Generating a Structure Comparison Report for Logical Views

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

  • the structures of two logical features
  • the logical structures of two products
  • the structures of two configuration features
  • the structures of two manufacturing features
  • the logical feature structures of two product revisions
  • the logical structures of a product and a logical feature
  • the logical feature structures of a product revision and an EBOM
  • the logical feature structures of a product revision and a product variant
Color coding and visual cues are provided in the report to highlight where differences exist. When you compare a product revision to another product revision, 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.

This topic shows you how to:

Before you begin: Access the Logical Structures page for a product, product variant, or logical feature. For details, see Logical Features Page.
Related Topics
Running a Search
About Logical Features
Creating a Logical Feature
Generating a Split-View Report

Compare Logical Views

To compare two logical views:

  1. In the Logical View tab of the Logical Structures page, from the page Reports menu, under Structure Compare, select Compare Logical Views.

    The Structure Compare dialog opens.

    The name of the context product is displayed under the Product1 heading as a Display Name Revision combination (e.g., for a product with a Display Name of P1 and a Revision level A, the name is displayed as "P1 A").

  2. Edit the following fields for Product2, the logical view of whose structure you are comparing to that of the context object:

    Product2 Fields Description
    Name Click to open the Search window, in which you can select the object to compare with the context object. This field is required.

    You can search only for objects that correspond to the type of comparison selected:

    • When the context object is a product, you can search for products or logical features.
    • When the context object is a product variant, you can search for products, product variants, or logical features.
    • When the context object is a logical feature, you can search for products or logical features.
    Match Based On Choose the fields used to determine whether the features of object 1 match those of object 2. Logical features are considered the same if the values for all selected fields are the same. It is required to select at least one item.

    The match can be based on Name (the default), Display Name, Find Number, Reference Designator, Component Location, Quantity, and/or Usage.
    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.

    The comparison can be based on Display Name, Find Number, Reference Designator, Component Location, Quantity, and/or Usage.
    Expand Level From the drop-down list, select the number of levels you want to expand the structure prior to comparison. Choose a number from 1 to 5 or All. Only expanded nodes are compared. This field is required.
    Report Output Description
    Section Select one of the following sections to include in 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 another product revision, 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 logical 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 logical features, the allowable types for search include products, product variants, and logical 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.

The resulting comparison report presents a summary table with fields appropriate for the context object (product, product variant, or logical feature). For the example, the following report shows a Complete Summary Report in a product context.

In the comparison report, you can sync either Product2 to Product1 (using the Sync to Left button) or Product1 to Product2 (using the Sync to Right button).



Compare Logical View with a Physical BOM Structure

To compare logical views of the context structure with the BOM structure of a selected part:

  1. In the Logical View tab of the Logical Structures page, from the page Reports menu, under Structure Compare, select Compare BOM.

    The Structure Compare dialog opens.

    This time, instead of Product2, the second heading says "EBOM".

  2. Edit the following fields for EBOM, the physical structure of which you are comparing to the logical view of the context object. The fields are similar to those shown in Compare Logical Views, with the following exception:

    EBOM Field Description
    Name Click to open the Search window, in which you can select objects of type Part that represent the physical BOM component and are not yet configured in the database. This field is required.

In the comparison report, you can sync only from the BOM to the logical structure (using the Sync to Left button).