Onshape Data Management Limitations: When You Need External PDM
Onshape Data Management Limitations: When You Need External PDM
Onshape's built-in PDM works well for Onshape-only teams. Learn when multi-CAD environments, supplier collaboration, and advanced workflows require external PDM.
Onshape has revolutionized the CAD industry with its cloud-native platform, offering built-in version control and real-time collaboration that eliminates many of the headaches of traditional, file-based CAD. For teams working exclusively within the Onshape ecosystem, its data management capabilities are often sufficient. However, for many engineering teams, the reality is more complex. Multi-CAD environments, external supplier collaboration, and advanced workflow requirements can expose the limitations of Onshape's built-in PDM.
This article highlights what Onshape's built-in PDM does well, where it's limited, and when adding a CAD-agnostic cloud PDM like CAD ROOMS becomes the practical next step.
Onshape's Built-in PDM: What It Does Well
Onshape's core strength is its integrated, cloud-native data management system. Unlike traditional CAD systems that rely on separate, bolt-on PDM software, Onshape's PDM is woven into the fabric of the platform. This provides several key advantages:
No Files, No Copies: Onshape's database architecture eliminates the concept of files. This means no more check-in/check-out, no more overwritten work, and no more confusion about which version is the latest.
Real-Time Collaboration: Multiple users can work on the same assembly simultaneously, seeing each other's changes in real time. This is a paradigm shift from the sequential workflow of traditional CAD.
Built-in Version Control: Every design change is automatically recorded, creating a complete, auditable history. Users can branch, merge, and compare versions with ease.
Simplified Release Management: Onshape includes built-in tools for managing revisions and releases, allowing teams to formalize their approval processes.
For a team that uses Onshape exclusively, this integrated approach is incredibly powerful. It simplifies data management, reduces administrative overhead, and accelerates the design process.
The Limitations of an Onshape-Only World
The challenges arise when your workflow extends beyond the boundaries of the Onshape ecosystem. Here are the key limitations of relying solely on Onshape's built-in data management:
1. The Multi-CAD Challenge
Very few companies operate in a single-CAD environment. Your team might use Onshape, but your suppliers use SOLIDWORKS, your legacy data is in Creo, and your industrial design team uses Rhino. In these multi-CAD environments, Onshape's built-in PDM falls short:
Import/export becomes the bridge: To work with non-Onshape files, you must constantly import and export them. This is a manual, error-prone process that breaks the associativity between files.
No Single Source of Truth: Once a file is exported from Onshape, it becomes a disconnected copy. You lose version control and the single source of truth that is Onshape's core value proposition.
No native understanding of external CAD structures: Onshape can't manage the native file relationships of other CAD systems. For example, it doesn't understand the relationship between a SOLIDWORKS assembly and its parts and drawings.
2. External Supplier Collaboration
Onshape sharing is great if suppliers are Onshape users. If they aren't:
Forced Adoption: To collaborate effectively, your suppliers need to have Onshape accounts. This can be a significant barrier, especially for smaller suppliers who are invested in other CAD systems.
Limited Access Control: While Onshape allows you to share documents with external users, the access controls are less granular than what you'll find in a dedicated PDM system. You may not be able to control who can view, edit, or download specific files within a shared document.
You fall back to files: If your suppliers need to work with native CAD files, you're back to the world of emailing STEP files, using FTP, or relying on generic cloud storage like Dropbox. This reintroduces all the version control and security problems that Onshape is designed to solve.
3. Advanced Workflow and Process Control
Onshape's release tools cover approvals and revisioning well, but they're not a full PLM replacement:
Formal ECR/ECO is typically external: Onshape supports ECO-style release workflows, but companies requiring structured change objects, impact analysis, and cross-department routing usually handle that in PLM (often via Arena).
Customization is scoped to release flows: Enterprise can customize release workflows, but broader conditional process automation still lives in PLM systems.
BOM is strong for design, light for operations: Onshape generates BOMs directly from assemblies, but advanced BOM governance (costing, multi-level rollups, ERP sync) usually needs an external BOM/PLM tool.
When You Need an External Cloud PDM
You don't add external PDM because Onshape is weak—you add it because your organization is bigger than any single CAD platform.
You Work in a Multi-CAD Environment
If your team uses a mix of Onshape, SOLIDWORKS, Creo, NX, or other CAD systems, an external, CAD-agnostic PDM is essential. A cloud PDM can act as a central hub for all your CAD data, regardless of its source. This allows you to:
Maintain a Single Source of Truth: All your CAD files, from all your systems, are stored in one place with full version control.
Preserve Native File Relationships: A good cloud PDM understands the native file structures of different CAD systems, preserving the relationships between assemblies, parts, and drawings.
Eliminate Import/Export: You can work with native CAD files directly, without the need for constant translation.
You Collaborate Extensively with External Suppliers
If you work with a network of suppliers who use different CAD tools, an external cloud PDM can streamline collaboration:
Secure Supplier Portal: Provide suppliers with a secure, web-based portal to access only the files they need.
Granular Access Control: Control who can view, edit, download, and share specific files and folders.
CAD-Agnostic Viewing: Suppliers can view 3D models in their browser without needing a CAD license.
File-Based Workflows with Version Control: If suppliers need to work with native files, they can check them out of the PDM, ensuring that you always have a single source of truth.
You Need Advanced Process Control
If your company requires formal ECO processes, complex approval workflows, or advanced BOM management, an external PDM/PLM is necessary. A cloud PDM can provide:
Formal ECO Workflows: Create, route, and approve engineering changes in a structured, auditable process.
Granular Permissions: Control access at the project and individual file level, ensuring that users and suppliers only see what they need to see.
File-Based Workflows with Version Control: Enable structured check-out/check-in workflows for external collaborators, ensuring version control and eliminating the chaos of emailing files back and forth.
How CAD ROOMS Complements Onshape
CAD ROOMSis a cloud-native PDM solution that is designed to complement Onshape in these multi-CAD, external collaboration, and advanced workflow scenarios. Here's how:
Multi-CAD Support: CAD ROOMS is CAD-agnostic, with native support for SOLIDWORKS, Creo, NX, Inventor, and other major CAD systems. You can manage all your CAD data in one place, regardless of its source.
Secure Supplier Collaboration: CAD ROOMS provides a secure, web-based portal for supplier collaboration, with granular access controls and in-browser 3D viewing.
Lightweight, practical workflows: CAD ROOMS offers flexible, lightweight workflows for ECOs, approvals, and other engineering processes, without the complexity of a full-blown PLM system.
A hybrid strategy that works: CAD ROOMS can be used alongside Onshape to create a unified data management strategy. You can use Onshape for your internal design work and CAD ROOMS to manage your multi-CAD data and collaborate with external partners.
Conclusion
Onshape is a powerful, innovative platform that has changed the way many engineering teams work. Its built-in data management is a major advantage for teams that operate exclusively within the Onshape ecosystem. However, for the many companies that live in a more complex, multi-CAD world, Onshape's limitations can create significant challenges.
By complementing Onshape with an external, CAD-agnostic cloud PDM solution like CAD ROOMS, you can get the best of both worlds: the real-time collaboration and cloud-native architecture of Onshape, combined with the multi-CAD support, secure supplier collaboration, and advanced workflow capabilities of a dedicated PDM system. This hybrid approach allows you to create a flexible, scalable data management strategy that can adapt to the needs of your business, both today and in the future.
Ready to see how CAD ROOMS can work alongside your Onshape workflow?Schedule a demo to explore how cloud PDM can extend your data management capabilities across your entire engineering ecosystem.
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