Setting up SE local data management

[Jaylin Hochstetler]

Hi everyone!
I posted over in the Siemens forum but didn't get any response so I thought I'd try here. It's been awhile since I visited here, been so crazy busy lately.

I just started a new job, the sole engineer (our family business https://dyna-cut.com/) I'm switching this company from SW to SE and am setting up SE Data management and am looking for any advice on what to do and not do.

I'm running SE 2023.2210

1. What folder structure do you think works well? They recommend separating your Released, Obsoleted, & Baselined data from your working data, why? Do you think this works well?
2. Is there any way to Obsolete a Released file without making a new revision and releasing the new rev in Design Manager? This obsoletes the previous rev because i have the "Automatically obsolete previous revisions when releasing a file" turned on. I noticed when I run the Quick Release workflow it does not obsolete the previous revs. Just if I release it through the "Release" button in Design Manager, is this normal?

Thanks in advance!

[KennyG]

Jaylin, the folder structure can be anything that fits your business process. I've seen folks use project folders per customer, folders based on part type, or many other combinations of folders.

As to the "status" folders, that is used for the ECO workflow change initiated by the Change Coordinator set in the Options.XML using the SEadmin tool. They are separate to allow for file system security and visibility.

As to setting a specific part to Obsolete, this can be done using the File Properties form, specifically the SEStatus property.

[Jaylin Hochstetler]

As to setting a specific part to Obsolete, this can be done using the File Properties form, specifically the SEStatus property.

Thank you for your response.
I seemingly am not able to change the status after it's released because it's read only.

Is there a setting for this in SEAdmin? I have to get our admin to install it so I havent been able to check it out yet.

I tested using a Pre-Released, Released and Obsolete folder and setting the "vault" paths in the settings and it works very well. If you set your folder structure in the Pre-Released folder it will keep the same structure when it moves your files from Pre-Released to Released in the release process. It could be a mess though if you ever want to change your folder structure, which that's a no-no in CAD anyway.

Has anyone ever had any problems using OneDrive with SE data management? I'm using it and from what I have tested so far it works fine. What's scary is when the files are downloaded they are stored on C:\Users\joe blow\OneDrive\ which means the path changes for different users. Evidently SE does not go that far back in the file path to find the references.

[KennyG]

Jaylin, are you set as the "Document Controller (see field on the Vault Definition page or set in the SE Admin tool if using Options.xml)? I believe only the Document Controller (I thought it was called Change Coordinator) can change status on Baselined/Released/Obsolete documents.

OneDrive/SharePoint is a problem as you are actually indexing/working with your local OneDrive sync cache and as you found it is set up using the users profile path. Another issue is that if "Files On-Demand" is used (just ON in Windows 11, optional in Windows 10), any file that was "freed up" from the local cache is not indexed by MS Search and thus it breaks SEDM functionality that depends on the index.

NOTE: In Windows 11, you have to exempt specific folders from FoD since it is always ON.

EDIT: You may be able to use a system variable for the OneDrive cache folder for a Vault definition (I have not tried it to see if it works) if you do decide to attempt that route such as:
%onedrive%\folder1\folder2

[Jaylin Hochstetler]

Jaylin, are you set as the "Document Controller (see field on the Vault Definition page or set in the SE Admin tool if using Options.xml)? I believe only the Document Controller (I thought it was called Change Coordinator) can change status on Baselined/Released/Obsolete documents.

Thanks. That fixed it. I had to enter my user as a document controller. I can now change the status through Design Manager but still not through File Properties form.

OneDrive/SharePoint is a problem as you are actually indexing/working with your local OneDrive sync cache and as you found it is set up using the users profile path. Another issue is that if "Files On-Demand" is used (just ON in Windows 11, optional in Windows 10), any file that was "freed up" from the local cache is not indexed by MS Search and thus it breaks SEDM functionality that depends on the index.

NOTE: In Windows 11, you have to exempt specific folders from FoD since it is always ON.

EDIT: You may be able to use a system variable for the OneDrive cache folder for a Vault definition (I have not tried it to see if it works) if you do decide to attempt that route such as:
%onedrive%\folder1\folder2

I think I took care of this by setting my CAD folder as "Always keep on this device". It takes up more space on my PC but with a 1TB hard drive it's not really an issue.

As far as the Vault definition it's currently not an issue because I'm the only user. And if we add a user all I'd have to do is set his vault definition to his respective "user" folder.

[KennyG]

Jaylin, glad you got it worked out and found the OneDrive setting for the Folder to disable FoD on it.

Microsoft needs to enhance FoD to leave all the file properties on the "stub" left in the cache when the free the file up so MS Search can keep it in the index, or they need to figure out how to federate it to the OneDrive/SharePoint site like they do with a Windows File Server.