This article will detail our best practices for updating and tracking all the changes that occur on your product throughout the sampling process.
Our goal for these steps are to help you and your vendors save time and reduce sampling errors to ensure your final Product is built to perfection 💯
Step 1: Check In and Measure Your Sample 📐
Once you have received a Sample from your Factory your first step will be to check in your sample within the product summary using your product’s custom fields. This is where you can update fields like Proto Received Date, Development Status and even costing information, if that’s something the Factory provides with the sample.
Once you have updated the necessary information on your product summary, it's now time to measure your sample from within your Size Specification tab.
From there, you will then use the dropdown menu in the top left hand corner to enter Measure Mode. Measure Mode will be where you manage and track all of your sample measurements.
If you're working on your first sample:
Navigate to the right hand settings bar and select “Add New Stage”
Name your sample
Add the arrival date.
Once completed, a table will automatically be generated for you so you can begin to handle some Quality Control
Your table will default to measure your sample size, however if you have received a sample outside of your base size you can switch between sizes within your settings tab on the right hand side, expected values will be generated based on your grade spec.
As you enter your values in the received columns you will notice your variance will automatically be generated and then highlighted green if it’s within tolerance and red if it’s outside of the set tolerance.
If you wish to revise your graded spec based on the sample measurements you received, you can do so by updating the revised spec column and then pushing those values back into your graded spec using the bulk “Update Graded Spec Column.”
Once you have measured your sample it is time to summarize and capture your fit revisions.
Step 2: Summarize Your Fit Revisions 🖊
In order to begin summarizing the call outs and changes you want your factory to make on your size spec for the next round of sampling you will need to navigate to the Feedback and Revisions Tab of your product record.
Your Feedback and Revision section will be your primary reference point to quickly compare the changes that were made at each development stage.
In order to create a new Feedback and Revision
Click the plus button in the bottom right hand corner.
Apply the name of the development stage
Add any additional details
Link it to that corresponding stage, and then link the sample you’re measuring for internal reference.
At this point you can add any corresponding images that apply to your spec comments. We can return back to these sections once we further evaluate our sample’s design and construction.
Step 3: Evaluate your Sample’s Design and Construction 🚧
Once you have measured and added spec comments for your sample it is time to further evaluate your sample’s design and construction accuracy. Are you satisfied with the current design or does it require some tweaks? Did the factory meet your requirements as they relate to the BOM?
The evaluation process might fall on one person or it might be a collaboration between multiple roles from within your organization but Backbone will allow you to enter and track this information in one place.
First, If there is a need to update your design files you will do this from within the Image Section. The Image Section will be where your most recent and accurate design file should live.
Depending on your selected workflow for uploading images, you will either use our “Replace” image function OR if you are using our adobe plug in you will simply update via the extension.
Let's walk through the Replace Image Flow:
In order to replace images or files that you have uploaded directly into Backbone, you will select the source file name in gray. This will bring you into the Source Files Version History window and give you the prompt to upload your replacement image.
If your image is a singular file and a JPG or PNG, you will need to replace it with the matching image type. This also applies for multi page PDF and AI files.
Once you upload you can then choose to replace the existing image or add a new image. Then Select “Confirm” to complete the replacement.
Using the Replace Image Workflow allows you to store your different design iterations while also tracking them - updating the name of your versions will help you quickly identify what is in each file and reassure you that you have the most recent and up to date file in Backbone
For the Adobe Flow:
If you are using our Adobe Plugin you can simply update your files via the extension.
You will first open your File, make your design changes and then search for the product you wish to update.
Then select the file you want, and select “Update.” It will then prompt you to review your changes and confirm.
Once confirmed you will see the updates from within the extension and you have the option to update the name of the version for easier referencing. Or if you prefer you may also do this in Backbone.
Then go into Backbone and refresh my screen I will now see my updated file in the image section as well as the version history if I click on the Files name.
If BOM changes are required for your next sample request, you can do this by entering your BOM tab. If you need to switch components - you will conduct a search for your new component, assign the appropriate row number and add it into your BOM. You can then fill in your new variant information and then delete your old component.
In the Case a product colorway changes- you can manage this by navigating to your Summary Page, updating the color by selecting the color chip and simply selecting the updated color. This will preserve your BOM selections and all you will need to do is update any colorway details in the BOM.
Step 4: Summarize Your Design and Construction Revisions 🦺
Before we generate our new tech pack, you will need to summarize your Design and Construction callouts and revisions in the feedback and revision section.
You can select the pencil icon to open up the existing feedback and enter in your notes.
Step 5: Generate and Send Your Tech Pack 📦
Once all details and changes are collected on the sample and added into Backbone. You will now create your next tech pack.
You can generate your Tech Pack right from your feedback and revisions by selecting the create tech pack button.
This will bring up the Tech Pack Creation Modal where we can append tech pack details to the name and style number
Then add “X Proto Comment” and select what you want to include.
Updated images, Graded Size Spec, 1st Proto Sample Measurements, Feedback and Revisions, or the BOM.
If you want the factory to see sample comments first, pull this to the top using the 6 dot handle.
Next choose to add any updated design file and choose how many images per page.
Our Default is 1 per page so if you are happy with that, there is no need to make any selections here. But a great use case for selecting multiple per page would be as a display of your colorways to create a nice colorway assortment view.
Note: If you're using our Annotation Tool, you will be required to maintain 1 per page to leave some space for the annotations.
Next up is your BOM Selection. For most companies you will want to select the expanded version. This will most closely follow the BOM layout you are used to seeing. If you want to, check out our resource center for more information on the Condensed version.
Finally we can select which custom fields to display in the BOM.
Once the TP is created you can view it by clicking the link. Once you are ready to share you can choose your desired sharing method via the 3 dot icon on the TP.