Absolute Beginner!

Good morning all, my company has just begun the task of implementation. None of us have any coding experience, but of course the owners want the configurator to save the day. I guess my question is…where should I begin? I’ve played a little in our educational environment, but I’m at a lose. i’M’m looking for some direction, do we ensure that our BOMs are correct first? Do we all need to take some type of coding courses…etc? HELP!!!

Where do you plan on running the configurator? from the Quote entry or Job?
If from the Quote,
What are you wanting to get out of the configurator? A full BOM or just a price?

I agree with @Craig, I think a priority would be determining what you want the output to be. Configurators can pretty much do anything with the right inputs, and coding. I think they are only limited by imagination. That being said until you know where you want to end up will just be spinning your wheels.

First of all, thanks for the speedy response. We’ve decided to run it from Quote Entry. We want the complete BOM, with BOOs and MOMs.

Then definitely start with having your BOMs be correct. you can build the configurator to build your bom based on question you would answer (ie. options on equipment) but you need to know what the answer will do to the BOM.

The Tech Ref Guide (all 400+ pages of it), is going to be essential.

The very first thing to decide is whether you are going to go with a Super BOM or a Dynamic BOM (those terms might not exactly match what they’re called in the Tech Ref guide).

A Super BOM is a BOM that consists of every single component that could ever go into the configured part. Then the configurator simple “disables” parts based on rules you setup.

For example, a Super BOM for a configurable extension cord might look like:

Mtl Seq  Partnum   Qty
10       Plug      1
20       Socket    1
30       Wire-16GA 100
40       Wire-14GA 100
50       Wire-12GA 100

Only one of Mtl Seq’s 30, 40, and 50, would be left enabled

We are a truck upfitter, we have 1000s of possible combinations for a build. We’ve spent the last few months creating “standard BOMs”, They include the major components of any build.Our BOMs for the most part are correct. I’ve implemented a BOM correction task force, so we’re catching them on the fly. So if I’m satisfied with the BOMs as of right now, where do I begin?

We’ve decide that the Template BOM is right for us.

Good. Save me the trouble of explaining the other one. :wink:

Start where @ckrusen said, with the tech ref guide.

One thing I did to go from individual BOM’s to a template based configurator, was to list all the fixed BOMs for the configurable part in excel. Then assign each part a “usage” (a category of what it serves in the configurable part).

In my extension cord example, I’d assign Wire-16GA, Wire-14GA, Wire-12GA as CABLE

Then build a table (like a Pivot table - in looks only) With the raw Parts numbers as the columns and

Raw data from E10, listing Materials for all variants of the part to be made as a configuration:

image

After assigning a “usage” (which I did with a lookup table) to get:

image

Then a pivot table to show a Matrix of which parts are used in which final P/N

image

Pivot table details:

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While your engineers probably know off the top of their head, what goes into each variant, doing the above will show you what all you need for the template.

it might show that that some configs need multiple to parts to meet the “usage” (like if a 30Amp socket consisted of two parts (an Inner and a Shell)

if that was the case, I’d make the CGF’s BOM

10 Plug-30A          1
20 Socket-30A-Inner  1
30 Socket-30A-Shell  1
40 Wire-10GA         1

Then on the cords that are 20A or less:

  • Suppress Seq 30
  • For Seq 10, 20, and 40, set the P/N’s accordingly

I am soooo glad to hear this! I started a spreadsheet of the different possible combos, I think I can convert that into what you have here! Jesus dude, I wish you were here so I could buy you lunch!!!

If you anyone is interested, I can provide a reference to a consultant that assisted us with our first product configurator configuration.
~ Gina