Razorleaf Corporation » Product Data Management / Technical Data Management (PDM/TDM)

Aras EPLM for SolidWorks EPDM

Jonathan Scott — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:00:41 +0000

Aras EPLM, a new commercial offering from Aras, is available now for managing SolidWorks, AutoCAD, Inventor, Solid Edge, and Pro/Engineer data in an enterprise PLM solution. The EPLM tool provides pre-configured PLM functionality on top of SolidWorks Enterprise PDM (EPDM) to give new and existing EPDM users an ability to scale up to PLM quickly while retaining best-in-class CAD data management. Interesting things to note about Aras EPLM for SolidWorks Enterprise PDM:

Web-based for globally distributed access across locations, and out to the extended enterprise (suppliers and vendors)
Enabled on the Microsoft technology stack just like Enterprise PDM
Item-based, process-oriented, and scalable with a variety of Aras Innovator domain-specific PLM solutions

Aras EPLM offers PLM functionality such as:

Engineering BOM Management
Enterprise Change Management
Integrated Project Management
Effectivity & Baselines
Item Classification
Alternate & Substitute Items
Item Lifecycle

You can read more about Aras EPLM on the Aras website, and learn more about deploying the solution by reaching out to us. Please contact us if you’re interested in Aras EPLM and would like to extend your SolidWorks Enterprise PDM capabilities – we’d be happy to help.

Configuring EPDM Dashboard in Office2PDM

Jonathan Scott — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:30:32 +0000

EPDM Dashboard is a very interesting part of the Office2PDM package - it provides a quick look into the status of files in your SolidWorks Enterprise PDM vault. Despite its obvious usefulness, configuring the tool requires a few pieces of information, and following a couple of simple steps. Here are the basics of getting EPDM Dashboard for Office2PDM setup and running. EPDM Dashboard is installed by default with Office2PDM. No separate installation is required. However, because EPDM Dashboard generates reports directly from Microsoft SQL Server database, additional configuration steps are required after installation, in order to configure EPDM Dashboard to connect with your SQL Server database. You must enter the server name of your database as well as provide credentials for accessing the database.

Step 1 - Determine Your EPDM Database Server Name

Log into the SolidWorks Enterprise PDM Administration Tool (typically requires Administrator privileges). Locate the file vault of interest (the one that you want to report against), and select the Properties command from the right-click menu. In the File Vault Properties dialog, take note of the Database Server field - this is your EPDM Database Server Name. The two screenshots below depict this process:

Step 2 - Determine Your SQL Server Credentials

Next, you need an account for your Microsoft SQL Server system that allows you to read data in the database that houses your EPDM information. This will require some discussion with your SQL Server DBA (database administrator) about accounts and authentication modes. For the purposes of this article, let's assume that you'll use integrated authentication (your Windows account provides you access to SQL Server). You can alternatively specify a username and password for your access to Microsoft SQL Server.

Step 3 - Configure EPDM Dashboard

Launch the EPDM Dashboard Options dialog from within Outlook (depicted in the image below). Once the EPDM Dashboard Options dialog is open, be sure that Enable EPDM Dashboard is checked and then set your EPDM Database Server Name, and provide your access information for Microsoft SQL Server (see the image below).

Now you are all set to start accessing EPDM Dashboard from within Microsoft Outlook. If you're still having trouble, contact us.

Razorleaf Announces Office2PDM Acquisition

Jonathan Scott — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:30:03 +0000

Razorleaf is proud to announce the acquisition of Office2PDM and EPDM Dashboard from Extensible CAD. Office2PDM offers a seamless integration between Microsoft Office products and SolidWorks Enterprise PDM (EPDM). EPDM Dashboard provides real-time access to Enterprise PDM vaults, right from Microsoft Outlook, for monitoring the status of documents and workflows. More details about these tools are available on Razorleaf's utilities page for Office2PDM and a separate dedicated microsite.

Razorleaf plans to extend and enhance EPDM Dashboard and Office2PDM, as we strive to deliver on its promise of making PLM tools work better for our clients. Office2PDM and EPDM Dashboard are SolidWorks Partner Products, offering one of the highest levels of integration for access to the Enterprise PDM system. The transition from Extensible CAD to Razorleaf should be transparent to existing customers, and a net benefit given Razorleaf’s long history with Enterprise PDM and its predecessor, Conisio. If you’re planning an EPDM deployment with heavy Microsoft Office users, or have existing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint users that you'd like to bring into the PDM system, download a free trial of Office2PDM to experience a rich integration for Microsoft Office within Enterprise PDM. Office2PDM and EPDM Dashboard are available through a global network of resellers. Contact us today if you need more information.

Rand Worldwide Partners with Razorleaf

Jonathan Scott — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 12:00:19 +0000

Razorleaf is pleased to announce our recent relationship with Rand Worldwide, a global provider of technology solutions to organizations with engineering design and information technology requirements. Rand Worldwide selected Razorleaf to provide Rand’s Dassault Systèmes customers with ongoing phone support for ENOVIA SmarTeam, CATIA, and other Dassault products. Rand’s customers began transitioning to Razorleaf’s support processes late in 2010. Rand Worldwide customers are experiencing a seamless transition for their phone, email, and ProductivityNOW support contracts. Eric Doubell, president of Razorleaf, noted, “We’re excited to offer Rand Worldwide customers access to our comprehensive support team. Since we’re focused on providing support and services, and don’t sell product, we’re able to continue to offer the unbiased advice and very high level of expertise that Rand Worldwide customers expect.” For further information, you can read the full press release, or contact us directly. You can also review Razorleaf's comprehensive support offerings here.

Service Pack 3 for Aras Innovator 9.2.0

Eric Smith — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:45:31 +0000

On January 3, 2011 Aras release Service Pack 3 for Aras Innovator 9.2.0. In this service pack, Aras added some features and events to enhance administration capabilities. They also addressed a number of issues. Some of the highlights include:

System events were added to allow code to be run on login and logout. These events could be helpful in maintaining user metric information as well as potential environmental actions based on entry and exit from the system.
Aras enhanced core functionality for versioning Items to help improve performance in large operations such as ECNs with a lot of affected Items. This is a good enhancement for system efficiency and user satisfaction.
Support was added for Password Authentication on Workflow Map Transitions with Windows Authenticated Users. Previously this was only able to be done using E-signature Authentication.
Aras enhanced the ability to encrypt configuration file passwords in several configuration files. In today’s regulatory environment, open text storage of this type of information is problematic for some companies. Adding encryption capabilities increases Innovator’s ability to comply with the regulatory needs of their customers.
A few issues were addressed pertaining to the Vault Replication functionality, further stabilizing the solution.

For a full listing of the enhancements and fixes, the Aras Innovator 9.2.0 SP3 release notes are worth reading. The service pack is available for download by Aras Subscribers from the Aras website. Subscribers wishing to go to SP3 can have their database upgraded by Aras at no additional charge to support the effort. If you would like more information about how to get Service Pack 3 or how to work with Aras Innovator, please let us know.

EPDM and FDA Compliance

Daniel Rohats — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 00:11:14 +0000

One of the common misconceptions about 21 CFR Part 11 (the body of law that governs medical device makers in the United States) is that there are software packages available that can make companies compliant with the law. Being compliant with these regulations requires that your process be compliant, and even the best software can’t really make you 21 CFR Part 11 compliant. However, software can certainly provide enablers and automation to allow for faster, more efficient, better integrated, and easy-to-use processes. SolidWorks EPDM has some functions and tools built-in to help companies conform to the FDA requirements.

One of the key requirements of 21 CFR Part 11 relates to electronic signatures. Electronic signatures require a double challenge, meaning that the user’s login to an electronic system is not sufficient evidence that they are providing their signature on a record – they need to be challenged a second time, at the moment when they are providing their signature. EPDM provides double challenge signatures through its Workflow tool. When creating a workflow transition, one of the options on the properties window is the check box for Authentication.

When the check box for Authentication is checked, users who attempt to pass documents through this transition will be required to enter their password in order to do so. The password box appears right on the transition dialog box in the lower right corner. If the challenge fails, the transition is not permitted. If successful, the transition continues as expected.

So, by requiring Authentication on specific EPDM workflow transitions, and by assigning specific meanings to those transitions, a 21 CFR Part 11 electronic signature can be obtained. You can see how this is a marriage of process and software capabilities. Some additional features of Enterprise PDM that can aid in regulatory compliance:

Showing specific user groups only the latest released revision of a document: This is done with the combination of Folder and Workflow permissions.
Full History tracking per document: Users can see the full history of a document through the right mouse click History menu command.
Users with the appropriate permissions can retrieve previous released revisions: This feature is also accomplished through workflow and folder permissions. Users can access the other revisions through the right mouse click Get Version menu command.

Other compliancy capabilities can be configured in Enterprise PDM, especially using workflow. For example, CAPA (Corrective And Preventative Action) processes, document approval, and other cGMPs (current Good Manufacturing Practices) can all be modeled using the configurability of Enterprise PDM. To learn more about how EPDM can help enable industrial or governmental regulatory compliance, please contact us.

Inforbix Gets Started

Jonathan Scott — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 19:24:00 +0000

For those of you familiar with the key players at Dassault, ENOVIA, and SmarTeam over the years, you probably know Oleg Shilovitsky. Oleg is the former Read More...

Oracle Database Report for SmarTeam

Steve Dunn — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 17:15:05 +0000

For those of you running an Oracle database as your repository for SmarTeam, check out this helpful utility. The SmarTeam Database Oracle General Report tool is a collection of plain text files containing batch commands and SQL statements that can generate a detailed HTML report of key Oracle statuses and settings. The tool is available from Dassault’s support site by searching for QA00000002533. The output report from the tool includes information on:

Current server connections
Versions of installed Oracle components
Database file names, locations, and sizes
Database object counts by type and owner
Invalid code objects and indices
Scheduled jobs
General database parameters
NLS parameters
SmarTeam-specific information (DB version and last upgrade date)

In our case, the tool was particularly helpful in troubleshooting an ENOVIA SmarTeam Multi-Site issue. The system was generating “Error No. 23325 – Database contains invalid database objects. Please perform necessary steps to fix them” while trying to initiate the primary site.

Although the error message was accurate, locating the problematic database object was tricky. However, running the SmarTeam Database Oracle General Report was helpful in honing in on the Oracle package that was causing the issue. Please contact us if you need help with or have questions about your SmarTeam Oracle environment, or have questions about this tool. Leave us a comment if you have other techniques to share related to Oracle setup, configuration, or troubleshooting for ENOVIA SmarTeam or other PLM systems.

SP2 for Aras Innovator 9.2.0 Available

Dennis Lindinger — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 14:53:27 +0000

Just this month (October 2010), Aras announced the release of Service Pack 2 for Innovator 9.2.0. The service pack resolved several issues identified by subscribers, provided some performance enhancements, and addressed some issues related to error handling and messaging. Like all Innovator service packs, 9.2.0 SP2 is a free upgrade for subscribers. Contact Aras or work through your Aras business partner to schedule your upgrade. For those subscribers who want to upgrade on their own, Aras publishes a document that outlines the basic procedure for upgrading Innovator 9.2.0 to 9.2.0 SP2. This document can be found in the Documentation directory of the downloaded 9.2.0 SP2 package. Please let us know if you have any questions about Service Pack 2, the changes it introduced, or about upgrading your Innovator environment.

Enterprise PDM Computed BOMs

Jonathan Scott — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 01:14:54 +0000

Regardless of whether you’re interested in EPDM Item BOMs or EPDM Document BOMs, it is important to know what you can and cannot do with Computed Read More...