Conisio

Conisio has performed very well for me over the past four years. I
have seen some bad comments about Conisio on this site. My file
system has over 300,000 files in it that Conisio manages. During the
past four years, Conisio has become a very strong product document
management software. Each revision has improve the performance and
made it work better with AutoCAD, SolidWorks and all Microsoft
products. Just like most PDM products, it has some issues. However,
I have run Conisio on several different servers over the past four
years and my performance was determined more by my network backbone
then the server it’s self. As for some of the comments I have
read on the news group about it not handling large files and folders,
their most recent version 5.3sp2 resolves many of the slowness issues
with regard to folder size and number of files in each folder. In my
opinion Conisio is worth looking at because it servers many functions
and has a strong market place. Just evaluate it on price, ease of
setup and ease of training and I think you will see the value I see.
It costs 1/3 of the price of most PDM products and only takes about 3
hours to install (yes, I have done it several times). Also, it takes
about 15 minutes to train a new user, because if the user knows
windows explorer, they know 90% of Conisio.

Of course, this is just my opinion and I have only been using it for
four years. Also, I don’t know about you, but when was the
last time you spoke directly to the developer and they listened. As a
mater of fact I spoke with the CEO of the company last night as I
upgraded to version 5.3sp2. He was there to help me when I forgot a
step and had to be shown what to do.

A satisfied user,

Dennis

 

Back in Sept. I had made a comment that Conisio "had some issues." I have
to say that after last night's update I'm impressed, the main issue of
slowness with large folders is GREATLY improved - thanks Conisio.

I also found what I believe to probably be a SW2004 function in that the
preview of a SW file can be rotated & zoomed right there in Conisio. Makes
it pretty handy to go look at something without having to actually load the
part, assy or drawing. (Also works with a .DWG file.)

WT

 

Never heard of this PDM . . . what's the cost per seat?

'Sporky'

 

Never heard of read about it either..

http://www.conisio.com/

...

 

Spork,

They have different versions but typically if your were using it within
SolidWorks the cost would be $750 or $1000 per seat. These prices include
subscription service. Conisio runs on top of the Microsoft SQL database. If
you have SQL already the cost would be $750. If you don't have SQL you can
get a run time version of SQL called MSDE (Microsoft Data Engine) with the
$1000 version of Conisio.

Dave

 

Hmmm . . . makes one wonder whether this is a bargain when both PDMWorks
and DBWorks sell for $500 per seat.

Mark 'Sporky' Stapleton
Charlotte, NC

 

well--for one thing PDM works doesn't cost $500 per seat anymore. SW has
jacked the price of a standalone license to $1000--"incentivizing us to
purchase OfficePro" was the way my reseller put it. Perhaps contrary to
their intention, the price increase incentivized my company to continue to
do without PDMWorks....

 

Michael,

You make a good point. Many may not be aware of the current pricing of
PDMWorks. It's obvious from the below pricing what way SolidWorks wants you
to go. It sure isn't $500.

SolidWorks to PDMWorks is $995 + $395 subscription service. Of course the
$395 is on top of the normal $1295.

SolidWorks to SolidWorks Office Professional is $1495 + $195 subscription
service.

SolidWorks Office to SolidWorks Office Professional is $495 + $195
subscription service. Of course this is after you already spent $995 to get
to Office.

 

Funny thing about the cost hike of PDMWorks, it appears that this has
happened to SmarTeam as well. You used to be able to purchase Smarteam
Express/Foundation for around £500/seat for SW/Office document
management. No longer! it seems you have to purchase full blown
Smarteam at around £3000/seat.
RESULT: No more purchases of SMT ever from my company.

 

Rick,

I've not seen your example very often, because we keep all the SW
parts, assemblies and drawings in the same folder. I used to see the
problem you spoke of about a year ago in version 5.1, but I think the
problem went away in version 5.2 and 5.3. I would have to check, but
I'm sure if the Conisio support group was informed about the
specifics, they could fix it. When we had an issue with the way the
developed the AutoCAD plug-in, they worked with us to develop a custom
version which allowed us to use it our way rather then their way.

As to the discussion of price, check out the network license. Last
time I checked on the price it was around $35,000 for a site license.
I don't think any company compaires with that low of price. That
means you get a price break if you have over 35 to 50 users.

Dennis

 

AWW Brian, that's not fair. Look at all the extra functionality you're
aquiring.

Simon

 

Hi Ricky,

Checking in parts and assemblies works very well with Conisio from inside
SolidWorks. If you activate the SolidWorks Add-in you will have this option
both on a toolbar, from your FeatureManager and on the RMB.

The one feature that I like the most is the ability to update/change your
custom properties from Conisio without opening your part or assembly. Also
all your custom properties is automatic replicated into a MS-SQL database,
making the search for component information very fast. Just save all your
existing SolidWorks files into the Conisio vault and your customproperties
will be indexed into the SQL database.

Jess

 

Oh dear! been caught bitchin