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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault IntegrationsRobert 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.

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations

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 ObjectivesEvery 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 DataWindows 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

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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 repositoryEvery 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 ReuseMost 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 ProcessMost 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.

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Digital LifecyclesThe 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 SystemsOne 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.

SharePointIf 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.

BuzzsawIf 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.

SAPThe 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.

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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 http://justonesandzeros.typepad.com/] 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 ReplicationMany 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.

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Learning RequirementsPrior 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.

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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.

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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

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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-

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bit Dual Core Processor, 3 GHz or higher recommended)

Remote Site for Multisite Replication - ADMS Installation



Full Replication - ADMS and SQL Installation



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)



For Microsoft Office Add-in (Excel, PowerPoint, Word)

Microsoft® Office® 2003 or 2007

Office 2010 (32-bit)

For Microsoft Outlook Add-in

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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]

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As you can see each level of Vault provides additional functionality that you may or may not need. The above chart can help you determine what your needs will require for which Vault product you should implement.

SQL Server

In addition to the above system requirements there are a couple of other things to consider with SQL server and your specific implementation. Here are a couple of questions to ask yourself and your team.

SQL Express vs. Full SQL Server

· How many users will be concurrently using the Vault?

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1. Some customers have mentioned the more users connecting to SQL express the slower the performance.

· How much data will I be putting into the Vault?

· SQL Express 2008 R2 has a 10GB database size. Previous versions are 4GB.

·

· What is the projected growth of the organization for data and Vault?

· SQL Express 2008 R2 has a 10GB database size. Previous versions are 4GB.

CAD Applications

There are a number of CAD programs that have direct integration with Vault. Having said that I think it would be beneficial to list those at the time of this document. The list below shows what products will automatically have the add-in installed if they are already installed and registered on your machine prior to installing the Autodesk Vault client. [You can find it on the web here.]

Autodesk Product Support

Products Qualifying Version

Vault 2012 Supported Add-in Version

Autodesk 3DS Max 2012 2012

Autodesk 3DS Max Design 2012 2012

Autodesk Inventor 2010, 2011, 2012 2012

Autodesk Inventor Professional 2010, 2011, 2012 2012

Autodesk Inventor Publisher 2012 2012

Autodesk Inventor Suite 2010, 2011 -

Autodesk Inventor Simulation 2010, 2011 -

Autodesk Inventor Routed Systems 2010, 2011 -

Autodesk Inventor Tooling 2010, 2011 -

AutoCAD 2010, 2011, 2012 2012

AutoCAD Mechanical 2010, 2011, 2012 2012

AutoCAD Electrical 2010, 2011, 2012 2012

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AutoCAD Map 3D 2010, 2011, 2012 2012

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010, 2011, 2012 2012

AutoCAD Architecture 2010, 2011, 2012 2012

AutoCAD MEP 2010, 2011, 2012 2012

AutoCAD P&ID 2010, 2011, 2012 2012

AutoCAD Plant 3D 2010, 2011, 2012 2012

Autodesk Fusion 2012 2012

Autodesk Simulation Multiphysics 2012 2012

Autodesk Simulation Mechanical 2012 2012

Autodesk Simulation Mechanical WS

2012 2012

Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2012 2012

Autodesk Navisworks Manage 2012 2012

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Other Non-Autodesk Integrations

If you are a subscription customer you have access to product extensions. Here are a couple of these product extensions to name a few [log into subscription center at www.autodesk.com/subscription:

Product Extension Name

Autodesk Vault Professional 2012 Integration for Pro/Engineer

Autodesk Vault 2012 integration for Inventor LT Suite 2012 and AutoCAD LT 2012

Vault Plugin For Bentley MicroStation (Autodesk Labs)

Service Packs / Hotfixes

When getting ready to deploy service packs or hotfixes you should consider the following questions. It is also always a good idea to view the readme file.

· Is the fix server side, client side, or both?

· Are there any prerequisite service packs or hotfixes?

· Does this address any issues we have been experiencing?

· Does the readme file have any specific instructions?

· Have I performed a successful backup prior to installing the SP or Hotfix?

Miscellaneous

What other software might be involved? There are a lot of third party applications coming out for the Vault that you may add to your overall solution.

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Who will use Vault

As mentioned in the security section you can use users and groups to set up the vault. It is a good idea to get this documented before go time. [See VaultUsers-Groups.xlsx in the Additional_Class_Materials.zip]

Users

FirstName LastName Username Email Password Role Vault Group Enable

Robert Stein rstein [email protected]

TempPassword 1

Groups

GroupName Email Roles Vault Groups GroupMembers Enable

Designers [email protected]

Document Editor (Level 1)

Autodesk Consulting

Sub Group rstein, jdoe 1

The users tab of the VaultUsers-Groups.xlsx spreadsheet can be saved out to a csv file then imported into Vault via the Vault Power Tools available from Autodesk Consulting as a purchased product. Email me for information [email protected]. The Group tab is for gathering a list.


Multiple Site StructureWhen you have offices scattered all over the globe you will need to consider a replicated environment. There are a couple of options outlined in this section for you to think about.

Multiple Site File Store ReplicationThe multiple-site file store replication environment allows users to design products across multiple locations as if all the users were in one location. Autodesk® Vault Collaboration and Professional allow two different methods to accommodate this functionality.

The first method is to centralize the database for all sites. The database for Vault can sit on a separate server as illustrated here.

The second method is to set up a main site with the database and main file store located on the same server. The main site has the most users and is where the most design work is done.


In these environments, users open data files such as AutoCAD® drawings Inventor Assemblies or Microsoft® Office documents from their local file store. All metadata is read from and written to a central database so that users can open large files much faster than if they copy them across the Wide Area Network (WAN).

Connected Workgroups – Full ReplicationAutodesk Vault Collaboration and Vault Professional allow the configuration of connected workgroups to improve the performance of Microsoft SQL for remote sites.

Replication is the process of copying data from one server to another server usually located in two different physical locations. This process allows the setup of a Vault environment which has two different locations and users will not have to spend time downloading large CAD files across their Wide Area Network (WAN) connection. Before the added features of Connected Workgroups in Vault Collaboration and Vault Professional 2012 only the files were replicated.

The connected workgroup feature in Autodesk Vault Collaboration and Vault Professional supports the use of multiple database servers using Microsoft SQL Publisher/Subscriber technology. This technology allows the replication of the SQL database at multiple locations.

The following illustration shows a typical workgroup configuration. All sites in a single workgroup share the same Microsoft SQL server.

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To allow sites to have their own database server to increase SQL performance, Autodesk Vault Collaboration and Vault Professional uses connected workgroups. The following illustration shows a workgroup with two different sites connected to a second workgroup with a single site.

The following picture illustrates what a mixed global environment might look like.

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All of the above diagrams are of basic replicated environments. They assume that the installation will start either from scratch or with a single existing Vault server. If you have multiple existing Vault installations, then you will need to discuss with your Autodesk product specialist how these multiple sites can be managed. If vaults from multiple locations are required to be merged into one common vault (perhaps because they all use the same vault name), then additional steps and considerations are needed.

When the Autodesk Data Management Server (ADMS) is implemented with replication (first method from above), there are two different server configurations to consider:

· Primary - Site with the SQL Server and all other components needed to host ADMS · Additional - Replicated servers that will be configured at each remote site similar to the

primary site; however, it will not have the SQL Server installed.

Since any replicated site will have less software running on it, the specifications of the server may differ from the primary server. More information on this will follow in this document.

The major restrictive factor for file store replication is the processor performance of the SQL Server. Hence, full SQL Server 2005/2008 will be required as well as adequate hardware. This dedicated SQL Server computer should have at least 4 processors (see later guide for server specifications).

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Note: You can also see the following classes for more information on global implementations.

· DM3679 – Go Big or Go Home! Part 1 – Large Scale Autodesk Vault Deployments· DM5609 – Go Big or Go Home! Part 2 – Collaborating Across a Distributed Environment

DataIt’s always a good idea to get a good understanding of what you want to load into the Vault for the initial launch and then to project what your data growth will be. Here are some example scenarios to get you thinking.

· RobCo has been using another data management system for a decade and has a large amount of files, revisions and meta data in the system they are looking to move from. The big question here is do they want to take just the latest revision from the existing system into the Vault then keep the legacy system online for archive purposes.

· When doing something like this you have a few things to think about.

· What are the cost implications of keeping the legacy system on and functional versus migrating full revision history into the Vault?

· There are costs associated even if the legacy system does not have any software costs, it still costs to maintain the system and keep it running. Also keep in mind that the longer you go on that legacy version you will run into issues with operating system support.

· How many files are you talking about?

· How many revisions?

· How much meta data?

· How long will it take to export?

· How long will it take to import?

· Does the legacy system provide any export utilities?

· What is the value of that data? (What I mean by that is this. Is it worth the cost implications to export it all and import into the Vault or is it even worth just keeping it as is in the current system. I have seen some companies take the latest revision into the Vault and leave it at that.)

· SteinCo has several TB of data on a series of network drives. The data is spread everywhere and has duplicate information. Revisions are separate files with different file names. It would be a lot of clean up work to import this all in for a go live date. This will most likely push the go live date out as the company tries to get the data ready for import.

· One thing you could do is take all active projects in and as you go back and do retrofits or retools bring the legacy projects in. Eventually all of the required data will get into the Vault.

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http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=event_class&session_id=9659&jid=1777597

http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=event_class&session_id=9058&jid=1777597


· H and Z Inc has one network drive and has only been in business for a few years. They have been very careful of the network structure they use, the file naming and have been very consistent. This would be very easy to grab this data and pull it into the Vault.

Some other things to consider is file quantities, file types and size on disk. This will help you when planning for future growth and sizing the hardware properly.

File CategorizationWhen think about how you manage your data today you probably already categorize the files in some fashion or another. It might be in a really detailed folder structure, it might be with file level properties or it might just be a mental note that your employees think about when they are working with the data. Autodesk Vault provides a very cool concept called Categories and this provides us with some very powerful abilities within the Vault.

In Vault lingo we would be talking at a high level about Behaviors when talking about Categories. Behaviors in general include the following:

Lifecycles and Revisions

Categories

Properties

Numbering

Report Management

Specifically when we talk about Categories it provides us the ability to assign some behaviors to files that fall into a category. We can assign the following behaviors to a category:

Category Type Behavior Assignments

Folder Categories Properties

Item Categories Properties

Revisions

File Categories Lifecycle Definitions

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Revisions

Properties

Every file, Item and Folder have to be assigned to a category. There is a default category for each which makes that part simple. As you create your environment specific to your organization you will add new categories for each Folder, Item and Files. Having said that this is an area where you may want to put some thought in about how you want to segregate files, folders and items inside the Vault.

I think it is important to understand what this really means to an organization. We will use the out of the box file categories as a talking point.

Out of the Box File Categories

Category Name Description

Base Default Category

Engineering Data created for design purposes

Office General Documents

Standard Standardized Design Data

Lets talk about these for a minute. Just because a document is in the Engineering category doesnt necessarily mean that it is a CAD file. Although that would be a good piece of criteria (we will talk about this later) that could be used to place the CAD document into the Engineering Category. You could also have PDFs that are part of the Engineering category and possibly even word documents. PDFs because of catalog information that needs to go along with the design. Word documents because of possible proposal coming from a 3rd party design vendor and it is critical to the design itself.

The Engineering Category would have specific properties for that type of data regardless of file type. For example as an engineering category of documents you may want different properties than what you have for Office documents, and even Standard documents. In addition to different properties you might also have different revision scheme for an office document versus an engineering document or standard document.

[See Behavior_Planning_Worksheet.docx in the Additional_Class_Materials.zip]

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File / Project StructureFolders are nothing new to most of us. Inside of windows explorer we have used folders to separate data for as long as I can remember. Inside of the Vault there is a new concept that was introduced in the 2012 product. This is the concepts of Projects. This helps to organize and manage all project related data, which is how most of us used Folders in windows. With the addition of the project concept to Vault we now have a few new cool features that are worth mentioning and worth you knowing about.

Project Links You can think of a link as an exact representation (not duplicate) of an object. That source object can reside anywhere in the Project Explorer. There can be multiple links spread throughout the Vault, however there is only one source object. The link is displayed in the Vault as the same icon type as the source document with a small shortcut arrow also placed on the icon. (Note: Projects links do NOT appear inside of MS Office open windows.)

Folder PropertiesIn Vault 2012 you can now assign properties to folders. This can be done two ways, first being manually, and the second being through Folder Categories.

Project CategoriesYou can create categories that will automatically assign properties to a folder when that folder is assigned to the category. This will provide consistency within the Vault. For example you might have a folder in Vault called Projects. Everything under that is an actual project and it has a specific set of properties such as Client Name, Client Contact, Project Type etc... Where you might also have another folder called R & D which has a completely different set of properties.

User InterfaceThe user interface has changed slightly because of the project concept.

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You can find out more about project links at http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Vault/enu/2012/Help/02._Working_with_Vault/01._Vault_Client/1036Vault_Projects/Projects_Links

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Numbering SchemesVault provides the ability to create automated numbering schemes as many of us know. This allows you to automatically name files in Inventor and AutoCAD for example. However keep in mind it does not work with every application, for example it doesn't work with Office applications at this time. There are a couple of things to understand when working with naming schemes.

It is very powerful to be able to configure your naming scheme and this will help promote consistency in the Vault. You build a naming scheme by creating fields that meet the requirements of the different portions of your number. For example you might have something that is broken up like ###-###-##-#-##. This would represent your numbering scheme. Each group of # symbols represent a separate field. Each - represents a delimiter. At this time Vault will only allow a total of 10 fields and this INCLUDES both fields and delimiters. Think out the naming convention prior to configuring it.

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Also once a numbering convention is consumed you cannot go back and make modifications to the scheme itself. This is important in the case of having lets say a unit code inside of your numbering scheme. For example this unit code list might get added to a few times a year as your company adds new units to the product line.

Field TypesThere are a number of different field types that can be used in your numbering convention. Below is a list of them for your reference.

Field Type Description

Auto-generated Sequence Automatically generate a sequential number with a specific length, range and step size. You can also zero-pad the sequence.

Delimiter This is used as a static delimiter between fields.

Fixed Text Fixed text that cant be changed. This could be a prefix to your part number such as RS.

Free Text Allows the user to freely type in text up to a maximum length that you define. You can also enforce that the max length is required.

Pre-defined List Allows you to define a list of acceptable values and provide a default value. A good example of this might be a series of values that represents model classification.

Workgroup Label This utilizes the workgroup ID that the file is generated in. For example if you have a multi-site with three different locations this would indicate which site created the file originally.

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Property MappingOne of the many things that people use a Data Management solution for is the ability to have properties extracted from the documents that they put into the system. When thinking of properties you want to consider where the user is most likely to fill out the data, you also want to consider do you want directional or bi-directional flow of the properties. For example see the mapping diagram below.

This shows the direction of property flow for a single property in Vault. The word document is the source and can only be updated at the word document. The inventor IPT file is bi-directional as well as the AutoCAD file. The Inventor assembly can only be updated from the Vault property. Keep in mind that this is for the single property mapping, you could have another property in the vault that changes it all up.

Initial ValueWhen mapping a property of a file to a property in the vault you can define an initial value. Within that initial value you can map it to lets say an AutoCAD attribute. For example you could extract a value out of your AutoCAD file that would be the first value used in the UDP inside of the vault. This might be perfect if you are using multiple different templates. Then based on the attribute value you are assigning to a category. For example you might have 3 flavors of templates, one for R & D, one for Electrical designs and one for mechanical designs. If you had an attribute in your CAD file for classification this could then be used to assign it to a category which would then assign the proper revision, properties and lifecycles to that document.

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This can be done by clicking in the initial value field in the property definition dialog. Then you can import properties from an existing file. This will map that property in Vault to that same property in the file. Then it will extract it for every file of that type that comes into the Vault.

There is also a document [See technical_brief_-_vault_2011_properties.pdf. in the Additional_Class_Materials.zip I am not aware of a 2012 version of the document at this time so please keep in mind this outlines changes made to the 2011 version of the product.]

Title Block RequirementsWhen thinking about properties you want to also consider what data is going to go into your title block. When you do the mappings in Vault you can be extracting data from a title block in your CAD file or you could be pushing data to the file.

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I have created a simple excel spreadsheet that helps me to organize and keep track of my mapping when working with title blocks. [See UserDefinedProperties.xlsx in the Additional_Class_Materials.zip]

TemplatesIt is important to consider all of the templates that you will be using and work on defining any mappings prior to rolling out the solution. This will ensure that you have plenty of time to do testing, debugging and get validation from your design teams that will be using the system. Here are some templates that you may end up needing.

AutoCAD Inventor

Office Miscellaneous

You should also consider that for any given software you may have multiple templates. Take Inventor for example you could have sheetmetal templates, templates for round steel, templates for 2D drawings etc... You could also have templates for switch brackets or plate steel.

Good PracticeI find it to be a good practice to put all of my templates into the Vault. I then can put revision control and lifecycles on them for any changes. In addition there is a digital paper trail of any changes that the templates have gone through. Then you can map your template configuration in AutoCAD, Inventor, and Office etc... to point to your local workspace. You could write a simple application to push out the updates to users maybe on demand. Or you could go old school and give the users an email update telling them it is time to update the templates and design data. I have included a sample email that I used while I was in industry.

[See template_update_Email.msg in the Additional_Class_Materials.zip] I would also recommend making an email group that contains all of the people that would need to receive this email. This will help make your job a little easier.

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Revision SchemeIt is important to consider how your revision scheme really works. What I mean by that is when you assign a document to a category the revision scheme for that category is automatically applied. This means that the first value in your scheme gets applied prior to the document ever moving to a released state. Sometimes this is what you want, other times you want it to be a dash showing that there are no revisions on the document.

When making a custom revision scheme use something like Microsoft Excel to create a list. For example -, A, B, C, etc... Then you can use Excel features to fill that list down all the way to ZZ for example. Then copy and paste that into a text file and use the import function in the revision setup. This will save you time and also make sure you don't accidentally miss a character by getting distracted.

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LifecycleEarlier in this document we discussed lifecycles within the corporate objectives section. In this section I want to outline a couple of quick things with regards to the configuration.

Visio FlowchartThe Microsoft Visio flowchart provided in the additional materials zip file is an example of the flexible lifecycle definition provided with Vault. This template should allow you to quickly map out not only the flow of the lifecycle but some additional information.

The Visio template allows for you to list the Available Groups, State Permissions and Transition Actions. This will help you not only map out the flow of the lifecycle but the who, the when and the how a file can get transferred.

It’s a good practice to map this out for every lifecycle prior to going and configuring it. You can then use the Visual Lifecycles mentioned in the API section of this document to help you check your configuration. [See this link]

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ReportsVault gives us the option to utilize Microsoft Report Viewer to generate reports on data within the Vault. This is a pretty quick and easy way to provide reports to management. You can also customize these reports which gives you the ability to report on just about anything in the Vault.

[See report_template_authoring.pdf in the Additional_Class_Materials.zip for more information.]

Job Server JobsThe job server is very powerful and gives the ability to offline the workload from end user computers. There are a number of pre-configured jobs with the Vault that you can use. In addition to those you can create your own or use a third party app. There are a couple of companies that create a toolkit of job server jobs for purchase. email me at [email protected] for more information.

Keep in mind that the job server doesn't process right away it is a service that checks for a new job every so many minutes. So if your job isn't processing as quickly as you imagined it this might be because the job server hasn't looked for the new jobs yet. Give it a few minutes.

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Items CategorizationItem categories are very similar to file categories. They are a way to automatically assign a set of properties and revision schemes to a category of items. For example if you have different item definitions for electrical documents versus mechanical documents (which is probably the case) you could have a different set of properties that you want to be displayed as well as a completely different revision scheme.

Change OrdersOver the past couple of releases some enhancements have been made to the Change Orders within Vault. This makes has made a lot of my customers happy as it didn't meet the requirements they had before. Please check out some of the changes.

UI ChangesYou can now access the New Change Order command from multiple locations such as a right click.

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Customize Email NotificationsYou can now customize the email notifications, providing the user the ability to ensure that the change is properly communicated.

Manage Files and ItemsThe Change Order environment has been updated to manage file and item records and provides an interface to change lifecycle states within the Records tab.

ERP SystemThere are a number of ERP systems out there such as SAP and Axapta. Autodesk provides a couple of solutions to take the data out of Vault and push it to many of these systems. There are two methods that come to mind and if you know that they are available you can then start to ask the right questions.

You can look at Autodesk University 2011 class ID: MA5001 for more information about integrating Vault with ERP systems.

Collaboration with ExternalsThere are many times your organization will need to collaborate with people outside of the firewall. There are a few ways you can do this.

BuzzsawWith Buzzsaw you can give named users access to projects you are storing in the cloud. I see a lot of architects using this solution. Its a way to communicate between firms that are doing a design. With Buzzsaw you can use Vault Project Sync which allows you to share from the Vault to Buzzsaw, Update from Buzzsaw, or Add from Buzzsaw giving you the ability to push, pull and add data with the outside world. You can find out more information here.

SharepointVault 2012 has an updated integration with Sharepoint. Specifically with the 2010 version of Sharepoint. This allows users to use Sharepoint to reach into the ADMS server and retrieve information in a read only fashion. Often times this might be all the access you need to give your users. There are a number of benefits to users both inside the Vault and to Sharepoint users. [See microsoft_sharepoint_vault_integration_whitepaper_en.pdf] in the Additional_Class_Materials.zip] for more information.

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Backup StrategyRegardless of the solution you are using to manage your data, backups are very important. In previous releases of Vault the only method you could use was the built in tools, write a script that used those built in tools or gamble that you are never going to need a backup. There are now a couple of options that you can use.

Autodesk Tools

GUI MethodInside the ADMS Console you have the ability to schedule your backup right from the pull down. This provides you a quick GUI interface to essentially write your script that gets scheduled with windows task scheduler.

Command LineIf you dont like using the GUI you can create a script using the many command line options. These are well documented on the WikiHelp at wikihelp.autodesk.com. Specifically you can find the Command Line Server Console help here.

When writing a script many companies use a cascading backup. This would look something like this.

@ECHO OFF

REM PROVIDING THE BEST RESULTS FOR BACKING UP THE VAULT

REM DELETE B AND CASCADE A BACKUP SUBDIRECTORIES

RMDIR /Q /S "C:\Backup\Vault\B"

REN C:\Backup\Vault\A B

REM CREATE A NEW DIRECTORY FOR THE BACKUP

MKDIR "C:\Backup\Vault\A\"

REM START THE BACKUP PROCESS (THIS IS ONE LINE OF TEXT)

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"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ADMS 2011\ADMS Console\Connectivity.ADMSConsole.exe" –Obackup -B"C:\Backup\Vault\A" -VUadministrator –VP<password> -S

NET STOP MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT

NET START MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT

Some companies look to write a very custom script that will send off email notifications if the backup fails. It is worth noting that as of the 2012 release the product does not have any built in email notification for backup notifications.

NOTE: Also note that when using connected workgroups you do all the backup from the publisher. Please see the Back Up and Restore section of this page.

Third Party Backup ToolsYou can now use third party tools to backup and restore Autodesk Vault. [See Backup_and_Restore_Autodesk_Vault.pdf in the additional_class_materials.zip]

Planning an Integration / ImplementationIt is important to put a plan together for the implementation of Vault or any solution for that matter. You may have heard the statement that the devil is in the details. Its true with any kind of implementation, Data Management, CAD, Sharepoint, ERP, MRP, Autodesk Products or brand x products.

I can’t tell you how to implement in this document because every implementation is different. No matter what tool you decide to use for planning, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Excel or some other tool you need to make sure you have an action item for every step. When you are talking about a large implementation this can be tedious but it is my experience that if you don't have an action item for every step things get forgotten.

I have created a sample project plan (This is a small project plan and not everything is included for every project so you WILL need to modify for your specific engagement.) [See SampleVaultImplementationPlan.xlsx in the Additional_Class_Materials.zip]

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