CAD Forum

I'd like some input on this, since I'm starting to consolidate tribal knowledge.

Do you try to keep all CAD and PDM best practice data in one file, or do you spread it out into separate files for different sections of the software?
Do you record tips as well as rules?
Do you record the reasons for the rules so the next unlucky admin knows why the rule was made?
What software do you use for best practices (Excel, Word, Publisher)?

Thanks!

mike miller wrote: ↑Wed Jan 11, 2023 11:00 am I'd like some input on this, since I'm starting to consolidate tribal knowledge.

Do you try to keep all CAD and PDM best practice data in one file, or do you spread it out into separate files for different sections of the software?
Do you record tips as well as rules?
Do you record the reasons for the rules so the next unlucky admin knows why the rule was made?
What software do you use for best practices (Excel, Word, Publisher)?

Thanks!

Since I take care of training new employees, I memorize most tricks, though to make sure those tricks get to everyone, we try and bring up a trick every now and then in our biweekly meetings so that people remember them. (Those would be tips)

For the rules, they are recorded in each file. I try to record the reasons for the rules for the next guy or whoever has to look it up if they're by themselves. I try and make sure that the company is not dependant on me.

Most of them are created in Word. I have a few in Excel but they are for very specific uses. I use multiple files and increment them. Most are rather simple but some can be more complex, like the one about the skeleton method is 85 pages long.

Example:
Document for standard company codification.
Document for creation of a project or product
Document to help use Deloupe's CustomTools.
Document to explain how to insert macros in SolidWorks.
Document for SolidWorks version migration.
Document for tips to help with correcting projects/drawings.
Document for the Skeleton method
Document on how to use the ERP
Document on how to create electric/hydraulic/pneumatic schemes (Deloupe's way)

And many more. Sooo, I'd say it depends on the complexity of your whole work environment.

I have a local GitLab server for hosting my add-in source code and tracking issues and such. It also includes a Wiki where I put the sort of information you are talking about:
Each Gitlab project has its own Wiki, so you can create different projects with different user access levels (e.g. regular users vs. admin users) with content specific to those groups. Gitlab tracks the history of every edit to every Wiki page as well.

Stored in PDM under our Company Standards folder. It's a mix of document types (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Visio, etc)
Now that we are moving to Windchill and a "Global" process, newer documents are scattered to the winds since they don't plan for Windchill to house these documents, only product information. Mostly because a license for Windchill is expensive (named user license). So these kinds of documents end up in various Sharepoint folders, Teams folders, Confluence, network drives, etc. Quite the nightmare but I'm not in charge of the new "global" plan and details still aren't fully baked yet.

We have a company sharepoint where we have pages for various types of info people may need. I have been putting a lot of our information on there. (For example, how to create a new user in PDM with screenshots.) We do have a couple of formal procedures, but that doesn't cover the other things. General tips, we share over slack but don't always go back to them.