Numbers Don't Lie - Creating a Numbering Scheme in Autodesk Vault

“The numbers speak for themselves. That's a good score.”
Howard Rubenstein

Creating a part number scheme can be quite a challenge.  Getting everyone to follow it can be an even bigger problem.

Getting everyone to reference the book of numbers, trying to get everyone to renumber parts, can be quite a challenge.  

And it's not always the fault of the users.  End users are human, they forget, they feel pressure and skip it because their efforts are needed elsewhere..

So how can we help automate that step?

Autodesk Vault Workgroup, Autodesk Vault Collaboration, and Autodesk Vault Professional all have the ability to create file naming schemes.


These schemes will prompt you to name a file on the initial save.  By eliminating that need to stop what your doing and look up the next available block of numbers from a book, or Excel spread sheet,, this function makes it much easier to keep a unified numbering scheme.

On top of that, it knows when a number has been issued, so all but eliminates the possibility of two users grabbing the same part number!

File naming scheme prompting on save

So how do you do it.  I've got a video for that, but first, a couple of things to be aware of.

1. You have to be logged in as an administrator to make these changes.  This isn't available to just anyone!
2. Once you save a file with a naming scheme, that numbering scheme is in use.  You can't delete it, or change it.  You can only disable it.  So it's definitely worth it to take the time and make sure you haven't missed anything before you make it live!

But aside from that, this can be a great tool for helping stick to a part numbering scheme!