User prefers PDM Workgroup Nested View

[Austin Schukar]

I have a user that is completely beside himself using this software. Before I got to the company, they used Workgroup PDM. I can't envision what his problem is (finding anything about Workgroup is near impossible - my google-fu is usually fantastic), but I will do my best to explain what his problem is.

Evidently Workgroup's view layout/UI was based on nested assemblies, not relying on any particular folder structure like the File Explorer based PDM. Losing this functionality has made him irate with the software, and using the "Where Used" or "Contains" tabs is too cumbersome for him. He only wants to see the nested top-level assemblies.

Anyone else feel this way about SolidWork's PDM? Anyone else's users? Anyone prefer Workgroup over Standard/Pro PDM?

Sorry I can't be more descriptive, I just don't have the experience with Workgroup to convey more thoughts on it...this user has been furious with it for a year and a half now. It's exhausting, and I'd like to find a solution for him so that he can be happy with PDM, but the only solution I see is to resurrect Workgroup PDM.

FWIW everyone else in the company is fine with PDM.

[JSculley]

From what I've seen, Workgroup PDM is very project centric. You create projects in the vault and then files can be assigned to those projects. The vault view in SOLIDWORKS would show all the projects and you could drill down in to them. I could see how the loss of this might bother someone. A year and a half of furiousness seems excessive, but everyone reacts to change differently.

Neither the SOLIDWORKS PDM add-in or the PDM Explorer integration provide a view quite like what Workgroup PDM provided. Frankly, after looking at it for a bit, I kind of wish PDM had some of this. The ability to always have a view your current project(s) files close at hand, inside SOLIDWORKS (without having to open them) would be nice. The ability to hide/show different projects is also cool.

This video shows what Workgroup PDM looks like compared to PDM and might help you understand just what your user is complaining about.

[bnemec]

I've never seen or used workgroup PDM but others here have spoke of it.

As for the Contains and Where Used tabs in PDM I'd agree, they kinda stink.
- Versions? Maybe if every parent file is ALWAYS using the latest of EVERY child file all the way down/up the trees that would simplify it a bit. But if they ever revise children files but not parent files or check in parents not using the latest of the children navigating those two tabs requires a pretty deep understanding of PDM data card variables and versions as well as just how to use the screen. The where used tab is very difficult to get a full picture of affected parents due to versions yet very easy to only get a partial list of the true active where used.
- Refresh view? resets your the whole darned thing and if the user had expanded a ~1500 row view to what they wanted the refresh will either only show the top level or show the whole darned thing.
- drawing nodes, clutter or help? Can turn them off by selecting a specific configuration, but this has other effects (like it's main reason for being a selection) so not really a true way to turn drawing nodes on/off dynamically.

I could go on and on, my point: No, the PDM Pro tree views (Contains or Where Used) aren't that great; actually they're lacking some core functionality as well as a bunch of finishing GUI touches.

Concerning finding stuff in folders in File Explorer like view, that will always be a second rate option when the files are indexed. If some system has files indexed but must provide a file explorer UI then I'd argue the software has missed the mark on how to present the files to the users. Users will migrate to the fastest, most convenient and intuitive access. If they are not then the new thing really isn't any better. PDM demos boasted on the search tools be we, not unlike your client, navigate our data set more by Contains and Where Used. The search is just to get a starting point then drill up and down from there to find stuff. I can feel his pain. When we were on network shares a couple years before PDM I wrote a CAD file scanning tool to index our CAD files across the several shares. Then a very rudimental GUI that offered search to get a starting point and side by side Where Used and Contains trees. It had the basic check box filter options and showed file thumbnails. The visual appeal was/is terrible, but the function with RMB context menu must have been near the mark as some of the oldest users started using it to access CAD files instead of windows file explorer. I waited until they were looking for something the slow way and I offered them the tool if they would like to try it. A few months later I would see them using that over explorer...

Edit: I may have misunderstood if you were only talking about PDM Standard vs Workgroup, and not referring to PDM Pro. I've not used PDM Standard so I don't know the differences from that to the others. Sorry if I jumped in with irrelevant opinion.

[Austin Schukar]

Thanks guys, for your input. I do agree that the "Where Used" and "Contains" tabs aren't ideal, but it's just the closest that I can get him to the functionality of Workgroup's view, unfortunately.

Thanks for that video, Jim, that helped a lot. Simply seeing it in real time gives me context that I needed to do some searching.

Would be a great product improvement to implement, but I can't find any suggestions to vote on for PDM...maybe we'll talk to our VAR.

Thanks again