Autodesk Vault

[#1]

I work in the IT department and I’m trying to help the CAD guys choose a storage solution.  For each job, we create a folder with the job number and place all the supporting files such excel, word, pdfs and drawing files in there.  However, it doesn’t meet our quality standards:

- Check-in and out files so only one person can amend a job drawing at a time

- Version Control so we can keep track of changes to files

- Easy to use

We have SharePoint 2007 and I understand it meets the requirements above.  Can someone help me understand the benefits of vault?

We use a mixture of Inventor, AutoCAD 3d and AutoCAD lt.

Thanks  

[#2]

Alex,

Vault offers the following addtional features that you can't get with SharePoint:

• File associations - Used and Where used information is important when it comes to Inventor parts and assemblies as well as AutoCAD xRefs.
• CAD integrations - There are Vault add-ins for Inventor, AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT (depending on the level of Vault).  This allows the designers to stay within the CAD program to work with files and check them in and out of Vault.
• Visualization and revision management.

There are a number of other features you will get out of Vault that you will not get out of SharePoint.

I would recommend that you talk with your Autodesk Partner/Reseller so that they can go over your needs and recommend the best possible solution.

[#3]

I've used a third party edm in the past as well as sharepoint

I'm now in a new role - and workign with a large number of CAD files across shared drives (not ideal)

My company also have sharepoint

If we were considering vault - which I guess is a standalone solution - then what would be the real benefits to intergrate with sharepoint - and would the recommend implementation to do a phased e.g. phase 1 (vault) and phase 2 (vault-sharepoint integration) or single jump to an integrated solution ?

Many Thanks !