Is anyone using Aras Innovator w/SolidWorks 1

[AnnaWood]

I am wondering if any of you have implemented Aras Innovator into you engineering work environments?

http://www.aras.com

I discovered the software this weekend and it looks like a perfect fit for a web-based project management system we are in need of. The cool thing is this is Microsoft .NET based open source software. The software is free, they make their money on consulting.

We have the erp system covered and the document management, work-flow system covered, but are in need of a project management solution and Microsoft project does not fit the bill. We want to hook into our existing data and bring it together along with some more from the engineering area to help us with project management.

With Innovator it appears that I would get way more then we need, however it would be relatively easy to customize to our needs. We do not want to have to create a whole application from scratch.

If any of you are using the software have you done any custom programming to export all your SolidWorks custom properties and BOM structure in XML format so it can be imported into Aras Innovator?

At the moment that looks like the area I need to learn how to program, a way to export custom properties and the BOM structure in XML.

If any of who are willing to share your experiences, I would be most appreciative.

Cheers,

Anna Wood
SW 2007 SP4.0, WinXP
Dell Precision 380, Pentium D940, 4 Gigs RAM, FX3450

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/solidmuse

http://www.phxswug.com

 

[handleman]

I don't know if you already found thread731-179979 or not, although there's really not a whole lot there. I did download it and tried to see if I could customize it for the way we do projects (assembly type machine design), but I wasn't able to pull it off. I can do a few things with scripts and databases and VB(A), but it would take someone who knew more about them than I do to customize and administratize it in our work process. One of the biggest shortcomings for us out of the box was that the Aras Gantt chart lacks "actual" date functionality. When we quote a schedule, that schedule (or the final delivery anyway) is our fixed target, which needs to be kept. We need to be able to track actual dates to see if/when projects are getting behind and catch them up.

 

[dgowans]

In the event that you haven't seen this:

http://www.deskeng.com/ME2/Sites/di...A3EF4A&AudID=2FC31F0C0A2E42978C555C9CA2D3F0EA

 

[AnnaWood]

handleman,

Thanks for the insight on the target dates. Yes, that would be a very important feature for us also. I will have to check and see if their Version 8 spin has resolved that issue.

I am still poking around the software to see how easily it would be to customize to our needs. There are a bunch of features I would like to get rid of. I have other solutions in place to cover those areas and only want to fill in with the Project Management part of the Aras Solution.

dgowans,

Yes, I have seen that article. That is what tipped me off to the Aras software.

Thanks guys,

Anna Wood
SW 2007 SP4.0, WinXP
Dell Precision 380, Pentium D940, 4 Gigs RAM, FX3450

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/solidmuse

http://www.phxswug.com

 

[InnovatorM]

Ran across this thread on Aras Innovator and thought I'd try to answer the questions... Just to be up front, I'm with Aras...

>>> We want to hook into our existing data and bring it together along with some more from the engineering area to help us with project management

Aras Innovator's project program mgt functionality is specifically designed to handle this type of scenario. there are several options;

* you can link using xml/soap web services and pass data back & fourth

* if you only need to view data in a project context, you can federate data & documents/viewables/files/etc

* or you can use whatever your IT dept uses for application integration (i.e. an EAI or ESB)

if you have questions, people on the forums are pretty good about providing responses quickly

http://aras.com/community/forums/Default.aspx

>>> need to export SolidWorks custom properties and BOM structure in XML format and imported into Aras Innovator

* this is something a lot of people are looking to do. in fact, a community solution project was started called Publish2Innovator. you can find out more and get involved if interested at

http://www.aras.com/SendToInnovatorX/100070.aspx

>>> With Innovator it appears that I would get way more then we need

If this is the case, the good news is that Aras is roles-based so users will only see what is exposed through security permissions. so, you or the admin (whoever sets up user accounts) can just turn on / turn off what you don't need.

and of course, the software is free so you won't have to pay for all the stuff you don't use


>>> ...out of the box the Aras Gantt chart lacks "actual" date functionality. We need to be able to track actual dates to see if/when projects are getting behind and catch them up.

With the initial download out of the box the 'actual' project progress data are tracked and viewable, although as noted not in the gantt pop-up. There are a few ways to get & use actual progress info;

* you can view in a report pretty easily and get actuals-to-date and planned for remaining deliverables with deadlines & milestones highlighted.

* you can use the schedule performance index (SPI); this is a fairly advanced metric and typically used by very project-oriented firms where everyone knows how to interpret what it means (I sure couldn't ;-)

* you can also Export to MS Project and use its Gantt capabilities


If this all sounds good to you (or gets your curiosity up) you can learn more at

http://www.aras.com

and of course anyone can get the software anytime for free at

http://www.aras.com/download.aspx

Hope this helps.