Preparing Your Design Automation for PDM

The purpose of Design Automation (DA) is to more quickly and easily generate the vast amount of outputs that are derived from design data like drawings, models, quotes, proposals, calculation sheets, etc. Of course, it should all be managed; preferably in a Product Data Management (PDM) system. However you choose to manage your data, whether with SolidWorks Enterprise PDM, ENOVIA SmarTeam, SolidWorks Workgroup PDM, or Skippy the Intern, you need a plan. And you need your Design Automation implementation to be designed with PDM in mind.

There are three things that every good PDM system does: security, searching, and organization. Security is pretty straightforward in that once the file is checked into your vault, it is secured. If you are managing DA data manually, then you need to setup a process and the correct permissions on your “vault drive.” With a PDM system, you need to find a way to have your automation check-in the documents. Many of our clients prefer this to be a manual step. This way, they get to control how much information goes from the automation system into their vault (automation systems can generate a ton of documents). If your sales folks are running multiple what-if scenarios for a single prospect (a perfectly valid use of an automation system), then you may not want all of those documents in the vault. However, there are equally valid reasons for automatically checking your DA outputs into PDM, too.

In terms of automating check-ins, this is almost always done programmatically using the PDM system’s Application Programming Interface (API). Both DriveWorks and Tacton provide code that can be used to automate the check-in of documents into SolidWorks Enterprise PDM. Both systems have also been integrated with ENOVIA SmarTeam. However, PDM plug-ins are frequently customized to meet the way that a company utilizes its PDM/PLM tools. This is especially true when complex workflows are involved.

When it comes to searching, the primary search mechanism for PDM is through the use of metadata (information about the things being stored/managed). Design Automation tools are very capable of populating CAD custom properties, and most PDM systems are configured to map these custom properties directly to data cards or other inputs. So when you design your automation, pay close attention to which properties are mapped to your PDM system and be sure to include those properties in every document that you want to be searchable. Frequently, our clients will also want to be able to search exclusively through content created by the automation system. This can be easily accomplished by adding a custom property that indicates the system of origin. In ENOVIA SmarTeam and other more customizable systems, you can even create separate classifications for your DA outputs (of course this also relates to the security aspects of PDM, too).

Organization within PDM takes a variety of forms from workflow management to linking relevant documentation together. In SolidWorks Enterprise PDM, we typically see special workflows designed for documents created by automated systems. The documents are assigned the correct workflow upon check-in based on metadata that is populated from mapped custom properties. Because of the integration between EPDM and Windows Explorer, grouping the automated information with a particular job or project is simply a matter of controlling the output folder. In ENOVIA SmarTeam, workflows can be kicked off and both hierarchical and logical links can be created through scripting with the SmarTeam API. As mentioned earlier, this type of customization is very specific to the way that an organization functions. As a result, this type of functionality is rarely found “out-of-the-box.”

Design Automation systems generate a lot of data very quickly. Before your system starts building a mountain of documents, plan out your product data management course. Determine what data should go into your PDM system. Determine which custom properties need to be driven to adequately populate your PDM search metadata. Consider adding new metadata or classes to accommodate the intricacies of working with automated data. And finally, determine what you want your data to do once it enters your PDM system. Design or assign workflows as required. Determine the links or folder structures that you want established. And once you have your plan of attack, document your decisions.

For more information on integrating your PDM system with your DA implementation, contact us. We’d love to help with the specific intricacies of integrating your systems, or just talk over the best strategy for getting your automated data under management.  And if you’re already doing this and want to share your experiences, please leave us a comment below.

Tags: API, custom property, Design Automation, DriveWorks, ENOVIA SmarTeam, Enterprise PDM, integration, PDM, PLM, SolidWorks, SolidWorks EPDM, Tacton