Item Revision Naming Schemes

Contents
Creating and Editing the Revision Naming Scheme Revision Naming Terminology Choosing a Revision Naming Scheme Creating your own Revision Naming Scheme

Parent article: Items and Item Revisions The Item ID is the unique name, or identifier, you give to each Item you want to be able to release. Any Item may well change through the course of its life though, it might be due to design improvements made during prototype testing, or it might be to release a newer model with enhanced features. Changes like this, where there are actual design changes, are called Revisions. Altium Designer supports revisions, with 3 default types of Revision Naming Schemes, as well as the ability to define your own. You must choose a naming scheme when you create a new Item. Note that the chosen naming scheme cannot be changed once the Item has been created, and a naming scheme that is currently in use cannot be edited. The default revision naming schemes work as follows: 1-Level Provides a single level of revision naming, in the range 1 to 9, or A to Z, of any width required. Because there is only 1 level of labeling, the revision name can only identify the Revision. 2-Level Provides 2 levels of revision naming, with a default form of Alpha.Number. Examples include A.1, or CZ.83. The first section, or Level 1 of the revision levels, is used to label the Prototype. The second section, or Base of the revision levels, is used to label the Revision. 3-Level Provides 3 levels of revision naming, of the form Number.Alpha.Number. An example would be 02.B.1. The first section, or Level 2 of the revision levels, is used to label the Model, the second section, or Level 1 of the revision levels, is used to label the Prototype, and the third section, or Base of the revision levels, is used to label the Revision.

Creating and Editing the Revision Naming Scheme

You can examine, create and edit the revision naming schemes in the Edit Revision Naming Schemes dialog. You access this dialog via the Properties button in the Data Management Release Vaults page of the Preferences dialog.

Examine, create and edit the revision naming schemes.

Revision Naming Terminology

In Altium Designer the following default terms are used in the revision naming schemes. These terms are used to bring meaning and identity to different versions of the same Item. Revision - A revision is a new version of an Item. Using a sequential identification scheme makes it possible to see the history of Item versions. The revision section of the revision number must be incremented each time the design of the Item changes, when that change is not significant enough to require a new prototype or new model. Prototype - A prototype is a working model of a new Item, or new version of an existing Item, that is not yet ready to go to customers. The prototype section of the revision number must be incremented each time a new prototype is created for a given model.

Model - A model is defined as a style or design of an item. Having a Model identifier is useful when there is more than one model, for example I have the previous model of that car. The model section of the revision number must be incremented each time a new model is created.

Choosing a Revision Naming Scheme

So just how do you choose the right revision naming scheme for your project and organization? From the previous descriptions it seems that you choose between the simplicity of a 1-level naming scheme, where the revision number simply reflects the current revision of the Item, through to choosing a complex naming scheme that reflects the model, the prototype and the revision. There is no simple answer to this question, it is a matter of considering which scheme best suits your organizations requirements. Ideally you will choose a single scheme that can be used across all the Items created in Altium Designer for your organization. As for the number of levels, consider the typical life of the products, do they have a long life and undergo numerous updates? Do you need to be able to easily identity an Item in the field, for example would being able to easily tell the model be beneficial for a service technician? Both of these types of requirements are better served by a 3-level naming scheme. Larger organizations will typically have their own revision numbering scheme in place already, in that case you can create your own in Altium Designer to match.

Creating your own Revision Naming Scheme

To create your own revision naming scheme, click the Add New Scheme link in the Edit Revision Naming Schemes dialog. A new Tab will be added to the dialog, ready for you to define the Scheme Name, and configure the various properties. Note that revision naming schemes are stored in the release vault. That means a scheme you define in one vault will not be available in a different vault, you will need to define it in each vault that you wish to use it in. Once a revision naming scheme has been used by an Item in a vault, it can no longer be edited or deleted.