HCV Data Management GmbH: Porta-X

From the real world, for the real world. The services of HCV Data Management GmbH cover process-chain analysis, system consulting, implementation and project management in the field of CAD-PDM-PLM.

If you have already implemented the ERP system SAP/R3 in your company – why not using it as a PDM system too? As a fact which is little known SAP has a built-in PDM system ready to run – and Porta-X is the integration in order to use it in conjunction with SolidWorks. There is no need maintaining a separate PDM system any longer!

Porta-X allows you to store your SolidWorks models, assemblies and drawings (as well as data from other CAD systems like AutoCAD, DWGeditor etc.) directly in a SAP Content Server, where they are available to the entire enterprise as information for further processing or to provide a decision base. Porta-X provides a full suite of productivity-enhancing functions that can be executed directly from within SolidWorks:

• Create / change / display Document Info Records in SAP PLM (similar to EPDM data cards)
• Check in documents into the SAP Content Server – with automated creation of neutral formats such as PDF
• Check them out for viewing or editing
• Create / change / display Material Master Records – they are automatically linked to the according documents
• Search for materials using SAP match-codes and open the linked documents directly in SolidWorks
• Find documents in SAP and graphically browse through the results lists
• Generate SAP Bills Of Materials directly from SolidWorks assembly structures or drawings at a mouse click

Designers prefer to work with SAP as little as absolutely necessary. In Porta-X, they can see as much SAP as necessary but as little as possible. Porta-X enormously simplifies navigating in SAP, and the ability to use it from within SolidWorks can be learned particularly quickly thanks to the SolidWorks Feature Manager. The SAP information displayed in the Feature Tree is fully customizable.

Advanced CommonWork technology ensures rapid access to all current versions, even for very large assemblies – without time-consuming copy operations. It also forms the base for concurrent engineering – across any number of locations.

One key feature is the optionally available MultiDIR technology: By merging the model and drawing as well as the corresponding neutral formats into a single Document Info Record, this technology simplifies operation – the model and the corresponding drawing are always checked out and in and versioned together – the model and drawing versions are always the same!

With the Porta-X batch mode you can even generate all Material Master Records and Document Info Records for a whole SolidWorks assembly including all drawings in SAP with just a few mouse clicks.