PDMWorks Enterprise

[xgrigorix]

My company is currently considering switching from SmarTeam to PDMWorks Enterprise (formerly Conisio) for our PDM. Any Solidworks users out there using Enterprise? Tell me what you can. What are it's strengths/weaknesses? Etc...

 

[kcarpenter]

There is a member on here (OLID) who switched from ST to PDMW. Hopefully he can help answer some of you questions. I'm currently in the process of upgrading our ST to R16. I'm curious about your reason(s) for switching to another PDM system if you don't mind me asking.

Kevin Carpenter
CAD Systems Specialist
Invacare Corp.

 

[xgrigorix]

We are only using the editor version of SmarTeam. So, we could plunk down more money to get more functionality out of a product that we are not convinced is going to continue to work with Solidworks and also has tremendous upkeep costs. Or, we could put more money up front (but less over the long term due to lower maintenance costs) and get more functionality for less money in a product (PDMWorks Enterprise) that we know will be tightly integrated with Solidworks.

 

[kcarpenter]

Interesting view, I can't argue the maintenance costs are high along with certain modules costs. But as an administrator I'm constantly pushing back on ST and SW for the best pricing possible. On the other hand I don't find anything PDMWE (Conisio) has over ST when it comes to functionality or vise versa. And when it comes to integration, it's only as good as the programmers make it and their ability to work with the company who's product they want to integrate with.

Also, I strongly believe that ST will continue to work with SW for a long time to come. ST has been working with SW for a lot longer than PDMWE when it comes down to it. Smart Solution (ST) was bought by Dassault just like Conisio. But they were purchased to fill certain niches that exist. Thoses niches have changed since the aquisition of Conisio and this is how I see them now: PDMW for small businesses, PDMWE for medium businesses, and ST for large businesses.

In any case, I hope you find the right solution for your business.

Kevin Carpenter
CAD Systems Specialist
Invacare Corp.

 

[xgrigorix]

Well, we are a medium sized business, so hopefully Enterprise is the right solution for us.

 

[rltw]

I also have a few questions regarding PDMW...

When I go to the SW Customer Support Site and login, PDMW Enterprise is available for download. I'm assuming that this is based on our purchase of a particular level (...Office Professional...) of SW.

My question is can I install this, along with SQL Server, on a machine and have fully functional PDMW? I'm unclear on what this file contains and how to implement it.

Thanks.

 

[Olid]

We switched from Smarteam to PDMWorks not PDMWorks Enterprise. I have never seen PDMWE so I really can’t comment on it. As for PDMWorks it is working great for us. We have 12 seats of SolidWorks Office Pro and the PDMWorks advanced server. We switched for many reasons but the ones that stand out are, as previously mentioned, the high cost and the fact that we just got tired of waiting for Smarteam to catch up to the latest release of SolidWorks. A major drawback of PDMW is that it is just not as secure as Smarteam on the other hand a major benefit of PDMW is how easy it is to manage.
All in all it is working out well for us. Not many complaints from the users compared to Smarteam.


Regards,
Dan Olid
SW2006 SP4.1
PDMW 4.0
Cad Designer/PDMW Admin

 

[engAlright]

We are using enterprise (formerly Conisio)

Pros:
-manages multi-sites
-integrated in to Solidworks
-integrated in to windows (makes user interface easier to learn)
-SQL DB makes searching, reporting easier & more powerful
-relatively easy to administer - do not have to be an SQL expert

Cons:
-does not support BOMs driven by configurations
-limited functionality from within Solidworks

 

[J-C]

Can you manually create a BOM structure with it? How well does it support configurations and what are its limits?

Jason

UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2006 SP5.0 on WinXP SP2

 

[engAlright]

It supports SW configurations in so much as you can map configuration-specific property information to make that property info searchable and viewable. There is a "Bill Of Material" function that generates a list of all parts and sub-assemblies in an upper level assembly with their associated quantity and revision, but this information is driven by the assembly, not by the configurations of that assembly.

Hence, if you set particular part in an assembly to not be shown in a BOM on a drawing, or if that part is suppressed in a config, it will still be shown in the BOM tab in Conisio/PDMWE.

 

[xgrigorix]

engAlright,

Could you please expand on your con of "limited functionality from withing Solidworks"

Thanks.

 

[engAlright]

There is an add-in for PDMWorks Enterprise that you can load in to Solidworks, which now is included in the flyout menu with file explorer, design library etc. From this pane you can lock, unlock and get a file. Also you can view version information, lock information, state information etc.

You cannot:
-search
-change the state of a file
-view "Where Used" info
-view any files in the vault other than what you already have open in Solidworks

All functionality that is available in PDMWorks enterprise, just not in the Solidworks add-in. PDMWorks workgroup's integration with Solidworks is much tighter - in workgroup you can even drag and drop a file from the vault in to your active model, all from within Solidworks. No such functionality exists for Enterprise.