OpenBOM™ Integration for PTC Onshape

1. Introduction – What Can OpenBOM’s Integration for Onshape Do? 
   1. Functions and Benefits  
   2. Data Flow Diagram
2. OpenBOM for Onshape
   1. Installation
   2. Register Account and Start Trial
   3. Minimum Settings (Properties) – Explanation of Part Numbers
   4. One-Click BOM
3. Best Practices
   1. Categories
   2. Generate Next Part Number 
   3. CAD Properties
   4. Revisions and Lifecycle
   5. Using Onshape Configurations
   6. Bi-Directional Data Exchange
   7. Drawing Support
4. Settings and Command Reference 
   1. Settings
   2. Exclude from BOM 
   3. Combine by Name

Introduction – What Can OpenBOM’s Integration for Onshape Do?

If you’re using Onshape for your mechanical design, OpenBOM gives you an integrated OpenBOM application for Onshape to manage data in catalogs, create BOMs, and insert BOM tables into Onshape drawings. The integration is fully immersive into the Onshape user interface, while data is bi-directionally integrated.

OpenBOM’s CAD integration is ready to be “plugged in” and has been built using the best-in-class technology. That means that when you connect your CAD tool to OpenBOM, you’ll get all the functionalities you need to extract your CAD data in a smart way. You’ll be able to set up your integrations remotely online (OpenBOM is a SaaS platform) and work with cloud infrastructure, regardless of whether you’re running the CAD system on your desktop or in the cloud.

Functions and Benefits

• Offers an integrated application for Onshape
• Manage BOMs for Onshape designs directly in the assembly context flyout panel
• Manage the exact properties that are sent to OpenBOM
• Adds value to the Onshape BOM by adding columns and properties for manufacturing
• Make changes to your OpenBOM and then send them back to your Onshape part or assembly
• Excludes unwanted properties from BOM
• Assigns part numbers in Onshape or OpenBOM and syncs the BOM to CAD properties
• Tracks BOM changes, manages BOM revisions, and generates change reports
• Offers simultaneous BOM editing similar to Google Docs and Google Sheets
• Creates product structure multi-level BOMs with both “Composed of” and “Where Used” functions
• Exports data to different formats such as XLS, PDF, and CSV
• Inserts an OpenBOM into Onshape drawings and keeps it associated with the latest changes
• Creates product structure BOMs as single-level, multi-level, or flattened BOMs
• Creates and updates both BOMs and catalogs of your assemblies
• Defines BOM templates for greater flexibility and automation
• Offers support for Onshape custom properties

Data Flow Diagram

OpenBOM for Onshape

Installation

OpenBOM for Onshape runs as an application from the Onshape app store and does not have any installation on your local computer.  

Installation

1. Start by signing in to Onshape. 

2. Navigate to the Onshape app store and find the OpenBOM app.

3. Click on the “Subscribe” button. On the following page, click on the “Get for Free” button.

4. You will get a confirmation message. Click on the “Close” button.

5. Open your design and switch to the “Assembly” tab.

6. In the middle of the right side of the page, you should find that the OpenBOM toolbar shows up.

Register Account and Start Trial

Register Account and Start Trial

1. Open your design and switch to the “Assembly” tab.

2. In the middle of the right side of the page, click on the OpenBOM toolbar. 

3. Click on the “Register” button.

4. Follow these instructions to register and enable the free trial. 

5. Return to the Onshape assembly and click on the OpenBOM toolbar again. 

6. Click on the “Authorize Application” button.

7. You will get the OpenBOM welcome message and be automatically signed in to the application.

Minimum Settings (Properties) – Explanation of Part Numbers

Minimum Settings

Onshape manages part numbers in two main options: 

• Part name
• Part number

OpenBOM captures the information from Onshape automatically based on the setting of the templates, but a few fundamental values are constantly coming in: “Part Name” and “Part Number”. OpenBOM uses the “Part Number” as a unique identifier for any item, and if the “Part Number” exists, the “Part Name” will become a default “Part Number”.

Onshape allows you to use the “Part Number” custom feature to automatically set your part number based on the configuration. Note that this custom feature will be overridden by anything you’ve added to your configured part properties table, so be sure to delete those overrides if you don’t want them anymore.

1. Open up the OpenBOM toolbar and click on the “Properties” tab.

2. Define the properties that will be sent to OpenBOM as either an “Instance (BOM)” or an “Item (Catalog)”.

Note: The “Part Number”, “Quantity”, “Name”, and “Thumbnail Image” properties will automatically be assigned to a BOM and a catalog respectively.

One-Click BOM

One-Click BOM

1. Open your assembly and click on the “Create BOM” button.

2. OpenBOM will create a multi-level BOM, which consists of all sub-assemblies and parts.

Note: OpenBOM also automatically creates BOMs for each sub-assembly.

Congrats! You’ve created your first BOM using the Onshape OpenBOM integration!

Best Practices 

Categories

Categories

Onshape Categories are available in specific Onshape subscription plans. (At the time of this writing, those subscription plans are the Company level and above.) If you have a categories option available in Onshape, then read on. If not, feel free to skip to the next lesson. 

OpenBOM supports a compelling and flexible way to manage data in OpenBOM catalogs. In a nutshell, OpenBOM catalogs are a way to store the data about any item and also define a specific set of attributes for each item. As such, you can create a collection of catalogs for the different types of information you manage in OpenBOM: mechanical, electronic, fasteners, molded, standard items, and many others.

To work with category features, you need to organize catalogs in OpenBOM. Follow these steps to set up the feature for the Onshape app. 

1. Create the specific catalogs in OpenBOM where you will be sending items from CAD.

Note: The default settings will send data to the Onshape items catalog, so all these settings are optional.

2. Navigate to the “Settings” page. 

3. Open up the “Categories” menu.

4. Depending on your type of account, you can either use the existing categories or create new ones.

5. Go over your assembly and assign each component to a specific category.

6. You can also use the “Move-Item Between Catalogs” function if you need to move data later. If you do so, the OpenBOM app extension will follow the moved item and will update the information when the BOM is updated from Onshape to OpenBOM. 

Remember that the default settings will send data to the Onshape items catalog, so all these settings are optional. 

Note: All parts assigned to the “Mechanical Part” category are sent to the corresponding “Mechanical” catalog.

Generate Next Part Number

Generate Next Part Number

OpenBOM allows you to generate part numbers in Onshape using an integrated OpenBOM catalog that features automatic part numbering.

1. Open an existing catalog or create a new one. Click on the “Part Number Setup” button.

2. Click on the “Create Part Number Template” button.

3. Create the part number pattern by selecting from the “Add Prefix”, “Configure Range”, “Add Suffix”, and “Add Separator” options.

4. Navigate to the multi-level BOM in Onshape. Then, right-click on the part and select the “Item Info” menu.

5. Click on the edit part number button.

6. Click on the generate part number button and get the next part number from OpenBOM. Click on the “Save” button.

Note: The “Part Number” property in the BOM will be updated.

7. Go over the whole assembly and generate part numbers for each part.

CAD Properties

CAD Properties

To control which CAD properties should be exported to OpenBOM, you will have to define them in the OpenBOM “Settings” menu.

1. If the properties are not defined, the “Part Number” and “Quantity” properties will automatically be sent to the BOM, while the “Name” and “Thumbnail Image” properties will be sent to the catalog. 

2. Check that the “Thumbnail Image” and “Name” properties show up in the catalog.

Note: The “Quantity On Hand” field is a default catalog property.

3. Check that the “Part Number” and “Quantity” properties show up in the BOM. (The “Thumbnail”, “Name”, and “Quantity On Hand” properties should be linked as catalog item properties.)

4. Assign the specific CAD properties (e.g. “Configuration”, “Cost”, “Description”, etc.).

5. Send the new properties to OpenBOM using the “Update BOM” option.

Note: The new properties will be extracted to the BOM. The assigned catalog will also be updated.

Revisions and Lifecycle

Once you save Onshape data to OpenBOM, you can revise it in the item catalogs. 

1. Open an Onshape part.

2. Navigate to the OpenBOM toolbar and click on the “Settings” button.

3. Assign the CAD properties “Revision” and “Revision Number” as catalog items.

4. Click on the “Create BOM” button.

5. Navigate to the OpenBOM catalog and click on the “Item Revisions” button.

6. Click on the “Create Revision” button.

7. Assign the revision with the letter “A”, then click on the “Create” button. 

8. Note that the revision should be assigned to the part, denoted by the letter “A”.

9. Make a change to your part. Then, click on the “Update BOM” button.

10. The new version of the part will get updated in your catalog.

11. Create a new revision, denoted by the letter “B”. 

12. Click on the item revisions button and find all available revisions.

13. Click on the “Open Revision List” button and the list of item revisions will open.

Using Onshape Configurations

OpenBOM allows you to manage parts with different configurations. Whatever custom property you add to your configured part, these properties will be extracted and placed into OpenBOM.

Keep in mind that only configurations that are actually instantiated in the assembly will appear in the BOM or catalog. In addition, be sure each configuration has its own unique part number.

1. Create a part with two different configurations using the Part Studio environment.

2. Create a table of the configured properties.

3. Add a new custom property and assign its values. 

4. Create an assembly that includes two configured parts. 

5. Navigate to the OpenBOM toolbar and assign exported properties in the “Settings” menu.

6. Create the BOM. Check that the custom properties have been added to configured parts.

Bi-Directional Data Exchange

OpenBOM provides bi-directional data exchange with Onshape. You can easily manage properties like “Part Numbers”, “Names”, and “Descriptions”, then send the values back to Onshape.

1. Open your Onshape assembly and find some properties to update.

2. Update the properties and click on the “Save” button. 

3. Navigate to the OpenBOM menu and click on the “Update BOM from Onshape” option.

Note: The properties should be updated in OpenBOM.

4. Update the description of a specific BOM component in OpenBOM.

5. Navigate to the OpenBOM menu and click on the “Send BOM Properties to Onshape” button.

6. Check that the properties have been updated for these parts in Onshape.

Drawing Support

OpenBOM bills of materials can be used inside of Onshape drawings. The interface requires some Onshape Insert BOM commands, once you figure out the steps, you can easily insert an OpenBOM BOM into an Onshape drawing. At the same time, you can enjoy some unique OpenBOM features such as centralized catalog management, cost rollup, and purchase planning.

1. You will first need to create a BOM data Object. Only Single, Multilevel or Flatten BOMS can be inserted into drawings. 

2. Open the Drawing in OnShape. Navigate to the OpenBOM tab. Under the “Choose BOM Type” field, select the “Single Level BOM”.” Flattened BOM” or ”Multi Level BOM” option. Under the “Current BOMs” field, select the “Assembly” from the Drawing.

3. Click on the Prepare BOM Data for the selected assembly.

4. In OnShape Then, click on the BOM table command button. 

5. In the BOM table settings, click on the “Insert” button.

6. Navigate to the “BOM data” tab and choose the corresponding BOM data Table.

7. Drop the table into the drawing and you will see your perfectly designed BOM table.

Settings and Command Reference

Settings

• Go to Category Mapping Tab – It opens the dialog for the Onshape Categories assignment. You can assign each Onshape category to a specific OpenBOM catalog.

Note: If the category is not assigned (denoted by “None”), it will be exported to the default catalog (e.g. “Onshape Items”).

• Catalog for Items – It shows where Onshape items are saved.

• Combine by Name – This feature combines several parts with the same Name into one line item and aggregates their quantity to be the sum of all the quantities. It is best left in the “Off” position unless you know exactly what you are doing. For example, if you make a BOM from a part studio by using the OpenBOM user interface tab described above, you may want to use this function.

• Properties Tab- It allows you to identify properties as catalog Properties or an “Item (Catalog)”. The “Part Number” and “Quantity” properties are assigned as an “Instance (BOM)” by default, while the “Name” and “Thumbnail Image” properties are set as an “Item (Catalog)” by default.

Note: If the property is not defined (in “The OpenBOM Properties on the right side”), it will not be present in the catalog.

Advanced Properties allows you to set BOM Instance Properties

Exclude from BOM

Exclude from BOM

This option is needed to exclude one of the BOM components. Sometimes certain components are only used for specific design needs and you don’t want them to actually show up in the BOM. Excluding a BOM component is a simple and powerful solution. 

1. Open your assembly in Onshape and navigate to the specific part in the BOM.

Note: If you select to exclude one of the sub-assemblies, the component as well as all sub-levels will be excluded from the BOM.

2. Navigate to the assembly tree and right-click on the specific part. 

3. Check the “Exclude from BOM” box and click “Save”. 

4. Navigate to the OpenBOM “Settings” menu. Click on the “Update BOM” button. 

5. Check that the specific part has been excluded from the BOM.

Combine by Name

If you create multiple part instances, they will be duplicated in the Onshape assembly with the same name multiple times. The “Combine by Name” feature combines the various items into one item and counts their total quantity.

1. Create an assembly with multiple part instances that have the same name, but without specific part numbers.

2. If you create a BOM, you will find out that OpenBOM makes two items per configuration.

3. If you want to combine these parts as one item in OpenBOM, you can use the “Combine by Name” option.

4. Update BOM from Onshape and check that all parts with the same name have been combined into one OpenBOM item.

Derivate FiIe Formats

Derivate file formats

1. Set Create derivative files

2. Create or update the BOM from Onshape

3. New Columns Appear in OpenBOM for Derivate Files

Creating PDFs out of Drawings

Open Drawings In Onshape and Click Link to Drawing

Update BOM on Onshape Release

Available in Company Subscription Only.

Update BOMs On Release