Siemens NX CAD Data Migration from Teamcenter to PTC Windchill with the SF Migration Factory

The purchase and acquisition of a division also requires a transfer of the engineering and CAD data (carve-out). In close cooperation with the Swiss PTC reseller and service provider, GIA Informatik AG, Software Factory experts executed this for a second time, with their migration tools for Windchill. After a highly successful Creo data migration including history from the PDM System Profile a few years ago, Software Factory once again opted for a carve-out of the Siemens NX CAD data from the Team Center and an import into the client’s Windchill system. With the Software Factory Migration Tools, there is no downtime for the users in the target system and only a minimal frozen zone in the source system for changes at the end of the migration. The migration can also be constructed in very flexible manner, from a Big Bang to iterations with multiple delta migrations. Already before the final “Go Live” moment, almost all migrated data can be verified and the risk can be minimized.

The overall task for GIA Informatik AG was to extract the data of the purchased business unit from the ERP system as well as the NX CAD data from Team Center. Afterwards, the data needed to be imported simultaneously into the SAP system as well as into the customer’s productive PLM system Windchill. In contrast to the migration of complete data sets, carve-outs are much more demanding as the only relevant data that can be exported here must be complete and consistent. This is even more complex for CAD data since standard parts and identical parts are used across the board, referenced in assemblies as well as part lists.

The first step was to analyze the data structures and metadata in the Teamcenter database. Based on this information, the extraction tools were created and the definition of the rules as well as the filters to limit the amount of data were then migrated. For all these objects and their versions, all referenced objects must be iteratively determined with their versions. The extracted data is stored in the SF Migration Factory for Windchill in a staging database. Here the enrichment of the system attributes required for Windchill as well as the cleaning of metadata and mapping of the attributes, lifecycle states and revision schemes take place. If the data is prepared in accordance with Windchill, they are loaded with the standardized loaders of the SF Migration Factory in Windchill.

In the first test migration, a reference set of the data to be migrated was loaded and tested by the GIA experts using the Siemens NX integrated in Windchill via the Workgroup Manager. Since the quality of these migrated NX data was very high, the training of NX users was already done with this data. Next, a full test migration and a rehearsal migration were performed to not only test but also to verify the productive migration scenario. In order to ensure high quality, CAD users conducted validation and tests.

After completing the productive SAP ERP data migration, the productive CAD data migration of more than 750,000 CAD objects (parts, assemblies, drawings, etc.) and their links were successfully completed within 30 hours on a weekend in June 2019. The following Monday, the Windchill-Siemens NX-PLM solution was open to users who have since worked with complete satisfaction with the new system. The previous Windchill Creo users have noticed nothing of the entire migration and had no restrictions.

With nearly 20 years of experience and expertise in CAD data migrations for PTC products as well as the SF Migration Factory, Software Factory is the leading provider of migrations for PTC customers. Our migration projects are international, worldwide and take place in various industries. The special requirements in terms of security and software quality in the fields of medical technology as well as aerospace and defense, are also served by the SF Migration Factory.