Starting PDMWorks 2

[diamondcat]

I am in the intial stages of starting to work with PDMWorks and I had some basic questions. We have many jobs that we have done in the past which were before we got PDMWorks. Many of the projects have some of the same purchase and standard parts within them.
Let's say I wanted to check two different jobs into the vault. I can see the first one being checked in okay. I would check the job in, then 'change project' on the puechase and standard parts so they could go into a library. What happens when I go to check in the second job for the first time and it has some of the same purchase and standard parts?
Also, I was doing a tutorial and I right clicked on a file in the vault. If I pick 'Open Document', does this mean the file is checked out and put on my local working directory, or is it possible that I am workingo n the vault?
Any other start-up hints would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to learn this on my own by using an online training site, but it seems to be pretty overwelming.

Thanks,
Lori

 

[Cheeseburger]

Hi Lori ...

OK ... if a "project" or assembly is using the same parts as another projct/assembly then you won't have to check in those parts (unless of course you make changes to them). When you go to check in your second job, the parts that already in the vault will have a GRAY "=" (equal) sign next to them to signify that they are already there.

As to your 2nd question about picking "Open Document" ... what that option will do is you're basically dumping all the files associated to that document (I'm assuming you're openning a drawing or assembly) to your local hard-drive. You won't be working in the PDM Vault.

One of the BIGGEST pieces of advice I can give you before you get to far into using PDM Works is design your Revision and Life Cycle Scheme ahead of time.

Goto the following thread and take some ideas from there. The people in this discussion have some great ideas of different ways of using the Revision & Life Cycle schemes:

http://www.eng-tips.com/gviewthread.cfm/lev2/22/lev3/70/pid/559/qid/74229

Hope this helps a little and good luck.

Brian

If we weren't all crazy, we'd be insane ... JB

 

[Standing]

Lori,
What we did, which I was sorry for, was to pick our largest assembly and check all parts into the PDM as revision A01-01. The problem is we put in 1875 parts into the PDM in one day which a lot of the purchased parts where not approved. Then when we had time we started to take the parts out of SmarTeam and put them into the vault. We would update the vault with the approved SmarTeam part and the assembly would end up with 100’s of cherries (mate errors). By this time the Engineer who built the assembly left the company. Anyone else who had put an assembly into the PDM had mate errors on parts taken from SmarTeam.
If I had to do it over again I would put in the known latest and greatest purchased parts first. Put them in a read only folder. Then let associates put in modeled machined parts. Each purchased part, like screws, nuts, air cylinders and etc would get approval by documentation before being put into the PDM. This way we would not have an Engineer say in the ninth hour, “That valve in the PDM is wrong, I need to over write it with mine”.
By having all good purchased parts that are used in multiple places in the PDM first, would help with getting mate errors fixed as soon as the assembly is checked into the PDM if not before. Everything should be fresh in the Engineers or designers mind now rather than 6 months later.


Bradley

 

[diamondcat]

"When you go to check in your second job, the parts that already in the vault will have a GRAY "=" (equal) sign next to them to signify that they are already there."

Brian,
That partially clears my question up but I'm worried about what Bradley said about the mate errors. I know that B4 PDM if we overwrote a purchased part, in a job directory, with another one that was supposed to be the same thing and had the same name, we would get a note that said that the internal ID of the part does not match what is in the assembly. If we okayed through that then most of the time we would get the mate errors. Are we going to have to fix these error for a while until we get a good base of jobs in the vault? Typically we try not to start a job from scratch. We will take and old one that is as close as possible then alter it to the new design.

I did review that same thread you gave me earlier this morning and to be honest, most of it seemed to be over my head. Those people seem pretty deep into the PDM waters, whereas I'm just seeing the PDM lake in the distance.

I did read all they were saying about the revision levels and I am trying to look at all of the pros and cons of all the different ways and seeing which might work best for us. Initially I was thinking of breaking it down like the following:
A.01,A.02etc. up to the approval stage
B.01,B.02etc. during finalizing design and detail
C.01,C.02etc. when it goes into check
SHIP.01 when it is shipped to the customer
CHG1.01,CHG1.02etc. if there are customer requested changed or design mistakes after ship.
I'm wondering what the pros and cons are of the Lifecycle. I see it changing the revision level options as you go to the different stages and also telling you at what point a job is at, but is that all?

I'm really trying to lay all of the groundwork before we jumping in to this.
Thanks to both of you for your insight.

Lori

 

[Cheeseburger]

Lori ...

Yes you will get mating errors if you over-write a file with another that you started from scratch. If you make changes to a part using the original data-base of that part you shouldn't get any mating errors. I say "shouldn't" if your change to a purchased part file isn't a major change or you don't remove a feature that you've mated to.

From what I gathered from Bradley's reply (again, I don't know for sure, this is my own opinion) it seems that for every change made to a Purchased Part/Item is done by creating a new database rather than editing the original database. If you do that, then YES you will get mating errors all the time.

Or if you download a purchased item from ... say for instance McMaster-Carr you'll get a ParaSolid database. So if that part changes and you download the L&G ... that will cause mating errors too. But that's the risk you take using a database like that.

Whenever possible (if the part isn't to complex) I create the database (or Master Part File) from scratch and ALWAYS update that file instead of downloading from a vendors website. And if you have engineers that feel the database is incorrect, have them edit or use the database that exists in the vault before going off and creating their own.

Again, I hope this helps.

Brian

 

[Standing]

Lori,
Brian is correct about the mate errors. Once the vault is setup with good parts the job is so much easier. The PDM vault is so worth it, so do not give up.

Bradley

 

[diamondcat]

Thanks for all your help.
I think I will start by really cleaning up this first job and making sure all the pruchase and standard parts are right, then I will check it in. From then on, we will see what happens when I check in a couple more.

Thanks again,
Lori