What is Cradle?

Cradle is a requirements management tool to upload, design, link and publish project information for every stage in a systems/controls engineering project. It utilizes agile, iterative or phase-based approaches and it is useful for the evaluation of any process. Completely scalable, flexible and secure, Cradle can be deployed locally, remotely, or delivered through SaaS from a cloud server..

This adaptable software can support all your requirements management and systems engineering processes in a single tool suite, including:

What is can do...

Loading external information
Manage requirements, user needs/stories, and a product backlog
Analyse and model user needs, (optional MBSE)
Define constraints of the design
Outline the architecture (also optional with models)
Create the design (also optional with models)
Identify and track tests, issues and defects at any level
Manage system validation and user acceptance
Conduct analyses like traceability and coverage in the entire lifecycle or individual parts
Publish documents utilizing user-defined layouts and templates
Manage user task lists and work breakdown structures, record project progress, and bi-directionally link to project planning tools
Share and reuse information between projects

Using Cradle

Defining Your Database

Each database in Cradle has items linked by cross references. This allows the definition of the types of items, characteristics and attributes. You define the types of references and attributes and the linking rules you establish. For roles and capabilities, you can define users and teams and the authentication and access policies. Cradle allows the definition of the workflows by which the information is formally reviewed, baselined and changed.

Loading Information

Cradle offers several options: parsing documents, loading spreadsheets, importing from files or other tools, and keying data manually.

Creating New Items, Queries or Views

Creating new items in each agile sprint or development phase, Cradle works with the information in specific detail. You can define queries to find information and views to present it as lists, tables, documents or trees. Cradle can create your own view commands to allow you to work more efficiently.

Generating Data, Cross References, Hierarchies

You create and manipulate cross references between items by drag-and-drop and through hierarchy diagrams and matrices.

Analyzing and Controlling Your Data

With the toolset in Cradle, you can analyze your information for consistency and quality (both text and models). You analyze the traceability and coverage of information using tables, diagrams, and matrices.

Publishing

From Cradle, you can publish information from user-defined reports, or as template documents with your organization's standard layouts and formatting. Every item in the database is trackable down to every word of these documents, ensuring that when the changes occur, they are propagated appropriately.

All Cradle products are:

Multi-lingual: UIs and the stored information
Full support on Windows and Linux and complete interoperability between them
Open and extensible
Integrates with Microsoft Office and a variety of industry standard desktop tools
Robust and secure, having received independent security accreditation compliant with CESG information assurance standards