Part alternates

View technical attributes of alternate parts. Filter the results of alternate parts by varying degrees of similarity and whether to include discontinued parts.

1. While viewing part details in an individual BOM, click View Alternates () in the toolbar, or in Rel Info column to the left of a particular part.

The Alternates for Part Number... modal window appears.

2. Filter the results grid by selecting one or more of the following options from the Alternate Types heading:
• FFF - Form, fit, and functional (drop-in) alternates as identified by component engineers through detailed analysis of device characteristics.
• F= - Functionally equivalent alternates with the same functionality, but that may have a different fit or form.
• DIRECT - Rule-based Direct (drop-in) alternates with the same form, fit, or functionality.
• SIMILAR - Similar alternates with similar functionality, but that may have different fit or form.
• Include Discontinued Parts - Alternate parts identified as discontinued by their manufacturers. You may want to include parts with discontinued status when you cannot find an acceptable active alternate for the part. Even though a part is discontinued, the part may be in your company's current inventory or in the inventory of other sources that you trust.

• Using the Mfr Name column header, click and then filter using the manufacturer name by typing key characters that either should or should not be included in the in the manufacturer names displayed. Select either Include or Do Not Include from the drop-down list in this modal window. Lookup (Type ahead) functionality presents options from the data in the column that match what you type.
  A filter () image appears in the column header to indicate that filtering is applied. To remove filtering, click and either click the X in the right corner of a specific filter term to remove, or click Clear Filter to remove all of the filters.

3. Click Apply to apply the above selection(s) to the results grid.
4. Click hyper-links in the results grid to display alternate part details and documents.

Add to Workspace

• Select the alternate parts to add to the Workspace by clicking the left-most cell in the desired row (), and then click Add > Add to Workspace.

The part is added to your workspace, and the Alternates for Part modal window remains open.

Add to BOMs

1. Select the alternate parts to add to the current BOM by clicking the left-most cell in the desired row (), and then click Add > Add to BOM(s).

The Add Selected Parts to BOM(s) modal window appears.

• Filter () the BOMs displayed by exact name, a string of text in the BOM, or folder name. Navigate () the filtered results using the arrows that appear above the Search box.
• Click the check box to the left of BOM Hierarchy Grid to select all of the visible BOMs in the list.

When using the BOM Tree window with an indentured BOM, a part can be added to a specific level of the indentured list, but not to a folder. If using the View Single BOM window, you cannot add a part to an indentured BOM.

• Click the check box () in the left-most cell of the BOM(s) to add the part to (only processed BOMs that you own can be selected), and then click Add Parts to Selected BOM(s).

The BOM health counts and scores are automatically updated without reprocessing the BOM.

Add IPN to AML

• When adding an alternate part to a BOM, if the BOM was imported with the option, Use Internal Part Number to Build AML enabled in the Import Options pane of the 1-Step BOM Import window, when viewing the Alternates for Part Number modal window, with the part(s) to add to the AML selected (), click Add > Add to IPN AML.

Compare alternate parts using a dedicated modal window to compare technical attributes. Add or remove prospective alternate parts from this modal window.

1. With the Alternates for Part Number ... modal window displayed, click the check box in the left-most cell () of two or more alternate parts in the data grid, and then click Compare in the toolbar above the data grid.

The Compare ... Parts from Alternate Results modal window appears, with the original part for which you are seeking alternates displayed in the left-most column, and the potential alternate parts displayed in the columns to the right of it. To facilitate comparison, the left-most column that displays the original part is locked so that it remains fixed while columns to the right of it are scrolled.

2. To lock another column as the default locked column for comparison, select the column header, and then click Set as Anchor in the toolbar above the data grid.
3. View the technical attributes. Differences between the original part, or the part in the locked column and the parts being compared are highlighted in gray.
4. To remove a part alternate from the Compare ... Parts from Alternate Results modal window, select the column header, and then click Remove in the toolbar above the data grid.
5. To export all of the details presently displayed in the Compare ... Parts for Alternates Results modal window, click Export in the toolbar above the data grid. Part details and their differences are exported to a file in Microsoft Excel (XLS) format, called IHS_compare.XLS.

The Mfr Suggested Replacements option in the toolbar above the data grid is enabled when the part displayed has manufacturer suggested replacements.

Using the Part Details modal window, click Mfr Suggested Replacements in the toolbar above the data grid to display the Manufacturer Suggested Replacements shade to view details for part replacements. Where the replacement part is matched to a part in the database, a hyperlink appears in the data grid that you click to display the Part Details for Part ... modal window for the linked item.

Export alternate parts from the Alternates modal window. Prospective alternate export parts can be added and removed from this modal window.

1. With the Alternates for Part Number ... modal window displayed, do either of the following, depending on whether to export only select alternate parts or all of the parts currently displayed in the Alternates for Part Number ... modal window:
• To export select parts - select one or more alternate parts in the data grid () by selecting the left-most cell in each row to include, and then click Export in the toolbar above the data grid.
• To export all parts - click Export in the toolbar above the data grid.

The Export Part Alternate(s) modal window appears.

2. Select whether to export only the items selected in the previous screen, or all of the results in the grid. If you did not select any rows in the previous step, you cannot choose the Selected Alternates Only option.
3. Select the format of the file to export, based on the application in which you will be working with the exported file, and then click Okay, export these parts.