e.g. Jira repository, Teamwork Cloud repository, Teamcenter repository, Windchill repository, Jama repository, and others.

  • Container - Specific project or model in a repository used for organizing models/data and for user access control, e.g. a Jira project, Teamwork Cloud project, Windchill product/project, or Teamcenter project.

  • Artifact - Versioned entity in a container, e.g. a Jira issue in a Jira project, an Item in Teamcenter project, Part in a Windchill product, or an element in a Teamwork Cloud project.

  • Relation - Versioned directed relationship in a container between two artifacts, e.g. a “blocks” link between two Jira issues (artifacts), or a “satisfy” relation from a SysML block to a requirement (both artifacts).

    • Intra-Model Relation - Relation between artifacts in the same repository/tool, e.g. “blocks” link between two Jira issue in the same Jira repository.

    • Inter-Model Relation - Relation between artifacts in different repositories/tools, e.g. a relation created using Syndeia between a requirement in Jama Connect and a requirement or a block artifact in a SysML model.

As reviewed in https://intercax.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SYN36/pages/3330091179, Syndeia provides capabilities to generate, curate, and manage inter-model relations between digital engineering artifacts from different repositories.

The example scenario in Figure 1 below shows three distinct repositories - Teamwork Cloud Server A, Jira Server B, and Windchill Server C. Each of these repositories include two different containers, e.g. Jira Project B1 is a container in the Jira repository and Product C1 is a container in the Windchill repository. Each of the containers include artifacts and (intra-model) relations, illustrated using a graph. To build digital threads using Syndeia, connecting the three different repositories shown in this scenario, users must do the following:

  • Create a Digital Thread Project, as shown in Figure 1 using an orange-colored rounded rectangle. A Digital Thread Project is also a Container.

  • Generate or create (inter-model) relations between artifacts in different repositories. These relations are owned by the Digital Thread Project. Figure 1 shows these (inter-model) relations using orange-colored dotted lines between the following pairs of artifacts: Jira issues and SysML elements, Jira issues and Windchill parts, and SysML elements and Windchill parts.

In this scenario, the artifacts are owned by containers in three different repositories but the (inter-model) relations between the artifacts are owned by the Digital Thread Project (container).

image-20240428-164326.png
Figure 1: Digital Thread Project - Example scenario with three different repositories

There is no limit to the number of repositories that can participate in a Digital Thread Project. Multiple Digital Thread Projects can share repositories, e.g. a Satellite Digital Thread Project may use sensor artifacts from a product container in a Windchill repository, and an another UAV Digital Thread Project may also use sensor artifacts from the same or other product containers in the same Windchill repository. Figure 2 shows a scaled scenario where six different repositories of three different types are providing artifacts that are participating in a Digital Thread Project.

Syndeia provides a solid foundation for building secure, flexible, and enterprise-scale digital threads, organized using Digital Thread Projects.

image-20240428-165459.png
Figure 2: Digital Thread Project - Example scenario with six different repositories

New in 3.6

Digital Thread Projects are central to the end-user experience in Syndeia 3.6. The following Digital Thread Project related capabilities are available with this release.

 

We hope that you are excited by the idea of Digital Thread Projects and are ready to begin your journey to becoming a Digital Thread Superhero!