Engineering-Capable Data Management and Microsoft SharePoint

The purpose of this article is to provide a high-level overview of the differentiation between Microsoft SharePoint and more engineering-capable data management solutions such as Autodesk Vault, Synergis Adept and InnoCielo Meridian. Finally, this article will discuss how Microsoft SharePoint can seamlessly integrate with these solutions via tools embedded within the engineering-capable data management (ECDM) solutions.

About Microsoft SharePoint:
As many of you may already know, SharePoint is Microsoft's web-based tool for basic document/content management and collaboration. More and more companies today are implementing SharePoint as a low cost and easy to use tool for sharing information between team members. SharePoint also includes out-of-the-box capabilities for task management, contact management, calendar sharing, collaboration tools including wikis, blogs and discussion boards, and rudimentary/unstructured workflow management.

Since SharePoint is built on the Microsoft .NET foundation, experienced programmers can also fully customize SharePoint using Visual Studio to add functionality to do things such as display data housed in other systems, publish data to other systems, create more complex/structured workflows built on the Windows Workflow Foundation or integrate with messaging systems. For some customers, SharePoint can be seen more as a platform for the development of a customer solution rather than a final solution itself. In this way, SharePoint is somewhat similar to Microsoft SQL Server which is typically used as a foundation for a customer solution rather than as a complete solution in and of itself. Companies should consider their exact needs and requirements and whether they have the programming staff to develop and maintain such a custom SharePoint solution (if needed).

Some other key points about SharePoint include:

Out of the box, SharePoint is very good for unstructured collaboration between parties on a particular document or project and less so where a structured workflow needs to be followed as it relates to a particular defined company workflow procedure.
SharePoint's interface can be very transparent to the user especially in regard to working with Microsoft Office products where its integration is especially good.
SharePoint does provide basic check in/check out and revision history management.

About Engineering Data Management:
Products like the ones we handle at Hagerman & Company including Autodesk Vault, InnoCielo Meridian and Synergis Adept provide a number of features not included in Microsoft SharePoint that are required for anyone working with CAD including:

Inventor and SolidWorks assembly relationship management including display of assembly structures, where-used info, assembly copy/re-use, automatic check out/in and download of child files, moving/renaming of parts without loss of assembly relationships, enhanced control of part revision updating within assemblies, etc.
Integration within the CAD application itself to prevent users from having to constantly switch back and forth between applications.
Automatic indexing and updating of titleblock information.
Built in 2D/3D CAD viewing software for non-CAD users.
Bill of materials generation from 3D assemblies.
Tools for importing existing 2D and 3D legacy files and automatically establishing their relationships.

Depending upon the Hagerman system you select, other engineering-related features available can include:

Batch printing, plotting and publishing of files to PDF and other formats
Automatic generation of document transmittals
Set up of automatic document naming and numbering schemes

Other more general reasons to standardize on a system like Vault, Meridian or Adept instead of SharePoint could include:

The desire for one single system that can handle both CAD and non-CAD documents. Vault, Meridian and Adept are all capable for both engineering and non-engineering users alike and are effectively being used today by personnel in sales, marketing, accounting, HR, etc.
The need for structured workflow/sign off procedures without having to do custom programming with Visual Studio. These procedures could include engineering change orders, corrective action procedures, processing of customer quotes or any other procedure involving single or multiple company departments.

In any event, it is our experience that virtually all companies that use 2D CAD and definitely all companies that use 3D CAD need an engineering-capable data management (ECDM) solution like Vault, Meridian or Adept rather than just a generic document management solution like SharePoint.

Engineering Data Management and SharePoint Together:
For some companies however, using SharePoint as an enterprise tool is definitely the right choice. It may be that SharePoint is already in place as a company standard or SharePoint might represent a much more overall cost-effective solution to spread everywhere throughout the organization. In that case, a company will need to provide a way to use both an ECDM system for CAD and structured workflow tasks so those departments and users needs are met and have that system in turn co-exist seamlessly with SharePoint. Currently, there are three options available:

Publishing data from the ECDM system to SharePoint
Making files and data actually in the ECDM system accessible from within SharePoint
Implementing some type of easy to use retrieval application that will allow personnel to simultaneously retrieve data from both the ECDM system and SharePoint in a simple, seamless manner

Due to the popularity of SharePoint, Vault, Adept and Meridian now all have tools for publishing data from their respective vaults to SharePoint. Depending upon your needs and the solution you select, this publishing can:

Be manual or done fully automatically based upon a workflow event in the ECDM system
Include automatic conversion of CAD files to PDF format for easy viewing and data protection
Be included in the base solution or available as an optional add on

For the second option described above, BlueCielo ECM Solutions (the company behind Meridian) offers the unique ability to let SharePoint users see inside the Meridian vault in read only mode from within their SharePoint client via a custom SharePoint web part developed by BlueCielo. In this case, nothing would be published from Meridian to SharePoint so that all data and files created, edited and approved in Meridian always stay within Meridian, but become accessible and viewable via SharePoint.

In the third option as with the second, no data will be published from one system to another. Customers would determine what types of data and workflows would best be owned by and contained within the ECDM system and what types would best be owned and contained within SharePoint. Data consumers would then utilize a simple custom developed interface or a low cost product such as Hagerman's QVP Connection software to seamlessly and simultaneously query both the ECDM system and SharePoint and retrieve needed data and files for viewing and printing.

Conclusion:
We expect to see Microsoft SharePoint gain more and more widespread usage due to its low cost, ease of implementation and ease of use. At some point, we may even see ECDM solutions based on SharePoint to become widely available and popular. While it can be much more convenient for IT departments and IT budgets already stretched to the bone to try to use only SharePoint throughout their organization, it is important to understand what SharePoint is designed for and what it is not designed for so that the needs of all users, departments and the entire organization are fully met. Some companies may end up deciding to go with an engineering-capable data management system only since it can serve as a single system that meets all users needs. Other companies may decide to use an ECDM system in conjunction with SharePoint. The good news is that even in this case, the two systems can co-exist with one another in a seamless manner so that all users within the organization have their needs met and have access to the latest data.

This page last edited on Monday, February 14, 2011