Getting rid of Windchill

[arch332]

My company is getting rid of Windchill. How can we get our Pro E files out? I have read other posts about this topic, and so far the only answers I have are to open the parts/drawings/etc that I want to save and then either back up or save as. This is not really an option for us as we have thousands of files we need to get out of Windchill.


Does anyone know how we can do this? Also, how we can save all related parts that go with a file?


The decision to get rid of Windchill is not mine, I am simply a draftsman, so I do not wish to get any questions about why we are getting rid of Windchill. I am just hoping someone can tell me how to do it, I have only been working with Pro E for a few months and am not experienced enough to feel comfortable trying to do it without knowing what I'm doing.


Thanks so much!

 

[arch332]

I think I may have found the answer, I add everything to my workspace from Windchill, then Export from Workspace. Does anyone think there is a problem with this method?

 

[srieger]

That will work. Why in the world would they want to get rid of Windchill?

 

[arch332]

For one thing, they can't afford the product support for it, so when we have a problem there is no one for us to call.

And we are a contracted company, we only got Windchill for one of our clients and recently lost the contract for them, so Windchill was technically their property because they paid for it.

Personally, I hate Windchill. I think it's completely useless. Maybe we just don't use it to it's full potential, but we don't have enough employees to require such measures to keep track of our files. I would much rather just stick with normal Windows explorer and have it backed up.

Especially when working with Pro E, Windchill is nothing but a headache. I'm constantly dealing with things that won't check out, won't check in, work that doesn't save, or work that saves when I didn't tell it to. I've even lost an entire project because one of the revs in windchill for a flat part was wrong, it had gotten revved up by someone who didn't know what they were doing, and because the flat part was a higher rev than the part it was made from, the entire project file including the drawings could never be opened again. We called Pro E support and they told us that if it wasn't for Windchill, it would've never been a problem, but that there was no way to get the file back.

I fail to see any positive side to windchill. When I have to do change notices submitted to me by engineers, it takes 10x longer to check out, check in, change resulting objects, edit the change task, etc than it even takes to do the actual change. Especially when I might have 100 drawings where all they want is to change the name or something simple and quick, I have to check out/check in/add resulting objects one at a time for every one of those changes. If I could just open the file like a normal person, make the change and click "save," I could save so much time and frustration. In that case I am speaking mostly of our AutoCad drawings that are stored in Windchill, not the Pro E drawings.

Windchill also allows for a select group of people, in my case, one person, to control everything with way too much power. They have the ability to make my life miserable by locking me out of the most mundane stupid things. Like being able to change a drawing name in a pro e drawing. I have to ask for permission to do absolutely anything and be "unlocked."

After my experience with Windchill, I can't understand why anyone would ever want it. I think it's just as easy to have documents stored normally, if you want to keep track of revisions or previous iterations, you just save each one as Rev 2, Rev 3, etc. Not that difficult.

There are apparently people who love Windchill and think it's great, but in my experience it has been a nightmare and I can't wait til we are done with it.




Edited by: arch332

 

[dr_gallup]

Come on, don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel. I understand why large companies have to use PDM systems but I'm glad I've never had to deal with one. Always seemed more trouble than it's worth.

 

[telecomguy]

Where's the Like button???

 

[Atropos89]

I tend to agree. We have a company with approximately 50 engineers. We just started using Wndchill, coming from a simple networked drive. I can see the potential for a large corporation (foe example, Boeing), but for us I think it is a bit of overkill. And then there is the issue of not being able to do much withoutadmin help.


Back on topic, the export from workspace should be fine. I hope you have enough room on your computer to save all those files!

 

[Jacoolo]

it is even more radiculous - you can buy extended package of Creo which includes Windchill. Sounds good? Well, until you are up to install this, because first without maintanance and appropriate support failure is just case of time, second you have to have license for oracle database. Some more $$$ to account.

 

[arch332]

Hey everyone, thanks for all your feedback. I do have one more related question - does anyone know if it's possible to save previous iterations out of Windchill as well?


Sorry for the long post at the top, but I just felt like going on a rant there. I am new to the whole idea of paying thousands of dollars fora glorified Windows Explorer, so coming to this company to see it was a shock. All the other companies I have ever worked for were competent enough to just make a folder on the server with a project name and just put their files in it. I can't understand at all what would possess anyone to think Windchill is necessary or even beneficial. I suppose if you worked at a company with 500 employees things could get a little more complicated, but I don't have experience in a company that big so can't really speak to that either way.


One of the funniest "benefits" of Windchill to me is that they say "Well this way, two people can't work on a file at the same time and cause problems, because it has to be checked out, so there are never any conflicts." If I remember correctly, plain old Windows has that, try opening the same file someone else has open and you get the lovely message "This file is in use by another user, would you like to open it read-only?" Thanks Windows, how inexpensive and convenient of you.


Well I better stop or I'll be on another long rant again. Thanks again for all your replies.

 

[srieger]

I am a small company and I find huge benefits to Windchill. It is all a matter of not only how you utilize it, but training and configuration. I will admit that installation and configuration is a thorn in my side as well. It is way too complicated and expensive to implement, migrate, upgrade, etc.


That being said, I pay the money because I still see the value. You don't need to lock it down and restrict everyone from working. This seems to be the tendancy because we are all concerned about security and the integrity of our data. It has to be realistic and allow for the waythe company workflow works.


It is extremely flexible but you do have to have someone around or to call that is knowledgeable. Or, at a minimum be on maintenance and be able to call support. Personally, I wouldn't use any of these products without being on maintenance.


Now, to answer your last question, yes it is possible to export previous iterations. You will need to have a clean workspace and check out the previous iterations "As Stored" Then export them. Be sure to rename them with the iteration or something to identify them differently than the latest if they will be in the same folder.

 

[arch332]

Thanks Scott for your input, especially the answer to my question. As with any program, I think it's just "to each his own." There are so many different ways to achieve the same results with all the programs out there, I'm glad that Windchill has been working for you. For me personally, I really despised it, but maybe it's just because I'm used to doing it in a different way. I appreciate your comment.