Under the Hood

PLM 360 Video Spotlight - Creating Reports and Charts

If you have been following along with the videos tutorials on PLM 360, building out Workspaces and creating data, then be sure to check out the video on creating reports and charts. With some data on your tenant, you can create a variety of reports and display them several ways: HTML, Excel (export), and as a Chart.

This video tutorial also shows how to share reports with others in your organization and pin these reports to your Dashboard in PLM 360.

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/PLM_360/enu/community/Videos/Creating_Reports_and_Charts

 

-Brian Schanen

Autodesk PLM 360 Video Spotlight - General Navigation

Looking for more details on Autodesk PLM 360? Want to see it in action? Great news! I’ve created a number of videos covering PLM 360 from daily usage to administration of a tenant. These are posted to our Autodesk Wiki site for all to see.

One of the first ones I suggest watching is General Navigation. Here I take you on a tour around the product and at a high level cover the Dashboard, Reports, Main Menu, and Workspaces. Enjoy!

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/PLM_360/enu/community/Videos/General_Navigation

-Brian Schanen

Autodesk Vault - Summer School in session on You Tube

That’s right. Summer School for Autodesk Vault. You know there’s been a new release (2012) and maybe you haven’t had time to catch up on it. Well, I have just the thing…a couple dozen videos that cover both new and existing features of the Autodesk Vault Family of Products. This is what happens when one fires up Vault and abuses an espresso machine. Watch for all of these to be posted up to TheVaultKnowsAll You Tube channel.

Now, I’ve broken these down into modules/playlists, so you can come back and get schooled on Vault at your leisure. First, let’s start with Module 0 as an introduction to the Autodesk Vault Family of Products.

Class is in session, starting now:

 

-Brian Schanen

Transmittal Reports – Advanced Configuration

New to Vault Workgroup, Collaboration, and Professional 2011 is the option to send a Transmittal Report with a ‘Pack and Go’ or using the ‘Send File’ feature. This is a PDF that describes the contents of the data they are sending and provide your organization with a record of what was sent. This post we’ll take a look at some advanced configuration settings.

There resides a XML config file in the users’ vault installation directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Vault Professional 2011\Explorer\Connectivity.VaultPro.exe.config) which contains three keys; which are:

<add key="AppendReportToPackage" value="1"/>

This key controls the turning ON/OFF of transmittal reports during sending of files via the email client. (0 = OFF, 1 = ON)

<add key="ShowFullPathInTransmittalReport" value="1"/>

This key toggles the display of the transmitted file(s) source location from full to relative path (or vice versa)

<add key="FileTransmittalReportTemplate" value="$/Templates/File Transmittal.rdlc"/>

This key allows the user to define the RDLC template which generates the transmittal report. With this, the user can define a file from local or from the Vault.

Thanks for the tip Alan.

 

-Brian Schanen

Visual Data Management - A Look Under the Hood pt.2

And now the sequel to my previous post with samples of reports for Visual Data Management – also known as Data Mapping. I have recorded a six part series and these are up on the Autodesk Youtube channel. Have a look, and reference the pt1 post for links to the other software needed to customize reports for your company’s needs.

Enjoy!

-Brian Schanen

Visual Data Management - A Look Under the Hood pt.1

In this post we’ll take a look ‘under the hood’ and examine Visual Data Management in Autodesk Inventor. This covers creation, modification, and use of report templates for Data Mapping inside Inventor 2011. Also included are three sample templates to get you started with Visual Data Management.

Tools you will need for customizing Report Templates

1. First, locate and get to know the Report Template Authoring Utility. The good news is that anyone with Vault Workgroup, Collaboration, or Professional 2011 can create a report template based off of properties that are in your Vault database. This executable is located in the install directory on your client machine. For example C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\Vault Professional 2011\Explorer\ReportTemplateAuthoringUtility.exe
2. Next, get ready to download software to customize the report templates you create:
   • Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition 
   • Microsoft Report Viewer Add-on for Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition
3. Next, you’ll need Autodesk Inventor 2011 with Vault Workgroup, Collaboration, or Professional to run the report and map the results directly onto the model in the graphics window.
4. Finally, Vault Workgroup, Collaboration, or Professional client will be needed to modify and standardize on the colors used during Data Mapping. This is an administrative task and can be found in Tools>Administration>Vault Settings>Behaviors tab>Report Management.

I have included three sample report templates here to get you started. I have pre-configured these to include out-of-the-box properties that are found in the three products. Vault Workgroup will report on

• Lifecycle State
• Category
• Designer
• Material
• Project
• Checked Out By

For the Vault Collaboration report template, I included all the Workgroup properties, plus an Ownership property for those leveraging our Connected Workgroup (Full/Global Replication) solution.

And finally, for Vault Professional users I include all the Workgroup + Collaboration properties, and added

• Linked to Item
• Controlled By Change Order
• ECO State

Coming Soon: Stay tuned for a step-by-step procedural video up on the Autodesk YouTube channel…

Download Vault Workgroup 2011 In-CAD

Download Vault Collaboration 2011 In-CAD

Download Vault Professional 2011 In-CAD

-Brian Schanen

Transmittal Reports with Vault 2011

Pack and go has been enhanced within Autodesk Vault Workgroup, Collaboration, and Professional 2011 to now include a report on the data contained within the pack and go deliverables.

This new transmittal report utilizes the existing reporting technology and templates introduced within the 2010 release, providing even more return on investment. Now when users create a ‘Pack and Go’ or use the ‘Send File’ feature, they can include a PDF that describes the contents of the data they are sending and provides your organization with a record of what was sent.

-Brian Schanen

Vault Data Mapping and Reporting with Inventor 2011

Introducing a video showing Autodesk Vault and the new Data Mapping feature within Autodesk Inventor.

This is exciting new functionality that allows user to leverage more Vault functionality all while staying within Inventor’s interface. Take note how you can directly review Vault status and property information within the Inventor graphics window with the new Data Cards feature. Examine details about individual or multiple files within a single interface, and modify property values as needed without having to use the Vault stand-alone client. Users may also be confident that both their vaulted property values and iProperties values will be synchronized.

Enjoy!

-Brian Schanen

Introducing the Autodesk Vault 2011 Family of Products

What’s New in Autodesk Vault 2011 Product Family part1

Finally! It’s time to get the word out about the new Vault 2011 products. The Autodesk Vault 2011 software product line delivers groundbreaking new capabilities to help you manage the most challenging design projects with ease. With many major usability and productivity enhancements, Vault 2011 offers significant benefits to workgroups that need to connect team members, as well as manage and reuse their design data. Given all the new improvements, I’ve broken this into multiple post. Enjoy!

Deeper Integrations

Data Mapping

Vault Workgroup, Collaboration, and Professional 2011 all employ the principles of mapping analytical report data directly to Inventor models to make fundamental improvements to the reporting and decision making process. Data mapping offers a streamlined workflow that not only helps to improve decision making, but also fosters faster model selection and interaction.

Data mapping offers an interactive interface that allows users to generate report data for a model and publish the results as a chart within Inventor. Users can then color code the model to see a direct correlation between the report results and the design. By enabling designers, engineers, and managers to visualize how reported data directly within a model, they are able to more easily make informed decisions. Data mapping may be used to highlight such information as parts pending change, make versus buy designation, current project or design status, compliance status, component cost range, weight range, design lifecycle, and more.

Data Cards

Directly review vault status and property information within the Inventor graphics window with the new Data Cards feature. Examine details about individual or multiple files at a time within a single interface, and modify property values as needed without needing to use the Vault stand alone client. Users may also be confident that both their Vaulted property values and iProperty value will be synchronized.

The configurable data card interface provides companies the ability standardizes on property sets and administrators can enforce the population of critical data fields leveraging property policies directly within Inventor, ensuring users fill the data required to comply with demanding regulations.

Enhanced Context Menus

Vaulted workflows have been streamlined with the 2011 release of the Vault family, now featuring integrated context menus within the modeling environment within Inventor. Users are now able to directly select the desired components that require vault interaction and select the necessary Vault command from the context menu.

Further, users will find the same menu directly available within the Inventor model browser, without need to first transition to the Vault browser. This will remove many steps and help users stay focused on their designs.

Coming up, Connected Workgroups through Full Replication.

-Brian Schanen