Visual Data Management – A Look Under the Hood pt.1

In this post we’ll take a look ‘under the hood’ and examine Visual Data Management in Autodesk Inventor. This covers creation, modification, and use of report templates for Data Mapping inside Inventor 2011. Also included are three sample templates to get you started with Visual Data Management.

Tools you will need for customizing Report Templates

1. First, locate and get to know the Report Template Authoring Utility. The good news is that anyone with Vault Workgroup, Collaboration, or Professional 2011 can create a report template based off of properties that are in your Vault database. This executable is located in the install directory on your client machine. For example C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\Vault Professional 2011\Explorer\ReportTemplateAuthoringUtility.exe
2. Next, get ready to download software to customize the report templates you create:
   • Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition 
   • Microsoft Report Viewer Add-on for Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition
3. Next, you’ll need Autodesk Inventor 2011 with Vault Workgroup, Collaboration, or Professional to run the report and map the results directly onto the model in the graphics window.
4. Finally, Vault Workgroup, Collaboration, or Professional client will be needed to modify and standardize on the colors used during Data Mapping. This is an administrative task and can be found in Tools>Administration>Vault Settings>Behaviors tab>Report Management.

I have included three sample report templates here to get you started. I have pre-configured these to include out-of-the-box properties that are found in the three products. Vault Workgroup will report on

• Lifecycle State
• Category
• Designer
• Material
• Project
• Checked Out By

For the Vault Collaboration report template, I included all the Workgroup properties, plus an Ownership property for those leveraging our Connected Workgroup (Full/Global Replication) solution.

And finally, for Vault Professional users I include all the Workgroup + Collaboration properties, and added

• Linked to Item
• Controlled By Change Order
• ECO State

Coming Soon: Stay tuned for a step-by-step procedural video up on the Autodesk YouTube channel…

Download Vault Workgroup 2011 In-CAD

Download Vault Collaboration 2011 In-CAD

Download Vault Professional 2011 In-CAD

-Brian Schanen