Keep Altium on the shortlist when direct electronics-design context is decisive. Its current Requirements Portal is relevant to teams working in Altium's electronics ecosystem. A cross-disciplinary spacecraft programme may need an additional system-level authority for mechanical, thermal, software and verification decisions. The alternative depends on which context actually governs approvals.
Which Portal capabilities are current?
Altium calls Requirements Portal the successor to Valispace, while its Requirements & Systems Portal documentation is marked legacy. The older material describes parametric system-design behaviour. Do not assume those features, or a particular migration route, exist in a proposed current subscription. Ask Altium for a written feature and entitlement map for the exact product and deployment, including parametric calculations and the migration path from Valispace. Keep that confirmation with the selection record.
Which tools fit cross-discipline work?
Arc deserves evaluation when one programme authority must connect requirements, interfaces, changes and verification across disciplines. Jama Connect is a candidate for structured stakeholder review. Polarion or Codebeamer may fit organisations already standardising wider ALM. Altium remains compelling when requirement links into ECAD designs are the primary value. None of these choices should imply native ownership of every specialist design artefact.
What happens when electronics affect other teams?
Use a synthetic avionics board change: a connector pin assignment moves, affecting a power interface, a harness drawing and an integration test. Inspect which records live natively, which remain linked externally and who approves the system-level impact. Ask whether reviewers can distinguish a changed requirement from a changed PCB design and see the applicable revision of each. Have the electronics owner inspect the schematic while the systems lead checks the wider power budget. Name who repairs harness, software and verification links after a PCB revision and who approves the programme-level requirement.
What does the export preserve?
Current Portal documentation describes document export; a document is useful for delivery but may not preserve a live graph or review history. Inventory requirements, parameters, verification records, design links and legacy Valispace items separately. Determine what can transfer, what stays as an archive and what needs controlled reconstruction.
Blank legacy artefact disposition record
- Artefact/source ID, product edition and export revision:
- Meaning and history that must be preserved:
- Transfer candidate and destination reference:
- Retained archive, access and source-history owner:
- Controlled reconstruction needed, method and reviewer:
- Selected disposition and rationale:
- Exception owner and acceptance condition:
- Do not report transfer or reconstruction as complete before reconciliation.
Where does Arc fit?
Arc can hold the cross-disciplinary programme model and connect requirement changes to verification context. It does not claim native CAD, ECAD or BOM ownership. A viable architecture may retain Altium as the electronics authority while governing system requirements elsewhere, with explicit link ownership and exchange rules.
Frequently asked questions
Is Altium Requirements Portal the same as legacy Valispace?
Altium calls the current Portal Valispace’s successor, but its separate Requirements & Systems Portal documentation is marked legacy. Confirm current entitlements before assuming feature parity.
When should Altium remain the primary choice?
When direct requirements context within Altium electronics design is the governing need and the current subscription supports the required workflow.
Does Arc replace the ECAD system?
No. Arc is a cross-disciplinary programme model; specialist electronics design remains in its authoritative tool.
What must the avionics-board change leave visible across tools?
Keep the changed PCB revision distinct from the programme requirement revision. Show the connector assignment, power-interface effect, harness drawing and integration test, with an owner for each repaired link and the programme approval. Electronics can remain authoritative in Altium while the wider systems decision is reviewed elsewhere.
Does a document export preserve the live engineering model?
It provides a deliverable, but does not by itself establish transfer of design links, parameters, verification records or native review history. Inventory current and legacy Valispace records separately, then decide what transfers, what remains an archive and what needs controlled reconstruction in the receiving environment.