Generating a Structure Comparison Report for Configuration Features

This task shows you how to generate a Structure Comparison Report. A Structure Comparison Report shows the results of comparing:

  • the logical structures of two products
  • the configuration feature structures of two products, product lines, product variants, or configuration features
  • the logical feature structures of two product revisions
  • the logical feature structures of a product revision and a product variant
  • the logical feature structures of a product revision and an EBOM
Color coding and visual cues are provided in the report to highlight where differences exist. When you compare a product revision to a product revision or a product line to a product line, you can choose to synchronize their feature structures. Synchronization is especially helpful in reducing feature proliferation when comparing a new product revision to an existing product revision.

Before you begin: Access the Configuration Features page for a product, product line, product variant, configuration feature, or manufacturing feature. For details, see Configuration Features Page.
Related Topics
Running a Search
About Configuration Features
Generating a Split-View Report

  1. From the page Reports menu, select Structure Compare.

    The Structure Compare dialog opens.

  2. Edit the following fields as desired:

    Name
    Click to select the object to compare with the object in context. You can only search for objects that correspond to the type of comparison selected.
    Match Based On
    Choose the fields used to determine whether the features of object 1 match features of Object 2. Fechnical features are considered the same if the values for all selected fields are the same.

    For configuration features, the available options include Name, Display Name, and Sequence Number.

    Compare By
    Check each field that you want to compare between the matched features. Items available for comparison vary depending on the type of context object.

    For configuration features, the available options include Name, Display Name, Sequence Number, Minimum Quantity, Maximum Quantity, Configuration Selection Type, and Key-In Type.

    Expand Level
    From the drop-down list, select the number of levels you want to expand the structure prior to comparison. Only expanded nodes are compared.
    Report Output–Section
    Select one of the following sections for the report output. These selections are mutually exclusive:
    • Complete Summary. Reports all information about the features being compared in object 1 and object 2. If the comparison is being made between a product revision and a product revision or a product line and a product line, you can synchronize features between the two objects.
    • Difference Only Summary. Reports only the differences between the features being compared in object 1 and object 2.
    • Object 1 Unique. Reports only information unique to the features being compared in object 1. For configuration features, this field displays the context object details as a Display Name-Revision combination.
    • Object 2 Unique. Reports only information unique to features being compared in object 2. Click to bring up a search window in which you can search for the second object. For configuration features, the allowable types for search include products, product lines, product variants, and configuration features.
    • Common Components. Reports only the similarities in the features being compared between the two objects.

  3. Click Done to generate the report.

    See also Using Structure Compare Report Results.