Choosing DB Software advice needed

Let me first say this: the product I am recommending to you here is a
product of the company where I work, this you should know, but I am not
a sales person and have no intention to make personal profit over this.
I am a web-developer there for the past 3.5 years.
I simply recommend it to you sine I think it is not only good but is
actually nowdays being specifically-tailored for small-to-medium
businesses like yours, and to very easily support working processes
like your company have.

The company name is "Enovia SmarTeam" (previously called SmarTeam, it
belongs to the largest 3D software company probably in the world,
Dassault Systems from France, and the 2 products on which you will be
very easily able to maintain all the data and files that you use are
called SmarTeam Editor and WebEditor, which is the web-based version of
the exact same thing. I don't really know which capabilities will you
need, but SmarTeam supports BOM viewing and editing, high-resolution
flow-process definition and management, document-lifecycle (CAD
documents revisions for instance) user-defined data-model done simple
and easy, high-resolution user and authorization management, ability to
set events for objects like 'before update' and a very detailed and
percise set of API's for COM/.NET if you want to do things your way.
There are several administration modules, for different aspects of the
database, and a very user-friendly UI which can also be modified and
customized at will. It also integrates easily with MS-Office products
and MS-Project for managing timetables and milestones.

Altough the SmarTeam database is fairly general in terms of 'oodb' our
company's main direction is towards the engineering departments in the
SMB market - PDM/PLM (product datasheet/lifecycle management). Of
course there are even greater plans for the future, but the product as
it is at the moment I think will answer your needs fully.

The price-tag might be a bit high (a few $K per seat) but if you need
it to operate a business more efficiently and with less mistakes, this
might even turn out to be cheaper than cheap. You are invited to the
Dassault Systems website to also see some other applications they have,
like SolidWorks, CAD and CAM programs, simulations software, two more
object-db products (from the PLM section) and some more:
http://www.3ds.com

Ziv.



> Small (15 folks) engineering company looking to expand and use a DB to
> track files, protect: folders, reports, photos, and files from deletion
> and being misplaced. We also want to have a CRM package that will work
> with Outlook. A big bonus would be finding files by a search for text.
> Most of our files are word processor, spread sheet, PDF, AutoCAD, and
> jpeg. Any advice is appreciated.
 >> Stay informed about: Choosing DB Software advice needed