Ok, I now admit defeat, this is the most stupid piece of software that I have ever come across.
Drawing numbers?? Q: How am I able to use the same drawing number for two different drawings? A: Because pdmworks lets you! HUH?
Q: How do I know what the last drawing number I used was? A: I don't, unless I write it down or do a report, no wait, lots of reports for every part, assembly or drawing I have ever drawn to see what the last number was! Can't see this working very well with more than one user.
Q: How do I find a part that is used in more than one assembly? A: Scroll down this HUGE file list in pdmworks explorer or do a search, because I can remember every name that I gave a file, yer right sure I can!
At the moment I create a root directory with the projects name, and then sub directories, example:-
This works great because ANYONE can find the files that they want. The problems come when I check in these into pdmworks, there is no longer a file structure, they are all dumped into one project folder, I.e.:- ALL of the files used on the RSC200 are dumped in ONE project folder and SOME of the RSC250 are dumped into another project folder. I then open an RSC250 assembly and ALL of the parts, sub assemblies, etc are dumped into ONE working folder. I now have 3 copies of every document, 1 in the vault, 1 copy of the vault document in the working directory and the original in my own directories!. Don't even mention "delete local copy", If you do this before checking in the drawing document, there will be no link to the part or assembly document. Nope it doesn't automatically check in the drawing documents, YOU have got to remember to do this! Why can't you just select the root folder and check the whole lot in at once, (including the drawing documents), and KEEP the folder organisation, even when checking out? Drawing Lists? I want to be able to list and then print out, all of the panelwork for ONE type of machine, Can't be done! Huh? The sheet metal workshop wants only these drawings, they don't want the engineering drawings! I have to sift through ALL of the drawing documents to find them and print them off, ONE AT A TIME! AHHHH! All that pdmsworks is, is a great BIG box where you through everything in! Is there a "REAL" filing system that works?
"pete" wrote in news:bq24qq$bqr$ snipped-for-privacy@news.freedomsurf.net:
I doubt that, especially if you've used Outlook or Word.
PDMWorks, like a lot of other PDM applications, keys off of the filename. A lot of people just make the "Number" field the same as the filename, and avoid the problem you're having.
People who want to use sequential part numbers either write or get someone else to write a little database interface that keeps track of this for them and assigns numbers.
Well, there are going to be a lot of disappointed people who are using this with good success in small, medium and large engineering departments when they hear your edict.
What's wrong with the search? You can search on more than just the filename. Also a lot of people put the parts in a separate folder which is non-hierarchical, so they can be browsed by file name.
You have the option on check in to send any of the referenced documents to a different project folder.
There are ways of doing what you are talking about. No need to get so upset.
Well, first of all because it doesn't work that way, and if you tried to understand what you bought before you bought it, you might know that. PDMWorks was not meant to replicate your Windows Explorer environment, nor should it.
I
I'll bet it can be done, you should say that you can't do it. There are people who make a living helping companies understand and set up software to make it work best for the way they want to work.
So why did you set it up the way you did?
I
That's because you don't know how to organize folders or use custom properties or the SW2004 batch scheduler.
PDMWorks is neither a "great big box" nor a "filing system". It's a workgroup or departmental CAD PDM system.
If you want answers and for PDMWorks to be a useful tool, then email me. If you just want to rant, then have at it, and good luck.
Matt Lombard Implementation Manager Trimech Solutions
snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (Tony. K) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:
Could you describe what makes you think this? Please be specific rather than just making a blind claim. I'm interested to see where they have done this.
Yes, I agree with you here.
That could be, but companies should not spend their money on a product without checking to see if it meets their needs. I'm not sure SW is to blame for people buying software without investigating it.
If by that you mean it's not customizable, then yes, you're correct. In general all software suffers from this to some extent. There is an API available, but that significantly adds to the cost of the investment. For some companies it's worth the extra expense.
On the other hand, PDMWorks may be much more flexible than you think. You need more than a casual familiarity with the software to pass judgment on this aspect. Again, if you offer something specific, it would be helpful in understanding your point of view.
PDMWorks does not have an automatic part number generator, it is keyed off of the filename, which is already assigned before documents get to PDMW. You can use any system you like or create your own to assign part numbers / filenames.
To be fair, PDMWorks does not claim to have a "workflow" module in the common PDM sense (like SmarTeam, ProductCenter or Conisio for example). It does have some tools that can be used "like" portions of workflow, such as lifecycle status and triggers / notifications (part of the additional cost advanced server). It doesn't have a flow chart or rules based routing, aside from what you might be able to do with the notifications.
I'm not sure what you're getting at here, but PDMW certainly does have the capability for a part or document to be referenced by multiple documents. This data is displayed in the Where Used. In terms of categorization, this sort of thing can be accomplished with custom properties or vault structure. It is certainly not as sophisticated as systems that cost 10X what PDMW costs, but I'm not sure anyone would expect that to be the case.
If physically separate sites are connected via a VPN, they can use the same vault. What you may be talking about is that some PDM systems (that cost much more than PDMWorks) can have synchronized databases in different locations. PDMWorks does not have this ability, mainly because it does not use a database. It's a low cost, low maintenance departmental CAD document management system.
That is simply incorrect. You can take documents out of the vault, go on vacation to Hawaii with your laptop, change the files on the beach sipping Mai Tais, come back to work and check them back into the vault, or log into the VPN from your hotel room and check them in from there.
Also, as part of the additional cost advanced server, the Web Portal will allow anyone with a web browser, access behind your firewall and a username and password to view and print from your PDMW vault.
Again, please elaborate. It sounds like you may be trying to compare PDMWorks to a high end PDM system.
I suspect this varies greatly depending on if the reseller knows how to help you implement the software. The same can be said about SmarTeam (although I think the word "most" overstates the case).
Ok, this is your real chance to bash the product. Tell us exactly what is wrong with PDMWorks. Specifically.
Hmm. I bought, took training, and implemented ProductCenter with workflow for 20 users a couple of years ago where I used to work. I had a pretty good understanding of the product. I've been trained on SmarTeam, I had Conisio installed on my computer until I reformatted it last week. I've sat through demos and investigated other products like DBWorks, Quicksilver, Agile.
PDMWorks is the simplest of the products that I have any familiarity with. If you already have SW Office, PDMWorks will cost another $500 (+ maint) per user with no additional cost for the vault, unless you want the "advanced server" (web portal, API, triggers/notifications). It does not use a database. You don't need much IT expertise to administer it (unless you're using the advanced server). It is meant to be run by the engineering dept. Updating Oracle databases is something that requires a lot more knowledge than you need to administer PDMW.
I've seen PDMWorks in installations from 2 to 100 users. Most of the people who are dissatisfied with it are people who are trying to make the software do something it is not meant to do. I can't really say if salesmen are selling people software on false expectations or not. If you have evidence of this happening, I'm sure SW would like to hear about it.
If you are comparing PDMWorks to a high end PDM system, could you tell us which one? Resellers don't have any interest in trying to sell PDMWorks to people who should be using an expensive high end system, mainly because there is a lot more money in the high end. Companies can easily spend well over 6 figures ($100,000) on say a SmarTeam implementation for example. High end PDM is completely configurable, limited only by your imagination and how much money you throw at it. Implementation for SmarTeam can take 6 months depending on what you're trying to do. With PDMWorks, the product can usually be implemented in 2 or 3 days, again, depending. There is a huge difference in scale of the products, cost of the products, and what you should expect the products to be capable of.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that PDMWorks is faultless, but for what it is intended to do, I think it is pretty good. If you have specific complaints, I'm interested to hear you out.
Thank you! I thought I was the only one who thought this way. I have tried to use it all this week, but I still can not seem to understand this product. I have had Solidworks 2004 office pro sitting in my desk for 3 weeks now, and when I get time,(lol) to install it, I will leave pdmworks off. I highly disagree with Matt on the comment he made,"You don't need much IT expertise to administer it". I had a IT specialist look at this program and in his words, "This program is utter pants!", I also showed this program to an IBM employee, guess what? the same sort of reply, but a lot more rude! Catia anyone?
In the UK, EVERY insurance Document MUST have a drawing number, this number MUST be linked to the FILE name, there must NOT be any duplication of a document number or of a file name. Our Insurance company requires this, so hopefully now, Matt can see one of my problems.
The drawing documents must be accessible by anyone that may require them, Sales team, Shop floor, Production manager and of course the design office. (minimum IT experience?, Hmmm....)
I have quite a few years of IT experience, almost 25 years, I worked on the Z80 to begin with, gosh, I'm getting old! But it seems that I haven't quite reached, the minimum experience required yet, blooming hell! :-P
PDMWorks is a workgroup vault not an enterprise PLM solution. If you're looking for something beyond check-in, check-out and revision control, I can understand why PDMWorks might not be the right solution.
There is one interesting aspect of PDMWorks that could be considered either a pro or con. PDMWorks is file based versus object based. The con side of this is that the vault can become very large (lots of disk storage required) and when you refresh the vault, it can take minutes. The pro of it is that there is an option to store the "latest" copy of a file. This is important if the time comes when you want to upgrade to an enterprise wide PLM solution. The reason I mention this is that some PDM/PLM products encrypt the files. If you need to move them to another product, you could get cranky.
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