What's new in PDM 2013

Looks like some nice enhancements are coming...it also looks like I have some workflows to re-write!

Here's a nice preview from the fine folks at 3DVision Technologies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wWoCYraXWgc#!

~Corey Hinman, CEPA, CSWP

Get out and Vote

I hear Romney is Pro-PDM Enterprise :)

~Corey Hinman, CEPA, CSWP

New & Improved? CEPA certificates

I was part of the first test group of CEPA test takers at solidworks world 2012, since they've formally released that test to the public they've released a new certificate, not that I the paper copy of it for anything, but at least it looks a little more professional

New:

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Quiet = Busy!!

Been a little busier than normal around here, making finding new topics, or time to post more difficult.

I did just register for Solidworks World 2013 though, I am looking forward to this one as well so I can get a test drive of PDM 2013 capabilities!

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Enterprise PDM Zero BOM Qty

I have a BOM that is showing some items as 0 qty items.They are not 0 qty items, they are not excluded from BOM. As built is not selected, the pictures are using the default configuration.

The zero qty items appear as yellow (meaning modified), so I backspace over the value, which reverts to it's real BOM count. But when I hit save on the BOM it reverts back to zero on 1 of the items. If I fix that one, and save, it reverts to zero on all items.

2012 sp3

If you're experiencing this, you'll need to wait for 2012 SP5.0 apparently.

~Corey Hinman, CEPA, CSWP

Christian Bale - Class Act

Christian Bale visited the hospital in Colorado where many of the theater shooting victims are still recovering. This wasn't politics, this wasn't Public Relations, this wasn't sponsored by Warner Brothers....this was one man who could give back and try to help in the healing.

Well done Sir.

~Corey Hinman
CEPA, CSWP

Using Dispatch to send email by card variable

I want to set users for specific tasks and then have enterprise send emails to those people without doing it through workflows (which I've done in the past). In this example it's a button on the data card, but I plan to send the emails once the files pass through a transition.

I'm not a programmer, I don't know how to use the API, but this is what I came up with. I'm looking for feedback and maybe some ways to improve upon this.

• First, the data card needs to have the variables for said tasks, I used the user login name for the list, which matches our windows user names, and also outlook.
  
  

• Second, create 2 files in the vault
  • File #1: email_template.txt
    • This file will be used by dispatch to output a command line prompt that includes variable values.
    • "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\OFFICE14\OUTLOOK.EXE" /c ipm.note /m "%ECO Val owner DFMEA%;%ECO Val owner Cust App%;%ECO Val owner DVPR%;%ECO Val owner CWO%;%ECO Val owner Risk%;%ECO Val owner Gage%;%ECO Val owner Times%?do=newpm&u=&subject=You have open Tasks in ECRxxxx"
    • This looks like a lot but it breaks down like this.....
      • enter the path to your outlook
        • "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\OFFICE14\OUTLOOK.EXE"
      • Add the following arguments:
        • /c ipm.note /m
      • Add the variables (usernames) separated by ; <this becomes TO data>
        • "%ECO Val owner DFMEA%;%ECO Val owner Cust App%;%ECO Val owner DVPR%;%ECO Val owner CWO%;%ECO Val owner Risk%;%ECO Val owner Gage%;%ECO Val owner Times%
      • End with the following:
        • ?do=newpm&u=&subject=You have open Tasks in ECRxxxx"

• File #2: tasks_email.bat
  • This is the parameter file that Dispatch will Create.
• Dispatch Setup

~Corey Hinman
CEPA, CSWP

Earned my CSWP!

With a little refresher from Solidprofessor, and by scouring the internet for practice exams, I took and passed all 3 CSWP segments on the first go round.

Segment 1: Modeling

This was about the same level as the CSWA, just with more modeling exercises. I was starting to get crunched for time so I did the last part in a way that worked, but wasn't the best way to get it done. If I had more time I probably would have done a few things different, but 100% on Segment 1.

Segment 2: Configurations

The configuration portion was a breeze, the modifying an existing part was more challenging. I missed the last part as I ran out of time. It didn't help I was interrupted during the test :)

Segment 3: Assemblys

This was a little challenging, lots to do, you need to be quick and pay attention to the coordinate systems. I wasn't asked to do any in-context stuff, which probably helped me. I missed the last question, apparently I did something wrong when I swapped out the base part.

Overall, I feel thoroughly tested, and satisified that I could add this to my resume!

~Corey Hinman, CEPA, CSWP

I got my Solidworks certification, now what?

Like many of you I have a few certifications from Solidworks Corp, but when I logged in to my account and looked in the directory of certified users, I did not see my name. There is a little account setting you need to enable for your name to appear in the listing (if that matters to you).

In the lower right corner click "Settings"

The check "YES" for "List in Online Directory"

And now you'll see your name in lights :)

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

CSWA Certified

I was a full time solidworks designer for about 3 years (autocad, Unigraphics, and IDEAS before that), and an occasional user the last 6 years. I want to get the CSWP certification tackled, but since I'm the PDM Admin, and CAD Manager, I don't do CAD work, I thought I'd start with the CSWA.

I worked through Solid Professor for some refresher courses, and they did a good job of reminding of functionality and technique.

One of my employees, who is a CAD designer is working towards CSWE and also started along this route. I thought CSWA was not really a "big deal", but the test itself was a little more than I expected it to be. It was certainly not "killer", but it was enough to feel like I was tested. I did score 240/240 so maybe I'm not so far from the CSWP as I think I am.

1 more certification down, 1 to go!

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Tasks Not Clearing in PDM Admin Task List

I've ran into this several times now where tasks will not cancel, or are stuck at "suspending". To clear this out, log into the sql server, and run a query according to this information:

The tasks displayed in the Task list are found in the database table "TaskInstances” where "TaskStatus" is one of the following values: 1 [Waiting for host]
2 [Starting up]
3 [In process]
4 [Retrying]
5 [Suspended]
6 [Cancelling]
7 [OK]
8 [Cancelled]
9 [Failed]
10 [Suspending]
11 [Resuming]
If there are tasks that are stuck in the "Cancelling" state for example, run the following query to correct it (i.e. update all tasks with status 6 [Cancelling] to status 8 [Cancelled]):
UPDATE TaskInstances
SET TaskStatus = 8
WHERE TaskStatus = 6
Close and reopen the task list to see the update.  Update the query wih appropriate values seen in list above



~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Enterprise PDM Task Consistency

I was getting very inconsistent, and frustrating results running tasks on the archive server. Things like PDF and STEP generation were failing quite frequently, and often chewing up a large portion of the CPU on the server, and would occasionally require a reboot. None of those are good things.

I set up a solidworks workstation to serve as a "task server" and moved all of those tasks to be run from there, and so far the results are much improved.

Do yourself a favor and enable remote access to the computer and you'll be much happier!

Saludos,
~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Excluding new documents from Workflow in PDM

You should have some kind of "Uncontrolled" workflow that all files that don't meet certain criteria fall into, that workflow should have no restrictions on files to be added. So if you add a misc file to the vault it goes to uncontrolled.

I had some Sub-workflows that new files will never go into, but could be passed back and forth between other workflows. I didn't put any incoming criteria and was getting STL files put into a state of ECO validation (as an example) because the workflow was wide open.

What I needed to do was find a way to exclude files easily...here was my solution:

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Setting Folder Options

I found that on my machine I can't set the windows folder options to show details while browsing in the vault. I wanted to set all folders to details but wasn't able to Apply to all folders.

You have to do it outside of the vault.

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

I don't Heart Lebron

I don't think the Celtics can pull it off this year, so Miami will most likely be in the finals. I think OKC has a better chance to beat them, if they can themselves get past the Spurs.

I just hope either Western Conference team thumps Miami and Lebron again disappears when it matters most. When he was gloating in game 1 right in front of Garnett, Garnett should have asked him how many rings he's toting....

I hope Lebron wins not 8, not 7, not 6, not 5, not 4, not 3, not 2, not 1, ZERO titles.

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Adding PDM Vault Folders to Windows 7 Fav's

If you want to add specific vault folders to your windows 7 favorites...do this.

Make a folder (desktop or elsewhere) and call it Vault Favorites.

Inside your new folder add a new folder for each favorite location you want to add:

Now drag your folders over to your windows 7 favorites.

Right click on properties of each folder, and copy/paste in the location from ePDM

Your vault locations will now work from Windows 7 Favorites, and you can drag, drop, etc:

Add caption

**You can also add a favorite PDM search by changing the "Look in location" to a specific folder and saving that as a Favorite


~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Adding Workflow Images to Data Cards

I started to add this visual feature today, which just takes minimal setup

In my case I am adding this to a CAD Work Order, in which a word document serves as the traveler.

A few pre-requisites:

• A variable that shows the current state of your document. (hopefully it already exists)
• Images showing your states. 

I color coded my images in Visio. I made a tab for each state and saved the Visio file into the vault. You have to do a "save as" bmp of each of the images and save those somewhere for reference later.

On your data card, add a tab control, and make a tab for each State that you want to display an image for. Insert the image that goes with each tab of your new control, and set the tab control to "Controlled by variable" and select the prerequisite variable mentioned above.

In your workflow, you'll need to make sure that the variable is updated upon workflow transitions.

Decide where you want the tabbed images to show on your data card, and you should be good to go!

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Doomsday Preppers

I was marginally intrigued by this show when it first started airing, much like "hoarders" it's like a train wreck that's hard to look away from.

The last few episodes though are seemingly scraping the bottom of an already shallow barrel, it's too bad they don't go into detail about "how-to" prep, or things you should be doing to prepare.

I've found much better material on various blogs.

Maybe it's time to start watching Game of Thrones.....

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Random Mail Failures

If you ever experience PDM Enterprise Mail notifications failing, like I did today.....and you haven't changed any Messaging System settings all you need to do is:

Reboot, and try again!!!

I rebooted the SQL server and all queued up emails suddenly came out of hiding. Whilst I was troubleshooting I did the "test settings" within the admin tool and it would continually tell me the server was not found.

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

PDM Related Blogs I Read Daily

The best way to learn, and continue to learn about something is to get some exposure to it on a consistent basis....every morning before work starts I quickly read through several PDM related blogs, here's my current list:

http://blog.funtech.com/

http://blogs.solidworks.com/

http://solidworksheard.com/

http://www.3dvision.com/wordpress/

http://blog.inflow-tech.com/inflow/

http://www.javelin-tech.com/blog/

https://forum.solidworks.com/community/data_management/enterprise_pdm

http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/
just seeing if you're paying attention!!!

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Now comes CADLink.....

I will be working with QBuild corporation to get CADLink running to transfer our data from PDM to Epicor 9.

Step 1: Create data card with all needed part configuration variables needed.

More to follow soon!!!

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Tips for Automatic File Generation (Tasks)

I was having issues getting tasks to execute on our PDM archive server. In the end it was because of a conflict in user rights.

On the task, I correctly set it to execute as admin:

However, when I was remotely connected to the server, I was logged in using my windows username and id....ie corey.hinman.

So the task was to execute as Admin, but the vault was logged into as corey.hinman. I turned off automatic login based on current user id, and logged in as Admin. Tasks are now running nice and smooth.

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

ePDM users Beware of the Rev Table!!

If you're linking your PDM controlled revisions to your titleblocks using $PRP Revision, then make sure you create a new General table to be used instead of the solidworks rev table. If you insert a new row in the rev table it will increment the "solidworks" revision of the file.

As an example: we put + after revisions that are being modified. I had a drawing that was rev 01+, I did NOT swap out the rev table for my new general table. I added a new row and typed in 02 into the rev column. When I checked the file into the vault PDM displayed the file's revision as C.

Make sure you replace the rev table!

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Pasting as Reference to a Weldment Issue

If you paste a file as reference onto a Weldment item you WILL NOT be able to modify the QTY on the computed BOM in ePDM.

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Visit to "Hardcore Pawn"

My wife and I were in Detroit last week and we decided to stop into Detroit Silver and Loan.....Hardcore Pawn, from Tru TV.

It's not in the best part of town, 8 mile and Greenfield, but at 2pm it wasn't a problem. When we walked in Les and Seth were there talking to customers and taking pictures, etc. They were very friendly guys. There were no cameras rolling that day, so the volume of clients was down, and we didn't witness any drama.

The place isn't as big as they make it seem on TV, but still it was cool just to go and check the place out.

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Annoying 2011 SP 5 Issue

I just finished upgrading to 2011 SP 5.0 to fix a decimal truncation issue, and now my users are seeing "no rights to change state". This is a known issue according to solidworks

After upgrade to 2011 SP5 or 2012 SP0, some users with restricted workflow state access for earlier versions now see warning "No rights to get latest or attached version" using Get Latest Version or Change state. Issue happens when logged in user lacks read permission in the state where revision is assigned to version of file. Can be reproduced in default vault as follows: 1. Create a user or group and assign full folder permissions. Assign full transition permission. Assign read and check out permissions to all states except 'Approved'. 2. As Admin, log into vault. Add and check in assembly and references. 3. Change state to 'Approved' via 'No approval required' transition. This should assign revision A to version 2/2. 4. Change state to 'Under Change' via 'Request change'. The history now shows that revision A was assigned to previous state 'Approved'. 5. Log in as the other user in step 1. - Get latest version and check out fails with 'No rights to get latest or attached version'. - Change state fails with 'No rights to change state'. - If user is given read permission in "Approved" state it works.

So what I had to do was ensure that the Designers and Engineers had Read File Contents checked on any state, and any workflow that an item has gone through. sigh....

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

After Service Pack Upgrade

You will also need to update the Solidworks addin and convert tool. This is from the knowledge base, but here are the steps:

If using an old version, upgrade the existing task add-in in the vault:
1. Open administration tool on an upgraded client log in as administrator
2. File > open > browse to c:\program files\solidworks enterprise pdm\default data\
3. Load the "Convert_GB.cex" file
4. Drag-and-drop SWTaskAddIn  to the add-ins node (not the convert task).  Select Yes to update the existing add-in. (see attached UpdateTaskAddin.jpg)
5. Verify via the task host configuration that the updated add-in is loaded
6. On clients that act as task host it is recommended to exit Enterprise and log in again to the view to ensure the updated add-in is loaded.

Once the add-in is upgraded you may need to update the actual task script as well. Refer to KB solution S-057908 for more details.

Note that this also applies to other add-ins in an upgraded vault, such as Dispatch. Those can be updated using the add-in node.


This is an easy task to do, don't sweat it!

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

ePDM Service Pack Upgrade

For anyone looking to do a service pack upgrade, it's not nearly as involved as upgrading to a new major revision. Here are the basic steps

• Download SP files to folder accessible to both Archive and Database server
• Check in all documents
• Make sure everyone is out of Enterprise
• Back up the SQL Database 
• Back up the Archive server's "vault data" folder
• Upgrade the Archive server installation (requires reboot)
• Upgrade Database server, you'll need name of server, ex: (local) and sa password (requires reboot)
• From Database server, open Upgrade/Upgrade.exe from SP folder location
• In the admin tool, if your vault shows a red plus, right click and select upgrade.
• Upgrade client installs

That's it!

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Design Best Practices

Time to start working on Solidworks' Best Practices for my new company, after all PDM doesn't exist without Solidworks and vice - versa.

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Annoying Decimal Place Issue

When exporting a computed BOM to CSV format, if the QTY (reference count) shows more than two digits, it is truncated upon export.

I've manually edited some quantities to 6 decimal places, so obviously this is an issue. It's deceptive though, because the quantity is green until you hit save, then it gets truncated. However, if you export to XML, the values are correct. Strange.

Luckily this is resolved in 2011 sp 5, we are currently sp 4.

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

The River

I missed the first couple episodes of the River, and caught a portion of one today, which was intriguing.

I don't think it can supplant my affection for "The Walking Dead" series, but I may have to check it out.

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

ePDM Enhancements for 2013

Today at Solidworks World 2012, as usual they reveal the highlights of upcoming enhancements in the next version of Solidworks.

When they touched on Enterprise PDM, they touted one thing. Social networking with other users within the interface.

What? How about generating email lists based on card variables, or any other of a dozen practical enhancements?

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Opening Older Versions of Files

Be careful when opening older versions of files. Of course you'll first need to "get version" for the older version you're interested in. Your version tab will let you know you've got it into your local cache.

Now comes the confusing part. When you open this in Solidworks you'll be prompted with this screen

The first check box is simple, do you want to check this out. 

The second check box "GET" would lead you to believe it's getting you version of the file listed, but it's not. It's getting the latest version of the vault. DESELECT this option to get an older version.

Then just for added confusion, the "OK" button says "Checkout", but at this point it won't check the file out.

An easy way to remember this is take this form's checkboxes from left to right, and ask yourself:

1- Do I want to Check it Out?

2- Do I want to Get the latest Version from the vault?

3- Do I want the older version  shown?

~Corey Hinman, CEPA

Creating Accurate Indented BOMs in Enterprise PDM

I've been faced with a problem of creating an indented BOM that shows all items, both inside Solidworks Assembly files, and those "copy-pasted as reference".

Our problem was this. We have assemblies with a large number of files include. Normally we suppress instances of repeating parts to improve performance, and have a more clear display. So if I ran an Indented BOM from the top level, I would not see ALL the parts that are supposed to be in the BOM. I would basically see the display configuration BOM.

So my solution is this: Use the "default" configuration of each assembly to include ALL items. **an important note is that copy-paste as reference pastes the default BOM, so that's good!**.

Other configurations can be made for display purposes.

Every Assembly's "default" configuration will use each child's "default" configuration. Different configs can be made for the drawings.

If you follow this logic all the way up the chain, if you look at the Default BOM for the top level as indented, you'll see all items included.

Chinman

CEPA Certification

I'm proud to say that I'm one of the first 10 users in the world to hold this Soldiworks accreditation, there were 9 of us testing, and six of us passed. I thought it was a little easy, I'm already waiting for the next level exam!


Congratulations Corey,

You have been issued a certificate in SolidWorks® Certification Center indicating that you have successfully completed the requirements for Certified Enterprise PDM Administrator.

Solidworks World 2012

Live and underway...check out the Hot Rod Baby Buggy....designed in Solidworks.