Am I missing some central idea to PDMWorks?
Am I missing some central idea to PDMWorks?
(OP)
Howdy all,
Am I missing some central idea to PDMWorks or PDM software in general. I've been playing around with it to learn it and implement it at our company to control our drawing revisions. Our needs are not very great, but we're trying to refine the tracking on our drawings. He is my problem:
I need to update a drawing blah.SLDDRW and maybe it's associated drawing file blah.SLDPRT and maybe the .pdf and .dxf associated with each. So I check it out, make some updates check it back in, the next day check it out finish my update, print it out and send it around for people to inital it and check it back in. Finally I check it out, enter the initials and dates as text in the box and check it back in, and all of a sudden I'm up to revision C. I should only be on A.
I'm guessing I should only check it out once and do all updates and when I'm good and happy with it check it back in once. O.K. I can live with that. I'll chalk that up to learning by doing and not know what I'm doing to start off. But I also want the correct revision level on the drawing when I print it out for initals and to keep that revision level when I open it back up and enter everyones inits and dates of buyoff. I'd also like the revision level on the part which can be independent from the drawing to be reflected in the .dxf.
What I was hoping you, my SolidWorks community breathren, could help me with is a quick run down of how I should be using PDMWorks. I can read a manual and understand how to twiddle all the switches without knowing how should I be using this product. When should I create a project? What should be a part of the project? Checkout check in procedures. The whole soup to nuts of creating a project or taking an existing project and updating it. If you have PDMWorks specific information great, but if you use Enterprise PDM or a third party I'm sure the principles are the same and would love to hear from you.
Oh and now that I've screwed up the revision level is there an easy way to correct the problem. BTW I have full admin rights to the PDM database.
Thank you for providing a clue to the clueless.
-Kirby
Am I missing some central idea to PDMWorks or PDM software in general. I've been playing around with it to learn it and implement it at our company to control our drawing revisions. Our needs are not very great, but we're trying to refine the tracking on our drawings. He is my problem:
I need to update a drawing blah.SLDDRW and maybe it's associated drawing file blah.SLDPRT and maybe the .pdf and .dxf associated with each. So I check it out, make some updates check it back in, the next day check it out finish my update, print it out and send it around for people to inital it and check it back in. Finally I check it out, enter the initials and dates as text in the box and check it back in, and all of a sudden I'm up to revision C. I should only be on A.
I'm guessing I should only check it out once and do all updates and when I'm good and happy with it check it back in once. O.K. I can live with that. I'll chalk that up to learning by doing and not know what I'm doing to start off. But I also want the correct revision level on the drawing when I print it out for initals and to keep that revision level when I open it back up and enter everyones inits and dates of buyoff. I'd also like the revision level on the part which can be independent from the drawing to be reflected in the .dxf.
What I was hoping you, my SolidWorks community breathren, could help me with is a quick run down of how I should be using PDMWorks. I can read a manual and understand how to twiddle all the switches without knowing how should I be using this product. When should I create a project? What should be a part of the project? Checkout check in procedures. The whole soup to nuts of creating a project or taking an existing project and updating it. If you have PDMWorks specific information great, but if you use Enterprise PDM or a third party I'm sure the principles are the same and would love to hear from you.
Oh and now that I've screwed up the revision level is there an easy way to correct the problem. BTW I have full admin rights to the PDM database.
Thank you for providing a clue to the clueless.
-Kirby
Kirby Wilkerson
Remember, first define the problem, then solve it.






RE: Am I missing some central idea to PDMWorks?
Other than that, there is the idea of "ownership". I tend to keep ownership on all of my parts, which locks anyone else out from making changes and checking them in. They can still check out and view my parts. I release ownership when the engineering change order is processed and released.
RE: Am I missing some central idea to PDMWorks?
The working copy's revision will have a '+' next to it. One could argue that the working copy doesn't bump up until it has been signed off, so that could be your signing copy. Once done, you enter the initials electronically, make it a 'final' copy and move to the next rev.
Hope this helps.
Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
Design Manager/Senior Designer
M9 Defense
My Blog
RE: Am I missing some central idea to PDMWorks?
-Joe
SolidWorks 2009 x64 SP 5.1 on Windows XP x64
8 GB RAM - Nvidia Quadro FX1700
RE: Am I missing some central idea to PDMWorks?
It's like I know what all the controls can do on a car, but I don't know how to drive, if you'll forgive the metaphore. I'm looking for an idiots guide for someone who's never used a PDM before. I'm computer savvy, it's the process that I'm unsure of. How do I fully relize the value of using PDM to track our CAD data instead of just having a directory for each project? Our projects are generally small and data reuse is minimal, but occasionally projects get more complex.
Thanks for all your help.
Kirby Wilkerson
Remember, first define the problem, then solve it.
RE: Am I missing some central idea to PDMWorks?
RE: Am I missing some central idea to PDMWorks?
You need to set up your revision scheme and understand how it works.
When you set up your revision scheme that defines working revision and release revisions.
-Joe
SolidWorks 2009 x64 SP 5.1 on Windows XP x64
8 GB RAM - Nvidia Quadro FX1700
RE: Am I missing some central idea to PDMWorks?
Every place is different.
When to create projects and how to organize your data and all that is highly situational.
-Joe
SolidWorks 2009 x64 SP 5.1 on Windows XP x64
8 GB RAM - Nvidia Quadro FX1700
RE: Am I missing some central idea to PDMWorks?
Setting up the vault to work for your companies procedures is something that is very difficult to discuss in this format. The instructor should be able to give you some tips and tricks on how to get around some of the limitations of PDMWorks as well.
Good luck, and I would recommend keeping the revision in the vault tied to the revision in the drawing as it will make life easier if you ever need to get a copy of an old revision of a file.
RE: Am I missing some central idea to PDMWorks?
A lot of what we have already modeled on paper we want to turn into digital data so we can send it off to a shop with a cnc sheet metal cutter to get a first article back check how it fits up, make adjustments and pull the trigger to create 10 or 20 parts at a time. In other cases we have a repair process that is commonly used but needs to be adjusted a bit for each specific instance of damage. There are 2 engineers here who create drawings regularly and another that might start learning how to. We're a tight group that talks to each other and generally work on our own drawings, but regularly have to work on the others if their out or busy on a time critical project.
I hope this is enough insight into what we do to get an idea of how (or even if) we should implement PDM.
Kirby Wilkerson
Remember, first define the problem, then solve it.
RE: Am I missing some central idea to PDMWorks?
Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
Design Manager/Senior Designer
M9 Defense
My Blog
RE: Am I missing some central idea to PDMWorks?
-Kirby
Kirby Wilkerson
Remember, first define the problem, then solve it.
RE: Am I missing some central idea to PDMWorks?
Matt Lorono, CSWP
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources & SolidWorks Legion
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