Article: Onboard the Enterprise

With so many companies and departments now having large numbers of Mathcad users, the latest release takes the next logical step and enables everyone to work together more straightforwardly. And there are plenty of serious enhancements for individual users too. JACQUI CHESWICK explains.

Individual engineers and engineering departments are using Mathcad in many of the most well known companies in the world, and over the years, its use has been increasing throughout the scientific, research and even financial sectors too. Although there has been extensive conventional marketing of the software, it has equally been the enthusiasm of existing users which has resulted in Mathcad becoming possibly the most widely-used specialist technical software in the world.

Many of these users have been successful in ensuring department-wide or even company-wide adoption of Mathcad, giving everyone a complete technical documentation and calculation environment on their PC. Consequently, many of the developments in recent releases of Mathcad have been aimed at networking, corporate publishing and other specific requirements from users thinking more on a department-wide basis.
New Mathcad 11 takes some of the biggest steps ever in meeting ‘enterprise-wide’ demands. For the many existing users formulating a case for the product to be made available on every desktop, it’s just what they’ve been waiting for.

The result of the developers’ work in meeting departmental-wide and company-wide requirements is Mathcad Enterprise, a platform which integrates with Microsoft’s SharePoint Portal Server, enabling organisations to manage calculations through new, centralised repository capabilities. Through other new features, including networked accessibility, check-in/check-out, version management and access control, multiple users now receive new capabilities for finding, updating, approving and reusing Mathcad calculations and designs.

Mathcad has traditionally featured extensive publishing capabilities thanks to its self-documenting nature. With Mathcad Enterprise, there are web-publishing capabilities that allow enterprise users to deploy Mathcad worksheets to non-Mathcad users, and interact with computations via a Web browser - without additional plug-ins. New authoring capabilities also allow users to define user-inputs in preparation of publishing Mathcad worksheets for Web server posting. The developers have also added new capabilities for converting Mathcad documents to the familiar RTF format, as another alternative to communicating and sharing documents.
Highlights for individual users

Mathcad 11 features new mathematical functions and improved data handling capabilities, and there’s enhanced equation, text and region editing and better access to program features. Many of the key resources in Mathcad have been streamlined to make navigation faster and easier. Interface enhancements, including new menu picks, technical resources and documentation, are aimed at making the system even more intuitive. Mathcad 11 also features a newly reorganised User’s Guide and Resource Centre, to make navigation almost effortless and create even easier searches for Mathcad resources and references.

Mathcad 11 now features bi-directional HTML/MathML support that does not require customers or colleagues to have a special browser plug-in, making the sharing of technical documents on the web or corporate intranet even easier. Users also receive more web formatting options through an HTML output layout that delivers customised web pages with headers/footers, navigation links and images – a process made even easier through a new Web Wizard for step-by-step guidance on publishing Mathcad documents online.

New conversion features enable users to save their work in a variety of Mathcad formats (Mathcad 6, 7, 8, 2000, 2001 and 2001i), so they can share their work with colleagues, regardless of their current version of the software, and also access legacy files from earlier Mathcad designs. All in all, it’s another major step forward for the world’s leading mathematics and technical documentation software.

Document control in a calculation application Microsoft Sharepoint support means document version control and worksheet databasing is accessible to your engineering organisation. WebDAV support makes it easy to distribute Mathcad solutions from a web server to individuals in and out of your company. Address your organisation’s productivity, knowledge capture, standards compliance, and project management requirements with a single tool: All facets of a project can be completed in Mathcad, making technical projects self- documenting, error-free and ready for archiving, reference, and reutilisation Standards-based technical calculations support ISO compliance Protect your proprietary information and control user access with Mathcad’s security features

What is Mathcad? Mathcad is a complete working environment for technical and calculation work on the PC. Mathcad allows you to calculate, graph, and communicate technical ideas in a unified, easy-to-use, visual format. Calculate, model and visualise your technical ideas Document your calculations using familiar mathematical notation Integrate data across software and systems Distribute documents and collaborate across networks Standardise across your entire organisation: Mathcad can be used by designers, technicians and managers.

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