INVENTOR AND VAULT FILE LINK DELETION

[LOONYLEN]

My company is currently using a limping paperless system. The company is using "work-arounds" to run the system because there are no software solutions in place that we could purchase.

We are creating job folders inside of Vault and linking to the Inventor .idw, .ipt and .iam's also stored inside of Vault, but in another directory. This is done so that the machinist on the shop floor can visualize the drawings and models (Thus paperless).

This seems to work, although clunky, but the problem arises when we need to delete a file that is linked to a job folder. The reason that we may need to delete this file is that it may be a stand alone model (.ipt), but my company has upgraded the "standard" files to iParts and (maybe on some parts) updated some geometry. These files are considered the "New Standard" models. How do I "update" the links to the old files? Is there a better way to do this that I'm unaware of?

If we delete the .ipt, then the link turns corrupt and must be manually corrected to link to the new iPart member model. The problem is that are hundreds of these old links. This is a real problem, as it seems if we would like to keep our paperless system healthy, we cannot make enhancements to our product line or bite the bullet and manually update the links, which is a huge undertaking and expense.

Is there any other way to achieve the same workflow without having to use these static links to either the Inventor models, drawings, or their visualization files? Is anyone currently operating a paperless system that wouldn't mind giving me some advice? Does Autodesk personnel have any ideas that they could share with me?

I know that Autodesk is currently looking at this request that I've made on the Idea center, but I need some help now. This is getting to the point where my models and designs are "carved in stone", just to use the paperless system.

HELP...