Five points to consider for a CAD Software Development Process
In any software development process, the methodology involved is more or less the same. The most generic requirements are developers, preferred programming language, testers and carefully planned set of actions to perform. The same can be applied to development of CAD software as well. Having CAD software that can actually meet product development needs is an obvious necessity. Although, there is a lot of common ground between a CAD software development project and a regular software development project, there are criteria very specific to CAD software development projects which needs to be addressed. Let us take a walkthrough: Acceptance Criteria Acceptance criteria are a list that mentions user requirements and product scenarios, one by one. Acceptance criteria explain conditions under which the user requirements are desired, thus getting rid of any uncertainty of the client’s expectations and misunderstandings. However, defining acceptance criteria is not simple, but has its complications. Also, it is not convenient to expect a 100% pass rate. In such case, an ideal way is to have a set of test cases with defined input and output data. Algorithmic Complexities To successfully develop a complex product, two critical questions must be answered, how to develop the right product and how to develop the product right.Unlike some of the other problems like interest rate calculations or workflow management system, there is not a defined set of steps that results in the final answer. There are often multiple algorithms for a single issue and the situation becomes more complicated when a particular algorithm, deemed to be perfect for a given situation, may not perform that well in a different scenario, which often leads to trade offs. Tolerances Tolerance is one of the factors to evaluate product quality and cost. It has a significant role. As tight tolerance assignment ensures design requirements in terms of function and quality, it also induces more requirements in manufacturing, inspection and service that results in higher production cost. Most of CAD data works on variables that are doubles and floats and Floating point precision, Tolerance plays a very important role in the algorithms. When using data from other systems say STEP file from other source, if there is a mismatch in the tolerance, the destination system can cause lot of issues. Risk of Regression Adding a new functionality or improving an algorithm always has a risk of impacting the test cases that were working before the fixes. One should always develop a robust test suite for catching regressions while carrying out testing. To create a regression test case suite one must have thorough application knowledge or complete understanding of the product flow. Interoperability The quick emergence of varied CAD software has led designers to democratize, leading to the usage of multiple CAD systems in the design process, thus challenging the CAD interoperability aggressively. Different suppliers require different CAD platforms. It depends on many factors, primarily the nature of the task and product upon which it has to work. Merging different CAD data together without affecting the design intent is quite the hassle. Although, a lot of software these days support different CAD files, there are instances, where the particulars of a project has made the product confined to that one CAD software. Interoperability eases up extra work and whether to make your own software compatible with other, is a decision that should be seriously taken into account.
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Why your business needs Custom Software Development
Introduction The quest to evolve digitally has prompted many tech enterprises to invest in new software/technology solutions to explore the market in terms of revenue and make public life easier. However, when an organization announces a brand-new investment, it is flocked by already available options in the market by players of the tech industry. Is investing in already existing solutions an excellent way to get a foothold in such a competitive industry? According to industry experts, not always. Tech businesses should be encouraged more and more to invest in their custom CAD software development. Having a personalized asset in your digital arsenal is so much needed these days. They can be efficient and adjustable, which will turn out to be beneficial for business in the long run. Although investments of that kind tick off many business owners due to the cost aspect, it is always worth the investment if done the right way. Here is an outline of how custom software development is highly recommended for your business. Tailored Solution The intention behind custom-made CAD software is to target the specific requirements of the organization. Every business needs tailored digital solutions that focus on individual business needs and addresses particular issues. Having custom-made CAD software gives one a competitive edge in such a fast-growing market. Easier to Scale As your business grows with time, your needs will change, and consequently, your business solutions will need an update. Readymade software solutions usually work for small-scale companies. However, custom-made software that can grow and scale your business processes is highly recommended if you don’t want to be held back by purchased software & features and want to succeed at your own pace. Integration with other software Custom CAD software facilitates easy & smooth integration of your product with other software in use or already existing in the market. It prevents integration issues, and it is tailor-made to fit within any business’ software ecosystem easily, that too without errors. A subcontractor in home construction industry would prepare quotation by marking up the home layout in a pdf document, followed by listing out various material and overhead costs. Such manual approach was affecting the turnaround time and accuracy/consistency of the quotes. Prescient developed the solution in multiple phases as given below: Independence from 3 rd. party developer An essential point while purchasing readymade software is that it depends on the organization that has developed it — from cost to terms and conditions of use. In the event of any unfortunate mishap or bankruptcy, the developing company might stop updating the product. Such news is not pleasant for your business as you will be in dire need of another provider with their own set of terms of engagement. Potential for future innovations Innovation drives every competitive business scenario today. Competition breeds innovation. More innovations mean you have more chances of addressing varied consumer interests. When organizations buy expensive and ready-to-deploy software applications from reputed vendors, it often limits their likelihood of innovation. Custom software drives more experiments and helps grind out innovative concepts faster without being dependent on outside technology vendors to do it. It builds an exceptional market competence as your brand is recognized as a precursor rather than a latecomer in the innovation arena. The modern market demands every technology implementation to go hand-in-hand with business objectives. Business firms need to have a clear idea of use cases that particular technology could solve. With custom software, firms can address such use cases and work on them without any restrictions, as long as they want it. Although they need to carry out the maintenance themselves, it provides benefits worth the expenses on a larger scale.
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