Design collaboration comes to Microsoft Sharepoint

A collaborative product data management (PDM) system that lets you create visual product data for far-flung teams from within a Microsoft SharePoint server-based environment is new from digital design communications firm Actify. Its DesignShare addresses the needs of workgroups and design teams to manage collaboration and communication internally and externally in a secure, easy to use environment. Users get a single system and custom dashboard for managing workflow that has historically been largely undocumented, uncontrolled and ad-hoc – managing all relevant documents, including all major 2D and 3D file formats. The benefits: an increase in overall productivity, including time savings, reduced costs, fewer errors and improvement in communication of designs and associated data. Says Bill Gerould of Microsoft: “CPDM [collaborative product data management] and PLM systems tend to be expensive, difficult to work with and inappropriate for SMEs. With [this software], organisations are better able to communicate and collaborate on product information with internal and external teams, allowing them to stay more competitive with a much lower total cost of ownership.” Actify’s other products include: Actify Publisher 2005, which converts CAD files to its .3D format; SpinFire Professional, to view, measure and mark-up CAD files; SpinFire for Microsoft Office, to embed 2D and 3D design data within Office documents; and the free SpinFire Reader, to view 2D and 3D files.