Concurrent engineering conflict manager
View Patent ↗A conflict manager according to the present invention is provided for managing concurrent engineering. A common work area is provided and accessible by engineers who also maintain local work areas. The conflict manager immediately notifies users when a drawing file on the common work area is modified. The conflict manager further includes locking, versioning and conflict functionalities.
1. A method of managing collaborative design comprising:
providing a common work area to store a current version of a drawing file therein;
providing a first and a second local work area, each in communication with said common work area and each storing a local version of said drawing file therein;
downloading said current version of said drawing file from said common work area to said first local work area without requiring check-out of said drawing file;
modifying said drawing file current version on said first local work area without requiring checkout of said drawing file current version to create a modified version of said drawing file current version;
uploading said modified version of said drawing file from said first local work area to said common work area to replace said current version of said drawing file, said replaced current version being stored as a previous version on said common work area;
immediately notifying a user of said second local work area of the replacement of said current version of said drawing file;
indicating a file status of the local version stored on said second local work area; and
wherein said file status includes a first status if said local version stored on said second local work area was the same as the current version stored on the common work area just prior to replacing said current version with said modified version, and a second file status if said local version stored on said second local work area was different from the current version stored on the common work area just prior to replacing said current version with said modified version.
2. The method according to claim 1 wherein said step of immediately notifying a user of said second local work area of the replacement of said current version of said drawing file further comprises displaying a pop-up box.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein said pop-up box includes the name and location of the drawing file being changed.
4. The method of claim 2 wherein said pop-up box includes the name and contact information of the user of the first local work area.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein said common work area stores all previous versions of said current version of said drawing file.
6. The method of claim 5 further comprising, restoring one of said previous versions as said current version.
7. A computer program product comprising: a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein to manage concurrent engineering, the non-transitory computer readable medium having: computer readable program code to provide a common work area to store a current version of a drawing file therein; computer readable program code to providing a first and a second local work area, each in communication with said common work area and each storing a local version of said drawing file therein; computer readable program code to download said drawing file current version from a common work area without requiring check-out of said drawing file; computer readable program code to modify said drawing file current version without requiring check-out of said drawing file to create a modified version of said drawing file; computer readable program code to upload said drawing file modified version from said first local work area to said common work area to replace said current version of said drawing file and store said replaced current version as a previous version on said common work area; computer readable program code to immediately notify a user of said second local work area of the replacement of said current version of said drawing file; computer readable program code to indicate a file status of the local version stored on said second local work area; and wherein said file status includes a first status if said local version stored on said second local work area was the same as the current version stored on the common work area just prior to replacing said current version with a modified version, and a second file status if said local version stored on said second local work area was different from the current version stored on the common work area just prior to replacing said current version with a modified version.
8. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein said computer readable program code to immediately notify a user of said second local work area of the replacement of said current version of said drawing file further comprises computer readable program code to display a pop-up box.
9. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein said pop-up box includes the name and location of the drawing file being changed.
10. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein said pop-up box includes the name and contact information of the user of the first local work area.
11. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein said common work area stores all previous versions of said current version of said drawing file.
12. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein said computer readable program code further comprises, computer readable program code to restore one of said previous versions as said current version.
13. The computer program product of claim 7 wherein said current version of said drawing file is available for concurrent modification by users.