The BOM Portal will automatically analyze a Managed BOM document to detect any issues in BOM Item lines, based on their logical structure and the part’s manufacturer and supplier data. These include invalid part numbers, deprecated or low-stock items, non-compliant parts, and much more.
BOM line item errors and warnings are summarized by the listing's right-most column icons. Hover over an icon to see a summary of the issues, or click to see more information (
) – the 
icon indicates an issue-free BOM entry, as you would expect. BOM issues can be addressed directly in the relevant line item or through the Issues tab view, which provides dedicated links to item lines with detected Errors and Warnings.
-
A column also is available for including Issue entries in the BOM listing and therefore in report downloads. 
This column is disabled by default – enable through the Column display preferences.
-
See the Issue Reporting and Management section below for information on working with BOM issues.
A BOM line item's manufacturer part number could be incomplete or the part itself may no longer be listed as available, resulting in an Unknown Part Number error. This is resolved by specifying a different, viable part number.
Other BOM issues such as non-compliant manufacturer parts require the selection of a suitably qualified replacement part.
Issue Reporting and Management
The BOM Portal allows you to specify the types of BOM health checks that are detected and how they are reported, and also if a particular issue is overridden in an individual BOM:
-
BOM health checks – Use the BOM Checks option in the BOM Settings window to specify if issues are reported as a Fatal Error, Error, Warning, or are ignored (No Report). The global settings that apply to all new BOM documents are available in the BOM Portal Application setup accessed through the Workspace Admin – Settings page.
-
Individual BOM lines – Right-click on a BOM item line (or click its issue staius icon 
) and select the Disable Checks for This Row option to deactivate BOM health checks for that particular item line. The health icon reverts to No Report and any issues are ignored. Applies to the current BOM only.
-
Individual Issues – Select a BOM line Issue in the Info pane and then the Waive issue for this BOM item to disregard (waive) that issue for all entries. Waived issues adopt a 
icon and are collated under the BOM’s Issues tab as ‘WAIVED ISSUES’.
Parametric Search
When selecting a different manufacturer part for a BOM line item, use the system's advanced Parametric Search feature to locate a part with specific parameters, or when none of the system's automated part suggestions or alternatives are suitable. This is available in the Advanced Search feature when the Parametric Search mode is selected.
Note that double-clicking on an entry’s Manufacturer Part Number also provides access to replacement part Suggestions, and when available, Part Choice options. Suggestions are sourced from the Altium Parts Provider and based on parametric data extracted from the BOM line entry – parameters that are matched by Suggestions and Part Choices are highlighted in green. 
Manufacturer Part Number Resolution
Blank MPN values – If an uploaded BOM contains blank Manufacturer Part Number (MPN) entries and also the base Description, Quantity and Designator parameter values, then the BOM Portal will attempt to deduce suitable manufacturer parts based on key parameters in the Description text. These parts are offered as selectable Suggestions – their availability is indicated by the 
icon. The parameter values extracted from the Description also are applied when performing an Advanced Search.
See example video
Descriptive MPN values – If an uploaded BOM contains simple descriptive parameter information in place of actual Manufacturer Part Number values – as might be the case with work-in-progress or prototype design BOMs – then the BOM Portal will attempt to find suitable manufacturer parts based on these keywords. This is the case also when using the Advanced Search feature, which will deduce and apply parametric search terms from the Part Number text.
See example video
Combined MFR and MPN values – If an uploaded BOM contains combined Manufacturer and Manufacturer Part Number parameter values in place of just Manufacturer Part numbers – as can be the case with BOMs saved/exported from other design software – then the BOM Portal will attempt to extract both the part number and manufacturer parameter values from that data. A Manufacturer column can be added if it does not already exist, and then the BOM remapped to register that BOM data column – use the Remap option from the 
menu. Note that this should be completed before updating the combined Part Numbers with search Suggestions or Alternate parts, so that the Manufactuer data also will be populated.
See example video
Where a BOM line Manufacturer Part entry is linked to an existing Workspace component (see Components Integration section below), its Part Choices are made available for selection. These are offered as a list of Part Choices when the part number is selected, and also in the Alternates mode of the Advanced Search – where the latter includes confidence ratings along with compliance and supplier information.
-
The Part Choices associated with a Workspace component can be edited from its entry in the Components page. See View/Edit Part Choices for more information.
-
You can view a detailed listing of the parts referenced by all Workspace Managed BOMs in the Parts in Use page. Note that this feature is not available with the BOM Editor.
