I was wondering if there are any PDM Standard users out there that could share their experience? We are looking into setting up PDM Standard but trying to understand the extra complications, work and administration effort that will be involved beyond the obvious benefits.
We currently just store all our data in file folders on a shared network drive and in general that works well for us. We mostly do custom jobs that are pretty well self-contained, and we rarely have to revisit them after they are complete. We simply "Pack and Go" one or more previous projects into a new folder when we start a new project. I know we don't need PDM Pro, no workflows or sign off processes, no need for support for multiple sites, servers or web access. These are the main benefits I see we would get:
- Basic File Management - prevent files from getting lost or deleted
- Prevent unintentional changes
- History
- Update/Maintain References
- Searching for files (including custom properties)
Let me know your experience with PDM Standard:
- How total many users do you have?
- Who handles your day-to-day administration? Answering questions, resolving issues, etc.?
- Do you need to have someone on-site that is a trained administrator?
- What benefits have you found using PDM Standard over simple network file folders?
- What other complications have you run into that take additional time to use PDM vs network file folders?
Thanks for the input!
