CAD Mngmt Archives - Page 3 of 5

Office2PDM review (E!PDM for MS Office)

The power of SolidWorks Enterprise PDM has given many users streamlined solutions for CAD file management from within the CAD applications. Enterprise PDM is also capable of managing documents which are not CAD. Unlike its support for CAD applications, Enterprise PDM interface is not available within other types of applications, such as Microsoft Office. Office2PDM by Extensible CAD Technologies has changed this. Office2PDM is an add-in for Microsoft Office that offers access to Enterprise PDM functions within Word, Excel, PowerPoint and even Outlook. I recently got a chance to see a demonstration of Office2PDM.

With Enterprise PDM, beginning a change to a MS Office document usually involves closing the Office application (or at least closing the document to be changed), opening the standalone Enterprise PDM application, navigating the vault to the location of the document and then reopening the document from the vault. Office2PDM allows this to occur within the MS Office application. A side pane includes information about the MS Office document’s local version, revision, status and workflow. Many Enterprise PDM functions are also available, including access to any version of the document.

officepdm7

Enterprise PDM vault functions are also accessible from the menu ribbon within each MS Office application.

Ribbon Menu

Additionally, each document’s data card is also accessible from within the MS Office application.

officepdm9

Within MS Outlook, Office2PDM includes a lite version of the Enterprise PDM Dashboard. This add-in is not limited to documents handled via Office2PDM. It shows information about all documents in the vault. One example for its use may be a manager who wishes to see what documents are currently in a workflow. Also, reports about document status may be generated and emailed without the use of an Enterprise PDM license.

Speaking of licenses, for each user of Office2PDM, one Enterprise PDM Contributor level (or above) license is also required. However, this license is only used temporarily when specific tasks are underway. This helps keep Enterprise PDM licenses free and readily shared among more users.

For all this functionality, the price per Office2PDM license seems like a good value. For 15 concurrent licenses, its at about $200 per user for the first year; maintenance each year after would be under $50 per license.

If a company wants to leverage their Enterprise PDM install to cover non-CAD documents, Office2PDM appears to be a safe bet to save money. It will streamline use of the Enterprise PDM vault for MS Office documents. It may also allow small companies to put off investment into bloated PLM applications until a later time. Use of Office2PDM in a larger company may allow its Engineering Department to control their internal documents, such as test protocols, procedures, and reports without getting tangled up in the corporate PLM. Though Office2PDM isn’t for all situations or customers, companies that can use it will benefit.

SWUGN Summit San Jose coming up quick!

If you are in the Northern California area, you’ve may have already seen an email from one of the SolidWorks User Groups about the upcoming SWUGN Technical Summit at the Embassy Suites in Milpitas. SWUGN Technical Summits are day-long SolidWorks based conferences scheduled about once a month at different locations throughout North America. Each summit generally offers the choice of 10 sessions within 5 time slots. Each session offers a detailed look at particular SolidWorks related topics which are geared towards all levels of experience. The San Jose summit is on March 23, 2010 and will feature presentations by SolidWorks Product Managers, local independent SolidWorks and VAR experts. Among the presenters are a couple of first-timers, Gabi Jack (Bay Area) and Alex Ruiz (driving up from SoCal). I’ll be presenting a session on advanced customization techniques. If you’d like to see a particular customization topic covered in my session, leave a comment here. Right now, I plan to talk about customization of hole callouts, Hole Wizard holes, Shortcut Tool, Mouse Gestures, and Sheet Metal Gage Tables. (I’m also thinking about the Custom Properties Tab Builder, but that is a topic all to its own, so I may save that for another time.)

The cost to attend the SWUGN Technical Summit is only $40. This is a bargain by almost any measure. Similar types of conferences can cost $800 or more. Check out the SWUGN Technical Summit website for session details and registration.

OK, and now for some fun. At the San Jose summit on March 23, 2010, the first person to come up to me and says “SolidWorks Legion is awesome, dude” will earn a free CSWP test of their choice (does not include the new CSWE test). The second person who says that line to me will earn a free SolidWorks hot-cold insulated mug. Don’t try to be the first person and repeating the line twice. 🙂 Also, SolidWorks employees, VAR employees and other presenters are not eligable to earn these items.

Take away this from SolidWorks World 2010: Cloud

The buzzword at SolidWorks World 2010 was “cloud”. There was a running gag at the convention, take a shoot of “espresso” (or whatever else your mind can imagine) every time someone uttered the word “cloud” in a presentation or speech. If this game was real, we’d all be dead from alcohol poisoning, er I mean caffeine overdose. All this talk about cloud computing involves creating a new SolidWorks branded interface that uses Enovia technology as its backbone.

According to Bernard Charles, CEO of Dassault Systemes, and Jeff Ray, CEO of Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Corporation, this marriage of SolidWorks with Enovia will bring new functionality, capabilities, and advantages to SolidWorks customers. The first product of this new approach is the brand SolidWorks PLM. The first release of a SolidWorks PLM product will be later this year, according Ray. I’m not sure of the exact name for that first product, but they did use SolidWorks Product Data Sharing at one point.

SolidWorks Product Data Sharing

It’s my impression (at this point in time) that the initial release of SolidWorks Product Data Sharing will not have the full functionality that many users need. A demonstration showed some of its capabilities, which are very rudimentary when compared to Enterprise PDM or SmarTeam. The main focus for the new application appears to be an advanced communication tool, and not an actual functioning PDM or PLM.

The user interface will take on two forms: web client and SolidWorks add-in. In the add-in, users may upload files from a window pane within SolidWorks. They may add comments. If more than one person is logged-in, the comments can function as a real-time chat. Functionality will allow users to invite other non-SolidWorks users via the web client version. Files will have previews, including assembly trees that graphically layout relationships between files. In the web client, 3D viewing of files will include on-screen commenting (redlining) within the view.

Security of the Cloud

Jeff Ray claims the workspace of the new cloud applications will be secure. In fact, Jon Hirshtick is adamant in his belief that cloud computing is far more secure than having data on local hard drives. This doesn’t come from opinionation. It actually comes from experience. SolidWorks is currently fighting a person who stole the source code for a SolidWorks application and is trying to sell it. The person was a former employee in India who stole the code by simply copying from his hard drive and walking out with it one day. Having this data on a cloud network with encrypted access may’ve prevented this theft.

Going the course

Ray pounding the pavement at a Reseller lunch

Charles and Ray pounded the pavement at SolidWorks World 2010 to get their message across. Despite any flak that Dassault Systemes gets for their new direction, they are going to stay the course. Enovia V6 is the future of Dassault Systemes. Bringing SolidWorks in line with that future is a priority. Charles stated that Dassault Systemes is not divided into SolidWorks and Enovia V5, it is united as V6.

I asked Ray a question about which form the new products will take. The answer, for now, was only that they will offer their customers the choice to remain with their current system or use the new system. In my view, this is corporate speak for “its going to replace what is currently on the market and although they will not leave customers high and dry, they will likely begin to reduce focus to the current system.” But I could be wrong.

Concerns?

Now, in this article, I’m simply reporting on the new direction of SolidWorks as presented to everyone at SolidWorks World 2010. I do have very real concerns about this new approach, which I will cover in a separate editorial (hopefully within a few days).

Top Ten Enhancement Requests for SolidWorks World 2010

As with each year, SolidWorks World lists the top ten enhancement requests as choosen by SolidWorks users.

#10 Simplify Video Card Requirements – I’m not sure I entirely understand the scope of this request.

#9 Exploded Views for Weldments – Cool.

#8 Option to Dangle Children Instead of Deleting – This should be much higher on the list, in my opinion.

#7 Graphical Map of Reference – Ok, sure.

#6 Allow More Types of Assembly Features – Cool.

#5 Better Utilization of Processore Cores – Yes, definately. SolidWorks is years behind the curve.

#4 On The Fly Equations in Dialog Boxes – Yes!!!

#3 File Compatibility Between Versions – YES!!!

#2 Increase Stabilty – Yes, but what does this really mean?

#1 SoldWorks Should Cleanly Uninstall Itself – I agree with this too, but is this really something that affects a lot of people on a daily basis?

Breakout Session 2010 – 10 CAD Administration Tips

At Matt Lombard’s 10 CAD Administration Tips breakout session, he covered ten things to consider when administrating SolidWorks.

– Unique file names. Don’t use “block”, “base”, etc as file names. One thing of interest that he highlighted was the fact that when opening a file, SolidWorks looks in 12 places before it looks in the place you last saved it.

– Think about a revision scheme. Don’t save the revision in the file name and don’t use configurations for revisions.

– Select good hardware. Don’t go too cheap, but also don’t just buy what is expensive. Research hardware to find what best suits your needs.

– Clean installs of SolidWorks to reduce the chance of legacy settings affecting your install.

– System Maintenance.

– Reuse and share data.

– Establish standards and best practices. Modelling practices should be tailored to a specific group of users.

– Proper and complete training of users.

– Upgrade/update plan.

– Toolbox (no strong recommendations as to using it or not).

SolidWorks World General Session – Monday (part2)

Another theme of today’s General Session where potential improvements to 3D CAD, much of which is cloud computing based. These include collaboration to allow more than one person to edit the same model at the same time. Searches to use data from the database instead of making models from scratch. Bring a “lifelike experience” (soon to be trademarked term, I’m guessing) to SolidWorks and other applications. Predictive Engineering that can do things like calculate interferences or handle material properties before the user even requests such data. With all these improvements associated with cloud computing, I am willing to predict that there will eventually be no distinction between SolidWorks and Catia.