The BOM Comparison tool located on the QA/Model Utility menu reads a generic Bill of Materials (BOM) file and provides an interface to manipulate data in the BOM and its corresponding FE model.
A BOM is often used as the master document for model meshing, assembly, property assignments, model comparison, and updates between design iterations as well as other CAE activities. Since users in different design and analysis groups use BOM information, the formats and content of the BOM can vary. One BOM may contain more data than another BOM for the same program. BOMs usually use Microsoft Excel® format (CSV format) or XML format. The Engineering Solutions BOM Comparison tool focuses primarily on the Excel format.
The BOM reader includes the following abilities:
• | Reads a generic BOM file of CSV format (comma separated values file) |
• | Provides a GUI to manipulate data in the BOM and the corresponding FE model |
• | Provides an option to update attributes in the FE model based on the data available in the BOM |
• | Provides an option to complete the existing BOM based on the data available from the model |
• | Filters out all vague information present in the BOM and provides a feature to edit the vague information into a valid data and move it back to the BOM |
• | Provides a functionality to export a new BOM file |
For an in-depth description of the parts that make up the BOM Comparison Tool user interface and how to use them, see the following topics: