I was told by my PTC rep to stay with 3.4. The 8.0 he said takes allot more work to set up and administer and you need a user base of around 50 to justify the administration costs. Since we have 5 most people even wonder why I have Ilink at all. I cannot figure out why PTC keeps coming up with newer versions of a package and dropping important functionality!
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I've installed and migrated Intralink 8.0 on a test server. The Migration was relatively easy after going on the admin course and understanding how Intralink 8.0 works. I didn't go on the migration course I just worked through the manual and it was quite straight forward for a migration of 6500 objects ( a small database).
The part that got me was the installation. It wasn't smooth and I had to use tech support quite a bit. It took anything from 1 hour to over a week to get answers from them.
With regards missing functionality we have a problem in that we skip versions in Intralink 3.3. To tie in with our ERP parts could go from version 3A to 4A skipping 3B,3C----3Z. I have put in a enhancement request to PTC as without this functionality there is no way we can use Intralink 8
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For us, we are still trying to impliment WF2.0. we are 2 - 3 years from 8.0. I don't see what we gain from 8.0, and dont like the huge price tag at all. We have not made a decision yet. Plus, I have learned to never jump on a PTC product early as it causes much pain. I prefer to let the smoke settle. We are also implimeting QAD company wide this year, so our load is pretty full for the next year or two.
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Personally, I think that PTC has positioned Pro/I 8.0 this way on purpose, with a painful upgrade path, few improvements and several severe deficiencies, in addition to a release timing that almost perfectly coincides with the latest version of PDMLink. Their objective seems to be to drive people towards a Windchill-centric solution, while giving the appearance of providing the continuing Pro/I support they have been promising ever since Windchill came along. I'd be interested to hear a summary if you get any responses of Pro/I 8 users 😉
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We are just loading it for a evaluation now. We too see import/ export as a major "show stopper". We also see the lost functionality of not being able to revert to older versions (frame manager) as a big disappointment. We hear from PTC that performance is wonderful, but I have serious doubts about hundreds of users hitting a webserver (or webservers) that performance will be on par with 3.X. (We still have users reminding us that PDM was three times faster)
The problem we see with PDMlink is the Windchill licensing model (named user vs. floating licenses).
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I was a contractor at "X" for a year. They went from 3.3 to 3.4 to 8.0 while I was there. 8.0 was the most frustrating going backward piece of software that I have used. It lost duplicate object functionality, import export, and then the whole web browser concept is just poorly concieved.
I now am a direct hire at "Y" . They were looking at doing the same thing I think I stalled them for a while on the 8.o just because you lose fuctionalities that are used daily. So how do you get PTC to make the right changes.
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First, I totally agree with you regarding different migration path based on their size & special interest.
Secondly, Intralink 8.0 as well as pdmlink 8.0 and windchill are capable of loading different types of file into the system in automated way. The issue is its done via script the good thing However its giving you the power to load info into the system many files type arrange them according to products (&folder) offline without user been involve. It's true though that importing pro e file is a pain but if you use intralink today the migratory should answer your demands.
Regarding export functionality you have an import/export manager in the system where you can specify export (even scheduled one) in the system.
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Dear PTC/User Data Management Community,
I'd like to respond to some of the Pro/INTRALINK 8.0 product issues/concerns raised in this email thread. But first, PTC acknowledges that there are some differences in functionality between Pro/INTRALINK 3.x and 8.0 and we are fully committed to continuing to enhance Pro/INTRALINK 8.0.
Skipping Revisions: In 8.0 M020 (Pro/INTRALINK and PDMLink) PTC is introducing the ability to directly set the revision (e.g. A, B, C, D) of an object. 8.0 M020 is scheduled to release at the end of March.
Admin Undo/Checkout: In 8.0 F000 (Pro/INTRALINK and PDMLink) an administrator does have the ability to Undo Checkout a CAD Document checked out by another user. To do this the administrator selects the Undo Checkout action from the workspace property page of the desired object. In 8.0 this command does not present the admin with any UI confirming the action. In 9.0 we will be enhancing this command to provide a UI.
Workspace Frames: "Workspace Frame" capabilities are not available with the use of 8.0 and Wildfire 2.0. However, Pro/E Wildfire 2.0 does include extensive Undo/Redo capabilities that in some cases may eliminate the need for Frames. Furthermore, with the combination of Pro/INTRALINK 9.0 and Pro/E Wildfire 4.0 PTC plans on delivering workspace frame capabilities.
Import/Export: While Pro/INTRALINK 8.0 and PDMLink 8.0 do not provide direct Import/Export commands in the Workspace, a user can use the Pro/ENGINEER "backup" command to export a dataset from the workspace. In addition, Pro/INTRALINK 8.0 and PDMLink 8.0 do include server-side Import/Export capabilities. These capabilities were designed to move data between Windchill-based systems. They were not designed for sending data to external users (e.g. suppliers). However, for some use cases (including importing/exporting large amounts of non-CAD data) these tools may be very applicable. This capability does NOT exist in Pro/INTRALINK 3.x. Lastly, PTC's integral Windchill PDMLink/ProjectLink environment is ideal for supplier collaboration.
Next, with Pro/E Wildfire 3.0 PTC will be delivering new workspace export capabilities. This will provide the ability to explicitly export an entire workspace (including model files and metadata). The exported workspace (aka "Portable Workspace") can then be accessed offline and keeps track of changes.
And, with Pro/INTRALINK 9.0 and Windchill PDMLink 9.0 PTC plans on introducing the ability to import and export selected objects directly from a workspace. (Capabilities very similar to what exists in Pro/INTRALINK 3.4 today)
Duplicate (with Update Parent): 8.0 includes server-side "Save As" capabilities that are very similar to Pro/INTRALINK "duplicate" but on the server. In the 9.0 release PTC intends to introduce "save as" capabilities in the Workspace including "update parent."
Oracle Licensing: PTC offers two versions of Pro/INTRALINK, one that includes embedded Oracle licenses and one that does not. Customers using a version of Pro/INTRALINK 3.x that includes an embedded Oracle license do NOT need to purchase new Oracle licenses when they upgrade to Pro/INTRALINK 8.0.
I hope this information is helpful as you develop your upgrade/migration plans.
Regards,
Will Kohler
PTC
