This article was originally featured on the KETIV blog. To read the original in its entirety, click HERE.
Autodesk has announced the retirement of Vault Workgroup. This means that new versions of the solution will no longer be released, and the ability to purchase new licenses of Vault Workgroup will end on July 7, 2022.
But what does that mean for users who currently have Vault Workgroup licenses?
Here are five important things that current Vault Workgroup users need to know:
1) Nothing changes until your contract renewal date.
You can continue your use of Vault Workgroup, but once you reach your contract renewal date, you will not have the option to renew Vault Workgroup unless your contract renewal date is before July 7, 2023. Users with Vault Workgroup licenses with a contract renewal date before July 7, 2023, will have the option to renew Vault Workgroup for one more year. Users with Vault Workgroup licenses with a contract renewal date after July 7, 2023, will not have the option to renew Vault Workgroup.
2) You get access to Vault Pro free of charge.
From July 7, 2022, to your contract renewal date, you will have access to both Vault Workgroup and Vault Pro. If you have one license of Vault Workgroup, you will have access to one license of Vault Pro. If you have 50 licenses of Vault Workgroup, you will have access to 50 licenses of Vault Pro. It’s important to remember that you will have access to BOTH Vault Workgroup and Vault Pro until the end of your contract renewal – you do not swap one for the other. This way, you have the option of which one you want to use.
Curious about the differences between Vault Workgroup and Vault Pro? Check out this comparison matrix for a side-by-side look.
3) Access to both Vault Workgroup and Vault Pro ends at the renewal date.
When you reach your Vault Workgroup contract renewal date, you will need to decide if you will invest in Vault Pro. This is because you will be unable to renew your Vault Workgroup licenses unless your contract renewal date is before July 7, 2023 – then you have the option to renew your Vault Workgroup licenses for one more year.
4) Using Vault Pro requires an in-place upgrade.
Current Vault Workgroup users who choose to take advantage of their free access to Vault Pro licenses once they become available on July 7, 2022, will need to upgrade their Vault environment to Vault Pro. The upgrade process for a Vault environment is composed of five stages: validate backup, upgrade SQL, upgrade Vault server, upgrade clients, and create a backup. Once this is done, then users can begin taking advantage of the benefits of Vault Pro.
Users who are curious about the step-by-step process for an in-place Vault upgrade can access these instructions provided by Autodesk.
5) There are risks if you continue using Vault Workgroup until your contract renewal date.
The main risk is if you require a new Vault Workgroup license after the July 7, 2022, deadline. Should the need arise for a new Vault Workgroup license, not only will you have to purchase a new license of Vault Pro (because Vault Workgroup will not be available), but you will also have to perform the in-place upgrade to migrate your data to Vault Pro before the new user can begin using the new license of Vault Pro. This is because Vault Workgroup licenses cannot work with Vault Pro licenses. So, if you find yourself needing more licenses, your only option will be Vault Pro, and you’ll have to move all users to Vault Pro as well.
Another condition of staying on Vault Workgroup is you’re locked into the last version – 2023. This means that as long as you continue using Vault Workgroup 2023, your other Autodesk software that works with Vault Workgroup, Inventor, for example, will also have to remain on the 2023 version to be compatible.
Lastly, all Vault Workgroup customers can invest to move to Vault Pro at any point during their contract renewal period. However, customers who choose to wait until the end of their contract renewal period may have to pay a higher price for Vault Pro as current Vault Pro pricing is not locked in or guaranteed. So, while there’s no harm in waiting, you could pay more, later on, to move to Vault Pro permanently.
To learn more about the transition from Vault Workgroup to Vault Pro, click HERE.
