Using the ActiveBOM

Ensure that the project is active so that the ActiveBOM document will be attached to the correct project. To activate the project, open one of the project's schematic sheets. On the list of projects, the active project is highlighted.

Add a new ActiveBOM document to the project. To do this, select File > New > ActiveBOM. A new document will appear in the Kame_FMU project tree, and a new tab will open with a list of all components.

The manufacturer's solution will appear for all components in the project. For each component, you will see the proposed part number, manufacturer, current component lifecycle stage, unit price, and total price. Powered by Octopart and Ciiva, the ActiveBOM engine automatically compares prices for all presented components from all selected suppliers and chooses the best solution for you. You can select your favorite suppliers in the Supply Chain region of the Properties panel by clicking the Edit button associated with the Favorite Suppliers List. In the Project Part Providers Preferences dialog box, you can uncheck suppliers you don't need and focus only on available providers. You can also set suppliers' priority. After making any necessary changes, click OK to save the changes.

Click on a component in the ActiveBOM to display all the suggestions for that component. Selected information about the availability and cost of the component is displayed at the bottom of the window, allowing you to compare all possible solutions. Click the desired component/supplier.

The ActiveBOM includes a set of BOM rules that must be followed in order to obtain all components without any issues. The rules automatically check each component. The status of each check is displayed as follows:

You can see errors and filter them based on their type in the BOM Checks region of the Properties panel. At this stage, we have many warnings with the Violation Type "No MPN (Manufacturer Part Number) ranked" because we still need to add our rating for the suggested solutions. This warning will be fixed later in this section.

Confirm the suggested manufacturer solutions and, if necessary, replace components from our list. To do this, it is easier to sort the list into groups. Let's group our components based on their designator to assign the same solution to all the same components automatically. Many capacitors, resistors, and resistor assemblies will be combined into groups for our purposes. To do this, click Group at the top left of the BomDoc, then enable Designator in the drop-down menu. All components are now grouped, and each line is a list of components with the same part number.

Let's take a look at the largest group of capacitors. Expand this section and then click on a line to see the suggested part solution. We can see a warning that we have no MPN ranking. A new BOM item's default state is that the suppliers are ranked automatically. Using a five-star rating scale, you can set your personal preferences when selecting components. The ActiveBOM engine will list components with the highest rating. Let's define the rank of this group. Take a look at the Manufacturer Part region. You may notice that each component of each supplier's name is highlighted. Green indicates the optimal solution in terms of price, supplier availability, lifecycle stage, and other parameters. Orange denotes an acceptable part and supplier solution, although it may be more expensive or only small quantities are at the supplier's disposal. Red indicates a risky solution; components could be at the end of the lifecycle, or insufficient quantities are in stock. Also, the current component lifecycle stage is displayed in the available solution list. Choose a solution highlighted in green; rate it five stars by clicking on the rightmost star. The warning for this group will disappear, and the status will turn green.

You can automatically assign a five-star rating to the most appropriate component in the ActiveBOM version by expanding the next group, right-clicking the group’s name, and selecting Set Ranks Automatically. The maximum rating for the most suitable and profitable component is automatically set.

Now let's set the ranks automatically for all the remaining components with this warning. Remove the designator grouping by clicking Group at the top-left of the BomDoc and then disable the Designator checkbox. Click the filter icon associated with the No MPN ranked violation type in the BOM Checks region of the Properties panel to show only components with this warning.

Hold the Shift button, select all components in the BOM list, right-click on one of the selected parts, and then select Set Ranks Automatically from the context menu. The warning is now fixed for all components.

There is a fatal error with CN1 and CN2. Hover the mouse over the error icon to see that the component revision is outdated and restricted for usage. Therefore, we must update this component on the schematic to the latest revision. We can quickly locate this component by right-clicking it and then choosing Cross Probe. We also need to select the schematic sheet(s) on which this component is placed. In our case, two components are placed on the same sheet. After selection, the schematic sheet will open, and you will see the violating component.

You can update only the selected component by selecting Tools > Update Selected From Libraries. However, we recommend updating all components using the Item Manager dialog (Tools > Item Manager). Click the Lifecycle State column header to sort the list by that column. Components with Obsolete status should be at the top of the list. As you can see, there is an additional component in the Obsolete lifecycle state. This is why all components are updated - not only the selected component.

Select all Obsolete components. Right-click on one, then select Update to the latest revision.

The New Settings region on the right side of the dialog is now completed for the selected components. We must apply the new settings by generating an engineering change order (ECO). Click the ECO button at the bottom of the dialog, then select Generate ECO. In the dialog that opens, validate and execute the changes, and be sure to set new parameters.

Open the BomDoc. Right-click and then select Refresh selected to update the part solutions.

Find the U12 component. Hover the mouse over the error icon. This component has No solutions, so let's add a solution manually.

To do this, click the Add Solution button above the Manufacturer Part region and select Create/Edit Manufacturer Links. The Edit Manufacturer Links dialog box opens.

Click the Add button to select the component. The Add Part Choices dialog box allows you to select the desired part solution. This dialog is similar to the Manufacturer Part Search panel that can be used during schematic component placement. Part number STM32F427VIT6 of the U12 component has been entered automatically as a search request, and there is an available solution. Select the available solution, then click OK to apply the changes.

After selecting the solution and closing the Add Part Choices dialog box, you'll see that the selected solution is now displayed in the Edit Manufacturer Links dialog. Click OK to proceed with the selection. The selected part choice is now defined for U12 as shown by its state. Remember to rate the solution!

We also have two mounting holes defined as components in our BOM. Select PTH1 and PTH2 in the BOM grid, right-click, and then select Add Solution > Create Manual Solution.

In the Create Manual Solution dialog that opens, specify the solution parameters by entering them as shown below, then click OK to save the solution settings.