ActiveBOM

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Modified by Lillian Ling on Nov 10, 2016
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Facilitating real-time cost estimation and tracking for a board design, Altium Designer brings to the table a system that effectively and efficiently aides the designer in managing costs and availability of items used in that design. This system is known simply as ActiveBOM.

ActiveBOM offers a live presentation of the design from the outset, providing early and ongoing cost estimation. It allows you to define target pricing at the individual item level. You can then track how actual costing fares against these estimates, and so give a timely flag if any cost blow-outs are on the near horizon! In addition, you can quickly assess item availability, complete with notification if there is a risk in the supply of a chosen part.

Added to the design project as a distinct BOM document (*.BomDoc), ActiveBOM is actually delivered as two key structural elements:

  • BOM Catalog –a real-time listing of all items and processes used in the design. This includes design components present on the source schematic documents, as well as additional items that can be manually added at any stage (for example components that you plan to use further along as the design progresses, the fabricated bare board, and so on). For each item, supply chain solutions can be defined as to the real world manufacturer parts to be used, which in turn reference the supplier parts available from the vendors vending those parts. Supplier Data comes from Part Choices – either assigned to components in the vault, and sourced from global or local part catalogs, or manually defined by the designer directly in the BOM (for those components that are, as-yet, unmanaged (not vault-based)). These solutions can be prioritized, giving the designer further depth of control.
  • BOM Components – the application of the information defined in the BOM Catalog to all instances of the items actually used in the design. This is the data that can be used to generate a manufacturing BOM for use by the Supply Chain.

The beauty of ActiveBOM is that ultimately it will help electronic designers to play a more strategic role, by allowing costing and availability of design items to become active, real-time element drivers of the design process.

Accessing the BOM Document

A new BOM document is created for the active board design project by choosing File » New » BOM  from an editor's main menus. The document, with default name BOM1.BomDoc, will open as the active document in the BOM Editor. Save the document, changing the name to something more meaningful (for example named after the board design project itself).

ActiveBOM in action - appearance of a BOM document for an example board design.

The BOM document is added to the board design project, appearing as an entry in the Projects panel under the Source Documents sub-folder. In the Workspace view, it can be found as an entry within the Source Documents region.

Only a single BOM document can be added to a board design project.

Manually-defined catalog items and supply chain solutions, along with 'snapshot' supply chain data retrieved after refreshing the document, are stored in the BOM document itself.

A Word About...Sourcing Supplier Data for Design Items

For items used in a design, supply chain solutions are sourced in a number of ways:

  • For vault-based components (managed, or 'Unified' components), this data is retrieved automatically from the Part Choice List Items defined and associated to the respective Component Items.
  • For components that are not placed from a vault (unmanaged components) this information can be:
    • Defined in situ within the BOM Catalog, through the addition of manually-configured solutions (or 'manual Part Choices' as it were).
    • Sourced through Supplier Links added to a component.

Manual Part Choices may also be defined for a vault-based component, thus expanding and complementing those solutions already defined in, and gained from, its corresponding PCL Item.

Manual Part Choices, defined locally within the BOM Catalog, can be either semi-automated solutions based on chosen manufacturer parts while searching Supplier databases, or fully defined in a purely manual fashion. The latter gives you the ability to add and fully define a part from any Supplier, without constraining you to those Suppliers partnered with Altium. And this is perfect for those catalog items that are just not sold in a Supplier's product catalog, such as shipping costs, testing costs, and perhaps that custom part being made exclusively for you by a specialist!

Sourcing supply chain solutions for both a managed and unmanaged component item in the BOM Catalog.

The actual data for the supply chain solutions – Manufacturer (and part number), Supplier (and part number), Description, Pricing and Availability – is sourced as follows:

  • Vault-based Part Choice List, BOM Catalog-based Manual Part Choice List – from an applicable Part Catalog, and the relevant Supplier database.
  • Supplier Link (present for a placed part) – directly from the relevant Supplier Database.

There are two types of part catalog – Global and Local.

Global Part Catalog

This is Altium's managed, cloud-based part catalog database. The Global Part Catalog stores items representative of actual Manufacturer Parts, along with one or more items representative of Supplier Parts – the incarnations of those Manufacturer Parts, as sold by the Suppliers/Vendors. Each Supplier Part is a reference to an item in a Supplier database – an external database (Supplier web-based service). It is this link to the Supplier database that yields real-time pricing and availability data.

Mapping a vault-based Item to real-world manufacturer parts, using Part Choices and the Global Part Catalog.

This catalog is used when:

  • A vault is not being used.
  • An Altium Personal Vault is being used (and an Altium Vault Server is not currently connected also).
  • A legacy Altium Satellite Vault is being used.
  • The Altium Content Vault is being used.

Which Supplier Databases are actually used – the list of Approved Suppliers – is defined from the Data Management – Suppliers page of the Altium Designer Preferences dialog.

Local Part Catalog

This is a managed local part catalog database, provided as a plugged in service (app) through the DXP Apps Server. This service is dedicated to the management and tracking of manufacturer parts and their associated supplier parts. It is installed at the same time as an Altium Vault Server and works only with this type of Altium Vault.

The Local Part Catalog stores items representative of actual Manufacturer Parts, along with one or more items representative of Supplier Parts – the incarnations of those Manufacturer Parts, as sold by the Suppliers/Vendors. Each Supplier Part is a reference to an item in a Supplier database. This can be an external database (Supplier web-based service), or an internal company database (ODBC-based). It is this link to the Supplier database that yields real-time pricing and availability data.

Mapping a vault-based Item to real-world manufacturer parts, using Part Choices and the Local Part Catalog. The
Catalog can interface to online Supplier databases, and/or your own internal company parts database to source
supply chain intelligence.

Which Supplier Databases are actually used – the list of Approved Suppliers – is centrally managed by the Altium Vault Server. This list is configured through the Altium Vault Server's browser-based interface. This facilitates centralized supply chain management, with designers across the entire organization using the same approved list of Vendors, with which to source supply chain intelligence for parts used in their designs. Access to internal supply chain intelligence through ODBC is also configured as part of this list, through the provision of a dedicated ODBC Supplier. For more information, see  Altium Vault Server - Centralized Supply Chain Management.

The Altium Vault Server dictates centrally which Suppliers are to be used in an organization. While connected to it, the list of Suppliers on the Data Management – Suppliers page of the Preferences dialog will be disabled. It will simply be a read-only reflection of this centrally-defined list. This also means that if you are using an Altium Personal Vault, the centralized list of Suppliers will be used until such time the Altium Vault Server is disconnected, at which point the Personal Vault will follow the list of Suppliers defined at the Preferences level.

Working with the BOM Catalog Tab

Main article: ActiveBOM - BOM Catalog

The BOM Catalog tab is essentially the 'nerve center' of the ActiveBOM concept. It is here that you can:

  • Browse a listing of all items actually used in the design.
  • Add additional items to the BOM Catalog manually.
  • Browse and define real-world part solutions to be used for design items. For items with a range of viable solutions, you can rank your top three, as preferred solutions that may be used by procurement.
  • Obtain and view real-time pricing and availability of items directly from Supplier databases.
  • Set-up target costing per item and compare this to actual costing (based on real pricing data). Cost estimation based on required production quantity can be quickly viewed. Side-step cost blowouts before release by adjusting solutions as necessary to bring pricing back within target.
  • Get an early warning of supply risk – is the chosen part solution within target price and adequately stocked for this design run? Or is it overpriced or, worse still, not in stock!

Working with the BOM Catalog tab is fairly intuitive, even more-so when you break it down into three distinct areas, as illustrated in the image below.

Breaking-down the BOM Catalog tab.

These areas are:

  1. Item Detail – a listing of design items, including those actually used on the source schematic documents, as well as any manually-added items.
  2. All Solutions – all supply chain solutions for the currently selected catalog item.
  3. Selected Solutions – the chosen solution(s) that the designer actively permits to be used/considered when procuring the real-world parts to implement the design items on the manufactured and assembled boards.

Working with the BOM Components Tab

Main article: ActiveBOM - BOM Components

The BOM Components tab presents the BOM itself – a listing of all instances of components used in the design (core catalog items, managed and unmanaged), along with instances of extra items added from the BOM Catalog as required. Use this tab to fully-customize the appearance of the data, to obtain the BOM content you need, and in your preferred layout.

Breaking-down the BOM Components tab.

The tab is essentially divided into three key regions:

  1. All Columns – listing all available data 'columns' that can be included in the BOM. These attributes are sourced from the properties of all components used in the board design.
  2. Grouped Columns – providing the ability to group BOM components by one or more specific attributes.
  3. Data –  showing information for each enabled data column.

Board Costing

Costing at the board level is available irrespective of the active tab in the BOM document. Read-only fields displaying this information can be found at the top-right of the document.

Actual vs Target pricing per board.

  • Actual price per board – this is the total actual price to produce a board, calculated as the sum of actual prices across all catalog items. For each catalog item, the actual pricing (cost per unit) takes into account the applicable price break offered by the Supplier and based on the specified production quantity. The applicable price break is determined by the total number of units required for the selected item, which is the number of those items used on a single board, multiplied by the number of boards nominated in a production spin (the value entered in the Production Quantity field at the top-right of the BOM document).
  • Target price per board – this is the total target price to produce a board, calculated as the sum of target prices across all catalog items.

Use the Production Quantity field to see how the actual per-board pricing is effected, depending on the number of boards required in a production spin. Typically, the greater the Production Quantity, the lower the actual per-board pricing will be, since Supplier-stipulated price breaks for the items used in the design come into play – it's always cheaper to 'buy in bulk' as it were, and therefore always cheaper to 'produce in bulk' also!

The Target price per board is dynamically update based on manual changes to Target Price at the item level. When changing the Production Quantity, the entries for Actual Price in the solutions for catalog items are dynamically updated, as are the resulting Supply Risk states, if they change as a consequence. However the BOM document needs to be refreshed to recalculate the Actual price per board.

Refreshing the BOM Document

The BOM document (and data therein) can be refreshed in the following ways:

  • Clicking the Refresh button to perform a manual refresh.
  • Clicking the  button on the BOM Document toolbar.
  • Pressing F5.
  • Compiling the source board project to perform an automatic refresh.
  • Closing and re-opening the BOM document.

Refresh updates the BOM document from all available sources, taking into account:

  • Changes to placed components in the design (e.g. descriptions, comments, etc).
  • Changes to Supplier Links added to placed components in the design.
  • Changes to Part Choice Lists for vault-based components.
  • Changes to supply chain data in a linked ODBC source.

Right-clicking on a Core-Managed, Extra-Managed, or linked Extra-Reserved catalog item – on the BOM Catalog tab – and choosing the Refresh from Vault command from the menu, refreshes the supply chain data for the selected vault-based item(s) only.

Refresh is two-fold. Firstly, it ensures that Core-type catalog items (Core-Managed, Core-UnManaged) are re-synchronized with placed instances on the source schematic documents. And secondly, refresh is needed to ensure the latest supply chain data is retrieved from the applicable source (Part Catalog and Supplier databases).

Search Facility

The BOM document provides a simple string-based search facility, that can be used to search across:

  • The main item grid on the BOM Catalog tab.
  • The main grid on the BOM Components tab.

Use the search field located below the Refresh button to enter the required search string. As you type characters, matches within the searchable areas listed previously will become highlighted with a yellow background. The first instance of a matching string is highlighted with a green background.

Narrow a search by typing more characters in the search string.

An example of the BOM document's search facility in action!

Cycle through the matching instances by:

  • Using the F3 key.
  • Clicking the  icon, to the right of the search field.

The next instance will become highlighted with the green background.

The total number of matching instances of the search string, on either tab of the BOM document, is indicated in brackets, to the right of the tab name.

Navigation...

The BOM document provides strong navigational support, enabling you to:

  • Quickly view an item in its source vault or library.
  • Jump between an item in the BOM Catalog, to an instance of it in the BOM itself (on the BOM Components tab) and vice versa.
  • Jump to an instance of a BOM component directly on a source schematic sheet within the design.

...to an Item in its Source Vault/Library

With the BOM Catalog tab active, select the catalog item of interest, then use the relevant command from the menu associated to the Navigate to control (above the Item Detail grid):

  • For a Core-Managed, Extra-Managed, or Extra-Reserved item – use the [<Design Item Id>] in Vault Browser command. The vault-based catalog item will be presented in the Vaults panel.

  • For a Core-UnManaged item – use the [<Design Item Id>] in Library Browser command. The library-based catalog item will be presented in the Browse Libraries dialog.

Corresponding navigation commands are also available from the right-click menu – use the Show in Vault Explorer or Show in Library Browser commands respectively.

With the BOM Components tab active, select the BOM component of interest, then use the relevant command from the menu associated to the Navigate to control (above the main grid):

  • For a Core-Managed, Extra-Managed, or Extra-Reserved item – use the [<DesignItemId>] in Vault [<SourceLibraryName>] command. The vault-based BOM component will be presented in the Vaults panel.

  • For a Core-UnManaged item – use the [Design Item Id] in Library [<SourceLibraryName>] command. The library-based BOM component will be presented in the Browse Libraries dialog.

Corresponding navigation commands are also available from the right-click Navigate to sub-menu.

There is no such 'navigation to source' for Extra-Place Holder and Extra-Process catalog/BOM items, since the source for these items is the actual BOM document itself.

...between BOM Catalog and Components Tabs

With the BOM Catalog tab active, select the catalog item of interest and click the Navigate to control (above the Item Detail grid). The applicable navigation command will appear in one of the following two forms:

  • BOM Component [<ComponentDesignator>] – where only a single instance of the selected catalog item exists in the BOM. The single BOM component will be selected directly on the BOM Components tab.

  • Choose from [n] BOM Components – where n instances of the selected catalog item exist in the BOM. Use the subsequent Choose dialog to specify which BOM component to navigate to. Components are listed by designator, as well as the physical sheet on which they reside. After clicking OK, the entry for this component will be selected on the BOM Components tab.

A corresponding navigation command is also available from the right-click menu – either Navigate to BOM Component [<ComponentDesignator>] or Navigate to BOM choose from [n] Components as applicable.

With the BOM Components tab active, select the BOM component of interest, click the Navigate to control (above the Item Detail grid) and use the Catalog Item  [<Design Item Id>] command. The corresponding catalog item will be selected directly on the BOM Catalog tab.

Navigating from a BOM component to its source catalog item.

A corresponding navigation command is also available from the right-click Navigate to sub-menu.

...to a Component on a Schematic Document

With the BOM Components tab active, select the BOM component of interest and click the Navigate to control (above the Item Detail grid). The applicable navigation command will appear in one of the following two forms:

  • Schematic – Component [<ComponentDesignator>] In [<PhysicalSheetName>] – where only a single instance of the selected BOM component exists in the board design. The source schematic document will be made the active document, with the component zoomed and centered within the view.

  • Schematic – Choose from [n] components – where n instances of the selected BOM component exist in the board design. Use the subsequent Choose dialog to specify which BOM component to navigate to. Components are listed by designator, as well as the physical sheet on which they reside. After clicking OK, the source schematic document will be made the active document, with the component zoomed and centered within the view.

Cross-Probing from the Schematic or PCB

Taking full advantage of the inter-document cross-probing capabilities between a source schematic and PCB, the BOM document joins the party. As you enter cross-probing mode from either the schematic or PCB document, and click on a component, not only will that component be highlighted on the target PCB/schematic, but also its corresponding item entry will be highlighted on the BOM Catalog tab.

The BOM document must be open to see the result of cross-probing.

Example cross-probing from a component on a source schematic to that component on the PCB - with the corresponding item highlighted in the BOM Catalog.

Generating a Manufacturing BOM

Once you are happy with the content of your BOM document, on its BOM Components tab, you can use that document as the data source when generating a BOM for use by manufacturing. This is performed through an Output Job Configuration File (*.OutJob) – either directly, or as part of the board release process.

Use of the BOM document does not replace the ability to generate a 'static' BOM report for the project, or a specific document (schematic or PCB). These can still be generated through an OutJob file, or from the Reports menu as before.

Simply add a Bill of Materials output generator as part of the Report Outputs section of the OutJob, and ensure the Data Source is set to be the BOM document (*.BomDoc). Double-click the output generator to access its associated configuration dialog. The settings from the underlying BOM document are transferred to the BOM output generator (component data and display settings (columns, filters, sorting, grouping, etc)). You are free to modify the BOM as part of the output generator's configuration. Should you wish to revert back to the original settings in the BOM document, use the Restore from <BOMDocumentName> command – from the right-click menu, or the menu associated to the Menu button.

Using a BOM document as the data source for a manufacturing BOM generated through an Output Job file.

The BOM document provides the core supply chain data for use in a generated manufacturing BOM. When configuring the BOM output generator in the OutJob, additional supplier options and data columns can be used, including Supplier Currency, Supplier Order Quantity, and Supplier Subtotal. Additional controls can be found in the Supplier Options region of the configuration dialog.

If there is a noticeable discrepancy between Supplier Unit Price in the BOM output generator's configuration dialog, and that in the underlying BOM document, check the value entered for Production Quantity in both areas. When configuring the output generator, this can be found in the Supplier Options region of the configuration dialog. By default it is 1, and is not filled with the value entered in the BOM document.

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