Looking to quickly build out a tech pack or move your workflow from Excel and Adobe Illustrator into Backbone? Look no further.

Whether you are migrating information from a different format or starting completely fresh we've got a video (and this article) that'll explain step by step how to create that TP in the most efficient way.

For this article, keep in mind we will be working with a Tech Pack that is already built out in Microsoft Excel, and moving over information.

You can think of this first step as if you were creating your file in Excel or Adobe Illustrator. In Backbone, when you create your product record you are also simultaneously building the Front Page of your Tech Pack.

The Front Page of your tech pack is where your Factory or Vendor will find all the basic Taxonomy information you need to share with them for that specific product. These are things like Product Name, Style Number, Season/Year, Development Stage or Size Range which are built out from the Admin section and the front page is created for you based on the attributes you assign to your product record.

At Backbone we provide all our customers with a lightweight configuration within the Admin section that includes high level taxonomy fields and 35 of the most commonly used Custom Fields to help get you started, however please remember all these attributes can be customized to meet the need of your business within the Admin Panel.

2 recommendations before creating your first Tech Pack:

Now that you've got everything you need for a product, try creating one! Just open up the Global Navigation and click on "Add Product" or by entering the Product Library and clicking on the blue "+" icon.

Once your product is created and your attributes for Taxonomy / Custom Fields have been selected, you'll need to add your product color ways if you know them at this stage in your development process. If you do not have your Product Color Variants established yet you can always manage a placeholder Variant of “No Color Assigned”

To do this, start by scrolling to the bottom of your Product's Summary and clicking on "Add Variant".

When you click on the option to add a variant "From Color Swatch" you'll be greeted with a modal where you can search various palettes or make color swatches of your own by clicking "Create Swatch". Backbone has a partnership with Pantone where we offer access to 11 total Pantone libraries that you can use when building your Color Variants by simply searching for the code or name.

You can find more detailed instructions on how to manage your Color Variants and Palettes here.

Product Images can be added either via our built in Backbone upload tool or our Adobe Illustrator Plug-In. Both are easy and efficient methods depending on your workflow and how you typically save your images.

Your images can either be added with callouts and annotations you have applied in your design software of choice or you can go the Backbone route and use our built in Image Annotator to produce your callouts.

As a first step you will want to begin to add the components that you are requesting to use to make this product.

If you haven’t yet created components in your library you can do so directly from your Product BOM. Begin adding components to your BOM using the blue “+” icon in the bottom right corner. This opens a modal to search your already existing components or create a new component from scratch. Any new component you create from the BOM will be automatically added into your Component Library and will appear as an option the next time you search here.

You may also add components from within the Component Library. This is actually the quickest way to create a group of components if you need to create one after another. By simply checking “Add Additional” at the bottom you'll remain in the creation window.

Once components are added. You can add them within your BOM. We recommend using the BOM Divider tools to help organize your BOM and then you can fill in any additional details you need - for example QTY, Notes, Placements.

The last step in your BOM is making your component variant selections. Component Variants can be described as any variation of one component that may or may not affect pricing Examples of Component Variants are Colors, Size, Weight, etc. Color will be your only variant most of the time.

You'll have to create component variants from within each respective component's record. You can do that by clicking into them via the component library or you can opt to quickly open the component variant page from your BOM. To do the latter, click on the cell where the component and the product color variant meet (this often says "unused") Then you'll click the components name (which should be highlighted blue at the top of the drawer that opens up.

On arriving upon the component variant page, just use the blue "+" button in the bottom right to start the process.

If you have a spec that has already been created in an outside system such as excel. Your quickest path to getting your spec set up is using our CSV Import Tool. You can access this tool after entering your Product Size Spec area. Then you'll find a template to use in the importer via the 3 dot icon's overflow menu at the top right.

If you do not have a previously created spec and you're starting from scratch, you can build your size spec by manually adding your sizes and your points of measurement in the search bar.

You'll click "Create New POM" to open the creation modal and then fill out all the information you need. You also have the option here to add these POMs to your POM Library. As you continue to build out your POM Library, you'll be able to more quickly add consistent size specs to Products and Blocks.

Pro Tip: Make sure to check ✅ the box for "Create Another" when you're adding multiple PoMs to your Size Spec - this keeps you in the creation modal and will save you from a bunch of clicking!

When you're done uploading or building our your Size Spec area, make sure to take advantage of the different modes, filtering, and visibility tools above your table. Then you can change your size spec format by clicking on the gear ⚙️ icon for additional table views.

Finally, once your product is complete with the information that you would like to send to Factory or Vendor it's now time to create your Tech Pack.

The Backbone Tech Pack will take everything we have entered so far and roll it up in a single PDF. That being said, you also are not required to have all sections filled in order to create a TP.

This process will begin in the Tech Pack Ledger:

Once the TP is created you can view it by clicking on the link.

Once you are ready to share you can choose your desired sharing method via the 3 dot icon when you hover over your shiny new tech pack in the ledger. This gives you the option to share via a couple different methods: Shared Folders & Public Links.

That just about wraps it up! If you need more in depth guidance don't hesitate to reach out via our in app beacon or our 8 Key Steps Articles & Videos.