/ rant on

I spent the past 20 years using Solidworks with a (heavily configured) SmarTeam, and am rather new to Solidworks PDM (2017). I have the standard version, installed all on one machine, to get the hang of it. There are significant differences between the two, but also enough similarities, and I have everything up and running neatly now. Workflow, cards, search columns, and of course vaults and views, all are configured. The limitations that Standard imposes is not too much of a hindrance at the moment.

But one thing troubles me deeply: configurations! While I do use configurations  in parts and assemblies, there is always a one-to-one unique relationship between part and article, and the same for assembly vs. article. Article being the actual, physical product. Each part/assembly article has it own unique file, and every drawing is linked to one part/assy file only. Purchased parts (fasteners etc) is a different story. In my experience this works best. I have seen plenty of situations where people started using configurations with enthusiasm, just to end up getting lost in a Gordian knot of relationships. For CAD PDM, I favor monogamy...

/rant off

SmarTeam is configured such that configurations are not considered; everything is based on files-only, to support the monagomous relationships. But so far I have not been able to detect how this can be achieved in PDM, Standard or Professional. I assume it is not supported out of the box.

How do you deal with a situation like this, without resorting to re-writing the entire software via scripting? Do I just have to get used to it?

Any info would be quite welcome!

Thymen