PDMWorks Research

I'm looking at moving employers. The potential new employer uses Works
along with PDMWorks. I'm looking for online resources to brush up on my
PDMWorks knowledge, including getting it to interact with ERM systems.

Any good links?

 

in reference to getting pdmw to interact with ERP, you might be better off
banging your head against concrete wall. pdmw is a closed, proprietary
system. yes some things can be accessed thru api, but it's more trouble
than it's worth.

imho, it's virtually impossible for the results to justify the means.

since most ERP's are are based on ODBC compliant database's (SQL) it would
seem logical to use a similar database type PDM system.

 

I didn't get much help searching for PDMWorks other than several links to
the Solidworks website, but a search for Conisio left a plethora of
information.

First of all, I didn't realize Conisio was bought and turned into PDMWorks
Enterprise. The good news is that PDMW Enterprise uses a SQL database and
not the closed proprietary system mentioned. It may require a customized
app to be written, but at least the databases should share between PDMW and
the ERP system. Of course, this is all assuming I got the job.

--Scott

 

we considered Conisio but, upon Solidworks aquiring them we decided to forgo
getting in bed with an MCAD provider for our PDM (relational database)
needs.

after using pdmw for almost 4 years, we chose http://www.mechworks.com/

 

see this link,
http://www.mechworks.com/brochure/DbWorks2006_depliant_english.pdf

we have the enterprise version but have a single site.
no comment on how well this feature works.

another alternative SQL based PDM system we looked heavily at was
http://www.synergis-adept.com

 

We have been using Conisio/PDMWorks Enterprise for about 6 years now and it
works pretty well for the way we do things. I have also seen what I would
call improvements since SW purchased the product. One of the biggest jumps
we made was upgrading to SQL Server 2005 and PDMWE. This made an
improvement in the speed of the system to where it's not too noticeable when
it's doing its thing.

WT

 

John:

Yes dbworks does work over a LAN, it is probably the best at it... And it is
much less expensive than PDMWorks enterprise.

 

dbWorks will work over a WAN and it will also work well between
companies. One of the things that is tracked in the database is the
company to which the part belongs. So whether it is different
divisions in your company or totally different companies there are
ways to share parts and still keep track of them.

dbWorks will also keep two databases/filestores in sync IIRC.

TOP

 

John,

If you are thinking about dbWorks implementation it is set up so that
you can do it yourself. The prerequisites are:

1. You know what you want to do as far as PDM. In other words, don't
expect them to come to you with ancient wisdom on the best part
numbering system, the best way to handle revisions, the best workflow.
Now some resellers may very well know all this, but not all. I would
be even more wary of a SW reseller, not that they are bad, but their
primary task is to sell SW, not get into the customer's business.
dbWorks is highly customizable and has reasonable defaults, but their
approach has been to train the customer in how to maintain and
configure it.

2. You should be comfortable with Scripts, ie, vbScript and SQL. You
don't absolutely have to know this, but it depends on how much you
want to get out of it as to how much you will need to know this. They
are moving in the direction of configurable instead of customizable,
but if you want to get the most out of it this is a definite benefit.
You won't generally need to write scripts from scratch but you will
likely run into the need to change a script to meet your needs.

3. Depending on the size of the installation you can go with a free
MSoft mdb database, a free MSoft sql type database or full blown
Server 2005 database. If the later is in the cards be prepared to have
someone administer it. Most of the big boys are this way. It is also
possible to use mySQL as the database and there are some users in
Europe doing this.

4. Make sure whatever you are using for a vault is in decent order.
Duplicate filenames is the worst thing you could have. Having
consistent custom props that can be imported is a big plus.

5. Their support has been good and mostly by email. They can generally
handle things pretty well by email or webex. Only training requires
onsite support. There is a pretty good user group too with a few
really good gurus.

TOP

3.