ASCENT: 3 Reasons to Use Live BOM for Your Bill of Materials

A product is only as good as its components, which makes selecting good components vital. So how does one select the right component? And let’s think about what 'right' means. You have to consider the availability and lead time, the price, the requirements of that component during the assembly and testing phases, and so much more – which means that choosing the wrong component can be an expensive mistake. And I don’t just mean the unit price. It can impact the product delivery schedule and even worse, perhaps how the product performs in the market.

Here’s where Live BOM comes in. Live BOM, the Bill of Materials' management viewer and editor of Allegro^® System Capture, presents an always up-to-date view of the design BOM. Easy-to-use, detailed, and accurate component data and a component selection system are both available right there on designers’ screens. As you can see in the following image, the section at the top of Live BOM displays a clear and user-friendly summary of the content in the BOM, such as the count for components, manufacturers’ part numbers, manufacturers, lifecycle status, and so on.

Why You Should Use Live BOM

Here are at least three reasons why you should use Live BOM:

• A Rich User Interface
• Easy Access to the Live Part Status From the Component Library
• Quick Access to Live BOM Through a Browser-Based Dashboard

A Rich User Interface

You can add custom columns, modify the display name of the headers, cross probe from Live BOM to a placed part instance, view the BOM for the base design as well as its variants, download a CSV of the BOM, hide or delete unused parts.

Easy Access to the Live Part Status from the Component Library

You can easily view the status of parts, such as RoHS compliance, obsolete, or any other custom status via rules that you create. You can also view which parts are electrical or mechanical.

Quick Access to Live BOM Through a Browser-Based Dashboard

You can start your design without even opening Allegro System Capture. You can add parts to this web-based view of Live BOM and then use them in your Allegro System Capture schematic at a later time. When you modify Live BOM in the web dashboard, the changes are immediately reflected in the Live BOM tab of Allegro System Capture. The web-based view provides easy viewing access of the design’s BOM by other team members – electrical/PCB/mechanical designers, component engineers, procurement specialists, and so on.

There’s so much you can do with Live BOM that can’t be covered in a brief blog post, so go ahead, explore and discover it for yourself.

Also, check our video on Live BOM for more details: Live BOM - System Capture Feature Video.

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About ASCENT

This ASCENT series is for the Allegro System Capture product suite that includes applications and features, such as Allegro Pulse, Unified Search, Part Manager, Constraints Manager, Live BOM, Team Design, and System Reliability to name a few.

In this series of posts, we discover what Allegro System Capture is and how you can use it for creating parts, libraries, and designs, reusing established IP, all the way to creating layout files, while managing design costs, time to market, standards compliance, and providing access to non-EDA support functions.

So, whether you are a single designer wearing multiple hats or a large enterprise, Allegro System Capture has something for you. Stay tuned as we share tips and tricks to smooth your ascent!