DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk
Vault Integrations
Robert Stein – Autodesk, Inc.
Have you considered using Autodesk Vault, but are not sure how to integrate it with your CAD system?
Have you wondered about the workflow? Then this class is for you. During this class, we will discuss
real-world integrations of Vault and how those workflows can benefit your design workflow.
About the Speaker:
Based in Novi, Michigan, Robert works as a technical consultant for Autodesk focusing on data
management. Prior to working for Autodesk, Robert worked in varying roles over the years as a
designer, CAD manager and consultant at a variety of companies. Robert has worked on a number of
large scale implementations and custom programming projects with Autodesk® Manufacturing products
such as Inventor®, AutoCAD® Electrical, Vault family, and AutoCAD Mechanical. Robert is in his
seventh year as a presenter at Autodesk University.
Robert.stein@autodesk.com
DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
Overview
Over the years I have held a few different positions that have given me some very unique
insight on different things. One of those items is Data Management. I have worked as a
designer having to manage data on a network drive and all the issues that come with that. I
have worked as a consultant helping organizations implement a data management solution. I
have worked at an engineering company moving from one data management solution to
another and now I work for Autodesk as a Technical Consultant implementing our solution for a
variety of organizations.
This course pulls all the aspects of data management together that I have learned over the past
15 years into a high level 90 minute overview of things you need to consider when looking at
moving to Data Management. The goal of this course is NOT to teach you how to use Autodesk
Vault products but instead to educate you on what is possible, what is required and try to help
you to think about the future.
I have broken up this course into a few different sections to help guide us through the
discussion. I have approached this like I would approach an implementation so that you can
understand all the things to think about.
Determine Corporate Objectives
Every company manages data! Yes, EVERY company. Whether you are a manufacturing,
architectural, product, machine, etc... Company you have data to manage. Having said that you
have a lot of decisions to make about how you will manage that data. The decisions you make
are important to really dig in and think about. In this section I list several things that you should
consider and I have labeled them as Corporate Objectives but they really apply to organizations
of all sizes.
Secure Data
Windows explorer has its purposes and yes you can put security on folders and even at file
levels but you can you control when a file is modified and by who? With Vault you can control
the who, when, and where access to the data. You can have folder level permissions, lifecycle
state based security and the general vault Roles that control what actions a user can do by what
type of user they are. (i.e. Document Editor 1 vs. Document Editor 2)
One thing to consider with this is users / groups. Work with your IT team to determine what the
Active Directory structure looks like for groups and determine if your Vault breakdown can follow
the same structure or a similar structure. If it can be the same you will want to import the Active
Directory groups which will also import all users in that group. If a user logs into the vault using
the windows authentication and does not have a Vault account it will look to see what Active
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
Directory has to say about them and follow those groups. This can make user / group
management in Vault a snap.
Another thing to think about is lifecycle state based security, so when your document flows
through your process who can access the document and when. I have a sample Visio document
that can help you outline this. [See lifecycle_definition_template.vst in the
Additional_Class_Materials.zip]
Central repository
Every organization I have been to over the past 15 years with the exception of one or two small
startup companies I see data spread over a number of network locations. This not only makes it
difficult to manage from an administration level but it makes it difficult for users who need to
access the data. Some companies break it into disciplines or categories of information such as
purchasing goes on one drive letter, engineering on marketing on yet another. But ultimately
don't they all need access to the data? With Vault you can have everything centralized within
the Vault, managed and backed up and still provides the control over the documents from a
read / modify / delete perspective. This goes back partially to security.
Maximize Data Reuse
Most companies have data that they can reuse, for example a switch bracket that can be used
in multiple design scenarios without any change to it. This is all great until you spend so much
time trying to find it that you could have designed it from scratch quicker than finding it. With
Vault you have the ability to not only search quickly on very focused criteria you have a copy
design tool that allows you to easily copy assemblies in Inventor for example with reusing the
components that can be identical and also marking other components as copy so that you have
a duplicate to start from.
This can be a very powerful combination to help you promote design reuse within your
organization.
Digital ECO Process
Most companies I have worked with have some type of an Engineering Change Order [ECO]
process. They may call it ECN, ECO, ECR, etc... But they are all very similar. Many of them still
use a paper process where the signatures are put on paper, and the document uses the
sneaker net to make it around the company.
With Vault Professional you have the ability to utilize a digital Engineering Change Order [ECO]
process. You can create an ECO and include digital markups to the DWF visualization file. This
allows you to track the entire design from a single location and do it digitally. You can also
capture the revision history into your CAD drawings as you work.
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
Digital Lifecycles
The last 5 companies I have been to use folders in windows explorer to manage the workflow,
constantly moving drawings from one folder to another. This isn't really a smooth process but
with windows explorer it is probably the best you have. What you really need is a way to
introduce a lifecycle for the document. Vault allows you to not only do this but configure the
lifecycle to fit your needs. You can use one of the out of the box definitions or create your own
to meet your organization needs. I have a Microsoft Visio template that you can use to help.
[See lifecycle_definition_template.vsd in the Additional_Class_Materials.zip]
Integrate With Other Systems
One trend I have seen for a number of years is integrating your data management system into
other enterprise systems. This could be from taking your BOM data out to your ERP such as
SAP. I have seen some companies integrate the Vault with other systems. Here are a couple of
systems that people have integrated with.
SharePoint
If your organization utilizes Microsoft SharePoint there is an integration with Vault 2012 and
SharePoint 2010. This will allow you to have a read only view into the vault.
This might be good for some of the other roles in the organization who only need to see data in
a read only fashion.
Buzzsaw
If you collaborate with outside resources such as design firms you still want to manage your
data. With Vault Collaboration and Professional you have the ability to sync to buzzsaw.
SAP
The ability to manage your data is only part of the overall process at most companies. There is
life after design and that is done at a lot of companies in SAP. With SAP Connect you can take
your items in Vault and push them to the Item Master in SAP.
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
Custom (API)
There are times when you might need to customize the way that the Vault works to achieve your
unique corporate objectives. Customization is different than configuration and here is what I
mean by that.
Customization - writing custom code to make the product do something that it cannot do out of
the box with the tools provided in the product.
Configuration - using the out of the box tools to modify settings for the desired setup.
With the Autodesk Vault API you can do quite a bit. Autodesk Developer Doug Redmond has a
great blog showing some really good examples. [See http://justonesandzeros.typepad.com/]
Here are a few of my favorite tools from the site.

Q-2ools - This tool can email you when there is an issue with the Job Queue.

Drawing Compare - This tool uses Design Reviews drawing compare functionality within
the vault.

Visual Lifecycle Status - This tool is great and visually shows you your lifecycle. This
can really help from an administrative side to check your configuration prior to rolling out a
lifecycle. Also from and end user perspective you can change lifecycle states with this tool
also.

Import from Visio - This tool is great to import your lifecycle if you map it out in Visio.
Note: This tool needs to be updated to work in Vault 2012.
Multiple Site Replication
Many organizations have sites around the world and need to share data globally. There are a
couple of options with the Vault Family of products for replicating data. First you have file store
replication which will replicate the files. With this option the different locations get the meta data
from the same server. The second option is for full replication which replicates both the SQL
database and the file store. You can also use a combination of both where you would replicate
full database and file store to another continent for example, then from there replicate file store
only to some other sites. There are some things with this that you need to keep in mind and we
will go into further detail later.
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
Learning Requirements
Prior to implementing Vault you will want to form a focused team and make sure that everyone
knows their roles. In doing this you may want to provide some training prior to kicking off any
activities. There are several ways to get training.

Resellers - Most resellers provide training and this is a great resource to get started.

Autodesk Consulting - We also provide training.

Wiki Help - A lot of people start out by reviewing the wiki help to learn the high level.
Check out the Event hall as they have many resellers, Autodesk employees and Autodesk
Authorized Training centers showing their material.
Client / Server Requirements
When you start to form your implementation team you want to look at skill sets. For example
you will have people on your team that will probably be focusing on the server administration
and others who focus on the end user client side of things.
Organization Requirements
You need to also consider how you are going to educate your end users after the
implementation is live. You will have many users that have different requirements for Vault
access and you don’t want to spend time training them how to do things that they are not going
to actually do. For example your sales team most likely doesn't need to know how to check out
an inventor file and change lifecycle states for that file. They will need to understand how to
view, search and maybe create a change order request if there is an issue with a product that a
customer has found.
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
Stakeholder Requirements
It is very important to make sure that the stakeholders in the organization understand what the
Vault is, and what the Vault isn't. Executive management needs to have executive sponsorship
for the project.
In order to plan integrations you need to do your homework. You have already started doing so
by determining corporate objectives however this is now on a more granular level.
Which Departments are involved?
It is important to understand which departments will be impacted by the implementation of a
data management system. The answer is typically everyone from engineering, purchasing
through to manufacturing. By planning out who will be impacted you can determine the best
people to interview and understand how they need to access the data and use it. This chart
shows some of the typical departments that are involved in implementations that I have worked
on.
Project Management
Purchasing
Shop Floor
Sales
Marketing
IT
Engineering
Checkers
Shipping
It’s not enough to just know that you will impact these areas of the organization you should also
include key members from each area in the planning process. You will be surprised by how
these departments interact with the data that engineering produces. It is good ideas to have key
members from each department tell you about a day in the life of their position. This will help
you understand how you are going to help or possibly hurt the process. It is also a great way to
see where processes can be improved even not related to Data Management.
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
Software
This is one of the most important areas to consider when looking into implementing a data
management solution. Below is a general list of some things to think about.
Vault Products System Requirements
Of course you will be using the Vault that is why you are taking this AU class. So this is probably
a perfect place to start with discussing the system requirements. You can find them here on the
web.
Server
For 32-Bit Autodesk Data Management Server 2012
Software
Replication Support
Microsoft® Windows® 2003 Server Standard or Enterprise
edition operating system (SP2)
Yes
Microsoft Windows 2003 Server R2 Standard or Enterprise
edition (SP2)
Yes
Microsoft Windows 2003 Small Business Server Standard or
Premium edition (SP2)
Yes
Microsoft Windows 2003 Small Business Server R2 Standard
or Premium edition (SP2)
Yes
Microsoft Windows 2008 Server Standard or Enterprise edition Yes
(SP2)
Microsoft Windows 2008 Small Business Server Standard or
Premium edition
Yes
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional edition operating
system (SP3)
No
Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise
edition (SP2)
No
Microsoft Windows 7 Business, Professional, Ultimate, or
Enterprise
No
For 64-Bit Autodesk Data Management Server 2012
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
Software
Replication Support
Microsoft Windows 2003 Server Standard or Enterprise (SP2)
Yes
Microsoft Windows 2003 Server R2 Standard or Enterprise
(SP2)
Yes
Microsoft Windows 2008 Server Standard or Enterprise (SP2)
Yes
Microsoft Windows 2008 Server R2 Standard or Enterprise
(SP1)
Yes
Microsoft Windows 2008 Small Business Server Standard or
Premium
Yes
Microsoft XP Professional (SP3)
No
Microsoft Vista Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise (SP2)
No
Microsoft Windows 7 Business, Professional, Ultimate, or
Enterprise
No
Autodesk Data Management Server Requirements
Single Site Requirements
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express, Workgroup, Standard or Enterprise edition (SP2)
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express, Standard, or Enterprise edition
Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD ® Athlon processor, 2 GHz or higher or Intel Pentium 4 or
AMD 64-bit Dual Core Processor, 3 GHz or higher (recommended)
1 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
100 GB disk space (200 GB recommended)
Replication Environments
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard & Enterprise Edition (32-bit or 64-bit, SP2)
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard & Enterprise Edition (32-bit or 64-bit)
Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon Processor, 3 GHz or higher (Intel Pentium 4 or AMD 64bit Dual Core Processor, 3 GHz or higher recommended)
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
Remote Site for Multisite Replication - ADMS Installation
2 GB RAM (3 GB recommended)
150 GB disk space (300 GB recommended)
Full Replication - ADMS and SQL Installation
4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended)
300 GB disk space (500 GB recommended)
Vault Client
For 32-Bit Autodesk Vault Client 2012
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home or Professional edition (SP3), or Microsoft® Windows
Vista® Home, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise edition (SP2), or Microsoft® Windows®
7 Home, Business, Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise edition
For 64-Bit Autodesk Vault Client 2012
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional edition (SP3), Microsoft® Windows Vista®
Home, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise edition (SP2), or Microsoft® Windows® 7
Home, Business, Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise edition
Additional Autodesk Vault Client Requirements
Hardware Requirements
Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon™ processor, 1.6 GHz or higher (2 GHz or higher
recommended)
1 GB RAM (2 GB recommended)
1 GB disk space (4 GB recommended)
For Microsoft Office Add-in (Excel, PowerPoint, Word)
Microsoft® Office® 2003 or 2007
Office 2010 (32-bit)
For Microsoft Outlook Add-in
Microsoft® Office® Outlook 2007
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
Outlook 2010 (32-bit)
Browser
Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 7 or 8 browser
Mozilla® Firefox® 3.6 browser
Apple® Safari® 4 or 5 browser
Google Chrome 7 browser
Vault Family Decisions
As you may or may not be aware, there are 5 flavors of Vault. It is important to select the toolset
that you need so here is a chart that outlines the differences. [See it on the web here.] [See
VaultFamilyProductComparison.xlsx in Additional_Class_Materials.zip]
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
As you can see each level of Vault provides additional functionality that you may or may not
need. The above chart can help you determine what your needs will require for which Vault
product you should implement.
SQL Server
In addition to the above system requirements there are a couple of other things to consider with
SQL server and your specific implementation. Here are a couple of questions to ask yourself
and your team.
SQL Express vs. Full SQL Server

How many users will be concurrently using the Vault?
1. Some customers have mentioned the more users connecting to SQL express the
slower the performance.

How much data will I be putting into the Vault?

SQL Express 2008 R2 has a 10GB database size. Previous versions are 4GB.


What is the projected growth of the organization for data and Vault?

SQL Express 2008 R2 has a 10GB database size. Previous versions are 4GB.
CAD Applications
There are a number of CAD programs that have direct integration with Vault. Having said that I
think it would be beneficial to list those at the time of this document. The list below shows what
products will automatically have the add-in installed if they are already installed and registered
on your machine prior to installing the Autodesk Vault client. [You can find it on the web here.]
Autodesk Product Support
Products
Qualifying
Version
Vault 2012 Supported Add-in Version
Autodesk 3DS Max
2012
2012
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
Autodesk 3DS Max Design
2012
2012
Autodesk Inventor
2010, 2011, 2012
2012
Autodesk Inventor Professional
2010, 2011, 2012
2012
Autodesk Inventor Publisher
2012
2012
Autodesk Inventor Suite
2010, 2011
-
Autodesk Inventor Simulation
2010, 2011
-
Autodesk Inventor Routed Systems 2010, 2011
-
Autodesk Inventor Tooling
2010, 2011
-
AutoCAD
2010, 2011, 2012
2012
AutoCAD Mechanical
2010, 2011, 2012
2012
AutoCAD Electrical
2010, 2011, 2012
2012
AutoCAD Map 3D
2010, 2011, 2012
2012
AutoCAD Civil 3D
2010, 2011, 2012
2012
AutoCAD Architecture
2010, 2011, 2012
2012
AutoCAD MEP
2010, 2011, 2012
2012
AutoCAD P&ID
2010, 2011, 2012
2012
AutoCAD Plant 3D
2010, 2011, 2012
2012
Autodesk Fusion
2012
2012
Autodesk Simulation Multiphysics
2012
2012
Autodesk Simulation Mechanical
2012
2012
Autodesk Simulation Mechanical
WS
2012
2012
Autodesk Navisworks Simulate
2012
2012
Autodesk Navisworks Manage
2012
2012
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
Other Non-Autodesk Integrations
If you are a subscription customer you have access to product extensions. Here are a couple of
these product extensions to name a few [log into subscription center at
www.autodesk.com/subscription:
Product Extension Name
Autodesk Vault Professional 2012 Integration for Pro/Engineer
Autodesk Vault 2012 integration for Inventor LT Suite 2012 and AutoCAD LT 2012
Vault Plugin For Bentley MicroStation (Autodesk Labs)
Service Packs / Hotfixes
When getting ready to deploy service packs or hotfixes you should consider the following
questions. It is also always a good idea to view the readme file.

Is the fix server side, client side, or both?

Are there any prerequisite service packs or hotfixes?

Does this address any issues we have been experiencing?

Does the readme file have any specific instructions?

Have I performed a successful backup prior to installing the SP or Hotfix?
Miscellaneous
What other software might be involved? There are a lot of third party applications coming out for
the Vault that you may add to your overall solution.
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Who will use Vault
As mentioned in the security section you can use users and groups to set up the vault. It is a good idea to get this documented
before go time. [See VaultUsers-Groups.xlsx in the Additional_Class_Materials.zip]
Users
FirstName
LastName
Username
Email
Password
Robert
Stein
rstein
robert.stein@aut
odesk.com
TempPassword
Role
Vault
Group
Enable
1
Groups
GroupName
Email
Roles
Vault
Designers
designers@autodes
k.com
Document
Autodesk
Editor (Level 1) Consulting
Groups
GroupMembers
Enable
Sub Group
rstein, jdoe
1
The users tab of the VaultUsers-Groups.xlsx spreadsheet can be saved out to a csv file then imported into Vault via the Vault
Power Tools available from Autodesk Consulting as a purchased product. Email me for information
robert.stein@autodesk.com. The Group tab is for gathering a list.
Multiple Site Structure
When you have offices scattered all over the globe you will need to consider a replicated
environment. There are a couple of options outlined in this section for you to think about.
Multiple Site File Store Replication
The multiple-site file store replication environment allows users to design products across
multiple locations as if all the users were in one location. Autodesk® Vault Collaboration and
Professional allow two different methods to accommodate this functionality.
The first method is to centralize the database for all sites. The database for Vault can sit on a
separate server as illustrated here.
The second method is to set up a main site with the database and main file store located on the
same server. The main site has the most users and is where the most design work is done.
DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
In these environments, users open data files such as AutoCAD® drawings Inventor Assemblies
or Microsoft® Office documents from their local file store. All metadata is read from and written
to a central database so that users can open large files much faster than if they copy them
across the Wide Area Network (WAN).
Connected Workgroups – Full Replication
Autodesk Vault Collaboration and Vault Professional allow the configuration of connected
workgroups to improve the performance of Microsoft SQL for remote sites.
Replication is the process of copying data from one server to another server usually located in
two different physical locations. This process allows the setup of a Vault environment which has
two different locations and users will not have to spend time downloading large CAD files across
their Wide Area Network (WAN) connection. Before the added features of Connected
Workgroups in Vault Collaboration and Vault Professional 2012 only the files were replicated.
The connected workgroup feature in Autodesk Vault Collaboration and Vault Professional
supports the use of multiple database servers using Microsoft SQL Publisher/Subscriber
technology. This technology allows the replication of the SQL database at multiple locations.
The following illustration shows a typical workgroup configuration. All sites in a single
workgroup share the same Microsoft SQL server.
To allow sites to have their own database server to increase SQL performance, Autodesk Vault
Collaboration and Vault Professional uses connected workgroups. The following illustration
shows a workgroup with two different sites connected to a second workgroup with a single site.
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
The following picture illustrates what a mixed global environment might look like.
All of the above diagrams are of basic replicated environments. They assume that the
installation will start either from scratch or with a single existing Vault server. If you have
multiple existing Vault installations, then you will need to discuss with your Autodesk product
specialist how these multiple sites can be managed. If vaults from multiple locations are
required to be merged into one common vault (perhaps because they all use the same vault
name), then additional steps and considerations are needed.
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
When the Autodesk Data Management Server (ADMS) is implemented with replication (first
method from above), there are two different server configurations to consider:


Primary - Site with the SQL Server and all other components needed to host ADMS
Additional - Replicated servers that will be configured at each remote site similar to the
primary site; however, it will not have the SQL Server installed.
Since any replicated site will have less software running on it, the specifications of the server
may differ from the primary server. More information on this will follow in this document.
The major restrictive factor for file store replication is the processor performance of the SQL
Server. Hence, full SQL Server 2005/2008 will be required as well as adequate hardware. This
dedicated SQL Server computer should have at least 4 processors (see later guide for server
specifications).
Note: You can also see the following classes for more information on global implementations.


DM3679 – Go Big or Go Home! Part 1 – Large Scale Autodesk Vault Deployments
DM5609 – Go Big or Go Home! Part 2 – Collaborating Across a Distributed Environment
Data
It’s always a good idea to get a good understanding of what you want to load into the Vault for
the initial launch and then to project what your data growth will be. Here are some example
scenarios to get you thinking.

RobCo has been using another data management system for a decade and has a large
amount of files, revisions and meta data in the system they are looking to move from. The
big question here is do they want to take just the latest revision from the existing system
into the Vault then keep the legacy system online for archive purposes.

When doing something like this you have a few things to think about.

What are the cost implications of keeping the legacy system on and functional
versus migrating full revision history into the Vault?

There are costs associated even if the legacy system does not have any
software costs, it still costs to maintain the system and keep it running.
Also keep in mind that the longer you go on that legacy version you will
run into issues with operating system support.

How many files are you talking about?

How many revisions?

How much meta data?

How long will it take to export?

How long will it take to import?
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations



What is the value of that data? (What I mean by that is this. Is it worth the cost
implications to export it all and import into the Vault or is it even worth just keeping it
as is in the current system. I have seen some companies take the latest revision into
the Vault and leave it at that.)
SteinCo has several TB of data on a series of network drives. The data is spread
everywhere and has duplicate information. Revisions are separate files with different file
names. It would be a lot of clean up work to import this all in for a go live date. This will
most likely push the go live date out as the company tries to get the data ready for import.


Does the legacy system provide any export utilities?
One thing you could do is take all active projects in and as you go back and do
retrofits or retools bring the legacy projects in. Eventually all of the required data will
get into the Vault.
H and Z Inc has one network drive and has only been in business for a few years. They
have been very careful of the network structure they use, the file naming and have been
very consistent. This would be very easy to grab this data and pull it into the Vault.
Some other things to consider is file quantities, file types and size on disk. This will help you
when planning for future growth and sizing the hardware properly.
File Categorization
When think about how you manage your data today you probably already categorize the files in
some fashion or another. It might be in a really detailed folder structure, it might be with file level
properties or it might just be a mental note that your employees think about when they are
working with the data. Autodesk Vault provides a very cool concept called Categories and this
provides us with some very powerful abilities within the Vault.
In Vault lingo we would be talking at a high level about Behaviors when talking about
Categories. Behaviors in general include the following:
Lifecycles and Revisions
Categories
Properties
Numbering
Report Management
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
Specifically when we talk about Categories it provides us the ability to assign some behaviors to
files that fall into a category. We can assign the following behaviors to a category:
Category Type
Behavior Assignments
Folder Categories
Properties
Item Categories
Properties
Revisions
File Categories
Lifecycle Definitions
Revisions
Properties
Every file, Item and Folder have to be assigned to a category. There is a default category for
each which makes that part simple. As you create your environment specific to your
organization you will add new categories for each Folder, Item and Files. Having said that this is
an area where you may want to put some thought in about how you want to segregate files,
folders and items inside the Vault.
I think it is important to understand what this really means to an organization. We will use the
out of the box file categories as a talking point.
Out of the Box File Categories
Category Name
Description
Base
Default Category
Engineering
Data created for design purposes
Office
General Documents
Standard
Standardized Design Data
Lets talk about these for a minute. Just because a document is in the Engineering category
doesnt necessarily mean that it is a CAD file. Although that would be a good piece of criteria
(we will talk about this later) that could be used to place the CAD document into the Engineering
Category. You could also have PDFs that are part of the Engineering category and possibly
even word documents. PDFs because of catalog information that needs to go along with the
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
design. Word documents because of possible proposal coming from a 3rd party design vendor
and it is critical to the design itself.
The Engineering Category would have specific properties for that type of data regardless of file
type. For example as an engineering category of documents you may want different properties
than what you have for Office documents, and even Standard documents. In addition to different
properties you might also have different revision scheme for an office document versus an
engineering document or standard document.
[See Behavior_Planning_Worksheet.docx in the Additional_Class_Materials.zip]
File / Project Structure
Folders are nothing new to most of us. Inside of windows explorer we have used folders to
separate data for as long as I can remember. Inside of the Vault there is a new concept that was
introduced in the 2012 product. This is the concepts of Projects. This helps to organize and
manage all project related data, which is how most of us used Folders in windows. With the
addition of the project concept to Vault we now have a few new cool features that are worth
mentioning and worth you knowing about.
Project Links
You can think of a link as an exact representation (not duplicate) of an object. That source
object can reside anywhere in the Project Explorer. There can be multiple links spread
throughout the Vault, however there is only one source object. The link is displayed in the Vault
as the same icon type as the source document with a small shortcut arrow also placed on the
icon. (Note: Projects links do NOT appear inside of MS Office open windows.)
Folder Properties
In Vault 2012 you can now assign properties to folders. This can be done two ways, first being
manually, and the second being through Folder Categories.
Project Categories
You can create categories that will automatically assign properties to a folder when that folder is
assigned to the category. This will provide consistency within the Vault. For example you might
have a folder in Vault called Projects. Everything under that is an actual project and it has a
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specific set of properties such as Client Name, Client Contact, Project Type etc... Where you
might also have another folder called R & D which has a completely different set of properties.
User Interface
The user interface has changed slightly because of the project concept.
You can find out more about project links at
http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Vault/enu/2012/Help/02._Working_with_Vault/01._Vault_Client/103
6Vault_Projects/Projects_Links
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Numbering Schemes
Vault provides the ability to create automated numbering schemes as many of us know. This
allows you to automatically name files in Inventor and AutoCAD for example. However keep in
mind it does not work with every application, for example it doesn't work with Office applications
at this time. There are a couple of things to understand when working with naming schemes.
It is very powerful to be able to configure your naming scheme and this will help promote
consistency in the Vault. You build a naming scheme by creating fields that meet the
requirements of the different portions of your number. For example you might have something
that is broken up like ###-###-##-#-##. This would represent your numbering scheme. Each
group of # symbols represent a separate field. Each - represents a delimiter. At this time Vault
will only allow a total of 10 fields and this INCLUDES both fields and delimiters. Think out the
naming convention prior to configuring it.
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Also once a numbering convention is consumed you cannot go back and make modifications to
the scheme itself. This is important in the case of having lets say a unit code inside of your
numbering scheme. For example this unit code list might get added to a few times a year as
your company adds new units to the product line.
Field Types
There are a number of different field types that can be used in your numbering convention.
Below is a list of them for your reference.
Field Type
Description
Auto-generated Sequence
Automatically generate a sequential number with a
specific length, range and step size. You can also
zero-pad the sequence.
Delimiter
This is used as a static delimiter between fields.
Fixed Text
Fixed text that cant be changed. This could be a prefix
to your part number such as RS.
Free Text
Allows the user to freely type in text up to a maximum
length that you define. You can also enforce that the
max length is required.
Pre-defined List
Allows you to define a list of acceptable values and
provide a default value. A good example of this might
be a series of values that represents model
classification.
Workgroup Label
This utilizes the workgroup ID that the file is generated
in. For example if you have a multi-site with three
different locations this would indicate which site
created the file originally.
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
Property Mapping
One of the many things that people use a Data Management solution for is the ability to have
properties extracted from the documents that they put into the system. When thinking of
properties you want to consider where the user is most likely to fill out the data, you also want to
consider do you want directional or bi-directional flow of the properties. For example see the
mapping diagram below.
This shows the direction of property flow for a single property in Vault. The word document is
the source and can only be updated at the word document. The inventor IPT file is bi-directional
as well as the AutoCAD file. The Inventor assembly can only be updated from the Vault
property. Keep in mind that this is for the single property mapping, you could have another
property in the vault that changes it all up.
Initial Value
When mapping a property of a file to a property in the vault you can define an initial value.
Within that initial value you can map it to lets say an AutoCAD attribute. For example you could
extract a value out of your AutoCAD file that would be the first value used in the UDP inside of
the vault. This might be perfect if you are using multiple different templates. Then based on the
attribute value you are assigning to a category. For example you might have 3 flavors of
templates, one for R & D, one for Electrical designs and one for mechanical designs. If you had
an attribute in your CAD file for classification this could then be used to assign it to a category
which would then assign the proper revision, properties and lifecycles to that document.
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DM4941 – Get Vaulted: The Truth about Autodesk Vault Integrations
This can be done by clicking in the initial value field in the property definition dialog. Then you
can import properties from an existing file. This will map that property in Vault to that same
property in the file. Then it will extract it for every file of that type that comes into the Vault.
There is also a document [See technical_brief_-_vault_2011_properties.pdf. in the
Additional_Class_Materials.zip I am not aware of a 2012 version of the document at this time so
please keep in mind this outlines changes made to the 2011 version of the product.]
Title Block Requirements
When thinking about properties you want to also consider what data is going to go into your title
block. When you do the mappings in Vault you can be extracting data from a title block in your
CAD file or you could be pushing data to the file.
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I have created a simple excel spreadsheet that helps me to organize and keep track of my
mapping when working with title blocks. [See UserDefinedProperties.xlsx in the
Additional_Class_Materials.zip]
Templates
It is important to consider all of the templates that you will be using and work on defining any
mappings prior to rolling out the solution. This will ensure that you have plenty of time to do
testing, debugging and get validation from your design teams that will be using the system. Here
are some templates that you may end up needing.
AutoCAD
Inventor
Office
Miscellaneous
You should also consider that for any given software you may have multiple templates. Take
Inventor for example you could have sheetmetal templates, templates for round steel, templates
for 2D drawings etc... You could also have templates for switch brackets or plate steel.
Good Practice
I find it to be a good practice to put all of my templates into the Vault. I then can put revision
control and lifecycles on them for any changes. In addition there is a digital paper trail of any
changes that the templates have gone through. Then you can map your template configuration
in AutoCAD, Inventor, and Office etc... to point to your local workspace. You could write a
simple application to push out the updates to users maybe on demand. Or you could go old
school and give the users an email update telling them it is time to update the templates and
design data. I have included a sample email that I used while I was in industry.
[See template_update_Email.msg in the Additional_Class_Materials.zip] I would also
recommend making an email group that contains all of the people that would need to receive
this email. This will help make your job a little easier.
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Revision Scheme
It is important to consider how your revision scheme really works. What I mean by that is when
you assign a document to a category the revision scheme for that category is automatically
applied. This means that the first value in your scheme gets applied prior to the document ever
moving to a released state. Sometimes this is what you want, other times you want it to be a
dash showing that there are no revisions on the document.
When making a custom revision scheme use something like Microsoft Excel to create a list. For
example -, A, B, C, etc... Then you can use Excel features to fill that list down all the way to ZZ
for example. Then copy and paste that into a text file and use the import function in the revision
setup. This will save you time and also make sure you don't accidentally miss a character by
getting distracted.
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Lifecycle
Earlier in this document we discussed lifecycles within the corporate objectives section. In this
section I want to outline a couple of quick things with regards to the configuration.
Visio Flowchart
The Microsoft Visio flowchart provided in the additional materials zip file is an example of the
flexible lifecycle definition provided with Vault. This template should allow you to quickly map out
not only the flow of the lifecycle but some additional information.
The Visio template allows for you to list the Available Groups, State Permissions and Transition
Actions. This will help you not only map out the flow of the lifecycle but the who, the when and
the how a file can get transferred.
It’s a good practice to map this out for every lifecycle prior to going and configuring it. You can
then use the Visual Lifecycles mentioned in the API section of this document to help you check
your configuration. [See this link]
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Reports
Vault gives us the option to utilize Microsoft Report Viewer to generate reports on data within
the Vault. This is a pretty quick and easy way to provide reports to management. You can also
customize these reports which gives you the ability to report on just about anything in the Vault.
[See report_template_authoring.pdf in the Additional_Class_Materials.zip for more information.]
Job Server Jobs
The job server is very powerful and gives the ability to offline the workload from end user
computers. There are a number of pre-configured jobs with the Vault that you can use. In
addition to those you can create your own or use a third party app. There are a couple of
companies that create a toolkit of job server jobs for purchase. email me at
robert.stein@autodesk.com for more information.
Keep in mind that the job server doesn't process right away it is a service that checks for a new
job every so many minutes. So if your job isn't processing as quickly as you imagined it this
might be because the job server hasn't looked for the new jobs yet. Give it a few minutes.
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Items Categorization
Item categories are very similar to file categories. They are a way to automatically assign a set
of properties and revision schemes to a category of items. For example if you have different
item definitions for electrical documents versus mechanical documents (which is probably the
case) you could have a different set of properties that you want to be displayed as well as a
completely different revision scheme.
Change Orders
Over the past couple of releases some enhancements have been made to the Change Orders
within Vault. This makes has made a lot of my customers happy as it didn't meet the
requirements they had before. Please check out some of the changes.
UI Changes
You can now access the New Change Order command from multiple locations such as a right
click.
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Customize Email Notifications
You can now customize the email notifications, providing the user the ability to ensure that the
change is properly communicated.
Manage Files and Items
The Change Order environment has been updated to manage file and item records and
provides an interface to change lifecycle states within the Records tab.
ERP System
There are a number of ERP systems out there such as SAP and Axapta. Autodesk provides a
couple of solutions to take the data out of Vault and push it to many of these systems. There are
two methods that come to mind and if you know that they are available you can then start to ask
the right questions.
You can look at Autodesk University 2011 class ID: MA5001 for more information about
integrating Vault with ERP systems.
Collaboration with Externals
There are many times your organization will need to collaborate with people outside of the
firewall. There are a few ways you can do this.
Buzzsaw
With Buzzsaw you can give named users access to projects you are storing in the cloud. I see a
lot of architects using this solution. Its a way to communicate between firms that are doing a
design. With Buzzsaw you can use Vault Project Sync which allows you to share from the Vault
to Buzzsaw, Update from Buzzsaw, or Add from Buzzsaw giving you the ability to push, pull and
add data with the outside world. You can find out more information here.
Sharepoint
Vault 2012 has an updated integration with Sharepoint. Specifically with the 2010 version of
Sharepoint. This allows users to use Sharepoint to reach into the ADMS server and retrieve
information in a read only fashion. Often times this might be all the access you need to give your
users. There are a number of benefits to users both inside the Vault and to Sharepoint users.
[See microsoft_sharepoint_vault_integration_whitepaper_en.pdf] in the
Additional_Class_Materials.zip] for more information.
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Backup Strategy
Regardless of the solution you are using to manage your data, backups are very important. In
previous releases of Vault the only method you could use was the built in tools, write a script
that used those built in tools or gamble that you are never going to need a backup. There are
now a couple of options that you can use.
Autodesk Tools
GUI Method
Inside the ADMS Console you have the ability to schedule your backup right from the pull down.
This provides you a quick GUI interface to essentially write your script that gets scheduled with
windows task scheduler.
Command Line
If you dont like using the GUI you can create a script using the many command line options.
These are well documented on the WikiHelp at wikihelp.autodesk.com. Specifically you can find
the Command Line Server Console help here.
When writing a script many companies use a cascading backup. This would look something like
this.
@ECHO OFF
REM PROVIDING THE BEST RESULTS FOR BACKING UP THE VAULT
REM DELETE B AND CASCADE A BACKUP SUBDIRECTORIES
RMDIR /Q /S "C:\Backup\Vault\B"
REN C:\Backup\Vault\A B
REM CREATE A NEW DIRECTORY FOR THE BACKUP
MKDIR "C:\Backup\Vault\A\"
REM START THE BACKUP PROCESS (THIS IS ONE LINE OF TEXT)
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"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ADMS 2011\ADMS Console\Connectivity.ADMSConsole.exe" –Obackup B"C:\Backup\Vault\A" -VUadministrator –VP<password> -S
NET STOP MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT
NET START MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT
Some companies look to write a very custom script that will send off email notifications if the
backup fails. It is worth noting that as of the 2012 release the product does not have any built in
email notification for backup notifications.
NOTE: Also note that when using connected workgroups you do all the backup from the
publisher. Please see the Back Up and Restore section of this page.
Third Party Backup Tools
You can now use third party tools to backup and restore Autodesk Vault. [See
Backup_and_Restore_Autodesk_Vault.pdf in the additional_class_materials.zip]
Planning an Integration / Implementation
It is important to put a plan together for the implementation of Vault or any solution for that
matter. You may have heard the statement that the devil is in the details. Its true with any kind
of implementation, Data Management, CAD, Sharepoint, ERP, MRP, Autodesk Products or
brand x products.
I can’t tell you how to implement in this document because every implementation is different. No
matter what tool you decide to use for planning, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Excel or some other
tool you need to make sure you have an action item for every step. When you are talking about
a large implementation this can be tedious but it is my experience that if you don't have an
action item for every step things get forgotten.
I have created a sample project plan (This is a small project plan and not everything is included
for every project so you WILL need to modify for your specific engagement.) [See
SampleVaultImplementationPlan.xlsx in the Additional_Class_Materials.zip]
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