Sourced Manufacturer and Supplier Data

Note

The features available depend on your Altium product access level. If you don’t see a discussed feature in your software, contact Altium Sales to find out more.

A primary capability of the BOM Portal is the dynamic sourcing of real-time manufacture and supplier information for the current Managed BOM. Once the system has mapped and analyzed the BOM content, the BOM line entries are automatically populated with crucial parts information from Altium's resources, including Octopart and IHS Markit, and other enabled parts data sources.

The sourced manufacturer and supplier data is provided in additional columns which are marked with an associated icon. These include manufacturer and procurement suitability information such as:

  • manufacturer part lifecycle, standards compliance, and lead time.

  • downloadable PDF datasheets provided by IHS Markit and other manufacturer, supplier and parts data sources (). Datasheets are also available in the References section of the Info pane Global Data tab view.

  • supplier SKU, stock levels, and comprehensive pricing data.

The view's Order List column is the resulting procurement information, which is automatically derived by the system based on the component validity data and supplier pricing/availability. Alternative supplier parts can be selected from the drop-down menu associated with each supplier solution entry in the Order List, which presents detailed part supply data options for the enabled Suppliers – see BOM Settings to enable/disable Suppliers.

The BOM's Order List column specifies the supplier parts that will be purchased. The entries include total stock availability, pricing summary information, and drop-down menus for alternative supplier stocks levels and purchasing solutions (Offers).

Use an entry’s stock availability menu option () to view a summary of stock levels for the currently selected BOM item. This will include information for all available suppliers (the Part Sources enabled for this Workspace) rather than only those enabled for this Managed BOM (your Favorite suppliers).

Select the part’s Order List drop-down menu to access a list of alternative purchasing solutions from the BOM’s enabled suppliers – supplier ‘Offers’. The system accesses live supplier purchasing data to populate the list with optimal pricing offers based on stock levels, available price breaks. acceptable part surplus levels, minimum order quantities and total cost.

Offers with additional considerations are highlighted in the Total column. Hover over the associated information icon to view details of the qualification, such as where the offer’s quantity has been increased to capitalize on an advantageous price break or if the order will exceed the supplier’s available stock.

Select the Show More option in an entry’s Price Break column to view other order quantity options from that supplier.

Choose an alternative supplier’s purchasing offer with its associated button, which will update the BOM item’s Order List entry accordingly.

The BOM item’s Order List entry is updated to the new offer details. All related pricing and quantities are updated in response, including the Board and total Order cost.

Open the BOM’s Supply Chain view for a procurement-orientated view of BOM data, which in the upper page section includes a summary of the current BOM's costings, the used supplier distribution, and related stock availability. For more detailed information on the current BOM's suitability for passing to product manufacturing, see the BOM Dashboard overview below. Note that you can enable/disable data columns to configure this view to suit your own procurement-focused needs.

  • Along with configuration through the BOM Settings, the Boards (Production Quantity) and Currency settings can be directly changed in the Supply Chain view header area – the Order/Unit prices will recalculate automatically.

  • Use the view’s Order List Preset menu options to constrain the Order List purchasing solutions to a specific source such as an enabled supplier, project BOM data, or the lowest cost options.

  • See the Parts in Use page to view a list of component parts that are included in (all) Workspace Managed BOM documents. Along with procurement-related parameters, the list includes Where Used data that identifies all Managed BOMs that reference a particular component. Note that this feature is not available with the BOM Editor.

Advanced Pricing Data Copy Link Copied

Altium BOM Portal offers additional column data for working with component item pricing data. The features allow BOM stakeholders such as procurement specialists to specify pricing goals, analyze supply chain dynamics, and draw comparisons with known pricing structures. These additional columns are visible when enabled through the column preferences and/or the BOM Settings.

Target Price

Target Price parametric data allows the addition of a desired maximum unit price figure to each part item in a Managed BOM. It assists in the assessment of supply chain risk by raising a Target price missed Issue if the item’s supplier Unit Price is greater than the Target Price. The difference between these prices is calculated and reported in the ∆ Target Price column (if visible), which is highlighted in red if the target price is ‘missed’.

The feature is available only when it has been enabled in BOM Settings and Target Price parametric data is included in the Managed BOM itself. Target Price parameter data is available in a Managed BOM if it was included in the BOM’s source, such as the Project (with an ActiveBOM document) it was created from or the uploaded BOM data file. If not available, a 'Target Price' column can be added manually (as the Money data type) and the parameters remapped. However, this process is automated when the Target Price option is enabled in BOM Settings.

Also included is the ability to propagate the current supplier Unit Price value to the Target Price entry, which will cause a Target price missed warning to be generated if a subsequent supplier solution represents a higher price. This can be applied to an individual BOM item line through its right-click Set Target Price to Actual Price option, or applied to all BOM items with the main menu’s Set Target Price to Actual Price option.

Note that the Target price missed issue reports as a Warning by default, but like all other checks, its Reporting Level can be changed under the BOM Checks tab in BOM Settings window.

Median Price

Median Price is a reference pricing figure (sourced from Octopart) that is calculated as the median of the unit prices available (at the 1000 price break point) from a range of distributors. When enabled in the Managed BOM view it provides comparative pricing reference for checking against other component pricing sources and supplier pricing offers in the BOM itself.

Also included is a calculated ∆ Median Price column that is derived from the difference between the item’s Median Price and its Unit Price (or if enabled, the Target Price). As with the ∆ Target Price figure (see above), the resulting value is colored red if the Unit/Target price is higher than the Median – the Median Price was not achieved. Similarly, the Median Price – Target Price = ∆ Median Price result is red or green for a negative or positive outcome, respectively.

SiliconExpert Data Integration Copy Link Copied

If your company has a SiliconExpert® account and the Altium 365 SiliconExpert Integration feature is available and enabled, then parametric parts data sourced from SiliconExpert will become available to the BOM Portal's documents. The advanced manufacturer parts risk assessment data from SiliconExpert is pulled into your BOM document on demand as parameters that estimate a part's potential obsolescence, standards compliance, sourcing risk, and more.

The SiliconExpert parametric BOM data is included in specific parameter columns indicated by an associated icon, which are also included as markers in the Column Settings drop-down menu. By default, the Managed BOM and its Search results are populated with the Lifecycle, YTEOL and RoHS parameters from SiliconExpert.

SiliconExpert parameters will populate the BOM Portal table if enabled for your company.SiliconExpert parameters will populate the BOM Portal table if enabled for your company.

If SiliconExpert data has not been specifically retrieved for the currently selected BOM entry, use the Get SiliconExpert Part Data option to source all available SiliconExpert Parameters and Suggested Alternates.

More detailed data from SiliconExpert is included in the Info pane:

  • Open the Global data tab in the Info pane () to see the available SiliconExpert parameters and information for the currently selected BOM line item.
    • Expand the Parameters section to view all currently available SiliconExpert parts parameters – see Parameters Available from SiliconExpert for more information.

    • Downloadable part compliance reference data provided by SiliconExpert are available from highlighted links for many compliance-related parameters (RoHS, REACH, TSCA, etc).

    • Select the Manufacturer Lifecycle State drop-down list to view the component lifecycle state provided by both SiliconExpert and the Altium Parts Provider. This additional Lifecycle data is also included in all instances of the popup information presented when hovering over the colored part information icon in the BOM list.

  • Open the Alternates tab in the Info pane to view the recommended alternative part entries for the selected BOM item, grouped as Part Choices (where the BOM entry is linked to a Workspace component) and Suggested Alternates. Each tile entry includes related YTEOL information and a cross component code (where available) sourced from SliiconExpert. See the Info pane section for more details on this view.

The Info pane also includes a summary of the most recent Product Change Notice (if available) that applies to the currently selected component item. Such PCN notifications are issued by manufacturers to inform customers of a product, process, or company change that may affect the potential use of that product. You can view the current notice from the Source URL link, and see all notifications available from SiliconExpert in the Product Change Notice Historical Details window opened from the Historical Details link.

The Suggested Alternates from SiliconExpert (as shown in the Info pane – see images above) are available as parts selections when using the Alternates Search Mode. Choose the Get Alternates from SiliconExpert option to populate the search window list with the alternative part suggestions from SiliconExpert.

To populate the current Managed BOM (as opposed to an individual component entry) with the advanced SiliconExpert parameters data, activate the Enable advanced data from SiliconExpert option in the BOM Settings window – note that this will affect your SiliconExpert quota usage.

The overall availability of SiliconExpert parameters for your Workspace is determined by the Data Visibility Settings accessible to administrators through the Admin – Apps page.

Z2Data Integration Copy Link Copied

If your company has the Altium 365 Z2Data Integration feature available and enabled, then parametric parts data sourced from Z2Data will become available to the BOM Portal's documents. The advanced manufacturer parts risk assessment data from Z2Data is pulled into your BOM document on demand as parameters that estimate a part's potential obsolescence, standards compliance, sourcing risk, and more.

If Z2Data has not been retrieved for the currently selected BOM entry, use the Get Z2Data Part Data option to source the available Z2Data Parameters and Suggested Alternates.

The Z2Data parametric BOM data are available as specific parameters indicated by an associated icon, which are available in the Info pane and when directly accessing a component's Part Choices. Z2Data also can provide alternative part suggestions when sourced in the Alternates Search Mode.

  • Open the Global data tab in the Info pane () to see the available Z2Data parameters for the currently selected BOM line item.
    • Expand the Parameters section to view all currently available Z2Data parts parameters – see Parameters Available from Z2Data for more information.

    • Select the Manufacturer Lifecycle State drop-down list to view the component lifecycle state provided by both Z2Data and the Altium Parts Provider.

  • Open the Alternates tab in the Info pane to view the recommended alternative part entries for the selected BOM item, grouped as Part Choices (where the BOM entry is linked to a Workspace component) and Suggested Alternates. Tile entries include component cross codes sourced from Z2Data. See the Info pane section for more information on this view.

The Suggested Alternates from Z2Data (as shown in the Info pane – see images above) are available as parts selections when using the Alternates Search Mode. Choose the Get Alternates from Z2Data option to populate the search window list with the alternative part suggestions from Z2Data.

To populate the current Managed BOM (as opposed to an individual component entry) with the advanced Z2Data parameters data, activate the Enable advanced data from Z2Data option in the BOM Settings window – note that this will significantly affect your Z2Data quota usage.

 

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Note

The features available depend on your Altium product access level. If you don’t see a discussed feature in your software, contact Altium Sales to find out more.