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Before I invest a lot of time and effort, is this feasible? (Toolbox/PDM question)

Question asked by Jim Pazen on Nov 8, 2017
Latest reply on Nov 15, 2017 by Jim Pazen

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We are finally upgrading to SW2017, going straight to SP5, if it's fully released on our schedule.

We are loading the toolbox -- prior IT management was afraid of it for some reason.

We use PDM Pro, which is also getting upgraded.

We are also rolling out a new part numbering system (My users love me.).

From prior experience, I know that SW assigns a seemingly arbitrary part number to toolbox parts. Should I bother with attempting to make SW/PDM conform with the new numbering system for toolbox components? Should I try to develop (or pay someone to develop) a macro that will make this easier? Can I make this work through the data cards?

This is my first position as SW/PDM Admin, I'm scheduled for training but won't have had enough before these are going to happen (We're having our VAR consult on the upgrades, so I shouldn't get in too far over my head.)

So, should I should, or should I shouldn't try to get the toolbox items into the new numbering system?

I'd be thankful for your opinions. And, I already know that I'm ugly, so save your keystrokes...

Regards,

Jim

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S. Casale Nov 8, 2017 12:49 PM

My suggestion is that you contact your VAR prior to while having PDM work with Toolbox (TB).

Toolbox and PDM are very problematic together. SW very often "forgets" to check the TB back in to PDM so others can use it. An example, when TB is supposed to be checked-in in the background, often it doesn't. Nothing tells you it doesn't - it just doesn't whenever. Any network hiccup more than 1ms and checkin fails (that's not just TB parts with PDM).

Remember, there is no query function in the TB configurator, nor does SW have any intention of making one for the database.

TB is one of the few "add-ins" that SolidWorks seems to not care about addressing concerns with. It's easy to break and should absolutely require user training when interacting with the vault.

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Dennis Dohogne Nov 8, 2017 12:56 PM

Jim,

Congratulations on all the upgrades!! Toolbox is not the problem some folks claim. We love it for our fasteners, especially with the changes made in SWX2017. I just showed a new hire how we use our Toolbox and he was blown away at the advantages!

My advice is to setup your Toolbox fasteners to use your part numbers and descriptions. It is actually easy to do, even though it is not that obvious how to do it. Your VAR should be able to walk you through pretty easily, but it really starts with having a spreadsheet with your part numbers and descriptions sorted by size to match the sizes in Toolbox. From Toolbox you will export a spreadsheet. Use the Excel VLOOKUP functions to grab the part numbers and descriptions from your other spreadsheet then re-import that back into Toolbox. It is actually a small investment in time for the huge overall benefit you get. Our Toolbox has two sections, one for metric and one for inch fasteners. We only have the fasteners available in Toolbox that are in our system. This is also an advantage because now we are picking fasteners from OUR list and it is much smaller than the list of all possible sizes.

You can get a lot of related information (both good and bad) here: Forum SEARCH RESULTS and looking into the Toolbox section. There you will find more detail as to how to do this.

As far as using PDM with Toolbox, unless you anticipate the need to have revision control for your fasteners there is no need to add them to your PDM. I have yet to see where someone has put fasteners in their PDM. Again, your VAR should be a great asset for this.

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S. Casale @ Dennis Dohogne on Nov 8, 2017 4:03 PM

Dennis Dohogne wrote:

Jim,
"Congratulations on all the upgrades!! Toolbox is not the problem some folks claim. "

"As far as using PDM with Toolbox, unless you anticipate the need to have revision control for your fasteners there is no need to add them to your PDM. I have yet to see where someone has put fasteners in their PDM. Again, your VAR should be a great asset for this."

That would be me.

We use toolbox with PDM because we have an issue with some folks duplicating items... This way it's supposed to keep it under wraps.

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Steven Dod Nov 8, 2017 4:47 PM

We use Toolbox with PDM and do not have many issues at all. We used the spreadsheet export/import to assign our part numbers and descriptions and it works very good most of the time. We do see the occasional file not checked in the toolbox but I run a search on Toolbox every so often to keep an eye on things. I recommend using the Toolbox in PDM myself.

Steve

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Jim Pazen Nov 15, 2017 5:17 PM

Thanks to one and all, it looks like it will be even easier than I had hoped. I appreciate the responses.

Jim

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5 Replies

S. Casale Nov 8, 2017 12:49 PM
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Correct Answer
My suggestion is that you contact your VAR prior to while having PDM work with Toolbox (TB).

Toolbox and PDM are very problematic together. SW very often "forgets" to check the TB back in to PDM so others can use it. An example, when TB is supposed to be checked-in in the background, often it doesn't. Nothing tells you it doesn't - it just doesn't whenever. Any network hiccup more than 1ms and checkin fails (that's not just TB parts with PDM).

Remember, there is no query function in the TB configurator, nor does SW have any intention of making one for the database.

TB is one of the few "add-ins" that SolidWorks seems to not care about addressing concerns with. It's easy to break and should absolutely require user training when interacting with the vault.
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Dennis Dohogne Nov 8, 2017 12:56 PM
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Correct Answer
Jim,
Congratulations on all the upgrades!! Toolbox is not the problem some folks claim. We love it for our fasteners, especially with the changes made in SWX2017. I just showed a new hire how we use our Toolbox and he was blown away at the advantages!

My advice is to setup your Toolbox fasteners to use your part numbers and descriptions. It is actually easy to do, even though it is not that obvious how to do it. Your VAR should be able to walk you through pretty easily, but it really starts with having a spreadsheet with your part numbers and descriptions sorted by size to match the sizes in Toolbox. From Toolbox you will export a spreadsheet. Use the Excel VLOOKUP functions to grab the part numbers and descriptions from your other spreadsheet then re-import that back into Toolbox. It is actually a small investment in time for the huge overall benefit you get. Our Toolbox has two sections, one for metric and one for inch fasteners. We only have the fasteners available in Toolbox that are in our system. This is also an advantage because now we are picking fasteners from OUR list and it is much smaller than the list of all possible sizes.

You can get a lot of related information (both good and bad) here: Forum SEARCH RESULTS and looking into the Toolbox section. There you will find more detail as to how to do this.

As far as using PDM with Toolbox, unless you anticipate the need to have revision control for your fasteners there is no need to add them to your PDM. I have yet to see where someone has put fasteners in their PDM. Again, your VAR should be a great asset for this.
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- S. Casale @ Dennis Dohogne on Nov 8, 2017 4:03 PM
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  Dennis Dohogne wrote:
  
  Jim,
  "Congratulations on all the upgrades!! Toolbox is not the problem some folks claim. "
  
  "As far as using PDM with Toolbox, unless you anticipate the need to have revision control for your fasteners there is no need to add them to your PDM. I have yet to see where someone has put fasteners in their PDM. Again, your VAR should be a great asset for this."
  That would be me.
  
  We use toolbox with PDM because we have an issue with some folks duplicating items... This way it's supposed to keep it under wraps.
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Steven Dod Nov 8, 2017 4:47 PM
Mark Correct
Correct Answer
We use Toolbox with PDM and do not have many issues at all. We used the spreadsheet export/import to assign our part numbers and descriptions and it works very good most of the time. We do see the occasional file not checked in the toolbox but I run a search on Toolbox every so often to keep an eye on things. I recommend using the Toolbox in PDM myself.

Steve
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Jim Pazen Nov 15, 2017 5:17 PM
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Thanks to one and all, it looks like it will be even easier than I had hoped. I appreciate the responses.

Jim
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Before I invest a lot of time and effort, is this feasible? (Toolbox/PDM question)

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