Many of you are aware that the latest version of SolidWorks 2015, released earlier this year. It is always a good practice to wait for one or two Service Packs to be released before you choose to upgrade to the new version. As of now, Service Pack 1.1 is available on the SolidWorks download site. So, many of you are probably taking the steps to evaluate the benefits of an upgrade. EC users need to consider a few things before a CAD version upgrade.

First and foremost, does EC support the new CAD version? EC 3.4 has been available on Oracle eDelivery for a few weeks. In addition to new features and performance enhancements to EC, this new version supports SolidWorks 2015. So, you’ve got that going for you.

Next, what Agile versions works with EC 3.4? EC 3.4 is currently only supported in Agile 9.3.4. The web services hot-fixes for earlier versions of Agile have not yet been released. While Oracle is not keen on giving future release dates (and who can blame them), the expectation is that they will be released in the next couple of months. So, if you have to have some new feature in SolidWorks 2015, or you want to take advantage of the performance enhancements of EC 3.4, you will have to consider upgrading Agile to 9.3.4, in the short term.

FYI, I have also been told that Agile 9.3.4 will not support earlier versions of EC, so if you are already planning to upgrade Agile, you will also want to upgrade to EC 3.4.

Lastly, you need SolidWorks 2015 support in AutoVUE for Agile. AutoVUE for Agile 20.2.3 was released in the last month, or so. I checked the supported CAD versions and SolidWorks 2015 is not on the list. Not to worry, you do not need to wait for the next release. The expected process to get AutoVUE for Agile support for a new CAD version is through an SR (Service Request). So, every EC user that is expecting to upgrade to a new CAD version, between now and the next release of AutoVUE for Agile, should be proactive and submit an SR on Oracle Support. BTW, if you need to know how to submit an SR, check out our ZWS' blog, "The Update Guide for Creating an SR on Oracle Support".

As always, if you have any questions, please contact us.

Happy upgrading.

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