Aras Innovator

Avantages

The vast array of features that can be had for nothing more than the work of installing it. Aras Innovator is incredibly powerful, easy to use, and has a great support structure.

Inconvénients

The installation process was a little burdensome.

Avantages

The most pleasant thing is that it works with Solid Edge, for me as an engineer who needs quick access to documentation, it is very helpful.

Inconvénients

I did not notice any significant problems with the system. They work without problems. Maybe a preview of the document (drawing, model) directly in the application would be useful

Avantages

I don't think it is actually an Aras feature itself, but there are various "connectors" available that integrate different software packages with Aras. As an EE, I can open my CAD product (Altium) and directly push/pull things to/from Aras from my designer suite. Although my connector functionality has been broken for the last few months (unsure who is at fault), this is by far my favorite feature since using Aras (when it worked).

Secondly, Aras has the ability to pull up PDF drawings without actually downloading them. When I just want to quickly check some drawing, this is a nice feature since I avoid hording 100s of drawings in my downloads folder.

Inconvénients

I have had many struggles with Aras since my company migrated over a year ago to this system. Here are some key items:
1. Aras is very slow. When I sign off an ECO, typically my Chrome browser will ask me "do you want to kill the page or wait?" because it thinks the window has become non-responsive. I know better now, and go get coffee or check my emails until the page responds.
2. It seems to be difficult to make updates to Aras to improve functionality for the company. I've suggested many improvements, few of them seem to make it in, and when updates do get made there are typically issues when it is released and they have to patch their patch. It shouldn't be that hard.
3. My right index finger is getting extremely strong, from the 100s of mouse clicks I've performed since using Aras. All the data is there, but it can be very difficult to get to as you perform click after click to go through pages and tabs to your final destination.
4. I've come across features that apparently weren't implemented such as "Check For Completeness" under the actions menu-it would tell me my ECO was ready to move forward, only to sign off and it tells me fields are missing. There is also no indication of which fields are mandatory when creating parts/drawings, you find out through trial and error when trying to sign off on things.
5. BOM management is horrific in Aras. Ref designators would be truncated and we would find out from the manufacturers. Editing BOMs is very manual and error prone.

Avantages

The software gave us one location to do cost, price, tooling and save data for quotes. It leaves less room for user error than Excel but it is Excel based so its user friendly. It is customizable.

Inconvénients

The system is limited and time consuming to customize. The version we have runs off an old version of Internet Explorer. It can be very slow depending on your internet connection.

Avantages

I really like this product. It has so many feature and it follows the PMBOK framework. I really like the ease of use and the ability to drill down for more information. I was looking for a software that closely follows the PMOK framework and this was one of the best. It is a PPM and product life software that does an excellent job

Inconvénients

It was a little tricky to install and set up. It has much to learn and can take some time to fully understand.