Abstracting logical implementations

Logical models illustrate abstract physical architectures for implementing system functions. The logical model is a hierarchical structure of solution components, which are represented in Teamcenter by logical blocks.

Typically, systems engineers use trace links for allocating logical blocks to elements in downstream or upstream structures, such as:

• Other logical blocks in the same structure or in different Logical Block views.
• Requirement specifications, functional models, and physical models in Systems Engineering.

Trace links set up paths in which elements precede and succeed one another across the system's various domains. By tracing these defining and complying relationships, systems engineers can analyze change impact both upstream and downstream.

Tip Trace links can exist also between Systems Engineering objects and subsets in 4th Generation Design. Collaborative designers can analyze these relationships through the Systems Engineering cross-domain tracing feature.

To assess a solution's progress toward achieving performance goals, you can apply quantifiable parameters (such as technical performance measures, or TPMs) to logical models. In Teamcenter, TPMs are managed using budgets.

In Systems Engineering, you can create logical model structures by:

• Creating the structure in the Logical Block view.
• Creating diagrams in Microsoft Office Visio Professional.
• Importing spreadsheets from Microsoft Excel.

Note A logical block object has a BodyText property, whose value is rich text content that you define. To convey information about the logical block, for example, its purpose in the overall architecture, you can:

• Edit the content in the MS Word view.
• Export the content to Microsoft Office Word.