SOLIDWORKS PDM & Collaboration
One copy of every file, one revision everyone trusts, and an approval trail you can show an auditor. SOLIDWORKS PDM, SOLIDWORKS Manage and the 3DEXPERIENCE cloud roles cover every team size, from a ten-person design office to a multi-site product company. Concile has implemented all three and will tell you honestly which fits.
Request a QuoteBook a DemoShared folders stop working at about the tenth engineer
Every design team hits the same wall: two people edit the same assembly, a supplier gets last month’s drawing, nobody can say which revision was actually built. PDM fixes that structurally. Files live in a vault; checking out locks them; revisions are issued by a workflow with named approvers; references between parts, assemblies and drawings are tracked automatically so nothing breaks when a file moves. SOLIDWORKS PDM does this on your own server, SOLIDWORKS Manage extends it to projects and items, and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform delivers the same control from the cloud with nothing to install.
- Secure vault with check-in / check-out and automatic reference tracking
- Version and revision control with full history and roll-back
- Configurable workflows with electronic approvals and notifications
- Search on properties, metadata and workflow state, not just file names
- Managed BOMs per department, exportable to ERP
- Automatic PDF, STEP and eDrawings generation on release
- Browser access for suppliers and shop floor
- Multi-site replication for distributed teams (Professional)
What changes when files move into a vault
One source of truth
The vault is the only place a file exists. Suppliers, purchasing and production pull from the released revision, never from an inbox.
Hours back every week
Engineers stop hunting for files, re-creating lost work and reconciling versions. The search alone pays for PDM Standard in most offices.
Audit-ready by default
Who changed what, when, and who approved it is recorded automatically. ISO 9001, IATF and medical-device audits become a report, not a scramble.
Three steps, pick the one you need today
Most customers start with PDM Standard, which is included free with SOLIDWORKS Professional and Premium, and grow into Professional or the cloud when they need multi-site, ERP links or project control. The upgrade path keeps your vault and history.
SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard
Vault and revision control for a single-site SOLIDWORKS team.
- Up to ~10 users, SQL Server Express
- One workflow, up to ten states
- SOLIDWORKS and DraftSight add-ins, eDrawings preview
- Full history and audit trail
SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional
Unlimited workflows, multi-site, multi-CAD and ERP-ready.
- Unlimited vaults, workflows and states; parallel approvals
- Multi-site vault replication
- Web browser client for phones and tablets
- Connectors for Inventor, AutoCAD, Solid Edge, Office, Electrical
- Automated tasks: PDF/STEP on release, print, serial numbers
- API and ERP integration
SOLIDWORKS Manage
Projects, processes and items on top of the vault.
- Project management: Gantt, milestones, resources, timesheets
- Process management: ECR / ECO with ad-hoc approvers
- Item and BOM management with variants and ERP link
- Dashboards and reports; web portal
Cloud data management roles
Store, revise, release and plan with no server.
- Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS: save, lock, revise from CAD
- Collaborative Industry Innovator: lifecycle, change actions, issues, routes
- Project Planner and Product Release Engineer
- Encrypted, customer-controlled, any device
| Capability | PDM Standardon-premise | PDM Professionalon-premise | Manageon-premise | 3DEXPERIENCEcloud |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core | ||||
| Secure vault, check-in/out, reference tracking | ||||
| Version and revision control, history | ||||
| Approval workflows with notifications | ||||
| Unlimited workflows, parallel transitions | ||||
| Reach | ||||
| Multi-site replication | ||||
| Browser / mobile access | ||||
| Multi-CAD connectors | ||||
| No server to run | ||||
| Beyond files | ||||
| Automated PDF / STEP / print tasks | ||||
| ERP / MRP integration and API | ||||
| Project schedules and resources | ||||
| ECR / ECO process management | ||||
| Item and BOM management | ||||
PDM Standard is included with SOLIDWORKS Design Professional and Premium device licences. Cloud roles are named-user subscriptions on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.
A vault is only as good as its workflow design
The software is the smaller part of a PDM project. The larger part is agreeing how your company numbers, revises and releases — and then making the vault enforce it without slowing engineers down.
- Discovery workshop: numbering, revision scheme, approval roles, ERP touch-points
- Vault design and workflow configuration, tested with your own files
- Bulk migration of existing folders with duplicate and reference clean-up
- Role-based training: CAD users, approvers, viewers, administrators
- Integration with Tally, SAP Business One, Microsoft Dynamics or your ERP
- PDM-in-a-Box: a fixed-scope, fixed-price PDM Standard rollout for small teams
Questions we get asked most
We already have PDM Standard free with SOLIDWORKS — why isn’t it installed?
Because it needs a server, a vault design and a workflow before it is useful, and most teams never find the week to do it. Our PDM-in-a-Box service does exactly that at a fixed price.
PDM or 3DEXPERIENCE cloud?
On-premise PDM suits companies with an IT team, a server room and a policy against cloud storage. The cloud roles suit companies that want control without infrastructure, or teams spread across sites and countries. The functionality overlaps heavily; we’ll recommend after seeing your setup.
Can non-SOLIDWORKS files go in the vault?
Yes. Office documents, PDFs, DWGs and files from Inventor, AutoCAD and Solid Edge are managed with the same workflows. PDM Professional adds native add-ins for those CAD tools.
Does it connect to our ERP?
PDM Professional and Manage have an API and ready integrations for common ERPs; released BOMs and item data flow to ERP automatically. We have done this with Tally, SAP Business One and custom systems.
How long does implementation take?
PDM Standard for a small team: two to three weeks. PDM Professional with migration and ERP link: six to twelve weeks. Cloud roles: days to configure, then migration.
What happens to our old files?
They are migrated into the vault with their folder structure, metadata and references intact. We run a trial migration first and clean up duplicates and broken references before the real one.
Who administers it afterwards?
Usually a senior CAD user with a day of admin training. We provide ongoing support and can administer remotely under a support contract.
Supplied by authorised partners. Implemented by engineers who use it.
Licences are supplied through MSD Facilitators and Ekspe Software Services LLP, our Authorised Dassault Systèmes Partner companies; implementation, automation and support come from Concile engineers in India and the UAE.
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