SW Enterprise PDM

[DesignerGuy16]

I’m looking for some feedback on the Solidworks Enterprise PDM software.

How was implementation?
-What kind of roadblocks or learning curves could I expect?
-How long did it take to implement? How many users?
-What kind of backend database does it require? An SQL server/ IIS web server?
-How well does the remote access work? How easy is it for an offsite admin to control, correct and change the database?

How about functionality?
-What kind of perceived or actual gains were there (productivity and ease of use)?
-What kind of bugs did you stumble upon? Any work around? Be honest here, I’d love to know any and all, no matter how small that have come up.

What about the competition?
-If you haven’t used Enterprise PDM directly, chime in on any others you may use, or have used. Direct comparisons would be appreciated though.


James Spisich
Design Engineer, CSWP

 

[Badwolf]

Hi,

We have migrated from Workgroup to Enterprise. We have about 30 SW users and about another 100 viewers.

How long it takes is dependent on where you're coming from. A knowledgable VAR is very useful. The big stumbling block for us was the amount of data that we needed to import from our old system (about 80 gig). It actually took SW several months to get the migration utility to work with our number of files - shouldn't be a problem now.

Spend as much time as possible before implementation establishing workflows and revision schemes. These are difficult to alter when documents are in the system.

I built up a test vault and allowed the users to play with it and report any problems before I let them loose on the real thing.

The backend is SQL server 2005 (soon to be 2008) and is supplied with Enterprise. It is not recommended that you modify the database directly as there are triggers and relationships to consider. The recommendation is that you make any changes using the Enterprise API. There is nothing to stop you though from extracting information from the database (our main reason for buying it).

How easy it is to use will depend upon the complexity of your companies processes and your skill in interpreting them within the bounds of the Software.

A knowledge of SQL is advantagous as is Visual Studio.

As an administrator, it is fairly flexible and not difficult to administer once you have got your head around how the various bits (record cards, workflows etc) fit together. It has enable me to start tying down a lot of the areas that were open to "user interpretation" in Workgroup.

Our current project is a Design Change Order that will automatically drag all linked documents along with it.

We are very happy with it so far.

If you need anymore info, please ask.