New to Vault

[JMARSHALL1249]

Could someone help me with using the Vault...

We have never used the vault before and I feel we should be.  I am about to upgrade AutoCAD Electrical to 2015, and was going to install the vault at the same time.  My question is - only the Basic version version is available for 2015, and the full version is Vault 2012.  I presume I can't use Vault 2012 with AE2015.  Is there somewhere I can get a summary of the benifits of using Vault, and what 'downtime' should I expect in order to introduce it.

Thanking you in advance.

[dougmcalexander]

I suggest that you contact Kevin Howk at Applied Software Technology in Atlanta. They are the Atlanta Autodesk reseller. Kevin is a genius with Vault. We have worked together to implement Vault with AutoCAD Electrical.

[jalger]

Hi JMarshall,

I not a Vault Expert , but I should be able to offer you some helpful information.

Vault is a data management tool, to answer whether you need it or not let me ask you a few questions.

1. Do you have issues with people making changes and not knowing how, or when the changes occurred?
2. Do you often lose files the that you could have re-used, and simply recreate them?
3. Do you want to share data that is protected, So a summer student ( or employee) can't accidently erase data? 

My guess is you probably answered yes to most of those questions. So yeah its not a bad idea to use the vault.

Vault 2012 is not compatible with Vault 2015 (or AutoCAD Electrical 2015, which would require the 2015 vault addin).

Right now you could connect to a 2013 client (or 2013 product with the 2013 addin) with 2015 if you have the proper Service packs.

Also The Vault Pro (your full version 2012), Cannot Connect to a lower version of Vault ( Base vault 2015).

You Would need to get the Vault Pro 2015 in order to link the old database (the vault pro 2012 database).

if you never had anything in the old vault you could simply create a new vault with the 2015 Vault Basic (Base Vault). 

Here is a link to the Main vault page on the Autodesk website.

http://www.autodesk.com/products/autodesk-vault-family/overview

(the links change on the autodesk site from time to time so if it Stops working let me know)

For Downtime, there shouldn't be much, you should plan the vault implementation so there is little or no impact for accessing your files.

Most of the time This can be done on a Friday, so Monday morning people can come in and get trained on the vault.

There isn't a huge learning curve for Check-in check out processes. Most of the time A reseller can help you plan the best setup and implement the Vault the time it takes will vary based on the  setup Required. ( if you had 1200 users it would take weeks to implement, if you had 2 users it would take a day or two). The level of Vault also makes a huge difference for setup time.  

Vault Basic would not take long to setup.

Vault Pro Could take several days (or weeks) it has Product and documentation Lifecycles, Revision schemes, ECO's etc.

Anyway I hope this help,

Regards,

James Alger