Computer method and apparatus for engineered product management including simultaneous indication of working copy status and repository status

Abstract

A computer method and apparatus for managing revisions to engineered products includes a repository, a local data store (working copy) and a revision manager. Each engineered product is formed of one or more assets. The repository holds the plurality of assets and tracks changes of the assets. For a given asset, the revision manager provides, together in a certain screen view, display of (a) indications of changes made to a working copy of the given asset relative to the given asset as held in the repository, and (b) indications of changes made to the given asset in the repository relative to the working copy of the given asset. The certain screen view in one embodiment employs a tabular format with sortable columns, color coded symbols, textual summaries of changes made to assets and textual description of changes made to assets in the repository.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . Computer apparatus for managing revisions to engineered products, comprising:
 a data store holding at least one asset for forming an engineered product;   a revision manager tracking changes made to each asset, for a given asset the revision manager providing together in a certain screen view to a user (a) indications of changes made to a working copy of the given asset relative to the given asset as held in the data store, and (b) indications of changes made to the given asset in the data store relative to the working copy of the given asset.   
     
     
         2 . Computer apparatus as claim in  claim 1  wherein the working copy of the given asset is in a workspace of the user, and
 wherein the workspace is local or remote to the user and the data store is local or remote to the user. 
 
     
     
         3 . Computer apparatus as claim in  claim 1  wherein the certain screen view provides any combination of:
 textual description of changes made, 
 textual summaries, 
 ionic summary, 
 color coded symbols, and 
 details of changes made in the repository including indication of who made the changes and time of change. 
 
     
     
         4 . Computer apparatus as claim in  claim 1  wherein the indications in the certain screen view include any one or combination of indicia representing:
 marked for addition, 
 marked for removal, 
 has conflicts, 
 is missing, 
 is locked, 
 has changes or contains items that have changes, 
 no changes. 
 
     
     
         5 . Computer apparatus as claim in  claim 1  wherein the data store holds a plurality of assets of an engineered product, each asset having respective versions, different versions of assets forming different versions of the engineered product. 
     
     
         6 . A computer apparatus as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the certain screen view is in a tabular format. 
     
     
         7 . A computer apparatus as claimed in  claim 6  wherein the tabular format includes sortable columns. 
     
     
         8 . A computer method for managing revisions to engineered products, comprising the steps of:
 holding in a data store at least one asset for forming an engineered product;   tracking changes made to each asset in a workspace, there being a workspace copy of a subject asset and a data store copy of the subject asset; and   providing together, in a certain screen view, (a) indications of changes made to the workspace copy of the subject asset relative to the data store copy of the subject asset, and (b) indications of changes made to the data store copy of the subject asset relative to the workspace copy of the subject asset.   
     
     
         9 . A method as claimed in  claim 8  wherein the workspace copy of the subject asset is in a user workspace, and
 the user workspace is local or remote to a user and the data store is local or remote. 
 
     
     
         10 . A method as claimed in  claim 8  wherein the certain screen view provides any combination of:
 textual description of changes made, 
 textual summaries, 
 ionic summary, 
 color coded symbols, and 
 details of changes made in the repository including indication of who made the changes and time of change. 
 
     
     
         11 . A method as claimed in  claim 8  wherein the indications in the certain screen view include any one or combination of indicia representing:
 marked for addition, 
 marked for removal, 
 has conflicts, 
 is locked, 
 is missing, 
 has changes or contains items that have changes, and 
 no changes. 
 
     
     
         12 . A method as claimed in  claim 8  wherein the data store holds a plurality of assets of an engineered product, each asset having respective versions, different versions of assets forming different versions of the engineered product. 
     
     
         13 . A method as claimed in  claim 8  wherein the certain screen view is in a tabular format. 
     
     
         14 . A method as claimed in  claim 13  wherein the tabular format includes sortable columns. 
     
     
         15 . A computer system managing revisions to engineered products, comprising:
 data store means for holding one or more assets for forming an engineered product;   tracking means for tracking changes made to each asset; and   means for displaying together (a) indications of changes made to a working copy of a given asset relative to the given asset as held in the data store, and (b) indications of changes made to the given asset in the data store relative to the working copy of the given asset, said display means responsive to the tracking means and the data store means.   
     
     
         16 . A computer system as claimed in  claim 15  wherein the display means provides any combination of:
 textual description of changes made, 
 textual summaries, 
 ionic summary, 
 color coded symbols, 
 details of changes made in the repository including indication of who made the changes and time of change, 
 a tabular format, and 
 sortable columns. 
 
     
     
         17 . A computer system as claimed in  claim 15  further comprising workspace means for providing the working copy of the given asset to a user. 
     
     
         18 . A computer system as claimed in  claim 15  wherein the display means display indications formed of any one or combination of indicia representing:
 marked for addition, 
 marked for removal, 
 has conflicts, 
 is locked, 
 is missing, 
 has changes or contains items that have changes, and 
 no changes. 
 
     
     
         19 . A computer system as claimed in  claim 15  wherein the data store means holds a plurality of assets of an engineered product, each asset having respective versions, different versions of assets forming different versions of the engineered product. 
     
     
         20 . A computer program product comprising:
 a computer useable medium including a computer readable program for managing engineering revisions;   wherein the computer readable program when executed by a computer causes:   holding in a data store at least one asset for forming an engineered product;   tracking changes made to each asset in a workspace, there being a workspace copy of a subject asset and a data store copy of the subject asset; and   displaying together (a) indications of changes made to the workspace copy of the subject asset relative to the data store copy of the subject asset, and (b) indications of changes made to the data store copy of the subject asset relative to the workspace copy of the subject asset.   
     
     
         21 . A computer program product of  claim 20  wherein the displaying together includes providing any combination of:
 textual description of changes made, 
 textual summaries, 
 ionic summary, 
 color coded symbols, 
 details of changes made in the repository including indication of who made the changes and time of change, 
 tabular display of the indications, and 
 sortable columns in the tabular display. 
 
     
     
         22 . A computer program product of  claim 20  wherein the indications include any one or combination of indicia representing:
 marked for addition, 
 marked for removal, 
 has conflicts, 
 is locked, 
 is missing, 
 has changes or contains items that have changes, and 
 no changes.