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Optimizing Your Supply Chain for Effective BOM Management FAQ

Here are some comprehensive answers to all the questions that were asked in our recent webinar. 

Licensing | Live BOM Dashboard | Sourceability | General

Licensing

Does Live BOM work with OrCAD X only, or does it also work with OrCAD 17.2?

You can only access Live BOM from within OrCAD X version 23.1 or greater.

Is Live BOM part of OrCAD X Standard and OrCAD X Professional?

Live BOM is only available within OrCAD X Professional and requires an OrCAD X Sync Advanced cloud connection license.

What licenses do I need to be able to access Live BOM?

To access Live BOM, you will need an OrCAD X Professional license and an OrCAD X Sync Advanced cloud connection license.

Is there an additional license requirement? The function is greyed out for me in 23.1 S002.

Live BOM is only available within OrCAD X Professional and requires an OrCAD X Sync Advanced cloud connection license. If you possess the proper licensing and the Live BOM menu is still grayed out, make sure to add the project to your local workspace. You can do this by opening OrCAD X Capture, opening the desired project, and selecting the .DSN in the Projects Panel, right-clicking and selecting Add to Workspace.

Can you please provide a link or show how to activate the cloud subscription?

Please contact your local reseller or Cadence Channel Partner to activate your cloud subscription.

If I want just the web based Live BOM tool without OrCAD X, will I still need the same licenses as if I were using OrCAD X?

To access Sourengine, refer to the following link: https://www.sourcengine.com/tools-bom

How much space does a user get with the OrCAD X Sync User license vs the OrCAD X Sync Advanced license?

With the OrCAD X Sync User license, you will get 10GB of space, whereas with the OrCAD X Sync Advanced license, you will get 20GB of space.

Live BOM Dashboard

How can I access Live BOM from within OrCAD X Capture?

You can access this feature from the Tools > Live BOM menu. However, you must have an OrCAD X Professional license along with an OrCAD X Sync Advanced cloud connection license.

What kind of critical information can Live BOM provide?

Live BOM provides the following part information:

  • REACH and RoHS compliance
  • Design Risk
  • Market availability
  • Inventory
  • Form, Fit, and Function alternate parts.
  • Pricing
  • Lead time
  • Technical parameters
  • Data sheets
  • Alternate suppliers
  • For more details, read our Live BOM datasheet.
Can Live BOM provide second source parts?

Live BOM provides alternate parts as well as alternate/second source suppliers and distributors.

When the Live BOM dashboard shows that the part is unmatched, is it possible to get suggestions, for example, generics?

Yes, you can search for any unmatched part and look for an alternate part based on technical parameters.

Please look up SP1212-01ETG. This is a known part that is EOL. Where on the page can I find the lifecycle information?

If you had that part in your design, Live BOM would automatically verify the MPN against Sourcengine. See example below and note the Market Availability score is zero, Lifecycle is EOL, and note the market availability trend.

Within Live BOM, is there an option to find alternate parts to replace obsolete and high-risk parts?

Yes, you can easily find alternate parts and replace any obsolete and high-risk parts within the Live BOM dashboard. See example of alternate parts being displayed for a given BOM entry selection:

How do we differentiate between unique parts and unmatched parts? Why are they classified as unique parts and unmatched parts?

Unmatched parts are parts that do not have an MPN assigned, or their MPN information cannot be found. Unique parts are unique MPNs within your design.

Are unmatched parts custom parts, or do they just lack manufacturer part information?

Unmatched parts simply lack the manufacturer part number (MPN), or the MPN was not found at that time.

Is it possible to export reports that show the BOM Health information? Can this report be customized to what I want to see only?

We currently only support CSV exports. Custom reports will be available in a future release.

How is the BOM database connected to the environmental status and lifecycle status?

The lifecycle status is provided by Sourceability, and we get that directly from the manufacturers and suppliers.

How often is the BOM database updated with the environmental and lifecycle status?

On the Live BOM dashboard, you can see the last BOM update timeline at the top of the header next to the search dialog box. Every time Live BOM is loaded, it is refreshed, and the user can manually refresh at any time.

Can Live BOM tell me how many parts I could produce with the current availability of all the parts of the BOM?

Yes, the availability score would indicate this.

I see multiple categories listed, such as value, voltage, packaging, type, etc. - can we minimize the options?

Yes, you can customize what columns you want to appear in the application.

For the risky components we have suggested alternate replacements displayed below. Is it applicable only for passive components or active as well? If yes, for active, are all form, fit, and functionally equivalent?

Alternative replacements are applicable for both passive and active components, and yes, they are all form fit and functionally equivalent.

Is it possible to see the difference before pushing modifications within the design?

Currently, Live BOM does not support a different viewing feature.

Is it possible to compare the base and alternate, or alternates?

Yes, you can view the alternate parameters versus the base part parameters however, there is no direct compare feature.

Is it possible to see multiple offers generated automatically for the same MPN due to cost optimization?

Not as of yet, BOM purchase with offers is coming.

I thought the availability score just is a grading score, not a specific number of products could produce?

The Market Availability score is a quick indication of the overall part availability. The numeric star grades explain the scoring criteria in further detail below:

Can I use Live BOM on an existing local CIS ODBC design?

Yes, all you need to ensure is that the schematic component instances have the MPN information specified. This is so that Live BOM can fetch the supply chain information.

Can we export the Live BOM data as CSV?

The CSV version of the Live BOM view is auto generated on design save in an output folder.

Sourceability

How does Sourceability evaluate vendors?

You can read more about how Sourceability evaluates their vendors here: https://www.sourcengine.com/about-us/procurement-quality

Where does Sourceability get the lifecycle status of its parts from?

Sourceability works with over 3,600 suppliers, and a lot of them are original component manufacturers, so this is where a lot of the lifecycle data comes from.

How is the lifecycle being determined or referenced from?

The lifecycle status is provided based on the information provided by the thousands of component manufacturers and suppliers Sourcengine is partnered with.

Does the Sourcengine website also provide lifecycle information? This way, I can check the lifecycle before adding a new part in CIP.

Yes – lifecycle status is provided by Sourcengine.

When selecting an alternative part from the Sourceability database, will it be pin to pin compatible or a different part number?

Yes, form, fit, and function alternates that are suggested are drop-in alternates which can be pin to pin compatible.

Does a user need a prior registration on Sourcengine or Datalynq to use Live BOM in OrCAD X Capture?

No prior registration is needed, Live BOM is available out of the box to OrCAD X Professional users.

General

Is Live BOM currently available?

Yes, Live BOM has been available since the OrCAD X 23.1 release in October 2023.

Can I use Live BOM without having OrCAD X?

You can acquire a Datalynq subscription from Sourceability if you want to use a browser-based interface and not have it resident to your CAD application - https://datalynq.com/.

I’m an engineering student and new to OrCAD X. Is there a course, book, or YouTube channel available where I can get started with learning how to use this application?

Yes, we have several videos and documents that cover how to use our software. You can find training videos on our PCB resources hub as well as our YouTube channel.

Is your "cloud" DFARS-7012 compliant?

Our cloud storage utilizes AWS–- I suspect DFARS-7012 may require government cloud. With that said, Live BOM data is nothing more than a REST API integration interfacing into Sourcengine data and does not utilize design content other than the BOM.

Does Live BOM have YTEOL forecasting?

It is currently not available, however, it’s in the roadmap.

Part Manager has a functionality called “Where Used,” is something similar available in Live BOM?

The “Where Used” functionality does not currently exist in Live BOM.

Does Live BOM support multiple sources per reference?

Yes – multiple supplier sources are supported.

Can I link Live BOM data to an Integrated Material Data System (IMDS) system?

This data can be linked through the OrCAD X CIS (Component Information System) database.

How can I define more than 1 manufacturer for reference?

This enhancement will be available shortly, and you will be able to assign multiple manufactures for reference.

Can I define the number of products I want to build from the BOM to get more specific details for availability and pricing? It makes a difference whether I want to produce 10 parts or 100,000 products of the whole BOM.

The ability to specify production quantity is coming, along with the ability to purchase the BOM.

Can the suggested alternates be added into CIP?

No, suggested alternates cannot be added into CIP.

Can OrCAD X provide a roll-up of the total BOM cost and tracking over time?

This feature will be available upon the integration of Sourcengine.

Can I feed internal on-stock availability information into Live BOM?

No, part availability is generated from Sourceengine. However, you can push this to your CIS database and from there to the schematic and BOM.

What does design risk mean?

Design risk is a 50,000-foot view of the risk associated with “designing in” apart. The Design Risk Score utilizes supply data, lead times, and product lifecycle to calculate risk from low to high.

Does Live BOM work only for passive components or active components as well?

Live BOM works for all components.

Is Live BOM available in Allegro X Platinum 23.1 P001? Currently, I see it as gray within the Tools > Live BOM menu.

There is a version of Live BOM available in Allegro X however, it is currently not tied into Sourceability and is based on the customer's own AVL (approved vendor list).

For optimization, do you support multi-sourcing cases?

Yes, Live BOM supports over 3600 suppliers and distributors and over a billion parts.

Can I link my CIS database with Live BOM?

Yes, you can.

Is the environment sustainability management part covered under Live BOM?

Not at this time, only REACH and RoHS compliance is currently covered.

If there is no side-by-side comparison, how can we prove the alternate part that is dropped in a form fit and function equivalent replacement?

Sourcengine only provides FFF alternates – form, fit, and function. You can access the datasheet for every part to confirm functional and mechanical match.

Can we use ERP or Agile software Data comparison with Live BOM?

Yes, you can tie in your ERP or PLM component data into your CIS database which then gets validated by Live BOM on part placement in your design.

Is it possible to have several sources per one reference part in Live BOM?

Multi-source support will be available in a future release.

Can a user launch and view Live BOM for multiple designs in capture session?

Yes, for each project, a different Live BOM tab will open.