EPDM Document BOMs vs. EPDM Item BOMs
A lot of people in the SolidWorks Enterprise PDM community were excited when EPDM Item BOMs were introduced, but the EPDM Item Explorer and its related features still cause some confusion about how to use both EPDM Document BOMs and EPDM Item BOMs. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to definitively settle the question of whether to use EPDM Document BOMs, EPDM Item BOMs, or both, in a short article. However, there are some general rules of thumb worth considering in determining whether EPDM Document BOMs or EPDM Item BOMs best fit a company’s business strategy: Continue Reading
If you’ve been developing programs for a while, you probably either love autocompletion features or you hate them. If you’re in the former camp, or you’re just getting started with programming, this tip is just for you. Autocomplete, or the Microsoft equivalent, 
SolidWorks Enterprise PDM offers a number of ways to work with BOMs (Bills of Materials). In EPDM 2008, SolidWorks introduced the Item Explorer, along with Items and Item BOMs. Although many in the community welcomed this addition to EPDM’s BOM capabilities, EPDM users should not overlook the possibilities inherent in the EPDM Document BOM. Here are some of the key capabilities of, and possibilities for, using EPDM Document BOMs: 
SolidWorks Enterprise PDM offers a number of ways to work with BOMs (Bills of Materials). For a while, SolidWorks Enterprise PDM (and its previous incarnation, Conisio) offered only EPDM Document BOMs. However, in EPDM 2008 (aka PDMWorks Enterprise 2008), SolidWorks introduced the Item Explorer, along with Items and Item BOMs. This logical extension of Enterprise PDM functionality was applauded by the EPDM community, but still causes a bit of confusion regarding how to use both EPDM Document BOMs and EPDM Item BOMs. 
Bills of Materials (BOMs) are a tricky subject since different industries, and companies within those industries have unique standards for how their BOMs and parts lists are documented. SolidWorks Corporation has done quite of job of creating different tools to support different types of BOMs and BOM methodologies. There are tools in SolidWorks itself (the CAD tool), and a number of additional capabilities in Enterprise PDM (the data management tool). Here is an explanation of the various types of SolidWorks BOMs and Enterprise PDM BOMs. 
Dassault Systemes delivered the first real release of V6 back in 2009 with V6R2010. Since that time, the PLM software provider has been releasing new iterations of V6 twice a year. The most recent release, V6R2011, shows increasing maturity in a number of areas such that parts of the product which were only “preliminary” in previous versions are now fully functional for production use. There are highlights to all brands in the V6 portfolio, but let’s focus on some of the changes in the brands most relevant to Razorleaf clients: CATIA, 3DVIA, and ENOVIA. 
