Adept

Adept is an engineering document and product data management system for teams coordinating controlled design files and approvals. It is best suited to asset-intensive organizations that need revision traceability across engineering work. Its tiered on-premise licenses give teams control over who can author, while cloud buyers must budget for asset allowances and substantial onboarding.

Overview

Adept brings product data management together with engineering document control. It tracks parts, assemblies, drawings, XREFs and configurations alongside versions, workflow states and audit history. That makes it more useful for governed design changes than for teams that only need a general-purpose file repository.

Organizations can run it on their own servers or use Adept Cloud, a managed SaaS platform maintained by Synergis. The Silver Success Plan is included with a subscription and covers critical issues around the clock, software upgrades, a Customer Success Manager and SSO configuration.

Key features

CAD relationships and review

Adept connects to SOLIDWORKS, AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor, with CAD access through an expandable task pane. Check-in, check-out, moves and renames help preserve relationships among design files as they change. Teams can route designs for review and approval, manage document states, send notifications and retain workflow activity in an audit trail.

Viewing and markup for CAD, PDF and Office files do not require a CAD license. That is useful for reviewers who need to comment without occupying an authoring seat. Permission controls can be set for users and groups; single sign-on, multifactor authentication and encrypted storage support access security. Adept supports Windows BitLocker AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS encryption in transit.

Integrations and deployment

Beyond CAD, Adept Integrator connects with enterprise systems including SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics 365, IBM Maximo, Esri, Salesforce and Oracle Primavera P6. That breadth may matter to organizations tying engineering records to wider operations, but Integrator is an on-premise add-on and is not yet available for Adept Cloud. Catalyst and PublishWave are also currently on-premise add-ons.

Pricing

On-premise licenses are priced per named or concurrent user, billed annually. Named licenses are cheaper at every tier, but are assigned to users; concurrent licenses cost more and are priced by simultaneous user capacity.

PlanNamed licenseConcurrent licenseWhat it addsExplorer$12 a month; billed $144 per named user/year$104 a month; billed $1,248 per concurrent user/yearRead-only web client, search and browse, CAD/Office/PDF viewing and markup, metadata, relationships, workflow status, version history and audit trailReviewer$25 a month; billed $300 per named user/year$131 a month; billed $1,572 per concurrent user/yearExplorer features, workflow participation, metadata editing and permission-based uploads and downloadsCreator$68 a month; billed $816 per named user/year$164 a month; billed $1,968 per concurrent user/yearReviewer features plus document check-in and check-out and personal and shared work areasDesktop$82 a month; billed $984 per named user/year$208 a month; billed $2,496 per concurrent user/yearCreator features plus CAD integrations and transmittal automationExplorer is suited to people who need to find, inspect and mark up files without changing them. Reviewer adds controlled participation and metadata changes; Creator is the step up for document authors managing check-in and check-out. Desktop is the relevant tier for users who need CAD integrations and transmittal automation. The cheaper tiers omit those authoring and integration capabilities, so they are a poor fit for core CAD users.

Adept Cloud Essentials costs $1,400 a month, billed annually, for unlimited users and 20,000 assets, excluding prior versions. Additional capacity comes in 5,000-asset increments, and new customers pay a mandatory $10,000 onboarding fee. Cloud Professional has custom pricing; it includes unlimited users and 30,000 assets, excluding prior versions, with extra capacity in 7,500-asset increments and a mandatory $20,000 onboarding fee for new customers. These allowances make asset volume, not seats, the key cloud budgeting constraint.

Platforms

Adept supports Android, iOS, web and Windows, as well as self-hosted deployment. The choice between customer infrastructure and managed cloud is consequential: on-premise customers retain access to Catalyst, Integrator and PublishWave, while Cloud customers do not currently have those add-ons.

Who it's for

Adept is aimed at asset-intensive fields including manufacturing, utilities, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, mining, and engineering and construction. It is a stronger fit where design files need controlled revisions, approvals and links to operational systems than where teams have simple document-sharing needs.

Pros and cons

Pros: Tiered licenses let organizations reserve CAD integrations and document authoring for the users who need them, while read-only viewers can still review and mark up files.

Pros: Workflow states, approvals and an audit trail bring change control into the same system as CAD file relationships.

Pros: Deployment can be on customer infrastructure or managed cloud, with a support plan that includes critical-issue coverage and upgrades.

Cons: Cloud Essentials requires an annual commitment, caps included assets at 20,000 and adds a $10,000 onboarding fee for new customers.

Cons: Cloud Professional has custom pricing and a $20,000 onboarding fee for new customers, while three named add-ons remain unavailable in Cloud.

Cons: Concurrent licenses are substantially more expensive than named licenses at each tier, which can raise costs for teams needing flexible shared access.

Alternatives

OpenBOM is worth considering for teams that want a free starting point: its free plan covers up to 2,000 data records, though the record count includes unique part numbers, BOM part records and managed CAD.

MechWorks PDM may suit buyers who prefer pricing on request and reseller-supported implementation.

Vistapoint PDM is an option for web-based teams looking for a read-only seat at $24 a month, with 500 GB cloud storage and CAD integrations.

ENOVIA PDM offers a 3DEXPERIENCE Cloud Evaluation Offer at a price agreed with the maker, billed per quarter and user, with no commitment and 24/7 support.

OpenText Documentum Content Management is an alternative for broader document management.

RAM Elements, HELiOS and ProjectWise are other options to compare.

Browse the Product Data Management Software category for more choices.

Verdict

Adept is a strong choice for asset-intensive engineering teams that need CAD-aware document control, structured approvals and traceable revisions, especially when named licenses can be matched to users' roles. Look elsewhere if cloud deployment is essential alongside Catalyst, Integrator or PublishWave, or if the onboarding fees and asset caps do not suit your budget.