CAD Admins, raise your hands!

matt · Unread post by **matt** » Fri Mar 26, 2021 4:39 pm

One of my hopes for this site is to give CAD Admin types somewhere to connect with their own kind. I know when I did that job I felt very isolated, with a lot of responsibility, little authority, and no resources. It would be cool if other people didn't have to feel that way.

So, if you do the CAD Admin job formally or informally or even just in part, stop in and describe your duties and your challenges. Get something off your chest. Ask a question, and we'll bounce it around.

Go!

AlexLachance · Unread post by **AlexLachance** » Mon Mar 29, 2021 8:22 am

I'm a CAD Admin where I work. It started when I took care of the transition from 2D to 3D. Lots of tasks, most of them are small ones but important ones nonetheless. Off the top of my head:

I took care of developping the part numbering and make sure everyone follows the guidelines.
I took care of creating the link from SolidWorks to our ERP so that we could push info from an assembly to our ERP.
I implemented SSP inside the company, but a very basic one. A coworker then pushed it much further.
I take care of every Software update to ensure that everything goes right.
I manage our database to try and remove what's useless.
I take care of training new users inside the company
I am the official troubleshooter when people have issues

Jonathan Leeper · Mon Mar 29, 2021 9:07 am

A co-worker and I attempt to manage PDM and CAD related issues. Our in-house department consists of 10 designers/engineers/drafters.

bnemec · Unread post by **bnemec** » Mon Mar 29, 2021 10:43 am

Hello group. My name is ben and i'm a CAD admin.

Diaval · Unread post by **Diaval** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 3:39 pm

I am a PDM administrator and am always interested in learning about how other people use PDM. I'm looking forward to the discussions that will get started here.

jcapriotti · Unread post by **jcapriotti** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 5:08 pm

Is this like a CAA meeting? (CAD Admins Anonymous)

Hi everyone, my name is Jason, and I am a CAD junky. I started my CAD admins duties going back to the late 90's in CATIA by volunteering to setup the then unused library function at the time. Later I helped lead the evaluation to replace Catia, and SolidWorks come out on top.

For several year after I did double duty as a mechanical designer, CAD administrator, mentor, trainer and also acted as a human PDM system that my coworkers called Jason/Works. I left the company for a few years, picked up some NX, then came back to the previous company as a full time CAD manager. I brought in PDM shortly after as the team had grown quite a bit across several locations and manually managing files on network drives was no longer feasible. Now 13 years later, the company is going to Windchill for all global units which unfortunately closes the PDM chapter of my life. It will be a sad day when we finally turn the PDM system off after all the work we did on it

. I've truly enjoyed tinkering with PDM and trying to make it jump thru hoops...........Windchill however, that's another story.........

matt · Unread post by **matt** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 5:44 pm

Here's my story as CAD Admin.

(tl;dr = I liked it, but worked hard)

I was an applications engineer at a reseller, and realized that most resellers thought a "promotion" was to make tech guys into salesmen. Anyway, that didn't go over very well.

I had a favorite customer and they wanted help transitioning from Acad to SolidWorks. So I took the job (Engineering Services Manager, also had technical writing, the doc change process, and some overflow CAD people). It was a company that made optical and laser test equipment.

They had all their autocad files organized by semi-sequential part number (part of the number was sequential and the rest was intelligent part number, so we could identify what kind of part it was by looking at the number, but the numbers would always be unique). They were trying to do the same thing with SolidWorks, which obviously was a disaster because they broke all the links between parts and assemblies and also between drawings and whatever was on them.

1) So my first task was to come up with a numbering system that fit their existing numbers but worked with SolidWorks. We took the common sense approach with numbering parts and assemblies the way they went into erp. Separate numbers for top level assemblies, and subassemblies that were made and kept for stock or used in multiple products.

2) Next we had to come up with a way to store files so everyone could find stuff, and SolidWorks didn't get confused. So we stored them by project unless parts were shared, then they'd stay in the parent project folder or under a library folder if they were truly generic, like screws.

3) We had to evaluate and implement a PDM system. We had demos come in, and some management along with a colleague from the IT department. I was immediately accused of nepotism because one of the groups that came in to do demos were my friends from the reseller. You gotta let this stuff roll off to an extent. Explain what your plan is, and then follow your plan.

4) We narrowed it down to a couple, so the IT guy and I went for training. Paying for training we didn't need was less expensive than screwing up the PDM selection/installation.

5) We picked WorkCentre. Not Autodesk's WorkCenter CNC software, something different which I think was bought by Cimatron, and exists no more. It was a bit of a risk, because it wasn't one of the big names. But, they had the features that we needed at a much lower cost, and the support was really good. The company used their own software for internal CRM sales and support records. That said a lot to me. Anyone who eats their own dog food knows what they are talking about.

6) Implementation was like most implementation. Lots of tears, crying, yelling, name calling, accusations, etc. But we first rolled it out to a couple of our brightest and most adaptable users. They did a project. Then we rolled it out to the design engineers, then to manufacturing engineers. We got the viewers in place for purchasing and management. We implemented the workflow to handle the document change process.

All in all, I think that went pretty well. We had to convert a couple of people, and I had to bring in upper mgt to resolve a couple of disputes. Key to success was partnership with IT, and in particular, a db guy. Without the db expert, the outcome might have been different.

7) With all of this success, I might have overreached. Still not sure. Their screw part numbers were all over the place. They would have a couple of cap screws with one number (different -dash suffixes), and then a couple others with a different number... We talked about unifying 20 years worth of screw part numbers which were in everything, and a constant source of confusion. So along with the Document Change Board, we decided to do it. It took me a week to figure out the scope of work. Then it would be about 6 months of a clerk's time running change orders against every product that was going through the change process anyway. Sometimes changing the screws in a product would be more work than the original change order.

We could see the end of the project, but it was a lot of work. Eventually 9-11 happened, the first internet bubble burst, and we had several layers of layoffs. I lived through the first 3 or 4, but eventually also had to leave.

Overall, I really loved that job. I annoyed some people, but I never did it intentionally. I think some people get annoyed regardless of what happens, especially if it isn't exactly what happened yesterday. Dealing with people was probably the biggest battle. Getting involved in all of the various aspects of the technical operation of the business was really a lot of fun.

SolidMuse · Unread post by **SolidMuse** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 8:43 pm

I have been known to dabble in CAD Admin duties....

Like to equate it herding cats!

Never boring and my users keep me on my toes.

VicFrauenfeld · Thu Apr 01, 2021 9:11 am

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 5:08 pm ...Now 13 years later, the company is going to Windchill for all global units which unfortunately closes the PDM chapter of my life. It will be a sad day when we finally turn the PDM system off after all the work we did on it . I've truly enjoyed tinkering with PDM and trying to make it jump thru hoops...........Windchill however, that's another story.........

@jcapriotti I would be interested in knowing how the transition to Windchill goes. I have a bad feeling that our global company is also going to force us to abandon our beloved PDM.

I have been a PDM admin since right after the company went live with it (we went live with PDM in April 2014 and I joined the company in May 2014). When I started, we had three Archive servers in the US (Wisconsin, Illinois, and Louisiana). Now we have 8 Archive servers (California, 3 in Germany, and Sweden). We have a large vault with more than just SOLIDWORKS files in it.

This should be interesting!

jcapriotti · Unread post by **jcapriotti** » Thu Apr 01, 2021 10:22 am

@VicFrauenfeld Windchill is big, expensive, and much harder to work with. You definitely need a larger team with a range of skills.

Overall it does a lot more than PDM (for a price, lots of modules). I haven't used Manage but from what read, it comes closer to Windchill in functionality. Some functions when dealing with part structure and different kinds of BOM is nice. There are however some legacy interface issues in places that make the software hard to navigate. The file management, especially CAD files with their "WGM (Workgroup manager) is very temperamental. We are constantly dealing with local cache corruption. That's my biggest headache with it at the moment and with most users working at home over VPN its worse.

bnemec · Unread post by **bnemec** » Thu Apr 01, 2021 1:15 pm

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 5:08 pm Is this like a CAA meeting? (CAD Admins Anonymous)

Sorry, that' might have been my fault. Couldn't really put much more together at the time, but liked Matt's idea and appreciate his initiative.

I accepted CAD admin role a couple years ago, when we were on Solid Edge, no PDM system. I had written a couple of CAD related tools that helped automate a couple processes and more recently indexed our cad files (~600,000 of them) on the network share so we could have a fast where used tool. Those endeavors were like side projects that were on the clock, as I was still primarily doing design engineering stuff. I was in the late planning/pseudocode stages of adding some common file management functionality through a different GUI that would incorporate the fairly well accepted fast where used as much of the mundane was doing where used updates or checking scope of change impact.
Then we got our annual call from the SE VAR with maintenance updates which lead our Director of Engineering to ask if we're still using the best solution for our needs. We had been trying to figure out if/how Teamcenter could help with file management but there were many obstacles that we just couldn't find answers to. We were impressed with the PDM dog and pony shows as it looked straight forward (compared to other PDMs) and it could do what we thought we wanted. We looked at Solidworks as growing into the more common CAD system (outside automotive and aerospace) and thought it might have a more predictable future than Solid Edge; many of the last few years of Solid Edge improvements didn't provide us much improvement in value.

Fast forward ~24 months:
- Overall, Solidworks is no better than Solid Edge, it's not any worse either; it's just different.
- Solidworks desktop future has much more uncertainty than where Solid Edge might be going.
- PDM Pro is not straight forward (although probably more than Teamcenter or Windchill)
- My evaluation of how underqualified I was to set up PDM for our needs and migrate the ~25 years of Solid Edge data changes every week, sometimes daily; and it's a constant downward trend. A few months in I realized I only knew half of what I should have when we started, now I look back than think I maybe had a couple percent at the beginning. Also, certain I still don't know enough to do my job well at this point.

There's a head on brick wall emoji somewhere.

Glenn Schroeder · Thu Apr 01, 2021 1:36 pm

I guess I'm the CAD admin person at my job, since until very recently I was the only user, and during the last 12 years I've completely trashed the system that was set up when I started (I had no previous CAD experience; I was on the construction crew before my current job).

It's been working well now for quite a while, but our IT department is talking about moving our files from the network drives to Onedrive. That isn't making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

DanPihlaja · Unread post by **DanPihlaja** » Thu Apr 08, 2021 3:58 pm

I am "sort of" a CAD Admin. I have all the responsibilities except the IT side of things. I stepped into the role because absolutely no one else was doing it. I kind of forced CAD standards and common settings on everyone and then started to control templates as well.

Now I am in charge of rolling out PDM for the building (in addition to the design and fixture management roles). Not complaining.....just letting you know that I am a "CAD admin lite", if that is a thing.....

jcapriotti · Unread post by **jcapriotti** » Thu Apr 08, 2021 4:36 pm

dpihlaja wrote: ↑Thu Apr 08, 2021 3:58 pm I am "sort of" a CAD Admin. I have all the responsibilities except the IT side of things. I stepped into the role because absolutely no one else was doing it. I kind of forced CAD standards and common settings on everyone and then started to control templates as well.

Now I am in charge of rolling out PDM for the building (in addition to the design and fixture management roles). Not complaining.....just letting you know that I am a "CAD admin lite", if that is a thing.....

Good luck Dan, I think most of us were in your position in our past lives. You know where to come if you have questions......3dswym

majo · Unread post by **majo** » Thu Apr 15, 2021 10:05 am

Hello everybody.
I'm also such an admin thing ...

I administrate CAD and PDM in a medium-sized company and have around 320 PDM users and 40 CAD users under my control.

Please excuse my bad english, but I promise, I will do my very best ...

Cheers
Mario

bnemec · Unread post by **bnemec** » Thu Apr 15, 2021 10:19 am

majo wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 10:05 am Hello everybody.
I'm also such an admin thing ...
I administrate CAD and PDM in a medium-sized company and have around 320 PDM users and 40 CAD users under my control.
Please excuse my bad english, but I promise, I will do my very best ...

Cheers
Mario

Welcome Mojo,
Your english is better than mine, I think we can get through each other's poor grammar, its the correct use of jargon that that goes over my head. Sarcasm is sometimes lost but Matt graciously added the "SARC" buttons for us.

That's a large spread of clients to CAD users, are the other 280 users all contributor type users or are some read only (shop floor/data consumer only)?

majo · Unread post by **majo** » Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:45 am

bnemec wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 10:19 am
majo wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 10:05 am Hello everybody.
I'm also such an admin thing ...
I administrate CAD and PDM in a medium-sized company and have around 320 PDM users and 40 CAD users under my control.
Please excuse my bad english, but I promise, I will do my very best ...

Cheers
Mario
Welcome Mojo,
Your english is better than mine, I think we can get through each other's poor grammar, its the correct use of jargon that that goes over my head. Sarcasm is sometimes lost but Matt graciously added the "SARC" buttons for us.

That's a large spread of clients to CAD users, are the other 280 users all contributor type users or are some read only (shop floor/data consumer only)?

Hi Ben,

we have 155 PDM-Editor Server-Licenses.
These are distributed among the 320 registered users.
Many of these users only have read-only permissions, but since we map company processes in PDM like:

Change Management (ECN)
ERP interface (Infor)
ECAD interface (EPlan)
and some more...

it is necessary to include such a large amount of users.

An average of 150 users are online in the PDM every day.

Ry-guy · Unread post by **Ry-guy** » Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:16 pm

SolidMuse wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 8:43 pm I have been known to dabble in CAD Admin duties....

Like to equate it herding cats!

Never boring and my users keep me on my toes.

Use a bowl of milk! Works everytime! Try pizza for engineers and designers!

AlexLachance · Unread post by **AlexLachance** » Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:40 pm

majo wrote: ↑Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:45 amHi Ben,

we have 155 PDM-Editor Server-Licenses.
These are distributed among the 320 registered users.
Many of these users only have read-only permissions, but since we map company processes in PDM like:

Change Management (ECN)
ERP interface (Infor)
ECAD interface (EPlan)
and some more...

it is necessary to include such a large amount of users.

An average of 150 users are online in the PDM every day.

I'd be fascinated to see how all this works. It has to be quite the task to manage such a large userbase.

jcapriotti · Unread post by **jcapriotti** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 11:00 am

AlexLachance wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:40 pm I'd be fascinated to see how all this works. It has to be quite the task to manage such a large userbase.

"Manage" is a strong word......I think the keyword is herding.

bnemec · Unread post by **bnemec** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 11:37 am

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 11:00 am
AlexLachance wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:40 pm I'd be fascinated to see how all this works. It has to be quite the task to manage such a large userbase.
"Manage" is a strong word......I think the keyword is herding.

image.png

Was taxidermy involved in the making of that photo?

jcapriotti · Unread post by **jcapriotti** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 12:48 pm

bnemec wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 11:37 am Was taxidermy involved in the making of that photo?

Not sure but I do see a few non-conformists in there pushing the boundaries.

bnemec · Unread post by **bnemec** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 1:01 pm

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 12:48 pm
bnemec wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 11:37 am Was taxidermy involved in the making of that photo?
Not sure but I do see a few non-conformists in there pushing the boundaries.

It's the one on the end, lurking in the shadow that worries me.

mark · Unread post by **mark** » Wed May 05, 2021 10:55 am

Hello,

I'm part time everything lately, alot of purchasing engineer at the moment, if that's a thing.

I do make CAD and IT and MRP/ERP decisions.

I can count the CAD users here on one hand, but it's still dangerous.

No PDM.

I've been here for pencil drawings, VersaCAD, and SW.

Tom G · Unread post by **Tom G** » Wed May 05, 2021 11:23 am

I'm the sole User, and also the IT Guy, so by default I'm also the CAD Admin. No PDM here, but instead PDF standards including reference 3D PDFs enforce 'released' document status.

I've established standards, templates, and macros, pushed enhanced references into library components, developed multiple workflows for various design scales, created filename codes, indexed content for downstream summary, and driven purchasing for pipe, fittings, and steel forms via BOMs.

I used to have peers. Now, I seem am capable of doing more so that I don't think that we will hire another. It may require two or three hires to replace me, though.

pitbullxp · Unread post by **pitbullxp** » Wed May 12, 2021 4:19 am

Hi, ik think i'm the CAD admin here at my work.

I'm working here for almost 2 years now. The setup when i started was a little confusing, a NAS with a very deep folder structure. But now we work in a pdm system with the rule that we only go 4 folders deep. I installed the PDM system and set all the rules. BTW i had no idea what i was doing in the beginning. I used a lot of google to figure things out.

I'm also the one who codes macro's. (i use google to find a macro that does work and change it a bit). I would really like to learn how to code them.

TheoKarypidis · Wed Jan 12, 2022 4:26 am

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 5:08 pm Is this like a CAA meeting? (CAD Admins Anonymous)

CAD Admins Anonymous is a wonderful name

Hi everyone! I am also a CAD admin. I started as a mechanical design engineer for several years in industrial manufacturing, and for the past 3.5 years I'm the CAD admin of the company.

When I came to the company, I found an unorganized, close to non-existent CAD process. There were no design rules, no training for the designers and a PDM "free for all". Meaning, there were no restrictions to who can do what and where. So..... I had to do everything from scratch.

I wrote the design rules,
I created a workflow from concept to manufacturing,
I automated templates, title blocks and many more basic processes,
I created custom content center libraries and material libraries
I reconstructed the PDM and administer it,
I trained the users, and I'm the cad support in general
I designed and redesigned products with full parameterization and product configurators
... uff.. and actually more stuff..

I am glad for this forum, really! Our position is kind of a lonely one, from the perspective that, for the companies, we are their CAD experts. Whoever needs anything CAD related, will come to us. So, who do we turn to when we need, for example, a discussion to analyze an idea that we have, and in general people that are like-minded? I believe we all need some sort of mentorship for one thing or another, as well as being the mentor to others.

Sure, we have to analyze the needs of each department and its people that our job has an impact. And of course we can go to the manager for some decision, but.. I don't know if you noticed, but we are not so many out there!

Most companies have our role integrated with designer or something else, and that's of course logical and understandable, depending on the needs of each company.

I absolutely love my job, but often, it feels like trying to swim in mud to reach somewhere, convince people and get results.

mattpeneguy · Unread post by **mattpeneguy** » Wed Jan 12, 2022 8:42 am

pitbullxp wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 4:19 am Hi, ik think i'm the CAD admin here at my work.

I'm working here for almost 2 years now. The setup when i started was a little confusing, a NAS with a very deep folder structure. But now we work in a pdm system with the rule that we only go 4 folders deep. I installed the PDM system and set all the rules. BTW i had no idea what i was doing in the beginning. I used a lot of google to figure things out.

I'm also the one who codes macro's. (i use google to find a macro that does work and change it a bit). I would really like to learn how to code them.

Amateur...Get back to me when your document management system is 7 folders deep...:

bnemec · Unread post by **bnemec** » Wed Jan 12, 2022 10:09 am

mattpeneguy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 12, 2022 8:42 am Amateur...Get back to me when your document management system is 7 folders deep...:
image.png

May the cloaked "file path too long exception" fairy visit you.

We revise hardware and our entire data set is our "Standard Parts Library" Our file reference trees aren't trees but one big, tangled web.

jcapriotti · Unread post by **jcapriotti** » Thu Jan 13, 2022 6:51 pm

bnemec wrote: ↑Wed Jan 12, 2022 10:09 am May the cloaked "file path too long exception" fairy visit you.

I'm on a first name basis with her. I can send her your way if you like.

jcapriotti · Unread post by **jcapriotti** » Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:24 pm

mattpeneguy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 12, 2022 8:42 am Amateur...Get back to me when your document management system is 7 folders deep...:
image.png

Worst case in our system is 20 levels. Its in our "Projects" folder where we allow engineers to create sub folder for projects. Bit of the wild west there and was a bad decision.

Ömür Tokman · Fri Jan 14, 2022 1:02 am

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 5:08 pm Is this like a CAA meeting? (CAD Admins Anonymous)
"the late 90's"

Wow 90's, (Can I call you uncle.

)
In the 90's, I was a child who needed attention and affection back then.

jcapriotti · Unread post by **jcapriotti** » Fri Jan 14, 2022 9:25 am

Ömür Tokman wrote: ↑Fri Jan 14, 2022 1:02 am Wow 90's, (Can I call you uncle. )
In the 90's, I was a child who needed attention and affection back then.

At that time I was using Catia v4 and trying to manage it, I definitely needed attention/affection then as well but it was the 90's and a different world, you toughed it out.

berg_lauritz · Fri Jan 14, 2022 10:41 am

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Fri Jan 14, 2022 9:25 am At that time I was using Catia v4 and trying to manage it, I definitely needed attention/affection then as well but it was the 90's and a different world, you toughed it out.

So you cried going to sleep?

Man, that sounds like you went through a lot of pain back then. And here I am complaining about todays standards - it was never THAT bad.

bnemec · Unread post by **bnemec** » Fri Jan 14, 2022 12:20 pm

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 6:51 pm I'm on a first name basis with her. I can send her your way if you like.

I'm good, you keep that old hag at your place.

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:24 pm Worst case in our system is 20 levels. Its in our "Projects" folder where we allow engineers to create sub folder for projects. Bit of the wild west there and was a bad decision.

Its on a network share, right ? Just share the projects folder and have clients connect to that.

the_h4mmer · Unread post by **the_h4mmer** » Wed Feb 23, 2022 6:38 am

Full time CAD Admin, Design Engineer, and Document Controller here. Most of my time is tracking down problems from previous engineers who were also given the "CAD Admin" role, but didn't know what it actually entailed (or understood document control).

AlexB · Unread post by **AlexB** » Wed Feb 23, 2022 8:44 am

the_h4mmer wrote: ↑Wed Feb 23, 2022 6:38 am Most of my time is tracking down problems from previous engineers who were also given the "CAD Admin" role

This resonates with me. Welcome!

JuTu · Unread post by **JuTu** » Mon May 16, 2022 1:43 am

Hello everyone!
Yes, I will become a CAD admin aswell.

It all happened so suddenly.
On a cold dark day of spring in year 2022. I was told they want to hire me and one of my tasks will be an admin for CAD systems.

AlexB · Unread post by **AlexB** » Mon May 16, 2022 9:10 am

JuTu wrote: ↑Mon May 16, 2022 1:43 am Hello everyone!
Yes, I will become a CAD admin aswell.

It all happened so suddenly.
On a cold dark day of spring in year 2022. I was told they want to hire me and one of my tasks will be an admin for CAD systems.

Welcome! When you say "one of my tasks" maybe expect that to turn into "a lot of my time"

JuTu · Unread post by **JuTu** » Tue May 17, 2022 2:33 am

AlexB wrote: ↑Mon May 16, 2022 9:10 am Welcome! When you say "one of my tasks" maybe expect that to turn into "a lot of my time"

Haha! Thanks.

That won't be a problem since I like the tinkering and helping out people

jcapriotti · Unread post by **jcapriotti** » Tue May 17, 2022 9:21 am

JuTu wrote: ↑Mon May 16, 2022 1:43 am Hello everyone!
Yes, I will become a CAD admin aswell.

It all happened so suddenly.
On a cold dark day of spring in year 2022. I was told they want to hire me and one of my tasks will be an admin for CAD systems.

Welcome to the fold. We're in here in case you need a shoulder to cry on. Or where you can air your grievances about how users just won't follow the standards.

georgebirch · Unread post by **georgebirch** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 7:03 am

Hi All!

I'm in my first 3 months at a company with 12 hardware/electronics engineers using Solidworks and Altium, 5 in procurement using Odoo.

The company uses Solidworks and Workbench for mCAD file storage, with a manual 'PDM' , release and change workflow (manual revision-in-property, design and handover/change documentation in google docs/sheets)

I have some small experience managing a PDM vault so am tasked with appraising and implementing a proper PDM system, I don't really want to move my career in CAD admin direction. That said I do see a milion ways to improve current workflow and would enjoy solving those problems now but not forever

What do you think - will I just sleepwalk into full-time CAD admin after we choose a solution and get set up? Should I push for a new hire for this role as soon as possible, so they are there during decision making and setup? Do you think we need a full-time CAD admin?

On the table we have Solidworks PDM, 3DX, Upchain, OpenBOM (broad range I know). A separate topic but any musings on relative merit (beyond what I've learnt from 2 days inside each trial) would also be appreciated.

AlexB · Unread post by **AlexB** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 9:29 am

georgebirch wrote: ↑Mon Jun 13, 2022 7:03 am
What do you think - will I just sleepwalk into full-time CAD admin after we choose a solution and get set up? Should I push for a new hire for this role as soon as possible, so they are there during decision making and setup? Do you think we need a full-time CAD admin?

On the table we have Solidworks PDM, 3DX, Upchain, OpenBOM (broad range I know). A separate topic but any musings on relative merit (beyond what I've learnt from 2 days inside each trial) would also be appreciated.

A PDM implementation should improve the current workflows and replace most/all human error in the data entry and part tracking. PDM can keep track of revisions for you, so all you have to worry about is to review/approve the files. If it's set up right, you'll never have to edit much in terms of the custom properties or data card from initial creation of the parts.

Now, transferring existing files into PDM is a more cumbersome thing than a lot of people realize. I wouldn't hesitate to reach out to my VAR to get a quote for such a process. They will be able to help with initial vault setup and custom property mappings to make sure things work before any files move into the vault. From there, they can import the files and ensure that the properties and references show up on the data card as desired with the files in the proper state (released, editing, etc.)

Depending on the ease of use of the vault after its set up, you may not need a full time admin. However, if there is a lot of maintenance required to keep things straight, then it couldn't hurt.

bnemec · Unread post by **bnemec** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 9:46 am

Welcome @georgebirch. Wise statement to be put careful consideration into slipping into an admin role. Especially when it's a new tech for the company/department. PDM will >always< need an admin; sort of like the Flying Dutchman always needs a Captain. The portion of your time spent doing that depends a lot on your use case; don't believe the suggestions of what that percentage will be, others don't know. It's likely there will not be people looking to take your job. So once you have it set up and running and assuming you don't want to be PDM admin for ever, you will probably need to be the driving force behind finding/hiring and training your replacement.

If you do decide how to do this, do not make decisions in a vacuum. Get other peoples' inputs on various things. If nobody there knows what PDM is then you'll need to teach them what it is before they can give good input. IMO, the job would be to educate, gather input and implement. For a bunch of reasons.

Good Luck!

jcapriotti · Unread post by **jcapriotti** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 9:57 am

georgebirch wrote: ↑Mon Jun 13, 2022 7:03 am Hi All!

I'm in my first 3 months at a company with 12 hardware/electronics engineers using Solidworks and Altium, 5 in procurement using Odoo.

The company uses Solidworks and Workbench for mCAD file storage, with a manual 'PDM' , release and change workflow (manual revision-in-property, design and handover/change documentation in google docs/sheets)

I have some small experience managing a PDM vault so am tasked with appraising and implementing a proper PDM system, I don't really want to move my career in CAD admin direction. That said I do see a milion ways to improve current workflow and would enjoy solving those problems now but not forever

What do you think - will I just sleepwalk into full-time CAD admin after we choose a solution and get set up? Should I push for a new hire for this role as soon as possible, so they are there during decision making and setup? Do you think we need a full-time CAD admin?

On the table we have Solidworks PDM, 3DX, Upchain, OpenBOM (broad range I know). A separate topic but any musings on relative merit (beyond what I've learnt from 2 days inside each trial) would also be appreciated.

Some PDM system is better than nothing. You need to define your use cases in a neutral way before deciding on a product. Either way, someone will need to take over the role, at first it will probably be full time but it may taper off only requiring someone part time to maintain and make small changes.

t-webb · Unread post by **t-webb** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:54 pm

Hey gang.

Been a minute since SW killed the forums and a colleague pointed me back to this one so yeah, I'm back.

Good to see all y'all!

Tim Webb
CEPA
https://equivaq.com EQUIVAQ (The Q!)
SeldomWorks Solution Partner

jcapriotti · Unread post by **jcapriotti** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 2:48 pm

@t-webb Welcome to the support group.

wgering · Unread post by **wgering** » Thu Dec 22, 2022 7:17 pm

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 5:08 pm Is this like a CAA meeting? (CAD Admins Anonymous)

Request to change the title of the thread to this...

Hi all, I have recently had the privilege of setting up design roles and data management protocols for our company on the...*deeeeep sigh*...3DExperience Platform...

This is largely because I'm the only one on our team with the patience to learn the frakkin thing, so I ended up as the admin by default (my job title is Design Engineer...); a solid 30% of my day-to-day now is walking my co-workers through how to open PDF.

For as much as I complain about 3DX (and I will, at length), it does actually work kind of well for what we're doing once our users familiarize themselves with the sleek, next-generation, totally intuitive UI and the absolutely bulletproof and not-at-all convoluted or unstable PLM functions. The collaboration aspects of the platform are kind of cool and convenient when they work
and it does allow us to share files back and forth more easily and track changes more accurately (I think) than just using a network drive.

The biggest thing is to not go into the Swamp...total waste, pointless feature

Anyway, hi I'm Will and it has been zero days since I last did CAD Admin...

jcapriotti · Unread post by **jcapriotti** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 11:50 am

wgering wrote: ↑Thu Dec 22, 2022 7:17 pm
Anyway, hi I'm Will and it has been zero days since I last did CAD Admin...

This department as worked 0 days without a CAD admin related injury.

wgering · Unread post by **wgering** » Mon Jan 02, 2023 6:34 pm

jcapriotti wrote: ↑Sat Dec 31, 2022 11:50 am

This department as worked 0 days without a CAD admin related injury.

If only our workman's comp plan covered psychic damage...