Import to Component Library (No BOM)

Step 1

Start the data import feature by clicking the data import toolbar button.

Step 2

With the data import feature open, an import data source must be specified using the 'Open File' toolbar button. Import data sources must be in CSV file format (easily created from within Excel by choosing to save in CSV file format; a large number of CAE tools also support CSV file format outputs).

Step 3

When importing components to the component library and not creating a BOM, no product or product version needs to be specified. Similarly, no designator or quantity attribute needs to be specified as these fields are not meaningful outside of the BOM context.

Step 4

The importer can be configured to work with differing file formats by changing the input file format user settings. The attribute delimiter tells the importer which character to look for when decoding the input data. If the input data source contains pricing information which is encoded into a single attribute, then the importer can also be configured to tell it how to interpret this data.

Step 5

The 'Three Tier Component Model' implemented by Ciiva defines three categories of components; base, manufacturer and supplier. Data sources may contain a combination of these components, and the importer allows the user to specify which types of components exist in the import data source. Base components can be created automatically if the import data source does not contain any company specific component part numbers, and manufacturer components can be automatically created from the Cloud database if a the supplier component is known to Ciiva.

Step 6

Additional attributes which may be contained within the data source can be mapped to component attributes (including custom attributes) and the associated data included as part of the import process.

Step 7

When the import configuration is complete, the next step is to create a preview by clicking the 'Create Preview' toolbar button. This provides an opportunity to review the updates to the component library.

Step 8

The preview will be shown in the bottom of the import navigator. Icons are used to indicate the status of any existing components in the component library and the actions that the importer will take once the preview has been committed. A blue addition icon indicates the components is new and will be added to the component library. A red addition icon indicates that the component exists in the library but one or more attributes for that component will be updated from the import data. A green checkmark icon indicates that the component already exists in the library and no changes will be made to it.

Step 9

Once the preview has been reviewed, it can be committed by clicking the 'Confirm Import' toolbar button. This will commit the changes shown in the preview window to the database.