IP management

This section describes IP management in the Helix IPLM platform. IPs track the components of a design, promoting traceability, released based lifecycle management, and information centralization. Workspaces are built from IPs, and IPs provide a basis for automation of design flows and data collection. Learn how IPs are managed within Helix IPLM.

What is an IP?

IPs are the core object used to represent sections of a design in Helix IPLM. IPs are metadata objects, they don't store design files directly but rather track the versions of files stored in any number of file level Data Management (DM) systems. IPs manage a particular set of files via a repo path field that links to a DM system location.

A hierarchy of IPs can be created by linking parent IPs to resource (child) IPs via an IP's 'resources' field. Each IP can directly link to as many other resource IPs as needed. Each of those Resource IPs can link to their own Resource IPs, creating an IP Hierarchy. Refer to the IP Hierarchy section for more details. 

What is an IP release? (IP Version or IPV)

The state of an IP can be captured at any time as a release. In Helix IPLM releases are called IP Versions, or IPVs for short. An IPV release captures the state of the files associated with each IP in an IP Hierarchy. Once created IPV releases are immutable, they can then be used to recreate their captured design state in a workspace or modified release at any time in the future. Refer to the IP Versions (Releases) section for more details.

IP Libraries

Each IP in Helix IPLM belongs to exactly one Helix IPLM Library. A Library can be viewed as a collection of IPs that are related to one another. Libraries also provide a namespace for IP names - different IPs with the same name (perhaps with similar functionality) could be placed in different Libraries. Only admin users can add/edit/delete Libraries. However, regular users with the right permissions can create new IPs in existing Libraries. Refer to the Managing IP Libraries section for more details.

IPs and metadata

Helix IPLM IPs have a number of native fields with which they track data about an IP object. Users can expand the data an IP tracks with Properties and Attributes/Widgets. Properties are predefined typed fields that can be attached to an IP or IPV, with values set on a per IP or IPV basis. These properties can be used to query IPs in the system, and track the IPs lifecycle. Attributes are more ad-hoc values that can be applied to IPs or their releases as needed. If formatted in certain ways attributes will be displayed as graphical widgets on IPLM Web pages. Non-graphical attributes are often leveraged for automated flows, where data from simulations or verification needs to be associated with particular IPs or their versions, while graphical widgets are used to create rich informational displays and data sheets on Helix IPLM components. Refer to the IP, IPV, and IP Line Metadata section for more details.

IPs and traceability

Helix IPLM is centralized and tracks all IP releases and the relationships between IPs, as well as where IPs get used. The parents of any IP in the system can be tracked via the various Helix IPLM clients. Both the immediate parents and top level 'project IP' consumers of each IP in the system can be reported. Helix IPLM additionally tracks workspaces and their contents, so any user workspace that is using a particular IP or release can be searched. Refer to Tracing IP Usage on the Server and Listing Workspaces for more details.

Searching for IPs

IPs in the IPLM platform can be searched from the IPLM Web interface using the global search capability from the IP catalog and Home pages, or for more detailed and precise searches, use the Advanced search page. PiCLI search supports a number of command options as well as the query language.

IP security

IPs in IPLM have a full permissions model and can be limited to certain geographies (geos) using the geofencing capability. See Permissions management for more information. Geos can be managed using IPLM Web from the Geofencing administration interface.

Categorize IPs with labels

Use labels to categorize IPs and Libraries into groups for easy search from the IPLM Web catalog and CLI interface. Refer to the Labels section for more details.