Welcome to OpenBOM’s November 8th, 2023 update. I’m super excited to share all the news, features, and updates we had since the last update in October.
The update brings improvements in the new OpenBOM Design subscription, Workspace manager, partnership and integration with ERP, improved registration process, user experience, and many enhancements in OpenBOM CAD Add-ins. Among all of them is a significant improvement in Altium Designer integration.
All together makes me super excited about the news and I cannot wait to walk you through what we did. As always, we bring countless small fixes, improvements, and bug fixes. So, let’s get started.
OpenBOM is SOC2 Type 2 Certified!
I cannot be more proud of our engineering and DevOps team that made it happen. SOC2, which stands for Service Organization Control 2, is a framework developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to assess the security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy of customer data in a cloud service environment. In today’s interconnected and data-driven world, SOC2 certification has become a critical benchmark for evaluating the trustworthiness of service providers.
For businesses, SOC2 certification provides assurance that the service they are using adheres to stringent security and privacy standards. It helps organizations safeguard sensitive data, build trust with their customers, and mitigate the risk of data breaches and cyberattacks.
Achieving SOC2 Type 2 certification is no small feat. It requires meticulous planning, rigorous assessments, and an unwavering commitment to security and data protection. OpenBOM embarked on this journey with the goal of strengthening its commitment to its users and ensuring the highest level of data security.
Throughout the certification process, OpenBOM underwent thorough assessments and audits by independent third-party experts to verify the effectiveness of its security controls, policies, and procedures. The successful achievement of SOC2 Type 2 certification underscores OpenBOM’s dedication to providing a secure and reliable platform for users to manage their valuable product data.
How to Get a Copy of OpenBOM’s SOC2 Certificate
To obtain a copy of OpenBOM’s SOC2 Type 2 certificate and gain confidence in the security of your data, please contact our customer support team at support@openbom.com. We are committed to transparency and are happy to provide our users with the documentation they need to make informed decisions about their data management solutions. You need to sign an NDA to get a copy of the OpenBOM SOC2 report.
Design Projects & Workspace Manager
We continue to improve the new OpenBOM Design (a free cloud PDM service we introduced earlier in September). The last update brings an absolutely cool feature – Smart Sync.
OpenBOM Design Projects is a user-friendly yet potent cloud-based PDM system. It empowers you to manage your CAD and other files with all revisions seamlessly, thanks to OpenBOM’s cloud storage capabilities. The primary goal is to streamline the management of your design data, making it accessible and secure, all while being incredibly simple to use.
Design Project Data Model
To understand SmartSync fully, it’s essential to grasp OpenBOM’s design project data model. OpenBOM employs a custom, flexible data model that simplifies the creation and management of design projects. Each project acts as a repository for CAD files and their associated metadata.
The user interface for Design Projects is built on OpenBOM’s familiar layout, tailored to work seamlessly with information objects and their attached files. Each record in a project is linked to a file, and these files can be uploaded using the Workspace Manager, a crucial component of OpenBOM’s functionality.
Workspace Manager
The Workspace Manager is the bridge that facilitates the synchronization of data (files and folders) between your local storage and the cloud-based Design Project. To enable this synchronization, you must map a local folder to your Design Project. Once this mapping is complete, you gain the ability to upload and download files easily. Furthermore, OpenBOM allows users to lock files to prevent others from making changes while the file is in use.
SmartSync: The Game Changer
The star of the show is undoubtedly SmartSync. This innovative feature brings automation to the forefront, allowing Workspace Manager to make intelligent decisions about what to upload and download automatically. It simplifies the synchronization process significantly, making it more efficient and less error-prone.
With SmartSync, you can trust Workspace Manager to determine which files need to be uploaded or downloaded based on contextual information about each file. This intelligent automation ensures that you always have the most up-to-date data, without the need for constant manual oversight.
To see SmartSync in action, we’ve prepared a video demonstration that showcases its capabilities and how it can streamline your data synchronization process. Watch the video below to get a firsthand look at how SmartSync can optimize your workflow.
HEADS UP. Even more updates are coming in OpenBOM Design Projects. We will be bringing a “minified” version of Workspace Manager – a one-button application that requires you to do only one thing – SmartSync.
Check for more here:
PLM+ERP in a single package? OpenBOM-Deskera Partnership
We realize how important integration is between engineering and production planning. For many of our customers, we provide OpenBOM services that include simple purchasing and inventory planning. What do you need more?
We are excited to bring Deskera ERP integrated with OpenBOM. Our partnership with Deskera is focusing on how to provide the best combination of things coming from the two most innovative SaaS products in the PLM and ERP markets.
Check out more about it – Deskera ERP and OpenBOM Partner to Streamline Enterprise Operations.
When it comes to PLM+ERP integrations and products, the devil is in the details. We had an entire live work session where we presented OpenBOM and Deskera together. Check more here – Demo: PLM+ERP and how Deskera and OpenBOM Help to Streamline Enterprise Operations.
If you just want to watch the video, it is here:
OpenBOM Registration – Getting Started Process
We are focusing on how to improve the process of starting to use OpenBOM for new registered users. We simplified the current process and now automatically allow you to make the registration and start a trial automatically.
This is a cool “Getting Started” screen that allows you to register and start experimenting with OpenBOM in just a few minutes.
Create and Manage Item Revisions Directly from the BOM
Item Revisions are a very powerful aspect of OpenBOM. Previously Items revisions had to be managed from the Catalog (where Items live). With this release, we bring the Item Revision command to the BOM so you can Create and manage Item Revisions directly in the context of where the Item is used – eg. the BOM.
User-Defined Commands Improvements
Two new behaviors have been added to User Defined Commands
1/ A new Parameter to send the user email, and 2/ OpenBOM returns the server response in the body.
We’ve added an EMAIL Query Parameter so you can send the email identity of the user to the User Defined Command endpoint. Thanks to the customers who requested this. It’s a great feature!
Check out this post in the community for more details and an example
Usability with URLs In Text Properties
Sometimes, speed is everything you need. We realized that many of you are typing URLs in text properties. We got you 🙂 Now they are recognized in text properties. This is a very nice feature. If you type a HTTP:// or HTTPS:// URL into a text property OpenBOM will render it as a link that you can click and follow.
Give it a try. In a text property, like Supplier, for example, type https://www.openbom.com/ it will immediately render as https://www.openbom.com/
Copy / Paste into the Grid
We continue to improve the basic operations of Copy / Paste. For example, we now remove leading and trailing spaces in the part number field so you will not create Part Numbers with mystery spaces.
CAD Integrations and Add-ins
Here is the list of our integration improvements. Check them out.
All CAD Integrations
We improved and reduced the number of warning messages that are displayed at the end of a BOM operation. We also improved the completion message to provide more details.
Altium PCB Designer – Variants, BOM PN, Board PN in BOM
The Altium Extension received three important improvements.
- Support for Variants
- BOM Part Number can be set by a parameter
- Optional Board Part Number in the PCBA BOM
Variants
This release supports Altium Project Variants. Every parameter that can be configured in the Altium Variant will be respected and brought to the OpenBOM Bill of Materials for that specific Variant. Be sure to configure the Part Number property for each Variant, so OpenBOM will create individual BOMs for each Variant.
BOM Part Number
If you define a parameter called Part Number and give it a value, OpenBOM will use it as the BOM Part Number. If you put the parameter in a Variant and set a unique value for the Part Number in each Variant, you will create a separate BOM for each Variant!
Board Part Number
The problem with Altium has always been you can’t include the part number for the board blank in the BOM because there is no blank in the Altium schematic.
With the OpenBOM November release, you may optionally add a Property to the project to act as the Board Part Number. This item will be added to the OpenBOM BOM, and if you define it as an Item in the Catalog, the properties will flow to the BOM as well.
Check out this video highlighting the new features – OpenBOM Altium Improvements.
Autodesk Fusion 360
The latest version of the Autodesk Fusion 360 Add-in greatly improves the handling of BOM Table data on the Fusion360 Drawings.
Dassault Systemes SOLIDWORKS
The Solidworks Generate Part Number command is more reliable and operates as expected on very large assemblies. OpenBOM will remember the previous Catalog selection and propose it as the default next time the command is run.
Various fixes and improvements
- Fixed an annoying issue when PTC Onshape Settings showed duplicate properties
- Fixed a specific case when files on Microsoft One Drive might not link properly
- In Design, Images of Revisions now reflect the proper revision
- Date Property Columns sort as expected
- Fixed a case with Defined Commands when BOM_ID was not properly handled
- Move Item now works as expected for items created from CAD
- Change Password works from the User Profile Page
- Improved Multi-Factor reliability for Drive, Design, Workspace Manager, and Addins
- We now properly notify you if you are already signed in via another browser
- Fixed a case when a blank filter was not processed properly on Export
Conclusion:
I’m super excited about the recent update of OpenBOM. It brings a large number of improvements and makes the OpenBOM platform even more robust and rich to support our customers.
I want to leave you with some thoughts about OpenBOM ROI – Understanding of OpenBOM ROI;
OpenBOM helps you to start the transforming of your manufacturing business. OpenBOM offers a rapid and efficient path to achieving ROI in the digital age. By converting data into digital representations, seamlessly integrating with existing and modern systems, and streamlining data for analytics, OpenBOM empowers organizations to make informed decisions and optimize their product development processes. The phased implementation approach ensures that organizations can start realizing benefits quickly and continue to grow their ROI over time. OpenBOM is not just about “doing things right”; it’s about “doing the right things” in the ever-evolving landscape of product development and PLM.
REGISTER FOR FREE and check how OpenBOM can help you.
Best, Oleg
Join our newsletter to receive a weekly portion of news, articles, and tips about OpenBOM and our community.
