DM4941 Get Vaulted: the Truth About Autodesk Vault Integrations

DM4941–Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations

DM4941–Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations

Robert Stein – Autodesk, Inc.

Have you considered using Autodesk Vault, but are not sure how to integrate it with your CAD system? Have you wondered about the workflow? Then this class is for you. During this class, we will discuss real-world integrations of Vault and how those workflows can benefit your design workflow.

About the Speaker:
Based in Novi, Michigan, Robert works as a technical consultant for Autodesk focusing on data management. Prior to working for Autodesk, Robert worked in varying roles over the years as a designer, CAD manager and consultant at a variety of companies. Robert has worked on a number of large scale implementations and custom programming projects with Autodesk® Manufacturing products such as Inventor®, AutoCAD® Electrical, Vault family, and AutoCAD Mechanical. Robert is in his seventh year as a presenter at Autodesk University.

Overview

Over the years I have held a few different positions that have given me some very unique insight on different things. One of those items is Data Management. I have worked as a designer having to manage data on a network drive and all the issues that come with that. I have worked as a consultant helping organizations implement a data management solution. I have worked at an engineering company moving from one data management solution to another and now I work for Autodesk as a Technical Consultant implementing our solution for a variety of organizations.

This course pulls all the aspects of data management together that I have learned over the past 15 years into a high level 90 minute overview of things you need to consider when looking at moving to Data Management. The goal of this course is NOT to teach you how to use Autodesk Vault products but instead to educate you on what is possible, what is required and try to help you to think about the future.

I have broken up this course into a few different sections to help guide us through the discussion. I have approached this like I would approach an implementation so that you can understand all the things to think about.

Determine Corporate Objectives

Every company manages data! Yes, EVERY company. Whether you are a manufacturing, architectural, product, machine, etc... Company you have data to manage. Having said that you have a lot of decisions to make about how you will manage that data. The decisions you make are important to really dig in and think about. In this section I list several things that you should consider and I have labeled them as Corporate Objectives but they really apply to organizations of all sizes.

Secure Data

Windows explorer has its purposes and yes you can put security on folders and even at file levels but you can you control when a file is modified and by who? With Vault you can control the who, when, and where access to the data. You can have folder level permissions, lifecycle state based security and the general vault Roles that control what actions a user can do by what type of user they are. (i.e. Document Editor 1 vs. Document Editor 2)

One thing to consider with this is users / groups. Work with your IT team to determine what the Active Directory structure looks like for groups and determine if your Vault breakdown can follow the same structure or a similar structure. If it can be the same you will want to import the Active Directory groups which will also import all users in that group. If a user logs into the vault using the windows authentication and does not have a Vault account it will look to see what Active Directory has to say about them and follow those groups. This can make user / group management in Vault a snap.

Another thing to think about is lifecycle state based security, so when your document flows through your process who can access the document and when. I have a sample Visio document that can help you outline this. [See lifecycle_definition_template.vst in the Additional_Class_Materials.zip]

Central repository

Every organization I have been to over the past 15 years with the exception of one or two small startup companies I see data spread over a number of network locations. This not only makes it difficult to manage from an administration level but it makes it difficult for users who need to access the data. Some companies break it into disciplines or categories of information such as purchasing goes on one drive letter, engineering on marketing on yet another. But ultimately don't they all need access to the data? With Vault you can have everything centralized within the Vault, managed and backed up and still provides the control over the documents from a read / modify / delete perspective. This goes back partially to security.

Maximize Data Reuse

Most companies have data that they can reuse, for example a switch bracket that can be used in multiple design scenarios without any change to it. This is all great until you spend so much time trying to find it that you could have designed it from scratch quicker than finding it. With Vault you have the ability to not only search quickly on very focused criteria you have a copy design tool that allows you to easily copy assemblies in Inventor for example with reusing the components that can be identical and also marking other components as copy so that you have a duplicate to start from.

This can be a very powerful combination to help you promote design reuse within your organization.

Digital ECO Process

Most companies I have worked with have some type of an Engineering Change Order [ECO] process. They may call it ECN, ECO, ECR, etc... But they are all very similar. Many of them still use a paper process where the signatures are put on paper, and the document uses the sneaker net to make it around the company.

With Vault Professional you have the ability to utilize a digital Engineering Change Order [ECO] process. You can create an ECO and include digital markups to the DWF visualization file. This allows you to track the entire design from a single location and do it digitally. You can also capture the revision history into your CAD drawings as you work.

Digital Lifecycles

The last 5 companies I have been to use folders in windows explorer to manage the workflow, constantly moving drawings from one folder to another. This isn't really a smooth process but with windows explorer it is probably the best you have. What you really need is a way to introduce a lifecycle for the document. Vault allows you to not only do this but configure the lifecycle to fit your needs. You can use one of the out of the box definitions or create your own to meet your organization needs. I have a Microsoft Visio template that you can use to help. [See lifecycle_definition_template.vsd in the Additional_Class_Materials.zip]

Integrate With Other Systems

One trend I have seen for a number of years is integrating your data management system into other enterprise systems. This could be from taking your BOM data out to your ERP such as SAP. I have seen some companies integrate the Vault with other systems. Here are a couple of systems that people have integrated with.

SharePoint

If your organization utilizes Microsoft SharePoint there is an integration with Vault 2012 and SharePoint 2010. This will allow you to have a read only view into the vault.

This might be good for some of the other roles in the organization who only need to see data in a read only fashion.

Buzzsaw

If you collaborate with outside resources such as design firms you still want to manage your data. With Vault Collaboration and Professional you have the ability to sync to buzzsaw.

SAP

The ability to manage your data is only part of the overall process at most companies. There is life after design and that is done at a lot of companies in SAP. With SAP Connect you can take your items in Vault and push them to the Item Master in SAP.

Custom (API)

There are times when you might need to customize the way that the Vault works to achieve your unique corporate objectives. Customization is different than configuration and here is what I mean by that.

Customization - writing custom code to make the product do something that it cannot do out of the box with the tools provided in the product.

Configuration - using the out of the box tools to modify settings for the desired setup.

With the Autodesk Vault API you can do quite a bit. Autodesk Developer Doug Redmond has a great blog showing some really good examples. [See

Here are a few of my favorite tools from the site.

Q-2ools - This tool can email you when there is an issue with the Job Queue.

Drawing Compare - This tool uses Design Reviews drawing compare functionality within the vault.

Visual Lifecycle Status - This tool is great and visually shows you your lifecycle. This can really help from an administrative side to check your configuration prior to rolling out a lifecycle. Also from and end user perspective you can change lifecycle states with this tool also.

Import from Visio - This tool is great to import your lifecycle if you map it out in Visio. Note: This tool needs to be updated to work in Vault 2012.

Multiple Site Replication

Many organizations have sites around the world and need to share data globally. There are a couple of options with the Vault Family of products for replicating data. First you have file store replication which will replicate the files. With this option the different locations get the meta data from the same server.The second option is for full replication which replicates both the SQL database and the file store.You can also use a combination of both where you would replicate full database and file store to another continent for example, then from there replicate file store only to some other sites.There are some things with this that you need to keep in mind and we will go into further detail later.

Learning Requirements

Prior to implementing Vault you will want to form a focused team and make sure that everyone knows their roles. In doing this you may want to provide some training prior to kicking off any activities. There are several ways to get training.

Resellers - Most resellers provide training and this is a great resource to get started.

Autodesk Consulting - We also provide training.

Wiki Help - A lot of people start out by reviewing the wiki help to learn the high level.

Check out the Event hall as they have many resellers, Autodesk employees and Autodesk Authorized Training centers showing their material.

Client / Server Requirements

When you start to form your implementation team you want to look at skill sets. For example you will have people on your team that will probably be focusing on the server administration and others who focus on the end user client side of things.

Organization Requirements

You need to also consider how you are going to educate your end users after the implementation is live. You will have many users that have different requirements for Vault access and you don’t want to spend time training them how to do things that they are not going to actually do. For example your sales team most likely doesn't need to know how to check out an inventor file and change lifecycle states for that file. They will need to understand how to view, search and maybe create a change order request if there is an issue with a product that a customer has found.

Stakeholder Requirements

It is very important to make sure that the stakeholders in the organization understand what the Vault is, and what the Vault isn't. Executive management needs to have executive sponsorship for the project.

In order to plan integrations you need to do your homework. You have already started doing so by determining corporate objectives however this is now on a more granular level.

Which Departments are involved?

It is important to understand which departments will be impacted by the implementation of a data management system. The answer is typically everyone from engineering, purchasing through to manufacturing. By planning out who will be impacted you can determine the best people to interview and understand how they need to access the data and use it. This chart shows some of the typical departments that are involved in implementations that I have worked on.

Project Management / Purchasing
Shop Floor / Sales
Marketing / IT
Engineering / Checkers
Shipping

It’s not enough to just know that you will impact these areas of the organization you should also include key members from each area in the planning process. You will be surprised by how these departments interact with the data that engineering produces. It is good ideas to have key members from each department tell you about a day in the life of their position. This will help you understand how you are going to help or possibly hurt the process. It is also a great way to see where processes can be improved even not related to Data Management.

Software

This is one of the most important areas to consider when looking into implementing a data management solution. Below is a general list of some things to think about.

Vault Products System Requirements

Of course you will be using the Vault that is why you are taking this AU class. So this is probably a perfect place to start with discussing the system requirements. You can find them here on the web.

Server

For 32-Bit Autodesk Data Management Server 2012
Software / Replication Support
Microsoft® Windows® 2003 Server Standard or Enterprise edition operating system (SP2) / Yes
Microsoft Windows 2003 Server R2 Standard or Enterprise edition (SP2) / Yes
Microsoft Windows 2003 Small Business Server Standard or Premium edition (SP2) / Yes
Microsoft Windows 2003 Small Business Server R2 Standard or Premium edition (SP2) / Yes
Microsoft Windows 2008 Server Standard or Enterprise edition (SP2) / Yes
Microsoft Windows 2008 Small Business Server Standard or Premium edition / Yes
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional edition operating system (SP3) / No
Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise edition (SP2) / No
Microsoft Windows 7 Business, Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise / No
For 64-Bit Autodesk Data Management Server 2012
Software / Replication Support
Microsoft Windows 2003 Server Standard or Enterprise (SP2) / Yes
Microsoft Windows 2003 Server R2 Standard or Enterprise (SP2) / Yes
Microsoft Windows 2008 Server Standard or Enterprise (SP2) / Yes
Microsoft Windows 2008 Server R2 Standard or Enterprise (SP1) / Yes
Microsoft Windows 2008 Small Business Server Standard or Premium / Yes
Microsoft XP Professional (SP3) / No
Microsoft Vista Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise (SP2) / No
Microsoft Windows 7 Business, Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise / No
Autodesk Data Management Server Requirements
Single Site Requirements
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express, Workgroup, Standard or Enterprise edition (SP2)
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express, Standard, or Enterprise edition
Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD ® Athlon processor, 2 GHz or higher or Intel Pentium 4 or AMD 64-bit Dual Core Processor, 3 GHz or higher (recommended)
1 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
100 GB disk space (200 GB recommended)
Replication Environments
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard & Enterprise Edition (32-bit or 64-bit, SP2)
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard & Enterprise Edition (32-bit or 64-bit)
Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon Processor, 3 GHz or higher (Intel Pentium 4 or AMD 64-bit Dual Core Processor, 3 GHz or higher recommended)
Remote Site for Multisite Replication - ADMS Installation
2 GB RAM (3 GB recommended)
150 GB disk space (300 GB recommended)
Full Replication - ADMS and SQL Installation
4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended)
300 GB disk space (500 GB recommended)

Vault Client

For 32-Bit Autodesk Vault Client 2012
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home or Professional edition (SP3), or Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise edition (SP2), or Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home, Business, Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise edition
For 64-Bit Autodesk Vault Client 2012
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional edition (SP3), Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise edition (SP2), or Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home, Business, Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise edition
Additional Autodesk Vault Client Requirements
Hardware Requirements
Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon™ processor, 1.6 GHz or higher (2 GHz or higher recommended)
1 GB RAM (2 GB recommended)
1 GB disk space (4 GB recommended)
For Microsoft Office Add-in (Excel, PowerPoint, Word)
Microsoft® Office® 2003 or 2007
Office 2010 (32-bit)
For Microsoft Outlook Add-in
Microsoft® Office® Outlook 2007
Outlook 2010 (32-bit)
Browser
Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 7 or 8 browser
Mozilla® Firefox® 3.6 browser
Apple® Safari® 4 or 5 browser
Google Chrome 7 browser

Vault Family Decisions

As you may or may not be aware, there are 5 flavors of Vault. It is important to select the toolset that you need so here is a chart that outlines the differences. [See it on the web here.] [See VaultFamilyProductComparison.xlsx in Additional_Class_Materials.zip]