Why Views are important
A best practice for using OpenBOM is to store ALL information about the items in the BOM in the BOM.
This means information about Vendors, Cost, Lead times, Weight, Packaging, links to documentation, Quantity on Hand, Warehouse, Link to drawing PDF and CAD files, Certifications, and much much more are all stored in OpenBOM (either in a part catalog or a BOM). All the data in one place.
Now that can get a bit overwhelming to deal with so we created Views.
A View can be thought of as a lense which the BOM is viewed through, a way to present your BOM to a specific consumer in a way they will understand and does not disclose any information you don’t want them to see. Users and team administrators can create many different views for different purposes. When you create a View for each of the departments or functional groups within your organization you are providing a way to view only that data that department is interested in. For example, an “Engineering” view may contain A thumbnail image, part number, description, initial supplier and more. A “Manufacturing” view may display a different set of properties important to the Manufacturing department or subcontractor like information needed to make a part or assembly (quantity or bin location for example) and omit other information like lead time or cost. A “Planning” view will contain information for your buyers and planners, vendor links, quantity on hand, and more.
OpenBOM Views make that old methods of keeping a separate BOM for each discipline obsolete. No more “Engineering BOM” or “Manufacturing BOM” or “Purchasing BOM” — there is only ONE OpenBOM with “Views” into it for these various functions.
Creating and Managing Views
Views only apply to BOMs and not part catalogs. Views can be copied, edited and deleted.
Views are managed via the “Views” section of the Dashboard or by the “Views” dropdown on the BOM toolbar. Since every user accounted is populated with a “default” view you will have at least one View to start with. Make a copy (from either of these locations) of default and give it a name you like.
Currently OpenBOM allows you to define multiple views and use them view the BOMs and Catalogs. In such a way, as an individual user, you can switch between views and see different elements of information. If you’re using OpenBOM Team Subscription, Administrator can create user defined views and give them to each user.
The following picture, give you an idea of what is OpenBOM user defined view data model.
Creating Views in the Views dashboard in OpenBOM
Editing a View
Edit View Configuration dialog allows you to select properties (from the list of all available properties) and add it to a view:
You also have much of the same functionality in the Views menu of the BOM. Create, Copy, Edit.
Edit View – WYSIWYG
Another way to edit view is to simply add / remove properties (columns) when BOM or Part Catalog is open and a specific view is selected. In such a way, edit is transparent.