Comments on: First “T” of CAD – Tools http://www.caddmanager.com/CMB/2008/08/four-ts-of-cad-tools/ Practical, proven insight into CADD Management from Mark W. Kiker Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:07:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: John Person http://www.caddmanager.com/CMB/2008/08/four-ts-of-cad-tools/comment-page-1/#comment-890 John Person Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:57:46 +0000 http://www.caddmanager.com/CMB/?p=645#comment-890 Ryan makes a great point. Integration with your existing systems are important. Even if you intend to upgrade your platforms in the near future, changes in plans could make your recent purchase obsolete or unusable. I try to make sure that the tools are or have been upgraded to follow the upcoming changes of software platforms they will be used on. One other aspect that merits mentioning is 'Learning Curve' and 'Acceptability'. Even the best tools are useless if your users can't or worse, won't use them. When looking for a new apps/ tools, I ask myself one questions and categorize the tool in one of two lists. "Does this tool do something new or does it do something better?" Depending on which, I gear my training differently (but I'll comment on that one later) (*Great Blog by the way, Mark.) Ryan makes a great point. Integration with your existing systems are important. Even if you intend to upgrade your platforms in the near future, changes in plans could make your recent purchase obsolete or unusable.

I try to make sure that the tools are or have been upgraded to follow the upcoming changes of software platforms they will be used on.

One other aspect that merits mentioning is ‘Learning Curve’ and ‘Acceptability’. Even the best tools are useless if your users can’t or worse, won’t use them.

When looking for a new apps/ tools, I ask myself one questions and categorize the tool in one of two lists. “Does this tool do something new or does it do something better?”

Depending on which, I gear my training differently (but I’ll comment on that one later)

(*Great Blog by the way, Mark.)

]]> By: Ryan McVay http://www.caddmanager.com/CMB/2008/08/four-ts-of-cad-tools/comment-page-1/#comment-859 Ryan McVay Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:02:39 +0000 http://www.caddmanager.com/CMB/?p=645#comment-859 When it comes to software tool choices I tend to value how the tool intergrates with the other systems in the company as a high priority: I will look at MES and ERP first. Creating data silo's that can't be leveraged by others is not a good thing. If that is not an issue, than I take a good hard look/guess at the future to see if scalablity is going to be an issue. Are we planning on opening plants/offices in different area and how will those be supported? (i.e. multi-site server and licenses, vars or direct support) Finally, I look to see what type of product we build and determine some of the key functionalities based on geometry type and assembly sizes. When it comes to software tool choices I tend to value how the tool intergrates with the other systems in the company as a high priority: I will look at MES and ERP first. Creating data silo’s that can’t be leveraged by others is not a good thing.

If that is not an issue, than I take a good hard look/guess at the future to see if scalablity is going to be an issue. Are we planning on opening plants/offices in different area and how will those be supported? (i.e. multi-site server and licenses, vars or direct support)

Finally, I look to see what type of product we build and determine some of the key functionalities based on geometry type and assembly sizes.

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