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It's time to discuss the use of Categories within Autodesk Vault Workgroup.
Categories are a powerful feature and can be found starting in Vault Workgroup. The category of a file dictates the Lifecycle state, Revision scheme, and pertinent Properties. The flexible nature of Vault allows you to implement these features in a phased approach, and that is the focus of this post.
Let's examine a common scenario: you have just updated from Vault to Vault Workgroup. You're looking at a the task of categorizing everything in your Vault, where do you start? First understand that the product ships with a few Categories to start with, and one of these is the Base Category. Think of this as the default or null Category – but it still is a Category. Another way to look at this is a the zero layer of Categories – its always there, and should be the default. This Category initially has no Lifecycles, Revisions, or Properties assumed, and you can start using Vault Workgroup (or higher) immediately after the installation.
First, one of the significant benefits of Vault Workgroup is the security you can place on files. For instance, a Lifecycle state such as 'Released' can be applied to a file even though its in the Base Category. This will provide an immediate lock down on all the files that need that level of control. From the Administrative dialog box, click the Behaviors tab and click Categories.
With the Base category selected, choose the Lifecycles tab on this bottom and click Assign. In my example below I move the Simple Release Process to be available for Base categorized files.
Now all files in Vault (in the base category) will at minimum have the option to be set to Released. I chose the Simple Release Process because it contains only WIP and Released. If you want more options/states, those are available as well, but I suggest keeping it simple for now. Also note that the default (check mark) is still <None>. In my example, I do not want any new file added to Vault to assume any Lifecycle states – leaving this to be performed on an as-needed basis.
Using this phased approach, you can realize the immediate benefit of security on files through lifecycles with Vault Workgroup. Next we'll focus on phasing in Revision management.
-Brian Schanen
