Believe it or not, DISCUS is an acronym.  It stands for Dynamic Interactive System for Characteristic Utilization and Selection.  Whew!!!

There have been a few questions from our DISCUS users about the ability to use OpenOffice instead of MS Office and Adobe PDF.  While not officially supported (yet), preliminary tests indicate that DISCUS can export to the Excel equivalent in OpenOffice as well as to their built-in PDF converter.  For example, with OpenOffice installed, we were able to export a ballooned drawing to PDF and export to the built-in AS9102 template.  The template was originally created in Excel ‘03.

Of course, one of the main advantages of using OpenOffice is that it is free and is supported by Oracle!  At least for DISCUS, it is a worthy alternative to using MS Office.  Also, another reason to potentially use OpenOffice is that there is a known issue in MS Office where images become lost when editing an ‘03 excel template with Office ‘07.  The only workaround at the moment is to find someone who has Office 2003 or to download and install OpenOffice.

Check out OpenOffice at the following link – http://www.openoffice.org/.

Remember – we don’t officially support OpenOffice with DISCUS but you can go ahead and try it out.  Let us know your experience with it.

We have released DISCUS 4.1 with GD&T support.  You can now download it and try it out as a customer or prospective customer.  Check out the following link for more info – http://www.discussoftware.com/news/3/17/.

Ever wonder if that DISCUS icon could be changed or you wanted to add a new balloon shape?  Let us know by sending us a feature request!!  There are quite a number of DISCUS features that have been suggested by our customers.  Exporting results to multiple rows in excel, key characteristic designator and text annotation are examples of suggestions given to us and turned into actual features.  You can have a say in how DISCUS works!!

You can do this by simply sending an email to support@discussoftware.com.  If you click on the hyper link associated with this email address, it should automatically launch your email client and create a new email with the subject “Feature Request”.  Be specific as to the way it could improve DISCUS – include any screen shots if necessary.  Another way is to login to our website and go to the following link and create a feature request.  In the category dropdown, choose the type of feature you want and then enter information about it.

Even though we take all feature requests seriously, we can’t guarantee that we will include them in a future DISCUS release.  We do value the opinions of our DISCUS user community and believe in the “Voice of the Customer”.

The next DISCUS release 4.1 will have a GD&T editor! Soon you will be able to create a feature control frame in DISCUS and export it to the Excel.

Ever wondered if you could use multiple balloon shapes on your drawing.  Of course you can!  For example, I often use our flag balloon symbol with notes and our hexagon symbol for the dimensionals.  To do so start out with choosing the flag for your first balloon shape via the Balloon Properties dialog.  You can get there by right-clicking on your balloon or going to the menu item Drawing / Balloon Properties.  After you choose the shape and size, be sure to Set Default.

When you are ready to use another balloon shape, drop it first, then repeat the procedure but choose a different shape and size this time.  You might need to experiment with the shapes and sizes to get it to look right.  But it doesn’t matter as DISCUS is very forgiving!!  You can make mistakes and changes and easily recover from them.  Try that with a paper drawing, T-Square, Red Pen and shapes template!!

Did you know that when you download DISCUS: http://www.discussoftware.com/try-buy/downloads.html and then request an evaluation license, you will have the entire FAI suite: Basic, OCR and Results to use on your own drawings for 15 days. You can get real FAI work done and evaluate the software.

If you have the need to add, change or remove the default terms in the Characteristic Types drop down, let us know.  We have a free tool called the 3C editor that will allow one to create and manage your own terms.  This tool is only available to current customers with a valid support contract in place.

In order to get the 3C editor, you are required to attend a 1/2 hour – 45 minute training session to learn the ins and outs of the tool.  We do schedule these sessions periodically.  If you do have a need for the editor, send a request to support@discussoftware.com and ask about it.

If you have an interest in really understanding how to accelerate your processes related to Manufacturing and Quality Engineering, check our new whitepaper section on the DISCUS site.  There are currently two papers – one related to integrating FAI with Process Planning, the other discusses the past, present and future of FAI and Quality Planning.  Folks, we really know this stuff – check it out if you have time.

Ever wonder what the DISCUS Trial does for you?  The DISCUS Trial is an unlimited use version but only on the sample built-in drawing, spec and balloon data.  You can use most of all of the features in the DISCUS – export to ballooned PDF and excel for example – but you can’t save your data.  We recommend that you use the trial version to get comfortable with DISCUS;  then request the free 15-day Evaluation version.  This is the full-fledged product where you can use your own drawings and specs and comes in two flavors – First Article Inspection or Inspection Planning.

Be on the lookout for our webinars that focus FAI or Inspection Planning – check here often.