Typical Folder Structure

[Phil]

Hi all

Complete Vault newbie here - in fact we don't even have it!

The fact is that our sister company do and we are likely to follow suit, so I don't want them going off half cocked with this stuff.

Our requirement (and theirs) for a simple data structure is going to include (in the order below):

Clients - text

Client Sites - text

Projects - alpha-numeric

Processes - text

Items - number

Item drawings - number

In database speak, each folder would be in a one-to-many relationship with the folder immediately below it.

So I suppose the question I am asking is, is this easily replicated in Vault?

Ideally we would like to view the list of project numbers, and then look up to the Client Site and Client name, or down through the processes and Items to locate a specific drawing number.

Does anyone see what I am trying to achieve here?

If so, are there images around anywhere of sample folder structures in Vault along the lines of that described?

Surely this must be a very common architecture?

Many thanks

Phil

[tmccar]

You can have a hierarchial folder structure, similar to the usual Windows structure. So for instance you could name your projects folders after the project names.

[gilsdorf_e]

One import thing for performance would be to take care that the number of files per folder is limited.

Anything above 2000 files makes browsing very slow.

[Olaf.Górski]

Hi Phil,

Does it answer your concerns or is there anything else we can assist you with?

[Phil]

Thanks Olaf

The essence of the question is basically how do you arrive at a reasonable balance between:

Adopting a complex folder structure to enable intuitive navigation to files

and

Using complex search queries to move around a shallower, less defined folder structure.

Is there any published guidance on this, or is it up to the organisation to use a best guess and see how it goes?

Phil

[jwilson30]

Phil,

You can create a folder structure based on project number easily. Vault Pro has a feature called Custom Objects which will allow you to create one for each customer then link it to each project. https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/vault-products/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2014/EN...

You can set up folder securities on a User/Group base. This is a Read/Modify/Delete security system so you can hide different projects from specific users. If you want to more research on your own the Vault Help webpage should give you more information. Your reseller should also be able to help you out as well.

Josh

[Phil]

Thanks Josh

One final question (hopefully) can the custom objects have heirarchy?

So I have Customers as the top level custom object; linked to Sites as a second level custom object; linked to my project folder??

Phil

[jwilson30 · Accepted solution]

Phil,

I do not think you will be able to get the heirarchy that you want. I have attached a screen cap of a custom object that I just created. The "Customers" is the custom object, then I have created a few customers under that. I also linked "Autodesk" to my AutoCAD project (which is just a folder within my Vault). You can apply different properties (custom or system) Custom Objects to define different sites. You could also have a different object created for sites and have both linked to your project. Hope this helps!

Thanks,

Josh

[Phil]

Hi Josh

Thanks for your help and time spent.

I think creating custom objects of both customers and sites and linking these to the relevant projects will give the desired result.

Phil