Introduction

Welcome to the SolidWorks Administration Bible. This book has been written as a desk reference for anyone charged with installing, implementing, and maintaining SolidWorks and Workgroup PDM for yourself or for other users in your company. Whether you are a professional CAD Administrator, a full-time engineer or designer pressed into service as a CAD Administrator, or just an individual user who needs to make the software work for yourself, you will find much to help you in these pages. IT professionals who are not familiar with the complexities of SolidWorks, but need to learn how to administer it will also find help here. The book is full of practical advice, recommendations, and the reasons behind the recommendations. In the spirit of the other SolidWorks Bibles I have written, much of the book comes from personal experience in industry, and not just an academic view of how things ideally should work.

About This Book

This book was written during the beta period of SolidWorks 2010, so some changes to the software before its official release may not be reflected here. This book does not touch on topics of direct use, but primarily on topics for administering the software. End user topics should be referred to the SolidWorks 2009 or 2010 Bible. An intermediate SolidWorks user, one who has been through the SolidWorks training for Essentials and Advanced Assemblies, should be able to understand the concepts in the book. You will also need to have some degree of understanding of IT and computer administration issues to be proficient with the topics contained here.

I have included an extensive appendix covering the Tools, Options settings. This offers an in-depth explanation of each option, including System Options and Document Properties. This is information that every CAD Administrator or go-to person should have available at his or her fingertips.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is divided into five parts.

Part I: Preparing for SolidWorks

Before you can be a SolidWorks administrator, you have to get an idea of the scope of the job. SolidWorks administration is difficult work because in addition to knowing your design or engineering job, you must also be a master modeler, a psychologist, mother, friend, disciplinarian, teacher, computer whiz, and financial analyst. The chapters of Part I help you along this path.

Part II: Installing SolidWorks

Installing SolidWorks is much more than just throwing a disk in the computer and clicking Next several times. You will have to deal with issues such as licensing, computer hardware and operating system questions, detail setup or optimization of SolidWorks including implementation of Toolbox and libraries. None of this is something you can get right the first time off the top of your head, and this book has been written from the experience of people who have both succeeded and failed, and you can learn from both experiences.

Part III: Maintaining SolidWorks

This part brings you information on topics such as support questions, installation of service packs, and new versions. Change management is a huge topic that CAD administrators come up against quite often, and here you find a chapter devoted to that topic, meant to help you get through some of the tough changes that you must drive as a CAD administrator.

Part IV: SolidWorks Workgroup PDM

Workgroup PDM simplifies all of the manual file management tasks that commonly trip up users and administrators. Part IV helps you understand what Workgroup PDM does, how to install it, and most importantly, how to configure it to do what you need it to do.

Part V: Appendixes

The appendixes in this book cover a range of ancillary data from where to find help, and how to implement the software to a detailed and complete list of the available options. The Tools@@>Options list in Appendix C is a comprehensive look at the available settings in SolidWorks, something every administrator needs to have handy.

Icons Used in This Book

This book uses a set of icons to point out certain details in the text. While they are relatively self-explanatory, here is what each of these icons indicates:

Caution icons warn you of potential problems before you make a mistake.

Tips provide you with additional advice that makes the software quicker or easier to use.

My point of view while writing this book has been that of someone who is actually using the software, not of someone trying to sell ideas, nor of someone trying to make the software look good, or even that of an academic trying to make a beautiful argument. I try to approach the software objectively as a tool, recognizing that complex tools are good at some things and not so good at others. Both kinds of information (good and not-so-good) are useful to the reader. Pointing out negatives in this context should not be construed as criticizing the SolidWorks software, but rather as preparing the reader for real-world use of the software. Any tool this complex is going to have imperfections. I hope that some of my enthusiasm for the software also shows through and is to some extent contagious.

Terminology

CAD is a world full of TLAs (three-letter acronyms), and a book like this can't avoid something as inevitable as that. All of the acronyms have been carefully defined, usually at the first presentation to the reader, and it is assumed that you will know that acronym from there on out. Some are in common usage, such as IT meaning Information Technology (a euphemism for computer professional), or PDM (Product Data Management). I do branch out into some industry terms including ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and MRP (Manufacturing Resource Planning). You will come across a healthy dose of computer terminology such as RAM (Random Access Memory) and CPU (central processing unit) or GPU (graphics processing unit), and even some things that might be better left undefined, such as DXF (drawing exchange format) or IGES (international graphical exchange standard).

In one case, I had to invent definitions to make topics make sense. This case was to create a distinction between update and upgrade. Update I take to mean an incremental update, as in a SolidWorks service pack. Upgrade I take to mean the change of a major version, as in the difference between SolidWorks 2009 and 2010. SolidWorks documentation does not make this distinction, they tend to use the terms interchangeably, which causes confusion sometimes.

Contacting the Author

You might want to contact me for some reason. Maybe you found an error in the book, or you have a suggestion about something that you think would improve it. It is always good to hear what real users think about the material, whether you like it or thought it could be improved.

The best way to contact me is either through e-mail or through my blog. My e-mail address is matt@dezignstuff.com. You will find my blog at http://dezignstuff.com/blog. On the blog, you can leave comments and read other things I have written about the SolidWorks software, CAD, and engineering or computer topics in general.

If you want to contact me for commercial help with a SolidWorks implementation or modeling project, the e-mail address above is the best place to start that type of conversation.

Thank you very much for buying and reading this book. I hope the ideas and information within its pages help you accomplish your professional goals.