3 Customer Successes: Complex Data Migration Projects

November 12, 2021 3DEXPERIENCE Like: 0

ByMarc Young, Founder and Owner, xLM Solutions

xLM’s founder Marc Young outlines how xLM Solutions successfully conducted three complex 3DEXPERIENCE data migration projects for different customers.

xLM Solutions and its team of experts are well known for successfully mastering the meticulous process of conducting complex data migration projects. New implementations can easily fall apart if data migration isn’t handled properly. We have documented a variety of our customized tools, methods and solutions to streamline complex data migration projects, such as:

SmarTeam to 3DEXPERIENCE
SOLIDWORKS PDM to 3DEXPERIENCE
SOLIDWORKS PDM Legacy Data Loading
And more

Read our blog about migrating data to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Here we describe three complex data migration projects out of our large portfolio of recent, successful projects. DRAPER DRAPER is a Boston-based nonprofit engineering innovation company with a focus on strategic, space and defense systems, biomedical engineering, energy systems, human systems technology, positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), autonomous systems, precision instrumentation, and cybersecurity, among others. For DRAPER, xLM conducted a complex data migration from SOLIDWORKS PDM Workgroup to 3DEXPERIENCE. The project involved four main tasks:

Export the data from SOLIDWORKS PDM
Transform the data based on DRAPER’s specific business rules
Read and import the transformed data in 3DEXPERIENCE
Conduct post processing data updates

The project team migrated over a million objects, from family objects to instance objects, links and other various objects, and resolved issues with invalid characters, renamed files and broken configurations. The team also dynamically mapped different properties and fields from SOLIDWORKS PDM to the appropriate attributes in 3DEXPERIENCE. In parallel to the main project. xLM also extracted the Bill of Materials (BOM) from the SOLIDWORKS drawings being loaded. The extracted BOM is used to load the engineering BOM within 3DEXPERIENCE. xLM worked closely with DRAPER to conduct a SOLIDWORKS BOM extraction of all the BOM table information off the SOLIDWORKS drawings to place them into a format DRAPER could use to import and create the BOMs inside 3DEXPERIENCE. Contact xLM Solutions for the full DRAPER customer success story. Global Aerospace and Defense Leader A major aerospace contractor in engineering technologies for systems, solutions, national security and defense engaged with xLM Solutions to migrate its data from ENOVIA SMARTEAM as it moved to the 3DEXPERIENCE enterprise platform. About six years ago, xLM Solutions implemented ENOVIA SMARTEAM for the company to manage CATIA V5 data for one of its key aerospace programs. For the data migration project this year, the team used the ENOVIA Deployment Acceleration Toolkit (EDAT) which uses the XPDM import tool as the underlying technology to migrate the data. Read xLM’s blog about using the EDAT tool when migrating to 3DEXPERIENCE. For this project, the team:

Converted the CATIA V5 data to CATIA 3DX
Conducted data mapping exercises to map the SmarTeam fields to the new 3DX data model
Used EKL and business logic to configure various CAT rules and perform various mapping beyond the out-of-the-box mappings
Worked collaboratively with another vendor using specific logic to migrate title, part number and part name data
Conducted multiple test cycles, starting with small unit tests on simple parts and assemblies and working up to more complex tests

The contractor is now live on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform and can access its SmarTeam data. xLM is also working with the company on additional projects. Lippert Components Inc. Lippert Components Inc., is the nation’s leading global manufacturer and supplier of premium components for the RV, marine, automotive, and commercial vehicle industries. It supplies a broad array of highly engineered components for recreation and transportation OEMs and their aftermarkets. The company operates over 90 manufacturing and distribution facilities throughout North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. In 2016, xLM Solutions conducted a successful migration from SmarTeam to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform for Lippert. In late 2020, xLM Solutions started working with the Lippert facility in Italy to migrate its data from SOLIDWORKS PDM to Lippert’s corporate 3DEXPERIENCE platform. The migration is ongoing and will continue into early 2022. Among various tasks, the team:

Renamed file names and part numbers to match the corporate naming structure.
Excluded certain files from the migration based on Lippert’s business logic.
Synched revisions between the model and drawing files to make sure the latest revision of the model or drawing always matched each other with the latest version.
Updated and renamed properties within SOLIDWORKS, often adding an English identifier to the Italian identifier.
Confirmed that in context links and referenced links from SOLIDWORKS were properly migrated, maintaining their relationships and ensuring they behaved properly in 3DEXPERIENCE.
Mapped data from SOLIDWORKS meta data fields to the appropriate 3DX fields.

The team has run multiple test migrations and built confidence following each one, extracting the data properly, formatting it and preparing it to migrate to 3DX. Lippert expects to migrate other divisions and sites to align with the corporate 3DX solution in the near future. If you would like more information about these customer success stories, contact us.