Windchill new installation: reference for best practices for loading assemblies/parts/drawings?

[mikehoopes]

We are looking at a new deployment of Windchill from scratch, with several assemblies that likely have duplicate part files. I'm having a hard time locating reference documentation for doing this, and our VAR is quoting over $20K to do this for us, which isn't in our near-term budget. I need to be able to explain our options to the bean-counters, and there will be furrowed brows if DIY and a relative labor estimate isn't one of them.

The explanation we are being given from our VAR (at least as my colleague interpreted their explanation) is that CAD file/parameter loading is a very tedious, one-part-at-a-time operation, which I'm having a hard time swallowing in the 21st century. I've only found mention of Excel data import, but that doesn't seem to point to the initial load of model/assembly/drawing files, and all relevant template material.

Could anyone direct me to some reference material for import process best practices and/or methods for a new Windchill installation/deployment?

Thanks much,

Mike

[BenLoosli]

There is a Bulk loading option in Windchill where you set up CSV files of the metadata and then a location for your files that need loaded. Start with the part files, then the assemblies and finally the drawings.

There are some Windchill Data Loading Reference and Best Practices Guide documents in here, but they are for each release of Windchill and you did not state which release you are building.

[mikehoopes]

Hi Ben, thanks for the reply. We would be installing the latest version, which I believe is currently 12.1.1.

[mikehoopes]

I did already locate a page for r12.1.1.0 that mentions a "Windchill Data Loading Reference and Best Practices Guide", but it does not provide a hyperlink to the actual document. 

Database Initializing and Data Loading (ptc.com)

A Google search for the last 6 years yielded a link to a 2015 PDF version; is this the latest version of the document, and/or are the relevant methods significantly unchanged?

PTC Windchill Data Loading Reference and Best Practices Guide | PTC

[mikehoopes]

Also important to note: we are licensed for Windchill PDM Essentials.

[RandyJones]

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@mikehoopes wrote:

Also important to note: we are licensed for Windchill PDM Essentials.

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That is retired:

https://www.ptc.com/en/support/article/cs329409

[mikehoopes]

Thanks, Randy...I haven't kept up with the changes since last year. Let's assume that we're configuring Windchill Base.

Multi MCAD and Visualization aren't part of our requirements here.

[avillanueva]

How many CAD assemblies and Parts do you have to load? Are you mapping attributes from those CAD files to parameters in Windchill? That might determine best course.

[mikehoopes]

Hard to say without a PDM system. I would estimate 2000 parts, 300 assemblies (wild guess). Most of the parts and assemblies have their own parameters, many of which map to title block/approval block entries in drawings, and some parameters are used in BOM reports.

We also have PCB assemblies created from IDF 3.0. Parameter interchange is limited there to ref des and internal part no, but we don't need comprehensive BOMs in Creo for those assemblies. IDF ECAD parameters don't match the naming convention of our mech parts, but perhaps there's a way to map them over.

I don't know if Windchill Basic supports the same CAD file with parameter variations...does it? If it doesn't, then the parameters for the board-mounted parts are irrelevant, due to model re-use.

[avillanueva]

This not much for a workspace to handle. I've loaded Creo and Solidworks in this manner. but it took some pre-planning. First you want to make sure that your parameters are mapped and designated properly. But if you don't need those, you can skip and it will pick up filename as number. If these parts are at different revisions and you want them to start at those revisions, you need to sort your files to do them rev by rev in batches.  You can import all the parts hundreds at a time into the workspace. Upload and then you have a change to revise to advance the version to where it should start at. Then you can complete the check in.  

You may have case were parts reference other parts or circular links to assemblies. You can handle those as you come across them or skip those parts till later. You can also allow placeholders into system. When all parts in, you can import those assemblies. It can pull all the parts that you already checked in down again as they are needed by the assemblies.  Repeat process for uploading, advancing version and completing check in. 

Once items are in Windchill, you can use move and rename tools to mass update data.

[mikehoopes]

Thanks, that is reassuring. Quick question with regards to parameters: Our parts and assemblies have embedded parameters; will Windchill pick those up directly from the .prt and .asm files, or do I need to extract them and side-load them using a csv file or equivalent format?

[HelesicPetr]

Hi @mikehoopes 

An issue with parameters in CAD models located on hard-drive is that model parameters are not usually set as designated.

"Designated" is used to move model parameters to the Windchill database.

My experience is that bulk import of CAD model is more complicated because quality of models is very poor.

There can be many issues with family tables and instance filenames that can case failure of import. 

Ghost objects thanks old references and so on.

Import by workspace with all corrections and improvement of quality is more valuable for customers. 

PetrH

[joe_morton]

Just to add another tool to your toolkit:

You can look into using the Creo Batch tool. Some intro info here: https://www.ptc.com/en/support/article/cs139340

I've used in the past for bulk updating attributes. It's been a long time, since I've used it, but you may be able to do something like open a list of files and set certain parameters as designated.