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Trying to find the history of any SW file if possible.

Trying to find the history of any SW file if possible.

Trying to find the history of any SW file if possible.

(OP)
Hello,

It's come to our attention that a user has been doing quite a bit of "on the side" work using company time & equipment for personal use while putting company work to the wayside and causing missed deadlines and poor company dwgs.  He's been told many, many times not to do this but does not want to listen.

What I am trying to see is if there is any way of tracking the history of a solidworks file:

Save directories
Save times
anything else that might provide proof that the file was worked within out office.

The abuse was finished somewhere about 2 weeks ago so any recent files shortcuts are all back to legitimate files again.

Currently we are using SW 2011 SP4.0

Any help would be appreciated.

RE: Trying to find the history of any SW file if possible.

You can review the Properties of any feature in the design tree.  it will tell you who created the feature and when.  Right Mouse button the features and check its Feature Properties.

Cheers,

 

Anna Wood
SW2011 SP5, Windows 7 x64
http://www.renderbay.com
http://www.solidmuse.com
http://www.phxswug.com

RE: Trying to find the history of any SW file if possible.

AngusN,

   I hate being spied on.  If you have to spy on this person, get rid of them, and hire somebody you can trust.  

   There have been a number of discussions on moonlighting in the Ethics forum (thread765-146247: moonlighting and ethics).  It has been pointed out that getting work done is not your main worry.  If your SolidWorks comes with FEA, you could find yourself in court.

   If you watch his files, he can bring in a large USB drive and work on that.  If you fill his USB ports with RTV, you will keep him from using the USB for work.  

   Imagine that SolidWorks had the ability to log each keystroke and mouse-click onto a central server.

  1. You are behaving like and absolute jerk.  I think this would piss off most users.
  2. You must have something better to do with your time.
   A long time ago, I was trained as an administrator for Sun Microsystems on the Solaris 2 operating system.  One of the  things they showed us was a restricted shell.  An untrustworthy user could be logged in on this shell and restricted to a few commands that would keep them from doing harm.  When I got back to work, I played with this a bit.  I satisfied myself that...

  1. ...a competent user could get around the restricted shell and use all the UNIX commands.
  2. ...your lack of trust in me would piss me off, possibly to the extent of me doing something nasty.
   Tell the guy to get his work done.  Fire him if he doesn't.  Look over his shoulder now and then and make sure he is not moonlighting.

               JHG

RE: Trying to find the history of any SW file if possible.

Does this guy have a home license? If not, give him one and let him improve himself at home. Many good users can attribute their success to the home use of SolidWorks.

I suppose I could share some of the things that can be done to uncover the history of a SolidWorks file, but it might aid someone else in covering their tracks, not that it is easy to do. Better you discuss this with your VAR. They have the tools and know how.  

TOP
CSWP, BSSE
www.engtran.com  www.niswug.org
www.linkedin.com/in/engineeringtransport
Phenom IIx6 1100T = 8GB = FX1400 = XP64SP2 = SW2009SP3
"Node news is good news."

RE: Trying to find the history of any SW file if possible.

If one of my employees was doing that, they'd be looking for a new job, immediately.  

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
Director of Engineering
M9 Defense
My Blog

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