How To Successfully Implement SolidWorks 2009

In an effort to focus on more CAD Administration items here at RockSolid Perspective I thought that this time of year would be the perfect time to begin this process. As most of you know by now, SolidWorks 2009 SP0 is available for download on the Downloads and Updates page inside of the SolidWorks Customer Portal. I have already downloaded this version on my home laptop for testing and to get a feel for all of the new features that are available in this release so that I am familiar with it before I distribute it to the other users at my company.

Step 1: Determine When You Want To Upgrade!

This is often a heavily debatable topic that surfaces on discussion forums and at user group meetings. Most companies like to wait until SP1 or even SP2 before they update their software because of the bugs that can surface in SP0. Usually the bugs outweigh the benefits of the new features so companies hold off until the majority of the issues have been resolved. Last year SolidWorks 2008 seemed to have a high quantity of issues throughout the first couple of service packs which resulted in multiple SPX.1 releases. There were even companies that skipped the 2008 release all together because of these. In regards to the 2009 release I believe that the switch should come as soon as possible as long as it doesn’t interrupt your ability to work with your customers data. SolidWorks 2009 appears to me and others and the most stable release that SolidWorks has had in a long time and the performance gains that are included in the software warrant an immediate upgrade.

Step 2: Have The CAD Administrator Test The Software Before Implementation!

A good practice to get into is to have your company’s CAD Administrator do some testing before just throwing the software out into production. 1 common way to do this is to develop a dataset of some of your models. Back in June SolidWorks offered a tech tip about how to create and validate a dataset which I found very useful and informative. However, when SolidWorks updated their website they seem to have deleted the page that it was on so it is no longer available (at least I cannot seem to find it anywhere. I am happy to announce that I printed this off when I saw it and I will re-publish it in an upcoming blog post so that it is once again available to everyone. This is a great way to test the software with some of the unique operations that your company uses before finding out that there is an issue after everyone has been switched over to the new release. Once created this dataset can be used repeatedly for upcoming releases and can be added to whenever you feel the need to check additional things during your internal testing period. This is also a good tool to use when beta testing, which I suggest everyone participate in, so that the bugs that you may encounter in SP0 can be fixed long before it hits the web.

Step 3: Determine The Timing Of Your Partner Product’s SP0 Release!

At the company I work at we also run CamWorks which is our CNC programming software. After some research I found out that CamWorks 2009 is not going to be starting beta testing until October of this year. I would never endorse upgrading your CAD software while your CAM software or any partner product is still in beta. This step may have the most input into when your company is ready to make the switch from SW 2008 to SW 2009.

Step 4: Determine Where To Install SolidWorks From?

There are 2 options for downloading SolidWorks 2009 SP0. The first route is to use the web and download it from the Customer Portal’s Downloads and Updates page. This is a great spot because it gives you the ability to download it on demand as soon as it goes live to the web by SolidWorks. However, as with any software that you download from the web there is always the chance that the download can get interrupted or become corrupted so that there are issues that become visible during the install. This is even worse if you are using an admin image because by the time that the problem comes around there could be a lot of users that have downloaded it already and will need to reinstall the software possibly. The other option is to wait until you receive the DVD’s that SolidWorks ships to your doorsteps every year. The downside of this is that you have to wait a couple of additional weeks after the web download is available to get your hands on the smoking hot new release of the software. I personally prefer this method as it ensures you a clean install (as long as the DVD’s are not corrupt somehow) and therefore a smooth transition from 1 release to the next.

Step 5: Clean Up Your Systems!

This is a very important step in implementing SolidWorks so that your down time is held to a minimum. A quick thing to do right away is to save all of your settings onto your desktop so that you can quickly retrieve them once the new software is installed. You can do this by using the Copy Settings Wizard that SolidWorks packages with each release. To find this tool you need to go to Start>Programs>SolidWorks 2008>SolidWorks 2008 SPX>SolidWorks Tools>Copy Settings Wizard. Now before you get all DVD or download/install happy be sure to uninstall the previous version of SolidWorks that is on your system (as long as you can without interrupting your customers data translation) so that you can start with a nice new and fresh version of SolidWorks. This step can go for all of your partner product updates too. Once you have uninstalled the software be sure to go into your registry and delete all forms of SolidWorks registry keys that you can find in there. This will get rid of all forms of data that your computer likes to keep for you behind the scenes.

Disclaimer: Do not go into your registry and alter it if you are not comfortable doing so and do not realize the consequences that could occur because of it.

Step 6: Prepare Yourself For The Install!

Something that you will want to check before you begin to install the software is whether or not you will need to turn off you anti-virus protection program first. SolidWorks has finally released a list of tested anti-virus applications that it will support during installs. To find this data you will need to visit the Anti-Virus page in the System Requirements and Graphics Cards section of their web page. If your anti-virus protection program is listed with a green check mark next to it you will not need to do anything to your anti-virus in order to install SolidWorks successfully.

Step 7: Install Your Software And Distribute It To Your Company!

Once steps 1-5 are completed and completed successfully you should be ready to install the software. Whether you are doing a group of individual installs or an admin image you are ready to install it successfully. So grab a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy all of the SolidWorks install process goodness.

Step 8: Attend And Conduct An Internal ‘What’s New In SolidWorks 2009′ Seminar!

The last step in this process is a critical one. This step can be done before step 7 also so that you are ready to rock and roll as soon as your computer is ready for SolidWorks 2009. Most if not all VAR’s (SolidWorks resellers) will offer 1 or multiple What’s New In SolidWorks 2009 seminars throughout the month of October and into November. Make sure your CAD Administrator attends this event and possibly takes another user from the company with him so that you can see what is all included in this release. These seminars are great opportunities to see the new version, interact with your VAR and interact with other SolidWorks users in your area. Be sure to take good notes during this training session so that you are able to go back and train the rest of the users in your company the same things that you saw and learned. This will ensure a smooth transition between SolidWorks 2008 and SolidWorks 2009.

If you are unable to attend this event on the day it is scheduled be sure to watch your local user group website because many of these will have a presentation in an upcoming meeting covering many of the new highlights of SolidWorks 2009.