DBWorks vs. PDMWorks Enterprise

I am looking at several PDM systems. One of the most important things
I am interested in is the ability for the system to have some ECN
functionality. I would need the system to also be able to either have
he ability to work sort of like an ERP system,

I want the ability for all people involved in the development team
(not just engineering) such as purchasing and material planning to be
included in sign-offs on engineering changes. I would also like to
have the system be able to work like an ERP system but without the
cost of the big boys like SAP or Oracle.

Does DBWorks have the ability to do this?

I see that Conisio, now PDMWorks Enterprise has that functionality?
Any pros or cons?

 

Yes, "workflow" is the term used for this process.
We are just getting started with DBWorks and will ease into workflow a
little later on.

 

I have trained as a dbWorks administrator. So here goes.

1. dbWorks does handle workflow. It is highly customizable in this
area. There is a special application bundled that allows you to create
a great deal of business logic into a dbWorks installation. It can
handle MSoft documents if that is how you chose to create the paper
part of this process.

2. I wouldn't count on dbWorks being an ERP system. PDM and ERP are
two separate things.

3. dbWorks will work well with many ERP systems through either ODBC or
XML based interfaces.

4. Implementing PDM and or ERP requires a lot of planning.

Make sure the PDM system you get works well with SW. I have found
dbWorks to be one of the best in this area. It handles configurations
quite well including revisions of configurations. However, it is not
always intuitive and requires training.

 

Keith:

When you mention "PDMWorks has/had problems", are you talking about
the PDMWorks Workgroup that comes with Solidworks as an add-on or the
PDMWorks Enterprise (was called Conisio)? I just want to be sure that
I am comparing "apples to apples".

 

I think both PDMWorks have had problems with configurations. That is
one reason neither PDMWorks nor Conisio didn't make our short list.

 

How well does it handle workflows out of the box? Did you have to do a lot
of customization to get it to work in a reaonable way for your business? How
easy was the customization?

How hard is it to establish the links? Is setting up dbWorks to work with an
ERP system relatively straightforward, once you figure out what you want to
do?

Any specific pitfalls you would like to point out?

Are you speaking particularly about configurations when you say "it is not
always intuitive and requires training"? We gave up on handling
configurations in ProductCenter because it seemed to be a lot more trouble
than it was worth to us. I'm wondering if we would have the same attitude if
we switched to dbWorks.


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

 

They supply a default simple workflow. The tool they have for this is
fairly easy to understand. It can work with MSoft Exchange and MSoft
documents like Word.

I'll say this as a blanket statement that applies to any PDM
installation, don't expect the software to figure out what it is that
you do and to do it for you.

Most of what you initially do is done in setting options. The vendor
supplies a few scripts depending on what you are trying to do. It will
work just fine out of the box if out of the box is what you do.
Probably it isn't.

See my answer above.

Know what it is you do. I mean really know it. People have a hard time
sometimes actually explaining what it is that they do. PDM is a
program and it needs to make choices based on unambiguous data.

When interfacing with ERP one of the biggest issues is the BOM. Many
times the BOM that the ERP uses will not be the BOM that PDM uses.
Consider for example the many things that are in a MFG BOM that won't
be in PDM like boxes and bags, instruction manuals, tape, glue, etc.
Consider that 12 bolts may be sent when there are only ten in the
assembly because installation people need extras. Consider that the
MFG BOM may group parts differently than engineering and SW because of
assembly considerations.

Make sure the ERP vendor is willing to work with dbWorks people in
defining how dbWorks is to interface with their ERP. As with any
situation where two software have to talk to each other such a
relationship is a must. dbWorks can deal with either an ODBC or xml
type transfer and has a module called dbWerp that handles the
interfacing and business logic translation.

Configurations are absolutely no different than anything else with an
item number. Totally transparent. The only thing you have to keep in
mind is that when opening an item that is a config is that you are
opening/checking out the part or assembly and therefore all configs at
the same time. Config revisions can be tracked separately from file
revisions. We actually don't look at file revisions but at config
revisions. The only monkey business necessary is due to the auto
number generator. We enter a bogus part number when creating a new
config and it then assigns a number automagically. This is even true
when configs are created in a Design Table. Our setup is such that 1st
level configs become items and are tracked while sub configs are not.
This allows us to have alternate position configs, simplified configs,
etc. without fiddling with tracking them in the PDM. dbWorks also will
write to custom props or will do it's own version of notes on a
drawing.

Now as far as implementation goes I will say this. If you are not
comfortable writing and or working with VBScript and SQL I would pay
dbWorks to do a turn key installation. In our case I was comfortable
and just used their help desk from time to time. But there were some
setup issues that had we known the implication would have avoided.
That is where their experience would have come in handy.

When implementing I would also plan on the down time necessary to
register files and set things up. We tried to use it while still
registering and created some problems for ourselves.

There are two vendors in the states. I like both, but have only used
one. There is also a user group run by a very capable fellow who also
wears suspenders at SWW.

 

Snip a whole lot of good stuff

Thanks, Paul. Very good answers to my questions and very good advice to
those who want to set up a PDM system.

He's a hell of a good guy!

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