As project integrator, you can choose to set up a structure for your team design that makes the best use of engineering resources. For example, depending on the size of your project team, it can be more efficient to divide the work for very large or complex designs using hierarchical schematic design blocks and/or physical design partitions. The benefit of implementing this type of design structure is that you can more easily assign or reassign work to team members based on expertise and availability.

From the Cadence Team Design Option dashboard, as each team member joins the project, they can easily identify and check out their assigned design blocks or partitions and begin their work. For more information, refer to the following document in your Cadence Design Systems documentation set.

In hierarchical designs, the schematics are grouped into blocks of different sizes and complexities. The project integrator of a hierarchical design assigns work to team members at the block level.

In flat designs, the schematics are grouped into pages. The project integrator of a flat design assigns work to team members at the page level. This gives the project integrator more flexibility in splitting up the pages among team members based on their expertise and availability.

TDO 16.6 supports only hierarchical designs, while TDO 17.2 supports both hierarchical and flat designs.