SW File Organization

[EClow]

We design custom machinery and currently have folders organized by project, others organized by type of component, others by vendor. These are scattered over several network drives. Lots of trouble with duplicate files and broken references.

Anyone out there have guidance on best practices to re-organize these folders to get better performance and to make navigation easier?

 

[JMirisola]

PDMWorks, or some other PDM service?
One, dedicated, engineering drive?


Jeff Mirisola, CSWP, Certified DriveWorks AE
CAD Administrator, Ultimate Survival Technologies
My Blog

 

[ShaggyPE]

use a pdm system.

Short of that, I would recommend the files that are specific to a project in a project folder. Any file that is common (purchase parts, standard build parts) to multiple projects, keep in a common folder. Within the common folder you can have sub folders but don't go crazy with the folders (i.e. each part in its own folder). Keep all these files on a single network drive. Do not work on the network, copy files to a local drive and copy them back when the task is complete. The files on the network should be read only. There should be only one (maybe two) people who have access to write on the network drive. This will be your document control type person.

This is basically manual pdm.

-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Certified SolidWorks Professional
Certified COSMOSWorks Designer Specialist
Certified SolidWorks Advanced Sheet Metal Specialist

 

[EClow]

We have plans to implement PDM, not sure which package, but we've all been there. So far all talk.

Is there a real advantage to a single, dedicated drive for CAD files? Should this be a physical drive or does a separate partition get the same result?

Thanks,

Ed

 

[NomLaser]

Go a dedicated drive with a good back up system

Partitions are a cheap man's way of doing it and you will get what you pay for. If the drive ever goes bad, now you have lost 2 sets of data and not just one. Make sure that you have daily backups performed on the drive and double check the backups occasionally.

I worked in conjunction with another company on a project and their HDD ate the big one and their backup drive (unbeknown to them) wasn't working properly and they lost 6 months worth of data.

 

[ewh]

... copy files to a local drive and copy them back when the task is complete

Multiple copies throughout the organization is asking for trouble.
We keep the project files on the server (which is backed up nightly) and work on them there. When they are ready for production, we formally release them. We move the released files into a "Released" folder, sorted by project, which has restricted write priviledges.
We have run into too many problems letting designers work on their local drives, mainly with multiple file copies and no one knowing a month or more later which is the correct file.

This is more of a generic CAD PDM issue, not just SW, and you may get more info if posted in Engineering Configuration Management Forum forum781

"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - [small]Robert Hunter[/small]

 

[gwubs]

We use numbered file names, and save them in numbered folders. Numbers are generated on first come, first served basis, and are not significant. The trick here is to have a good search method to find things. This system does some very important things for us:
1) there is no need to spend any time on thinking up a file name, and where to save it.
2) file names are 100% unique - no more screen messages that say the internal ID does not match the intended part to load
3) any one can identify at a glance that all files in a folder are in the correct place. If you find something in the wrong place you can move it, and when SW can't find the file next time around, it is easy to browse to.
4) we can progamaticaly create hyperlinks to parts, assemblies and drawings, be cause we can predict the full path to the files.
How you set up your system is a matter of preference, but we use 5 digit numbers, mirrored parts have the same filename plus an "M" eg 12345M. We store 100 numbers in a folder.