Autodesk announces Vault Workgroup is discontinued! Well actually, they announced it back in July, but no one thought it fitting to fill us in. It has been a decade of reasonably smooth sailing. No major changes really; they added Vault Office some time back and killed off Vault Collaboration. So why am I upset? Because I was stupid for thinking that Vault Workgroup was such a well placed product and the company would just leave us alone to use it.
Want to hear something ironic? I spent a good amount of time in Vault forums and classes at Autodesk University 2022 – no one mentioned this. Better yet, Autodesk emphatically said “Do not worry, they are not getting rid of Vault [*] in any foreseeable future”. True I guess, they just left out the word “Professional” in that statement *.
What about my Vault Workgroup Licenses?
You are screwed and there is nowhere to go. You have two choices: Upgrade to Vault Professional, or jump ship. There is no viable downgrade. Neil Cross gave a good overview of what’s going on in this video titled “Alert! Autodesk Cancels Another Product!”. I guess this happens often enough that the title didn’t grab my attention initially.
How long do I have to upgrade?
Autodesk vendors are already denying new license purchases, as the last day to buy Autodesk Workgroup was 6 July, 2022. They are now selling Vault Professional in the place of Vault Workgroup. As of the date of this article, the only thing you can do is renew 1 year licenses until 6 July, 2023.
Vault Professional Entitlement
I am trying to run this down now. As I understand it, multiple vendors report that there is an entitlement for at least one subscription member on any Vault Workgroup subscription. This is how Autodesk says you can begin researching your upcoming migration process. I will amend this article if I receive any confirmation. I think your vendor must handle this end of the process.
There is an FAQ that was released by Autodesk to help vendors assist their clients. I have attached the Vault Workgroup FAQ I found on the forums.
My Advice?
I am upset about the Autodesk announcement of the Vault Workgroup discontinuation. The product and value placement in the product line are a great value. We will of course upgrade to Professional, but my team doesn’t need all of the additional features. This really is a shame. In addition, I am very disappointed in the Vendor who never told us any of this; in fact, they would have let us run headlong into forced migration in 2023.
My advice: Call you vendor as soon as you can to plan accordingly. If your vendor responds with “What do you mean Vault Workgroup is discontinued?”, consider a new vendor – we are.
