File Management and Inventor Vault

[Anonymous]

I need some guidance from the seasoned pro's here on this forum. I  just started a new job and my direct supervisor ( Lead Designer) was only hired 2 months before me and just started using inventor when he started the job.  I have been using Inventor for about 3 years now.  My question is that I have always practiced good file management at every level of a project from single parts to large assemblies; however at this new job the file management is horrible, in the last 3 years the company has been through 13 different drafters, thus each drafter was saving files in different location and names making finding parts and assemblies a nightmare. The problem I am having is that the lead designer is insisting that we implement vault, and that it will solve our problems, However I feel that we needed to develop a universal file and naming convention first, get  our file hierarchy in order before we try and implement vault. Am I wrong in thinking this way or is using vault a better Idea. There will only be 2 of us accessing the cad files and I don't think that vault would even be a good fit for our work flow.  Any suggestion on how to approach and solving this dilemma?

[IgorMir]

You are on the right track. But it will take some time to get it sorted. Plus - you will need a full support and understanding from the company's management.

It strikes me that the total imbecile like the Lead Designer of yours gets the job. I bet you brick over house that really good and qualified applicants who had applied for the job before were told off. With the standard explanation that there are "much better qualified applicants whose skills matches company needs a lot closer"!

Best of luck,

Igor.

[pcrawley]

If you have a pile of poop outside of Vault - all you will gain by implementing Vault is a more secure pile of poop.

HOWEVER - once the data is in Vault, the process of reorganising and renaming files becomes MUCH easier.  You don't have to worry about Design Assistant, or accidentally missing an important related file, Vault knows all the file relationships.  This means you can quite quickly de-tangle the mess and get it into some sort of order.

As for the file naming issue - a good structure will help for sure, but make sure you both come to an agreement on it (no matter how low your opinion is of them!).  If there is disagreement over the scheme, then one will use it and the other will not.  If you do this, then your not doing anything better than the previous 13 drafters.

Is your reluctance to use Vault based on previous knowledge of Vault - or because you've never used it?  Assuming neither of you have any experience with Vault, then you'll be getting someone in to do it for you.  If this is the case - and they do a good job with the training - I know you'll quickly find its invaluable when it comet to untangling all your predecessors mess.

[Anonymous]

I have used vault (limited exposure just a month or two) but never set it up from scratch before, and I am afraid that with the mess that they have with the files and then trying to throw vault on top of it will make it difficult. We will not have  a full time CAD manager to manage vault, so I assume that the lead designer will have to  manage  vault (Which until I was hired to establish a project file, he did not even know how to do and was using the default project file for everything) . What I really needed to know if we should dive right into vault or get our file management in order then go to vault. Am I wrong to think that vault will get its file manage from what we create or how does it manage the files?

[pcrawley]

Think of Vault just like you think of Windows Explorer (just better!)

If you decide you want to use names like bracket.ipt in Windows explorer and call that file management, then you can do exactly the same thing in Vault.

Where Vault differes from Windows explorer is that it understands file relationships.

In Windows, if your renamed bracket.ipt to say 120-345-780.ipt, you would break the associated drawing, and all the assemblies you had ever use bracket.ipt in.  If you do the same rename function in Vault, then ALL the file relationships get fixed for you, so all associated assemblies and drawings will open perfectly without the "Resolve Link" nightmares.

As I said in my first post, you can use Vault to manage a truely horrible file structure and naming convention - Vault really doesn't care.  Agree your folder structure and naming convention - then implement it.  (And just bit the bullet and use Vault - there are som many other good reasons to!)

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your reply, so you suggest that by implementing vault restructuring our file system may become easier because vault recognizes all file relationships the part has and will not break that association due to name change. 

[cbenner]

I'm going to speak to your comment about Vault not being a good fit because of only having two drafters.  Our situation is the same.  We've been using Vault since the products earliest inception (except for a few misguided years on Pro Engineer), and have been expanding our use of it over the last few years since going to Vault Professional. 

I agree, get the house in order in terms of file structure, naming conventions etc, as much as possible first.  But with Vault Pro, you can do so much more than just lock down your files.  Full control over lifecycles, revisions, Engineering Change Orders, BOMs... not to mention how slick (IMHO) the copy design tool is once you get the hang of it.  Vault can be a b**** to learn, but it is a very powerful tool for not only storing but managing your CAD data, as well as anything else you choose to use it for.  And no, Autodesk does not pay me to say this.  (It's been suggested before).

The Vault forums are a great place for help in getting started but my best advice if you go that way is: start small.  Just use the check in-check out features at first until everyone gets used to it... then start adding things like lifecycle management, revision control etc as you learn more about how they work and how to best set them up for your company.  Like so many other systems, there is more than one right way to do things.  the BEST way, is what works for your unique situation.

Best of luck on this road!

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your insight and I know that we are are going to start using vault in the future, but I urged my company to standardized the file naming convention and file hierarchy before trying to implement vault. 

[IgorMir]

In such a case there were a topic on file naming not so long ago. Here is a link http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Inventor-General/Part-Numbering-Conventions/m-p/4676969#M491144

Maybe you will find some useful tips for you in there.

Best Regards,

Igor.

[Anonymous]

thank you for the link.