Drawing data format

[danpayne118]

Good morning all,

I am currently evaluating autodesk vault for data management of our dwg (autocad) files and PDF files of the drawings as well. I've been weighing up which data format to store drawings as. As far as I can see it

.dwg files:

pros: controlled copy of the document prevents manufacturing errors from an old revision being saved locally in pdf format

cons: can be edited by others who may override the original copy

pdfs: 

pros: can be viewed and emailed etc more readily than a dwg file

cons: cannot see old revisions as a completely new pdf must be created.

I suppose the long and short of what i am asking is which is the best format to use for a small OEM that produces production drawings for manufacture, but also GA drawings for the customer. We are 100% going for premium product design suite in the very near future. The thing pulling me towards vault is the searchability of drawings, as well as eliminating error from lack of document control. 

Thanks all,

Dan.

[olearya · Accepted solution]

HI Dan,

I think the answer is both.....

There are 2 considerations here which Vault is designed to address - work in progress / collaboration data management and distribution of documentation to downstream processes.

In an ideal situation the CAD users should be able to manage their dwg files in Vault and control access to these files via lifecycle states (available in Vault Workgroup or Professional), so other users for example can only view released data.  By default we create DWF files for read only light weight viewing, but there are a number of plug ins available that will permit you to create PDF copies of dwg files for viewing - allowing you to automate that process.

At the end of the day - as we track file versions and record edit data if you are concerned about unintended edits to your WIP data - we can actually track these edits anyway, know who made the change and actually restore the correct version.

Hope this helps.