Why are we sticking with Intralink?

[AntonioVillanue]

I realized after my blog this morning that I do not fully understand the other side of this issue? Why are so many customers adamant about sticking with Intralink as opposed to migrating to Intralink 9+? I say Intralink 9+ knowing full well its Windchill or PDMLink with features turned off. My assuption is that if you needed the other functionality of PDMLink, you would have upgraded already so you really need a Intralink 3.4 replacement. I am interested to hear about what Intralink could do that PDMLink does not do currently. What are the gaps? Or is this just an issue of Windchill's architecture and admin complexity?

[AntonioVillanue]

Interesting. My sysadmin completed a migration to an existing PDMLink system. We did this without GSO. The tools had a bunch of problems and it did take a long time. What I can say is that the tools kept us going in the right direction. The biggest issue we had was the fact that there were conflicts to items in PDMLink (items that existed in both systems). We were able to work around that by renaming. It took many rehersals to get it right. We plan on doing another site later this year.

[pwyndham]

We have a PDMLink installation but went back to Intralink 3.4. PDMLink has way too much overhead. We are looking to move to ProductPoint. ProductPoint is much more user friendly and easy to manage than PDMLink. I would say everyone needs to check out both solutions before they make a decision on PDMLink.

[BarrySchaeffer]

Paul,

I completely agree with you about Windchill tools vs. Intralink 3.X. We are still in production on Intralink 3.4 M030.

Can you recommend a Product Point admin expert?

Barry

[MichaelHeit]

We upgraded from IntraLink to PDMLink 9.1 last November. What a mess! I used to spend 10% of my day processing work through Intralink. Now, 30% of my day is spent in Windchill. 30% of my day in Windchill, not in Pro/E, but in Windchill! After all the hardware upgrades, hundreds of consultant hours I get this. It would have been more cost effective to buy each employee a Mustang and tell them to get to work five minuets earlier.

[CM10]

I've used Pro/E for over 13 years, at times at an admin level, and have used 4 different vaulting systems for the data, and Windchill/PDMLink is by far the worst, most cumbersome, easy to lose data, easy to make a mistake vaulting system I've ever used. I've worked at 2 different companies that migrated to it, and EVERY SINGLE USER wishes we'd stayed with Intralink. It is by far a better, easier to use with a much better interface, just as powerful if not MORE powerful (where's my frames? why can't I adjust column width? Why does it truncate filenames because of the HTML limitations? Etc., etc.) for the CAD user, and FAR cheaper and less costly and easier to maintain system. Operators at both companies have mysteriously lost data (including myself)!!!! My professional advice? Stick with Intralink. The later versions are very good and easy to use. You'll be much happier.

[jschutte]

Two reasons. First one as above, resources.

Second reason: fear! As the latest post shows, the reviews of Intralink 9 are very bad. As in not a single good review at all that I've read.

What we are now doing is sticking with 3.4 with WF4.0 as long as possible. What's funny is how long we waited to go to WF4, I'd thought we were way behind the curve. As it turned out we were ahead of all our vendors, partners, & sister companies. As it is NOT A SINGLE ONE of them have moved to WF5.0.

PTC: please fix Intralink. Simple, rock solid CAD data management (like Ilink3.4). We will only be using it to manage our Pro CAD files, nothing else, ever. No matter how hard PTC tries to force their PLM on us by shoehorning Windchill through Intralink9.0, it won't sell to our executive group. I'm not trying to start some flamefest on this, really I'm not. It's just how it looks to me.

Hopeful waiting here. Maybe PTC will help.

[IkramMinhas]

Hi Every Body

Very nice and informative discussion regarding the Intralink and Windchill.

We are newly migrating from 2D Cad systems to PTC Pro/Engineer software. I am not been able to decide yet about which Data Mangament solution will be right for us to implement at our company, as we dont have any previous data management system, so should we also stick to Intralink or think about the Windchill?

Please briefly explain the differences and limitations we will be facing incase we also stick to Intralink with Wildfire 3/4.

We are also intending to implement SAP later on, Does PTC data magament solutions share infromation with SAP systems?

Thaks in advance

Ikram

[MichaelHeit]

Ikram,

I am not an expert on the other PDM systems, but I have used Intralink for 10+ years and Windchill for 1 year. I may be a little pessimistic, but it is because I demand excellence. PTC has the potential to be at the top of the industry, but they lack creativity and user understanding.

PTC has been saying they want to stop supporting Intralink and then let PDMLink/Windchill take over that market. The problem is that people who have used other PDM systems hate Windchill. Intralink has limited features, but at least it works.

If PTC were to say today "Hey customers! We are dumping Intralink and replacing it with Windchill!" they would loose all of thier market share within 5 years.

Companies who have no PDM system that start using Windchill are going from the stone ages to the dark ages. This is an improvement, but not by much. You will gain the ability to control revisions, allow multiple users share files and other features that most CAD users expect nowadays. The cost will be time and frustration. If you have large assemblies (3000 or more parts like vehicles) it will make question your sanity and career path. If you design less complex items it may be ok, but I can't image that this is the best that's out there.

PTC is working on version 10. I have heard that it is supposed to be very different. I am hopefult that PTC will eventually clue in enough to ensure their survival.

A good PDM system must be liked by management, adminitrators and users. It's a difficult choice, because there are so few places to find honest reviews.

[IkramMinhas]

Hi Michael,

Many thanks for your informative reply.

Well, this is now my general understanding that Intralink experts dont like windchill. Even if one start and implement Intralink with Pro/Engineer, then No future support from PTC will force him to stay on older versions of Pro/Engineer as well.

PTC must continue supporting both intralink and windchill, untill all customers fully accept the change.

We dont have a very complex assemblies, its HVAC products mainly sheetmetal parts. But revisions and configurations are the main things we need to manage.

I will put both solutions to top management and then let them choose, .

I think as a new company to 3D and Data Management, we can start with intralink 3.4 and wildfire 4 combination. and we become the part of same PTC customers community who oppose the migration to Windchill until PTC decides about us.

Thanks

Ikram

[ptc-3171882]

As a new PTC customer I'm not sure they will sell you Pro/INTRALINK 3.4. They may only allow you to buy the Windchill data management solutions. You might not have a choice.

Patrick Williams

[apekim]

Intralink 3.4 was, and still is a great tool for the engineer in organizations that either do not have a need for an enterprise PLM solution or they prefer to keep their cad data separate from their PLM tool.

My background is PTC products at a user and admin level for 13 years. Where I currently work, our primary production database is Teamcenter PLM with Ideas-CAD. I also have NX-CAD, Pro/E WF4 w/ Pro/Intralink 3.4 installed on my workstation. We are planning to have Teamcenter manage our Pro/E data, thus eliminating the Intralink. This can be done using a Pro/E connector for Teamcenter. I have a feeling that all that good Intralink functionality will be lost.

If we go ahead with this plan, there will be alot of finger pointing when problems arise.

I keep hoping that PTC will produce an extension product to continue Intralink 3.4 functionality. Those who have never used 3.4, sorry you will never know what you are missing.

[AntonioVillanue]

That ship sailed long ago. Let me know how your TeamCenter project goes. I'd be interested to see what you lose.

[JohnMcCormick]

A late replay but we are just now going through the pain and my web search found this blog.

PTC sold Intralink as a "PDM" system but defined "PDM" as "Parametric Data Manager". In other words, it is a file manager for PTC files. Easy to use, easy to administer, easy java interface, easy to talk to other programs.

Windchill and all of its derivitives is a full blown "Product Data Manager" system - with lots of overhead. The company I now work for already has a Product Data Manager and is not interested in gointo to Windchill. We are told to use PDMLink as the file manager for PTC products but it is WAAAy overkill for that and WAAAy to cumbersom as has been pointed out earlier.

PTC - we need a file manager for PTC files and we need simple out of the box connection tools into other (real) PDM systems. When do you think I can have that?

JRM

[ptc-177232]

My first login to this site, find it interesting and see the need to comment.

I manage both PDMLink and Oracle EBS environments, one master instance supporting multiple divisions, various external design teams, 100+ PRO-E Drivers, 900+ PDMLink Users and about 200 various prodcut lines. Around 2007 we migrated from Intralink 3.4 into PDMLink 9.0 with an full Oracle integration. We then migrated to PDMLink 9.1 in 2010 all behind the scenes, invisable to the end users. This year we're moving to PDMLink 10.

Our primary migration question came down to why migrate, as many firms do. Removing the opinions (very tough) and getting down to base fundmentals we wanted to drive smart BOM's from the Engineering designers into our factories seemless as possible. We also wanted to remove redundant touch labor between our Engineers, CM releases, Manufacturing disciplines, go paperless and simply drive from "one BOM".

We custom built the PDMLink to Oracle interface to suit our business needs. In addition to, we wanted the Internet capability to perform design share and collaboration, working from the same database. Prior to this, we worked in terms of weeks vs. minutes, yes minutes.

Intralink 3.4 is a very good tool for PRO-E designers under the same roof. If this is all you need, then this is all you need. Intralink 9 series is nothing more than PDMLink with turned off functionality, like some work flows. Some of my colleges working for other firms use 3-4 different tools to manage CAD, CM releases (PDF's) and various documents. Their support staff is around 6-9 employees, mine is 2. I have one Admin and one Designer supporting the environment. We do have a seperated data center IT group to handle the OS level upgrades, we do the rest. To do this, it's called lots of training and pure dedication.

The key to our migration sucess was: Don't rush, define every requirement and then weed out what you really don't need. "Study" the out of he box functionality vs. customizing to fit existing business requirements. Re-wite your business requirements if possible. At first with PDMLink 9 we did not and customized the Change Management work flow route. We quickly we realize the upgrade path would become more labor entensive and are now 95% out of the box.

Another key to the Intralink data migration was placing manpower to ensure the file names and numbering was correct for all CAD data. We standardized Release Levels (Part States), Revisions, Formats, Start Parts, etc. Yes the various Engineering groups complained a lot, what's new. However, as companies start to fully use the true capabilities of PDMLink utilizing Product Structure with associated CAD models and drawings, integrated Change Management to drive syatems such as Oracle or SAP, then they will understand what PDMLink is really all about.

In summary: PDMLink is a very robust system, it's not a tool for the casual user or a group of a few CAD guys sitting in the same office. MSExcel or Share Point works just fine. Take time to create good system reports. Reports make management happy and leave the Sys-Admins alone.

[jschutte]

"Intralink 3.4 is a very good tool for PRO-E designers under the same roof. If this is all you need, then this is all you need."

Agreed. However, there is no going to WF5 or Creo (WF6?) until there is a new CAD data management solution in place. We are on WF4 Ilink3.4 & happy. Sooner or later we will need to upgrade. We have five seats with seven users all under one roof. What do we do?

You mentioned Sharepoint. Unfortunately PTC killed ProductPoint so a clear path to migrating to Sharepoint is no longer available.

Eleven months since my last post on this thread & what has changed? Productpoint is killed. No word at all about Intralink 10. Nothing at all from PTC. From what I can see, PTC is not at all interested in keeping us as a customer. Seriously, why kill Productpoint without a replacement?

Regards,

Joe Schutte