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RaphMORIN16-Pearl
16-Pearl
April 21, 2016
Question

Evolution from one user to two

  • April 21, 2016
  • 3 replies
  • 10974 views

Hello,

I've been working for many years as a single user on a single computer. In a few months we have planned to engage someone to face our increasing activity.

Of course, we will purchase a new computer with a new Creo licence, but I would need your advice concerning file management considering we won't use PDM. Where should we store files ? How do you deal with config files, such as config.pro ?

Any advice is welcome to make sure everything goes well with this evolution of our working methods.

Thanks.


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    3 replies

    D
    dgschaefer21-Topaz II
    21-Topaz II
    April 21, 2016

    With two of you, it shouldn't be too difficult.

    On file management, you need a "master' folder and each of you need your own working folders (WIP).  You'll need to be in consistent communication about who is working on what and a procedure for placing completed work back into the master folder.

    You will have to resist the urge to fix things that you come across on models that you might not be actively working on.  For example, you bring in a 10 part assy to work on part A in your WIP.  You notice that there is a simple issue with part B, maybe is the wrong layer names.  When it was just you, you'd go ahead and fix it while you're there.  But now, perhaps your coworker is working on part B, or maybe he's working on the same assy but on part C.  When you fix B, now his B is out of date and he's got to go get a new one or you risk him overwriting your changes.

    I'd also make sure you understand the ramification of the config settings for saving files and what happens when you use the save as command vs. the backup command.

    On config files. Creo will load multipple config.pro files so you can have a "company" file and each of you can have your own file.  You may want to establish a config.sup for options that you don't want changed.  Creo will load them from these places, in order:

    1. config.sup in the loadpoint/text folder
    2. config.pro in the loadpoint/text folder
    3. config.pro in the user's home folder (as set by Windows environment variable)
    4. config.pro in the startup folder (as set by the start in field in the creo shortcut)

    You can put the company files on the network and use a batch file to copy them in, or you can point your start in folder to the network location.

    My general philosophy on config options is that the company only sets options that effect model quality and consistency or give users more flexibility in working. Things that are preferences, like UI colors or if the planes are on or off at startup are up to the user.

      M
      mbonka2-Explorer
      2-Explorer
      April 21, 2016

      Hello Raphaël MORIN

      absolutly agree with Doug Schaefer . Place your company standard to network location.

      See attached config.SUP and focus on end part AUTOMATIC DATA CONECTION AFTER CREO START.

          START TEMPLATES

          - start_model_dir

          - template_solidpart

          - template_sheetmetalpart

          - template_designasm

          DRAWING FORMATING

          - pro_format_dir

          - drawing_setup_file

          - pro_symbol_dir

          - symbol_instance_palette_file

          - pro_palette_dir

          - pen_table_file

          - pro_crosshatch_dir

          - pro_table_dir


           LOAD DATA FROM DIFERENT LOCATION

           - search_path_file (see attached search_path.txt --- it´s much more elegant solution, than search_path many times in your configs)

           MODEL ACCURACY

          - enable_absolute_accuracy

          - default_abs_accuracy (if you are using absolute accuracy)

          - accuracy_lower_bound

          GENERALL

          - pro_sheet_met_dir

          - pro_material_dir

          - pro_note_dir

          - pro_group_dir

          - pro_font_dir

          - 2d_palette_path

          - hole_parameter_file_path

      See attached CONFIG_CREO_3_M010.pdf for more information.


      Make some company modeling rules! "It doesn´t matter, if all of you are modeling the same BAD way or GOOD way. IMPORTANT is working the SAME WAY! Only at this situation you can get quick orientation in work of your collueages".

      Who has saved last is the winner! It´s exactly what Doug Schaefer described. If your project are simply and it can be "one man show" than devide individual project between concrete persons. It eliminate substitute between persons, but on the other hand you will never lose data from above described reasons.

      l´m sure someone else can say: "This is not important, delete it from config.SUP and put it in user´s config.PRO files." But it dependes on a freedom, that you want in your company.

      Hope it can help...

      Regards Milan

      D
      dschenken1-Visitor
      1-Visitor
      April 22, 2016

      Give each user their own sandbox directory and set the config option so that changed files are never saved back to their origin. Spend some time and create a utility to copy files from the sandboxes and change the version suffix to be one higher than the ones that are already there. This ensures that only files that are definitely needed are moved out of the sandboxes. AutoIt, AutoHotkey, or Excel VBA would work well enough.

      If you want version control, create a directory for each revision level and set up search paths that evaluate them backwards (Library, sandbox, Z,Y, X, W, ... C, B, A, Preliminary) so that the most recent version will be retrieved first. There will be a performance hit eventually, but by then you'll have Windchill or some such.

      I would also suggest setting up a Trello account. Trello website. Srcoll down to see the interface.While just turning and telling someone something is easy enough, there needs to be a means better than sticky notes for when they aren't there and for planning purposes. The price is right and there's nothing to install, but it probably isn't a good fit for Secret information.

      R
      RaphMORIN16-PearlAuthor
      16-Pearl
      April 22, 2016

      Hello all, thanks for these precious answers. In fact, we work on quite simple projects, "one man show" as you say Milan, so there won't be problems working on the same parts or assembly.

      In fact the person we plan to engage is a student that we'll have for two years approximately and will be one week to school and the next week at the company, and so on. The objective is to form the student and hire him at the end. So, it's me who will give the working methods. After working for almost 7 years by myself, my working methods have much evolved and are getting good I think.

      I'll apply the organization for the config files you gave and place them on network.

      Thanks David for telling about Trello, I didn't know about it.

      T
      TomD.inPDX17-Peridot
      17-Peridot
      April 23, 2016

      If you have an intern for a year, you might assign this task to him.  I'm going through the same issue now with SolidWorks.

      I have worked in a 4 people collaboration.  All the work was done from one server.  History was not a concern.  The server structure was a simple.  Part numbers were 5 digits assigned to groups to people.  The server has a folder for the first 2 digits so 999 parts/asm would be located in that folder.  The search path included all these folders.  A batch routing systematically removed wrongly placed files from the backup routine.  Using save-as backup is very useful, but as David pointed out, this requires maintenance of your server files.  Of course, the rest is due diligence.  For the most part, any wrongly placed parts were simple duplicates of the valid version.  Oddly enough, this rarely, if ever, caused a problem.  This database managed 10's of thousands of part numbers.  The one advantage we had was that people had their own projects and collaboration was limited where overwriting each other's files was pretty much a non-issue.  If it was, it was a simple as sticking your head around the corner into the other cubical.

      B
      bmüller1-Visitor
      1-Visitor
      July 27, 2016

      Hi,

      you can just copy the whole Creo folder to another PC.

      You'll have no file associations one the new PC (no double click to open a file), but out colleagues only use the open dialogue from Creo.

      For a quick view you can use Creo View.

      if you want equal setups - install Creo on a test PC or uninstall it and copy it back.

      br Bernhard

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