Under the Hood

Speaking of AEC integration's (Vault Collaboration AEC Customers)

Speaking of AEC integration's, two customer testimonial videos have recently been published highlighting new Vault Collaboration AEC customers.  The first to be featured today is Cardno out of Australia.

Cardno, originally founded as a civil engineering consultancy is now is an international, integrated professional services provider locally delivering the specialist advice necessary to create or improve the physical and social infrastructure that underpins communities around the world.  They have more than 6500 employees in over 180 offices across projects in 85 countries, and have just completed a project with Vault across 9 groups.  The video summarizes their results. 

 

 

Grocery Shopping with Vault (Custom Objects Part 1)

How do I use Vault to know when to get milk?  Sound familiar? 

Like you I’ve never been able to keep track of my grocery list in Vault, well not until now, 2013 now adds the ability to store any sort of non-file based information we so desire in Vault and then even manage that data with lifecycle controls.

If you aren’t interested in shopping lists, try supplier lists, design or project tasks, project team information or drawing packages – in fact any business or design process related data, your imagination is the limit.

To set up a new custom object head to the administration options and select the Custom Objects tab to start building your new custom object.   Here we can define the object name and plural, set secure access to the object type and even select an icon so we can define what the object looks like when users are permitted to see it.

You will notice that custom objects get their own space in the vault browser AND a shortcut, so the icon we choose here will be used to identify a particular custom object type within Vault Explorer.

The security dialog defines who has rights to view, edit and delete the objects in much the same way as folder access control lists.  It’s worth noting though this is not the only form of custom object security – we can also assign a category to the object and control access to the object based on its lifecycle state (Work in Progress vs Released or Have Milk vs Low on Milk vs Out of Milk).  In fact that’s what we will look at in part 2 of Custom Objects.

Calling all PLM and Data Management Experts

The Autodesk University Call for Proposals site is now open! This year we have even more to talk about than ever. With the launch of Autodesk PLM 360, there is already the expertise out there, and we anticipate another great year at AU. So, if you’re an implementation expert or a customer with an Autodesk PLM/PDM solution you’d like to showcase, feel free to submit a class proposal for the updated track: “PLM, Data Management, and Collaboration. Be sure to check out the Tracks section and look up PLM, Data Management, and Collaboration for details on our vision for this. Here’s what we are looking for on this track:

This track addresses those who are involved in configuring Autodesk PLM 360 software for product lifecycle management (PLM), Autodesk® Vault software for data management (PDM), and Autodesk Buzzsaw for project collaboration.

PLM themes include getting started with Autodesk PLM 360, workspace configuration, and process modeling. Data Management themes include deployment, care, and maintenance of the Vault server and client applications and connections to PLM 360 and Buzzsaw. Collaboration themes include exchanging project information and supporting BIM workflows on the desktop, mobile devices, and web with Buzzsaw and Buzzsaw Mobile.

Track topics should offer examples of unique or advanced applications of Autodesk PLM 360, a behind-the-scenes look at Autodesk Vault, and workflows supporting Buzzsaw. Topics for more advanced classes should aim to educate those who are responsible for populating these applications with data, ensuring compliance, and routing or delegating work, as well as first-level support for each department’s manager.

In addition, we seek topics to address the needs of people who are responsible for creating, authoring, or consuming data—of any kind—and incorporating that data into processes that meet the needs of people who rely on these systems to be successful.

 

Looking forward to another great Autodesk University! See you there.

-Brian Schanen

Vault Collaboration AEC videos available

Introducing a new series of videos on TheVaultKnowsAll channel. This week we’re looking at technologies that extend Autodesk Vault family of products to support BIM processes and workflows across companies and geographies, along with Vault integration videos with Navisworks, Civil 3D, and Revit. I’ve created the Vault Collaboration AEC playlist for these videos. Enjoy!

 

-Brian Schanen

Creating Projects Civilly with Vault

Today’s post covers best practices with the use of Autodesk Civil 3D with Vault Collaboration.

So, you may have been told that you must create a Vault project for Civil 3D inside of Civil 3D. This is because Civil 3D also creates the project files the Vault needs to share objects such as points, surfaces and alignments. This has limited project managers in the past who wish to use the Vault client when creating a new project. While an initial project creation is required, you will see that it can be used from then on to create new Civil 3D projects. Let’s take a look…

First a project folder structure needs to be created using windows explorer. Your company may already have a template in place so that can be used if wished. You may also include documents such as word documents, spreadsheets, images or whatever else is standard when starting a new project.

Next you will have to create a one-time project inside of Civil 3D in order to populate the project files that are required for Civil 3D specific projects. To do this, log into Vault inside Civil 3D and create a new project. The key is to select the “Use project template” box and browse to the folder that houses the template folders.

What is created is a blank project folder structure with the auxiliary files Civil 3D requires for future project creation.

Now that the template folder has been created, move it to folder on your network where it can be accessed by the appropriate managers. You can now make a copy of that folder any time a new project starts and rename the folder to the new project number.

Once renamed simply drag and drop that new folder into the Vault Collaboration client and presto! You have a new project.

One final step to complete the trick. Inside of Civil 3D the user must right click on projects and choose the “Select Projects to Display” option. Once the dialog box opens check the box next to the new project and enjoy!

 

Special thanks to Adam Peter for the technical details in this post.

A Practical use of the Obsolete Lifecycle State

Last post we discussed the Replace command in Vault and it’s benefits. For review, we took an Inventor assembly that was a subassembly in a larger context, and replaced it with another. See the before and after images below:

Before the Replace command:

After the Replace command:

Wait, what happened to the original file? And how did that Obsolete state get there? In my example, there are no more direct parents to that FRP-1.iam file. You have an 'orphaned' file on your hands. Now what to do with that file…

There are a variety of scenarios here, let's take the one where a component is bad - really bad - and you need to remove it from production use. This file should be  kept around in Vault however, and the Obsolete lifecycle state is just the thing for the job.

Next, the Lifecycle definition that is used on that file should have the Obsolete  Lifecycle state configured properly. Ideally this means access to it will be limited to Administrators in a read-only manner, and all other users and groups will not see it at all. In short, the file will be removed from all activity but not removed from  the Vault.

Once you determine that the file in question has no parents, click Change State and choose Obsolete. This is a good time  to exercise the option to add Vault comments. Be descriptive, its the only chance you have before clicking OK.

Bottom line, say it with me: “Don’t Delete, use Obsolete” (that rhymes). Enjoy!

-Brian Schanen

Autodesk Vault for AutoCAD users

Introducing a new video demonstrating Autodesk’s BIM Collaboration and Data Management solution using AutoCAD with Autodesk Vault:

Autodesk Vault for Revit Users

As part of Autodesk’s BIM Collaboration and Data Management solution, I’m pleased to introduce a video on Vault for Autodesk Revit users. Enjoy!