Item: Altium Develop
Rating: 9
Author: Raphael Buitendag

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Altium Designer is used in our organisation for client projects but also for personal development. This includes the full scale of development from schematic entry and PCB design. Within the same tool reviews are done to validate the design before the manufacture process. It allows the other engineers to also collaborate on the designs.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Component Vault storage
In program Reviews
Document preparation for manufacture

Cons

Bugs
Constraint manager
When loading big projects it lags

Return on Investment

Getting more projects
Hiring more Electronic designers
PCB training's

Usability

8

In the beginning it is tricky to use, but with the online documentation this helps to get started. Once you know the way around with Altium Designer and learn the short cuts it is really easy to use. The interface for running the design rules and checks also make it easy to pinpoint errors. I definitely recommend using if one needs to design the full development from schematic->PCB->manufacture.

Design Efficiency

With the use of Altium Designer workspace environment it has allowed multiple engineers to collaborate and work efficiently together. Besides this our engineers can work efficiently with the in programme review option. The process for preparing the required documents for designing for manufacture. Overall the efficiency has improved and allowed us to deliver the work in a quicker time.

Altium 365 Integration

With the use of Altium 365 it has allowed multiple engineers to collaborate and work efficiently together. Besides this our engineers can work efficiently with the in programme review option. The process for preparing the required documents for designing for manufacture. Overall the efficiency has improved and allowed us to deliver the work in a quicker time.

Alternatives Considered

KiCad EDA

Other tools are open source and free to use, which often means its easier to use but has limited abilities. With using Altium Designer compared to the other tools I have found the review process a lot better and its workspace environment a big plus because I can find information in a quicker time.

Key Insights

Do you think Altium Develop delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Altium Develop's feature set?

Yes

Did Altium Develop live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Altium Develop go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Altium Develop again?

Yes

Other Software Used

KiCad EDA, AutoCAD, Altium 365

Likelihood to Recommend