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Vault Pro - pros, cons, and should I use it?

4 REPLIES 4
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Message 1 of 5
jstathem
2078 Views, 4 Replies

Vault Pro - pros, cons, and should I use it?

I hope this thread is in the right place. Here goes:

 

My company is looking for a method to manage our ever-growing number of files and projects, and it seems like Vault is the way to go. It is quite expensive though, and I really need to get my ducks in a row before I decide to give it my full endorsement to upper management.

 

My firm is a multi-office firm, with a local server in each office. We are using Civil 3D 2012 and looking to push 2014 soon.

 

Currently, each individual office runs its own projects off its own local server, but any office can access any other office's work. Some employees have moved, and while they may do most (or all) of their work for office A (for example) they may be working out of office B. This requires them to either make local copies of working drawings, or work over the WAN.

 

Together with IT, I had a conference call with our software vendor regarding how Vault Pro will help us. The next day, we had a Vault demo, showing us what it could do for us. As a CAD guy, I love the features, and IT sees it as a solution to help us consolidate files and manage data, and are agreeable to take on the burden of managing additional SQL servers to properly implement Vault.

 

But it is really expensive.

 

So my questions to all of you is this:

 

If you are using Vault Pro, have you found that is really helping with the data management component of your assigned tasks?

 

Have you found the replication component to be beneficial to your company?

 

Is Vault the solution you were looking for?

 

is there anything else I should be considering in this equation?

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4 REPLIES 4
Message 2 of 5
cbenner
in reply to: jstathem

Hello,

 

I cannot speak to the replication since we are a one office company with everyone on site.  We have had Vault in one form or another since before Autodesk owned it, and except for a few misguided years where we used PTC products, we've always used it.  For many years we used it simply for check in/check out functionality to prevent users from editing work at the same time.  Recently, however, we have begun implementing the Vault Pro features.  We use Vault Item Master to control lifecycles and revisions, and just this year went live using the Engineering Change Order system.  Yes, it's expensive, but it's (IMHO) a wise investment if youplan to use some or all of these features.  If all you need is the check in/check out and file storage... go with Vault Basic.  As a caveat, I should also mention that there are more than a few of the grey hairs on my head that I owe to Vault... like anything it can be a bear to work with sometimes (a lot to learn)... but once you get it set up right for your company I think you'll like it.

 

With Vault Pro we're moving from hand markups and drawers full of "released" prints, to everything being handled electronically from quote through "as built" and beyond.  (now if I could just get some of the older guys to use the electronic markups!)

 

It's just my opinion, but from the sound of it, you could make use of at least some type of Vault, wether the Basic or the Pro.  hope this helps.

Message 3 of 5
jstathem
in reply to: cbenner

Thanks for the response Chris.

 

Replication is one of the major things we are looking for Vault to care for. The way see it, our only other option is to go with some type of DFS: marginally cheaper, but an option which Autodesk says it does not support (probably so they can push their own solution).

 

Vault Basic looks like it has some benefits, but would have to be set up independently at each office location on its own SQL server for check in/out purposes (if I understand the set-up properly). Otherwise we would be serving all files out of one location without replication, and our satellite offices would be pulling their hair out at the very thought.

 

I was hoping I would get a few more responses. There have to be more of you using Pro, right?

Message 4 of 5
mikel_martin
in reply to: jstathem

A couple things to note about a replicated environment that may help you.

 

1. We have many customers that are using replication in some very complex environments. For many different reasons they often choose not to reply to the forums.

2. Depending on you scenario you don't need full replication at each site. You may choose to have one central database with other sites only replicating the file store. This can save you the cost of needing SQL server at each site. This works well if you have a decent amount of bandwidth between each site. (meta-data is pretty lite compared to files).

3. Depending on the environment you can even choose to have multiple sites with databases and mutable sites with just file stores. Again saving you some cost and maintenance.

4. It is relatively simple to change a site over to a full server at some point if you decide that file store only is not meeting your needs.

 

Because of all this you may want to consider initially setting up the system with one SQL Server (the publisher) and multiple file store servers. Use it see how it work for you and then adjust as needed.

 

Hope this helps.



Mikel Martin
User Experience Architect
Autodesk, Inc.
Message 5 of 5
Hammer.john.j
in reply to: jstathem

We do not use vault. We use another solution for various reasons. A lot of people like riverbed's stealheads as appliances for moving data.... to me, this is 1 part of a solution as is the vault. we installed another part of the solution that got us greater ROI. I sent you a pm reply (finally)

when you are considering Wide Area solutions you have to consider everything from the user pc network card, O.S., etc to their local ISP the other ISP's, right down to the opposite end users PC.

There are numerous ways to accomplish wide area file services/sharing but it's rarely one solution is "the best". you literally have to pick the best compromises that work for your firm.

 

the best advice I can give you, is to work with a Systems Architect or at least a Network Engineer even if you only do this on a consultant contract basis, you will maximise your ROI.

John Hammer, LA/CADD Manager

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