Migrating Autodesk Vault Professional to PDMLink

[ChrisPLM]

Hello everyone.

has anyone got experience in migrating Autodesk Vault Professional to PDMLink ?

I am interested in knowing the pitfalls and see if I can learn from someone else mistake

Best regards

[bsindelar]

I have a few questions for clarification:

1. What is the size (number of objects) of this migration (ballpark)?
2. What is the format(s) (extensions) of the files?
3. Are you intending to load the files as EPMDocuments to Windchill or as WTDocuments?
4. Which tool(s)/high-level migration strategy do you intend to deploy?

I may have some pointers depending on your responses.

[ChrisPLM]

Hello Bob

thank you for your response.

We are at a very very early stage, therefore I may not be able to answer yet all your questions.

We currently have about 10 000 idw (I do not know the number of iteration yet)

Files are generally, iam, ipt, idw,  many dwg (autocad) and pdf, and also items

We currently have two options.

1) Migrate to Windchill and keep Inventor as CAD Software

2) Migrate to Windchill and switch to Creo

For option 1:

We will need the WGM for Inventor in order to manage efficiently Inventor files in iam, ipt, idw and dwg in Windchill

For option 2:

We will switch to Creo. That is all new design will need to be done in Creo. It is expected (yet to be tested and validated) that it will be possible to check out an inventor file, "convert" into Creo to implement a change and check back in. The new iteration be a creo file. It is also expected to create a new creo assembly file using inventor component without the need to iterate the inventor component.

For your 4th question. I have no idea yet and seek for inspiration

I hope this gives you more details.

Thanks

[bsindelar]

Hi Chris - these answers help a lot!

So it sounds like regardless of your option to continue with Inventor or to switch to Creo, you intend to load these objects as EPMDocuments to take advantage of object-to-object relationships and utilize the WGM.

As you are likely aware, a migration is a pretty big task regardless of the quantity of objects, due to the need to have a proper configuration strategy pre-migration and setting up for integration to other Windchill elements post-migration.  Due to these needs and several other factors, there could be several options/tools/strategies that are possible.

If you're looking for a bit more "official" help, the company I work for (www.eccellent.com) does migrations, and I'd be happy to come up with a quote for your migration after discussing a few more details.  Please let me know if you're interested.

[acoates]

Hi Chris. If you go with Option 2 you need to be wary of drawings. While you may have an element of capability with keeping parts and assemblies from becoming "dumb", the drawings may well need to be converted to .dwg and lose their parametric links, requiring a new drawing to be done in Creo when it comes to a change action. Make sure that you budget for this anticipated time in your business case: trust me, it can make a significant difference, even in a SME!

[ChrisPLM]

Hello Andy,

this is a very good point. I now realize that all the demonstration I have seen about Unite Technology was about working with the 3D models.

I can imagine that Creo will open and read the idw file (not sure though as Autodesk once said to me this can only be opened by Inventor.....) but if I start making changing to the inventor 3D model using Creo, the changes may not update automatically to the 2D drawing (idw file).

This for sure requires testing.  This is what I told the reseller, their bidding task is bigger than autodesk because they must prove Windchill will do the job while proving the efficiency of the Inventor Integration if we stay with Inventor but also demonstrate the benefits of Creo vs the burden of changing if we come to change from Inventor to Creo.

The only good point in all this at the moment is that the intake of Inventor was poor (as always this was driven by engineering and expected drawings to be converted as and when they needed,  needless to say that the designers never converted any drawings, Only created new in Inventor so intake after 3 years = only 6% of our drawings are in Inventor,  so even if we have to manually convert all, that is OK, )

Thanks Andy

Bob, thanks too for your comment.

[TomU]

... if I start making changing to the inventor 3D model using Creo, the changes may not update automatically to the 2D drawing (idw file).

Guaranteed.  They will not update.  There is no relationship between any Unite models and their corresponding drawings.  Unite is basically doing an on the fly import in the background (creating .creo files) with some mapping to update things any time the native file changes.  It will not maintain any references to drawings created in these other CAD systems.

[MarkLobo]

For clarification, the streamlined Creo 3.0 Unite workflows (streamlined = reading the foreign CAD models without creating a new Creo model, until modified in Creo) doesn't work today for Inventor data; it works for SolidWorks, NX and CATIA V5 data. The option there is to Import the Inventor 3d models (*.iam and *.ipt) and create a Creo Translated Image Model (or TIM).

[boemi]

Hi Chris,

Litlle bit late but how does your migration project was running?

We are faced in a similar situation, we integrate a company with Inventor (VAULT) data to windchill in parallel to our Creo environment. Data stay in Inventor and will be maintained in there. 

Migration is planned to export all versions of a file to local folders and then only import the latest version to Windchill.

Do you have any recommendations regarding migration? Things you struggled?

Thanks for your feedback.

Marc

[fivig]

You can use this module https://support.ptc.com/help/wnc/r11.2.0.0/en/index.html#page/Windchill_Help_Center/WCInstall_BulkMigrator.html

[boemi]

We successfully migrated our vault database to Windchill the last weekend.

We were using the Tool "FISHBOWL InventorLoader".

Absoultely easy to use and user friendly.

Support of these people is also amazing, replies and solutions within hours.

Migration of about 35k objects was fully done after 4 hours (including folder structures, lifecycles, reference checks).

[AB_9319273]

Hi,

I am looking to move our Autodesk Vault data across into our Windchill System and use the Works Group Manager to allow multiCAD access.   You say you used "FISHBOWL Inventor Loader"  but I can not see any info online for this application..    I would be really interested to see how you have done it and how it is working for you now? What you would have done differently...  

Thanks

Andy

[HelesicPetr]

Is this application? Fishbowl Help

PetrH

[boemi]

Hi Andy

We migrated back in 2020 the latest iteration of Inventor data from Autodesk Vault to Windchill (latest iteration is something you have to think about and decide in your migration steps).

For such a migration you could use the "PTC bulk migrator" but this will not be possible without help of a consultant or system administrator.

I selected another path - we purchased the tool "FISHBOWL link loader for Inventor".

We downloaded all data from Autodesk vault to one of our CAD machines.

Then exported all the meta data from the database.

With the FISHBOWL loader tool - all is UI driven, means you go step by step through the visual process.

I made the complete migration of the data myself.
Migration process was starting friday late afternoon and sunday lunch time the system was ready
(one final test migration + one full production migration) - volume +-40k CAD objects.
History from Autodesk Vault we saved with a PDF drawing export of the latest iteration of every version - this was sufficient for us.

6 Months later we made then the next migration on the SolidWorks side.
Integrated a volume of 150k CAD Objects to Windchill per batch.
We now live in a MultiCAD environment.

Next goal is to build a system to fase out inventor and find the middle way with unite technology consuming the data in Creo.

Please connect with Rick Passolt @rpassolt from Fishbowl - they can help you and demo the tool - really great people.

Link to the tool:
https://fishbowlsolutions.com/software/ptc-windchill-creo/linkloader/
Short webinar:

https://fishbowlsolutions.com/about/news/webinar-series-automate-expedite-ptc-windchill-bulk-loading/

Let me know if you have more questions.

Greetings from Switzerland

Marc

[AB_9319273]

Thanks for the speedy replies.

All sounds too easy 🙂  but exactly what I am trying to achieve..   I will contact Rick for more detailed demonstrations specific to our needs.

Thanks Marc.

From a very Hot UK.

Andy

[boemi]

Hi Andy

Sounds easy but migration is always a big topic.
The process really runs like showed in the webinar - really smooth.

All depends how much time you can invest and the quality of the data.
Coming from Vault with just latest iteration was easy to do.

Our goal was to keep the process in our hands including the costs.

If you have to reely on consultants for migration the project can be foggy until you receive the final bill.

Regards,

Marc

[AB_9319273]

Hi Marc,

Appreciate your time and opinion.

Spoke with Fishbowl Solutions and it looks like the way to go.. They make it sound too easy & simple.. I am still not sure if it is American sales selling it to me or they have imported inventor information so much, they are confident it won't be a problem.

Some questions for you if you have the answers it may help.

Question1 : Did you have any inventor files with really long file names which windchill did not accept? If you did, how did you handle it?

Question2: Our data is coming from Sweden so it has special characters. Did you have any issues with special characters in inventor file names?

Question3: Did you have any iparts or iassemblies in inventor with table created parts or assemblies? did you have any problems with these?

Question4 We plan to use windchill workgroup manager to maybe modify inventor files and associated drawings using inventor rather than creo.. do you use this and have you had any problem with your imported inventor data in windchill?

Question5: Are there any other issues you think I should be aware of which would be nice to know about so I can address, solve or fix?

Thanks for your time

Regards

Andy Bick

[boemi]

Hi Andy

Lot of questions but I try my best

Question1 : Did you have any inventor files with really long file names which windchill did not accept? If you did, how did you handle it?

- What means long file names for you?

- We had some longer filenames, but we migrated the data from VAULT to WINDCHILL, so all data were transfered smoothly

Question2: Our data is coming from Sweden so it has special characters. Did you have any issues with special characters in inventor file names?

- We are located in Switzerland, means we also have special characters as you may know  (äöüàéè....).
- During the test migration they had to fix a little issue where some characters were displayed as a square - Ben from Fishbowl fixed this within 24hours - they respond very quick 

Question3: Did you have any iparts or iassemblies in inventor with table created parts or assemblies? did you have any problems with these?

- unfortunately we did not had this use case

Question4 We plan to use windchill workgroup manager to maybe modify inventor files and associated drawings using inventor rather than creo.. do you use this and have you had any problem with your imported inventor data in windchill?

- We use WorkgroupManager in combination with Inventor, Solidworks and prior Illustrate, so we are familiar with this process.

- The WGM works fine but you have to pay attention to the compatibility matrix and the configuration.

- There is one thing I currently have no solutions for it - it is more WC related, if you upgrade Inventor to an new version, Autodesk recommends to migrate the data consistently - this process is not yet solved inside Windchill - to be fair, in Autodesk Vault it is also not so simple.

But the issue is smaller, our learning is that newer releases of Inventor do less migration on the data.

Question5: Are there any other issues you think I should be aware of which would be nice to know about so I can address, solve or fix?

- If you use content center, then the integration/configuration in Windchill is an important topic - we migrated this as the first portion.

- Attribute mgmt/configuration needs a good planing - depening if your path is continuing with Inventor as CAD or if you try to work in a MultiCAD environment with Creo consuming Inventor data through UNITE technology (we are in this circumstances 95% Creo and 2% SolidWorks and 3% Inventor - Worldwide view)

Let me know if you want to talk live - I assume you may have more questions 🙂

Regards,
Marc