DBWorks Experience?

Manufacturing is looking to upgrade our PDM (presently Activault), primarily
so they can have better links to Navision. They decided that ProductCenter
was too expensive. Now they are looking at DBWorks. I googled the group and
spent a good part of the day reading about a 100 threads on the topic.

The main thing I got out of my reading was that DBWorks was quite flexible,
but the user interface left something to be desired. I have the impression
that it will be quite a bit more work to get started than PDMWorks or
Activault, though nowhere near as much as the more expensive solutions. Am I
anywhere near the mark? What has been your experience?

How easy ot use is DBWorks for users, as opposed to the administrator?

Does anyone have any experience migrating Activault files to DBWorks?

Jerry Steiger
Tripod Data Systems
"take the garbage out, dear"

 

Jerry,

I'm on my third implementation of DBWorks. The latest company produces
medical devices and requires DBWorks FDA capabilities.

FYI:

MechWorks revamped the DBWorks interface for 2004. There is
considerable difference between 2003 and 2004 with the latter making
life a lot easier.

Everyone complains about the interface at first. I contribute this
primarlily because the users have never had so much information at
their fingertips before. Presenting this wealth of information is
difficult to do in a manner that doesn't overwhelm people at first.
Proper training mitigates this to a great extent. Nobody complains
about the interface once they realize what they can do with the
program. When things take them hours instead of days they have a
tendency to stop complaining in a hurry. (P.S. Coming from a PDMWorks
background I complained long and hard about the program - I'm not
doing it anymore).

Ease of implementation depends on the installer knowing the subtle
cause and effect relationship between SW and DBWorks. Throw an ERP
system into the mix and the novice DBWorks implementation can get into
trouble in a hurry.

I would recommend you have someone come in to install and configure it
for you. The company's time would be best spent making sure your
engineering processes are properly mapped out. I typically have
someone in engineering who is familiar with SW & the ERP system
assigned to me. Their job is to provide the answers and files needed
to pre-configure the system. A small job is then simulated from start
to finish to make sure everything is workiing as required.

Scope creep will be your biggest enemy as once people realize the
capablility of the program they have a tendency to want everything.

Tying the system into your ERP system is not difficult if it is ODBC
capable.

Once installed the administration of the application is minimal
(similiar to PDMWorks)

If set up correctly and users properly trained the system delivers
what it promises.

Do not have experience converting from Activault but I imagine a
script file could be created to migrate from one system to another.

Regards,

Len K. Mar, PEng.
President
E-data Solutions

 

Thanks, Len, that's just the kind of feedback I am looking for. Anyone else
have something to say? I remember that Gianni Rondini, Eric Elkin, and
Krister Landkvist were running DBWorks. What do you think about it now?

Jerry Steiger
Tripod Data Systems
"take the garbage out, dear"

 

Just happened to be looking through and saw this thread. We are in the
process of changing our name (new owner Bosch on 1 July) and there is a LOT
of stuff to deal with in the world of MIS.

We have been using DBWorks since SoWo 2000. It is very open, and is very
customizable. I would not recommend any PDM to anyone until they sat down
and did a thorough audit of processes and procedures that they wanted to
manage. A PDM will not make those things better, but it will let you be
consistent and manage them easier. Enough for that little sermon.

We have been quite satisfied with DBWorks. It will do much more than what
we are doing with it. If anyone has looked at it in the latest release they
would see quite a bit of change in the look and feel...for the better. I
know of 2 different installations where I have some contacts where SmartTeam
was dumped in favor of DBWorks. I think that Mechworks ofers a trial
period. I also would not suggest any more than 5 users for the MS Access
database. Go to SQL server right away. I would be happy to give some more
feedback ofline if you would like.

 

Thanks, Eric! Good feedback. I may take you up on your offer of offline
conversation when we are a little further along in the process.

Jerry Steiger
Tripod Data Systems
"take the garbage out, dear"

 

Dear All,

While you are considering a Design Management Solution for Solidworks, you
may want to take a look at www.designdatamanager.com 1 day install, very low
admin, very easy to use, supports ProE, Swks, Inventor and most other
windows file formats. So easy to install we have even done it using
netmeeting...

Regards, Joe McBurnie
CSI Managing Director

 

What do DBworks users out there think of the necessity or value of the
distributor training for DBworks Administrator(s). I suspect that for
small, under 15 users, implementations it is not necessary for
"out-of-the-box" operations. I also suspect that purchasing the Admin
manual at $300 per copy would be a prudent investment.

Recomended Admin training of 5 days (real costs) is a hard sell to
management. We are reasonably sophisticated in computer management
and quite skilled in SW.

All input will be gratefully received.

 

DBWorks will become a "mission critical application".
Any disruption to the workings of this program will have significant
ramifications on the day to day operations of the company.

This is especially true if you have integrated it into an ERP system.

Training is all ways a sticky subject and the pros and cons of taking
it are difficult to assess.

Critical to any successful implementation is knowing and understanding
your engineering processes. It has been my experience that most
companies do not have a formal engineering process. Secondly, with the
introduction of DBWorks, most process will have to be modified to take
advantage of the PDM system.

If you have the time to run several pilot projects to map out your new
processes with DBWorks then you can forgo training. Having information
contained in a manual - and being able to use it are two different
things. Expect a lot of trail and error.

If you are going to go the "manual" route make sure you limit the
number of participants to your pilot projects to one or two people.

If you are going to implement the system in-house I would recommend
taking the training. It will demonstrate what you don't know (as
opposed to reading a manual).

DBWorks, like any other software application, can be run out of the
box. It has been my experience that you will modify about 20% get it
to do exactly what you need it to. The last 20% is where the system
will make you money if you do it right. This is where I find most
companies short-shifting the PDM process (Close enough syndrom).

This is a process issue where training will allow the end user to
understand their limitations.

Hope this helps.


Len K. Mar, P.Eng.
President
E-data Solutions

 

Just a couple of thoughts...
DBWorks has a ton of options, without counting I think more than
solidworks, but not sure. There is a huge interplay between all the
options and it is not just really straight forward unless you see their
use in context. Thus one of the reason that you can do almost anything
with it. I consider myself very good with solidworks and anything
computer related. We do have a bit more complicated install, though we
really found the admin training a necessity. It certainly was an easy
sell for us as we could show that we were able to get up and running
almost twice as fast as we could on our own.


I also agree with Len, it will become a very important application in
your organization and the you may be considering 'out of the box' but I
bet the first questions will be "Why aren't we taking advantage of the
capability we have?"

--Matt Feider