Pro E Database management

[caivetmec1]

Hello there, I didn't know if this is the right place to post this thread...

We are pro/e users since 2005. Our design team started as 2 persons, we first did our training courses and read some books, while in the mean time we have created a file structure, that may not be the best, but so far for 2 users it has been manageable. We are now upgrading the design team to 5 persons, each with a workstation and a full pro/e license. And now this file structure can become a problem.

I've read some interesting issues about intralink, as it is the data manager for Pro/E. But I’m short in many basic topics that block my view to consider this as a solution.

So, here are my questions:
-We are a small design team, 5 people
-Our design procedure is mostly by linking a master assembly of the model/equipment with an excel sheet (where is all the data analysis and calculation) via pro/program, with an input .txt file from excel. So the assembly changes its dimensions and components actives and suppressed on it.
-We have family table instances which its dimension are modified from these assemblies via relations (is this viable, could it mean an information conflict when multiple user access these files?).
-There is no distance collaboration in the designs. The senior designer are in the office next door, so they come along to our desk to check or review in site what we do.
-We need to keep our accessories and common files available in a specific location without creating duplicates.
-If we need to buy an extra server for Intralink in order to create on it the data base (as I've read an Oracle kind one) what are the specs, both hardware and software for it? (I've also read that there is little information on this topic). There is a post where a guy said that in his company, they had to buy a 7 GB RAM server just for Intralink…
-Training time? Creation of the data base time? File/Folder structure design? Recommended structures? Need to restructure our files and assemblies scheme?
-Migrating time from pro/e?

As you see most of these questions are nor properly answered in the ptc documents. I’ve found most advertisement kind of white papers.

I’ve also read that Intralink 3.x offers functionality that in no longer available in 8.0 or 9.0. Something about fathers duplicate or so, as I’ve never been an Intralink user would that affect?

I'd really appreciate if you can give me a hand on this matter.

 

[Mike97D]

I'm an amateur, so I'd wait for some of the Pro's here to help, but here is some information that may help.

ptc website is sometimes hard to find answers unless you know where to look. You want to search the knowledge base under the Support tab on the top. I did a search with just the word Excel and got these results:

http://www.ptc.com/search/cs/kdb/re...B=cs_kdb2_tpi&KDBLIB=cs_kdb_howto&Language=en

You can place an Excel file in the commonspace, but it must be a one word name with no spaces. I don't know if it will check-out and be attached when you bring out your family table. Hopefully somebody here will be able to answer that question.

My suggestion is to have the Excel file read only for everyone and only have one person, the admin, modify it.

How large is your database? I only have two users and 90% of the design in ProE is done by me. We've been running ProE since '04 and our backup file is 770 MB. Just running the database on the server, the server ran Intralink with no problems with only 1G of RAM. Currently, we are running 2G of RAM, but have the server running several applications for everyone.

The family table will not have a problem with multiple users, unless someone modifies it while someone else has a part of that table checked out. Some companies make their Family Table parts read only also to prevent accidental changes.

Getting your parts/assemblies will take some time. I imported into INTRALINK by importing with the Assembly drawing first, and with the assembly and following parts. You will have duplicates. At those points, you will need to make a decision whether to use the part you just imported or replace with the prt in commonspace and reassemble to the assembly you are importing. If you choose the new part, you will need to fix the assembly already in commonspace.

Good to read your company is growing!