SOLIDWORKS Role Themed Dashboards
Understanding how to easily navigate the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform in order to find and interact with SOLIDWORKS designs, is one of the most important areas for successful user adoption. Spending time on day one training new SOLIDWORKS users on how to create dashboards, navigate the compass, and adding apps, can add unnecessary overhead to the onboarding process. This will detract from users seeing the value of adopting 3DEXPERIENCE. Instead, when taking their first steps using 3DEXPERIENCE it is strongly recommended that users utilize the ready supplied SOLIDWORKS role themed dashboard.
When either the Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS, or the 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS role is assigned to a user, a corresponding user dashboard of the same name is also created. This role themed dashboard presents all of the necessary features required for a SOLIDWORKS user to be instantly productive the moment that role is assigned to them.
The role themed dashboard will appear under “My Cockpits”.
Getting Started with the Welcome Tab
The SOLIDWORKS role themed dashboard has been designed specifically to help guide a user through their first steps on the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform. After selecting the dashboard from the My Cockpits area, the user is presented with the Welcome tab. The Welcome tab contains all the necessary information that a user requires to get started.
The first step on the user’s journey to storing and managing their SOLIDWORKS files in 3DEXPERIENCE is installing the Design with SOLIDWORKS Add-In for SOLIDWORKS Desktop.
The Add-In is installed from the Apps area on the left side of the Welcome tab. After the Add-In is installed, this option will change to “Open”. Clicking “Open” will launch SOLIDWORKS Desktop and automatically connect the SOLIDWORKS session to 3DEXPERIENCE.
Note: When a 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS role is assigned, this same Install option will install the SOLIDWORKS Connected software on the users workstation.
To help new users build their knowledge, the center of the Welcome tab contains the Learning Center. This area is preconfigured with a list of getting started videos related to the SOLIDWORKS role that has been assigned. The videos explain the basic concepts of using SOLIDWORKS connected to 3DEXPERIENCE, including installation, and creating and managing content.
Selecting “View All” expands the Learning Center area to fill the tab with a range of learning modules that cover the breath of capabilities included in the Collaborative Industry Innovator role, and others. Working through the learning modules is a great way for users to discover the full range of capabilities that 3DEXPERIENCE offers, enabling them to get the most value out of their investment.
On the right side of the Welcome tab is the Public Communities area. This contains links to public user communities with further information related to best practices. Showing users how to access the public communities as part of their initial onboarding is a great way to introduce the concept of 3DSWYM communities. Once users are confident navigating and interacting with the public communities the next step will be to start creating their own.
Access to Content
Before saving their first SOLIDWORKS files to 3DEXPERIENCE, it’s important that users understand where their files are going to be stored, and how to access them. The majority of users adopting 3DEXPERIENCE will be familiar with organizing their designs in a folder structure. 3DEXPERIENCE utilizes a different methodology to storing and managing content, which offers many benefits over folders. SOLIDWORKS designs are stored in a collaborative space, and different apps are used to organize, view, and interact with the design content. During the early stages of adoption, it’s important not overwhelm users by introducing too many apps at once, which in some cases may provide capabilities that overlap with one another.
The “Content” tab on the Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS dashboard is preconfigured with the apps required to view and organize SOLIDWORKS content. The tab has been specifically designed to simplify the transition from folders to platform, and provide a familiar user experience. The 3DSpace app is displayed on the bottom right, providing access to Collaborative Spaces, the 3DPlay app used to view designs is on the top right, and the Bookmarks Editor app providing access to a folder style content organization is displayed on the left.
The combination of Bookmarks Editor and 3DPlay provides quick access to basic design related information. The Bookmarks Editor displays key information related to each SOLIDWORKS file for example Title, Description, Owner, and Revision, in a familiar column style layout.
Parts, assemblies and drawings can be previewed interactively by simply dragging and dropping them from their Bookmark on the left, over to 3DPlay on the right. Once opened in 3DPlay a user can interact with the design via the pan, zoom and rotate, and section tools.
The “Content” tab is intended as the starting point for all new users who are learning the basics of how to organize and access their designs created in SOLIDWORKS.
For guidance on getting users started with organizing and controlling access to SOLIDWORKS content using Collaborative Spaces and Bookmarks, please refer to the adoption guide section titled Organizing and Controlling Access to SOLIDWORKS Design Content.
Adding additional value beyond the basics
Product Explorer
Once users have become familiar and confident with managing their SOLIDWORKS content using Collaborative Spaces and Bookmarks, it is a good time to introduce the Product Explorer app. Product Explorer is used to view and interact with a SOLIDWORKS assembly structure and its related drawings, without having to open the design in SOLIDWORKS.
It’s recommended that Product Explorer is added to the existing Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS dashboard, by creating a new tab.
Tasks and Communities
The Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS dashboard contains preconfigured tabs for Collaborative Tasks and SWYM Communities. As customers progress on their adoption journey beyond the basics of SOLIDWORKS content management, these tabs are ready to go to help users explore more of the collaboration capabilities that 3DEXPERIENCE offers.
Summary
Both the Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS and the 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS role dashboards have been designed to provide new users with an out of the box ready to go user experience from day one. The dashboard contains access to all of the capabilities required to install and launch SOLIDWORKS via the Welcome tab, followed by easy access to saved content via the content tab.
Spending time on day one training new SOLIDWORKS users on how to create dashboards, navigate the compass, and adding apps can add unnecessary overhead to the onboarding process, and can detract them from seeing the value of adopting 3DEXPERIENCE. Instead, for a user’s initial first steps using 3DEXPERIENCE it is strongly recommended that these preconfigured role themed dashboards are used.
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