Workgroup PDM: Best Method for Prototype and Released Documentation Revision Entry

[SnowGlobe]

What is the best way to name and load Dwgs and Models into PDM Works in order to track the Drawing flow from Development (usually Revs X1, X2, X3,… etc) to Production Release (Revs A, B, C,…).

A fancier system would include all 3 release levels: preliminary, prototype and production.

I can't seem to figure out how to load prototype files into Workgroup PDM if the essential released Letter REVs are in the vault.

If this has been addressed somewhere else a link would be appreciated.

Many Thanks !

 

[JMirisola]

For future projects, enable lifecycle management. You'll then be able to check in the files as they mature. As for your current issue, I don't think PDM will allow you to check in an early revision of an already existing document. Perhaps you could amend the names of the files to include their revision? While not an ideal situation, at least you'd have everything saved in your vault.

Jeff Mirisola
Director of Engineering
M9 Defense
My Blog

 

[SnowGlobe]

Jeff, I appreciate your response !

Ref:
I am the only Solidworks guy at my company and am trying to implement workgroup PDM to control all of the sales, development and production drawing documents and models. Of course we don't have the $ervice package; and though I'm a designer I'm not a Documentation guy; Wah, etc..

So:
I have suspected that life cycle management would be the way to do it but have never been able to figure out how the revision scheme would work relative to the documents themselves (Primary, Sec/ Numbers letters etc). Also I have a fair released document base and didn't want to make any procedural mistakes that I couldn't back out of.

Would you have any quick insight as to how to set the P,S,T Revision scheme in workgroup PDM for Develop Revs X1, X2 and Production Release Revs A, B ?
Also what entries would be required on the document metafiles to satisfy this ?

Many thanks !

 

[JMirisola]

Your best bet is to go through the Vault Admin and see the options that are available to you when you enable lifecycle management. I would recommend, too, talking to your VAR. Depending on their policies, you should be able to get a manual about PDM administration.
You should also check out Devon Sowell's blog, as well as his consulting store where you can purchase PDM guides.

Jeff Mirisola
Director of Engineering
M9 Defense
My Blog

 

[ctopher]

You may need to play around with different settings.
Here is some help.
2012 PDMW

Chris
SolidWorks 11
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[SnowGlobe]

All, Thanks for the responses. We're cash limited so the VAR isn't much help. The links are really good, but nothing seems to flush in the step by step detail that I need to confidently implement this, there is just too much abstraction. I've got some more link reading to do though !

 

[imagitec]

I use PDM Workgroup extensively for consulting. In terms of using it to control life cycle as well as control and segregate a combination of internal and customer proprietary data, I'm about pushing it to its limits. I have a fairly detailed description of my set up that I'll describe when I have a more time.

Some general thoughts. I recommend you use primary.secondary revision scheme where the primary revision is what shows up on the print - whether it's a Development or Production Release. The secondary revision allows for work in process between revisions to be checked into the vault, as you will want to do.

In the Vault Manager, you'll want to explicitly define your primary revisions as

-
X1
X2
X3
Xn (go as high as you think is practical; you CAN add more later, if necessary)
A
B
C
...

The "Dash revision" (you may use something else) is for when the file is brand new and not subject to any control but the engineer's whim.

You can define the secondary revision as a range from 00 to 99.

You will likely want six lifecycles. Lifecycles will be tied to revision to some extent:

1. Preliminary (the dash revision as well as -.01, -.02, etc.)

2. Development (your X revisions; primary only)

3. In Design - Development (interim changes when going between releases of X1 and X2, for instance; X1.01, X1.02, ...)

4. Production Release (Letter revs; primary only)

5. In Design - Production Release (interim changes when going between A and B, for instance; A.01, A.02)

6. Obsolete

To make all this work - to ensure Sales only has access to Production Release documents, to ensure an Engineer can't move a document from In Design - Development to Production Release without document control, etc. - requires that you understand how PDM Workgroup controls access to documents.

In general, rights are assigned to users and/or groups.

Access can be controlled on the basis of:

- The Project that the file resides in. This controls access to the entire history of a file - all its revisions at any lifecyle state

- The Lifecycle Status - Lifecycle is tied to specific revisions of a file. So although Sales may have access to Project Wonder Widget, if they have Read Only access to Production Release files and NO access to files at other lifecycle states, they won't even see the Preliminary, Development, In Design, or Obsolete files.

The interactions between these controls are subtle & the implementation in PDM Workgroup is awful, so I'll write a follow up post.

One last thought, which probably doesn't apply in your case: I've created multiple PDM users for the same physical user so that access can be restricted depending on which client/project he or she is working on.

Rob
Imagitec: Imagination - Expertise - Execution

 

[TheTick]

I firmly believe the BEST way is to have completely different part number systems between development and released-for-production.

 

[SnowGlobe]

Rob,
This is the kind of information that I need !

I've noticed the same "The interactions between these controls are subtle & the implementation in PDM Workgroup is awful" so I'll be looking forward to your follow-up post.

There are plenty of ways to skin a cat but this appears to be a very practical method for keeping file continuity for the entire project, start to finish.

Thanks !