New Bill-of-Materials (BOM) analysis view integrates real-time supply chain insights directly into your design process, enhancing resilience by identifying risks early. With data on component availability, lifecycle, pricing, and risk, users can proactively manage potential issues, ensure flexibility, and avoid disruptions. Customizable supplier preferences and quick assessment roll-ups streamline decision-making, supporting a more reliable and adaptable design workflow.

Project BOM views now have an option for BOM Intelligence. When BOM Intelligence is selected, each component in the BOM is analyzed for risk, lifecycle status, and supplier pricing and availability.

When the analysis is complete the BOM table is enhanced to include the analysis results. New columns for risk rank, lifecycle status, pricing, and availability can be seen. The color-coded risk ranking indicators provide a quick visual overview of BOM health. For more information on how risk ranking works read this article.

In addition to the analysis results shown in the BOM table, the left panel shows visual indicators that give you quick BOM health insights, including matching status, lifecycle status, manufacturer risk rank, and supplier risk rank.

To focus the BOM table view to just show an area of concern, simply click on the colored area of the chart. The BOM table will be filtered to only show those results. For example, under the Lifecycle status chart you may see some percentage of your BOM items having a lifecycle phase of “Obsolete” indicated by a color region in the chart. Clicking on the area of the chart will filter the BOM table to only show the obsolete items. This gives you a quick way to address the obsolete items and ensure the BOM is optimized before manufacturing release.

BOM Intelligence uses the manufacturer part information provided with your design data. For each part in the BOM, a search is performed using the manufacturer part number and, if available, manufacturer name. Once a part match is found the BOM table is updated with the analysis results.

Part matches are found using best web pricing where each part match finds the supplier that offers the part at the lowest price, with sufficient inventory, and meets the BOM’s minimum order quantity (MOQ) need

There may be cases where a part match was unsuccessful. This is often due to issues with the manufacturer part number. When a BOM includes non-electrical items such as hardware or testpoints, no match will be found.

In cases where multiple potential manufacturer matches are found, you can click on the manufacturer part number to open a list of the potential matches and select the manufacturer part number match that you prefer.

Once the desired manufacturer part is selected a list of matching suppliers is shown, allowing you to select the desired supplier offer.

BOM Intelligence offers results from over 100 global suppliers. Selecting the Preferred Suppliers option in the table settings allows you to configure the results to use only the suppliers you normally use or your organization's approved suppliers. If you do not see a preferred supplier in the list please submit a support ticket or use the Connect chat interface to request the supplier to be added.

You can reorder the table columns simply by selecting a column header and dragging it into the desired position.

Take your design reviews to the next level!

Centralize the design review process with Connect's new Collaboration panel. Our new Collaboration panel within the 2D viewer empowers your team to offer precise feedback on schematic and PCB designs. Reviewers can seamlessly create markup annotations within the design view, fostering transparent communication with the design team. Stay in control with markup status tracking, ensuring timely resolution of design review issues. All discussions and resolutions are meticulously documented in the feedback tab, guaranteeing complete traceability of issue resolutions.

Additional features can be found under the General tab when a markup object is selected.

Effortlessly keep project teams updated and aligned

Ensures seamless awareness of all project activities. From new version updates to user changes and beyond, the entire project team stays up-to-date without the hassle of checking emails or waiting for review meetings. Experience real-time updates right within Connect!

It's that easy to stay effortlessly informed about the latest project activity.

We've been busy adding some great new capabilities to help you better manage project versions including search, restore, remove, and view history. And more. Let's take a closer look.

As the number of versions for a given project grows, there may be occasions when you want to understand when a particular change was made to your design. The new search bar in the version dropdown enables a full text search that will quickly find version information including information from check-in comments.

As your team works on your design there may be times when a change in direction requires you to revert back to an earlier version. The restore version command gives you the ability to easily restore an earlier version to the latest version.

Over time you may create a large number of project versions and you may want to delete the ones that are no longer needed. The remove version command gives you the ability to streamline your project by deleting unwanted past versions.

The new History view gives you a single timeline perspective of how a project changes over time.

Project thumbnails give you an easy way to quickly find the project you'd like to open.

Project files can now be viewed as tiles. Image files will include an auto-generated thumbnail within the tile.

Connect projects can now be opened as read-only from PADS Pro. When another user has a project locked for editing, you can now open that project in PADS Pro as read-only.

During a board design project, teams often create, collect, and share many files: datasheets and drawings, fab quotations, design review notes, and more. Typically these files are exchanged by email and then saved on a local network folder.

Connect's new File Management capability gives your team a place to easily organize all of your project files in one secure location. No more searching through emails or file folders trying to find the latest information. Teams can stay organized, aligned, and on track and with the following new capabilities:

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Each project in your collaboration space now has a new Files view. Under the Files view you can upload additional files that are relevant to your project. All users with access to your project will be able to use the new Files view. Users with the Admin or Editor roles will be able to upload and delete file content. Users with the Viewer role will be able to view and download files only.

To upload files to your project you can either select the upload command from the toolbar, or simply drag-and-drop a file from your desktop into Connect.

Currently PDF and image files can be viewed directly in Connect. To view a file, select the file and then select the view command. The view command will not be visible in the toolbar when unsupported files are selected.

Users can download one or multiple files by selecting the desired files and then selecting the download command. To select multiple files hold the Ctrl or Shift keys while selecting the desired files. When multiple files are selected they will be downloaded as a single <projectname>.zip file to your desktop.

Folders allow you to organize your files to make them easy for others to find. Folders can can be nested allowing you to create multi-level file organization. To create a new folder select the New Folder command. In the right hand panel enter the folder's name and select Done. When navigating into folders and nested folders you can use the breadcrumb trail to navigate up to parent folders or the root directory.

To move a file to a different folder select the file then select the Move command. In the right hand panel select the desired target folder and then select Move. To move a file from a folder or nested folder back to the root level select the file, select the Move command, then select Move Here in the right hand panel.

Happy New Year! Here's something shiny to kickoff 2022

Reviewing designs has never been easier. Connect's new 2D viewer enables rich schematic and PCB visualization right in your browser, nothing to download and no desktop viewer required. Connect makes viewing designs easy for the whole team.

Happy Holidays! 2021 may be winding down, but we're continuously winding up cool new capabilities for Connect. Check out these time-saving productivity elements and the new integration of Findchips real-time component sourcing intelligence powered by the Siemens acquisition of Supplyframe. Enjoy!

Make sure your teams are always aware of the latest design changes. When checking in a new project version you can now include comments to summarize the changes that were made to the design. When the Notify your team option is selected all project members will receive an email notification including the check in comments.

Note: PADS Professional VX.2.8 Update 8 or later is required in order to use Check in Comments.

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When checking in a project from PADS Professional Designer or Layout a new check in dialog includes a comment box where you can enter a summary of the changes that were made to the design.

​The Notify your team option is selected by default. Once the Check In command is selected the design changes will be saved to Connect and email notifications will be sent to your team.

Check in comments are also available in Connect so any user can see what changes were made to any version of the design.

Connect also keeps project administrators informed when other team members make design changes. When a project is checked out for editing an email is sent to project administrators to help them keep track of who is working on a design.

Identify component sourcing issues earlier in the design process. The BOM view in Connect now includes the ability to search component sourcing information powered by Findchips.com. Findchips search enables the ability to quickly check stock and pricing on your BOM components.

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Findchips search requires the components in your BOM to include manufacturer part number information. Since each organization may use different property names to represent the manufacturer part number the first step is to configure the Connect BOM table.

From your project's BOM view, select the BOM configuration icon located in the top right corner of the BOM table.

Check the Enable Findchips search option box in the configuration panel.

Using the dropdown, select the BOM property that represents the component's manufacturer part number and select Done. Your project's BOM view is now enabled to use Findchips search.

When you hover over a component in the BOM table the proprty that represents manufacturer part number will now include a selection for Findchips.

Selecting the Findchips command will perform a quick search and return the first supplier's inventory level and pricing. Selecting the Buy Now button will open the supplier's website in a new browser tab.

Select the Show more link in the top right corner to see the full set of search results. Filters allow you to narrow your results down to only preferred suppliers, only suppliers with desired stock, and only suppiers with an exact part number match.

Note: If your design data includes manufacturer part number information but it's not showing in your Connect BOM view, you'll need to configure PADS Pro to include the property when generating BOM data. See this article on how to customize your BOMs in Connect.