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WayneBeck1-Visitor
1-Visitor
July 24, 2014
Question

Doc Management, Windchill 10.1, and Training

  • July 24, 2014
  • 4 replies
  • 1376 views

For the places out there using Windchill for doc control how are you controlling training records? We are at a crossroads right now on what tool to use for doc control. There is a push to find a tool that does training records as well as doc control.I personally would like to use Windchill for doc control and Oracle for training tracking and make the systems talk to each other. Any input would be great.

4 replies

AL_ANDERSON12-Amethyst
12-Amethyst
July 24, 2014
In our company, Windchill's primary purpose is "Engineering Data
Management." Documents that have nothing to do with designs, bills of
material, CAD models, engineering changes, drawings, managing projects
related to engineering and sales order engineering, etc. should not go
into Windchill. Windchill's data model is usually much more complex than
most simple "document management" requests typically want. Also,
something like "training records" has no matching out of the box object
pre-modeled into the system. So, to use Windchill, you would have to
create light types with attributes and probably custom reports and
functionality to "remember" who took what training, and what documents
related to what training modules.

PTC University, for example, does not run on Windchill.

Therefore, I would guide people into something else for a specific
"training records management system" unless you want to do something fast,
you have Windchill already but not something better suited to your
requirements, and you don't have picky users who who will complain about
the search interface, or the way attributes are displayed, or the color
scheme, or the fact that "my documents don't need those attributes that
Windchill says are mandatory, can you make them go away...." etc. If all
of that is true, then you can certainly do something in Windchill, but it
will not be as good as a system specifically designed for training and
training records management.

Al



SteveVinyard1-Visitor
1-Visitor
July 24, 2014
The training side is difficult. Al is right that there is no OOTB training module so if you were to use it, it would be something creatively built.

I respectfully disagree on the documentation side. Documentation is, in many companies, a massive part of their Product. These documents can be managed and linked back to the products they define and support and also included in the change amongst other critical processes. I see a lot of organizations that have their various product/project/quality etc documentation scattered across network drives, various Sharepoints etc. Finding the right document at the right version that pertains to the product you are working with is a severe inefficiency typically and change processes never affect them. Most studies on the benefits of PLM site "finding the right stuff" to be a large problem that PLM helps solve. Windchill allows you to build your product structure so that all of this data can be found and accessed very quickly. You can also, as an engineering lead or platform manager, see if everything is truly present and released or not, who owns or other pieces of information. I've also military contractor companies be in situations where the documentation they create is truly the "product they sell". Their words not mine. Having everything related to a product in one location allows you to truly have your hand on the heartbeat of your product. I've personally seen this be successful from fortune 50 companies down 50 million dollar companies.

The desktop integration, while not always perfect in the past, allows an incredibly easy portal for documentation users. Some have told me its better than their sharepoint integration and easier to use. You are given a "Windchill Drive" on your "My Computer" screen just like a network drive. You can open a document directly from there, searching included, (not on your computer, no downloading uploading nonsense). It'll ask you if you want to check it out, then you work, when you are done, it will ask you if you want to check it in (even if you forget and just hit close). It's very, very simple.






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Stephen Vinyard
Business Development Manager/Solution Architect
AL_ANDERSON12-Amethyst
12-Amethyst
July 24, 2014
Steve,

I don't think we disagree at all regarding Windchill's tremendous value
for management documents that can "be managed and linked back to the
products they define and support and also included in the change amongst
other critical processes."

Anything even remotely product related can find a useful home in
Windchill. I admit my original post about "Engineering Data" is more
limiting than than a broader term like "Product Data." Anything at all
that is related to parts, products, designs, support, etc.over the entire
product lifecycle is something that can find a useful home in Windchill. I
would argue that not putting that kind of data in Windchill is a wasted
opportunity because Windchill is only good if you can link all of that
kind of data together with its reference CAD, part, document, and other
PLM objects (baselines, changes, etc.).

However, I have had many requests over the last ten years for Windchill to
manage "Human Resources" documents, or "Conceptual Design Documents" for
IT projects that have nothing to do with Windchill or our product data, or
"Executive Meeting Minutes" etc. In almost every case, any of my old
efforts to put non-product documents into Windchill ended badly because
those people wanted an on-line share drive with notification features, not
a revision controlled configuration management system. That is why we now
direct non-product document requests to our LiveLink or SharePoint
implementations, and we direct any LiveLink or SharePoint requests to
store Product Data over to Windchill.

Al








SteveVinyard1-Visitor
1-Visitor
July 24, 2014
I thought I was going to be preaching to the choir. Seems I was right ☺. I like this paragraph!

Anything even remotely product related can find a useful home in Windchill. I admit my original post about "Engineering Data" is more limiting than than a broader term like "Product Data." Anything at all that is related to parts, products, designs, support, etc.over the entire product lifecycle is something that can find a useful home in Windchill. I would argue that not putting that kind of data in Windchill is a wasted opportunity because Windchill is only good if you can link all of that kind of data together with its reference CAD, part, document, and other PLM objects (baselines, changes, etc.).


p.s. I thought Al had gone crazy for a second considering his expertise ☺. I just mis-read the post. Sorry Al!



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Stephen Vinyard
Business Development Manager/Solution Architect
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