Solidworks Workgroup PDM workflow and tips

[quantcyg]

Not to beat a dead horse, but here are some of my thoughts:

1678 used Workgroup PDM last year, but we are switching to GrabCAD for the 2016 season for a number of reasons. Mainly, we struggled to manage our COTS library and our mentor had difficulty giving design feedback because of the difficult viewing interface. Workgroup PDM was also slow and clunky when trying to take ownership/download large upper assemblies.

I set up GrabCAD for the team this past summer, and we have had great experiences so far. We have not experienced any crashing or malfunctions, except when students forget to upload their parts. With GrabCAD I am able to communicate with students through comments on the web interface, and our mentor can view our files with ease (through mobile apps and his browser). In general, GrabCAD has been easier to set-up and install than Workgroup PDM was and has grown into a sort of design team Dropbox folder where we keep all design related files (PDFs, images, slides, html links). Many of these can be viewed through the browser as well.

I personally have not used the plug-in extensively, though many of our design students have, with great success. I have used the "Desktop Workbench" which is easy to use and extremely reliable. I much prefer that to PDM, even without the plug-in.

It seems that GrabCAD has definitely improved, since your team last used it. That being said, I have some pointers concerning COTS management on Workgroup PDM if you are interested. Feel free to PM me.