Case Study: AutoBOM
(Match page displayed where processing can begin)
What is AutoBOM
AutoBOM is an automated bill of materials generation application made for Wesco. Using a client bill of materials and cross referencing it with a distributors entire inventory. Gathering information on availability, cost, recommendations, and substitutions. To finally generate a document detailing all items on a bill of materials list, their projected cost, and their location. Allowing a client to make a detailed data driven solution.
Problem Statement
As a materials distribution company, bills of materials are paramount to both the client and the distributor. Currently, this process is generated by human resources. In an effort to streamline this process and reduce workload on human resources, an application - to both automate this process, and maintain the quality of information needed to make decisions is desirable.
How
The team began with generating a design system to be in line with the company branding guidelines and to the satisfaction of project management.
From there we started interface ideation. Following single sign on login a document setup path is followed. The user is presented with a home page from which two actions are able to pursued. Creating a new bill of material documents, either from a spreadsheet or manually, and accessing previously created documents.
Document setup pathways
When creating a new document there are two paths. Creating a new document using a Microsoft Excel document as a base, and to manually input line items individually in an in-application spreadsheet. The next step is to set the column headers to match the organization of the base spreadsheet. The application will follow the format of the inputted spreadsheet and generate an example line item. At this stage the user must assign the required column headers to the appropriate document columns to ensure that AutoBOM can give an accurate document result. These headers are Manufacturer Catalog Number, Description, Manufacturer, Quantity, and UOM(Unit of Measurement). These column tags can applied or left out in league with the users needs.
As AutoBOM processes information an infographic is displayed. Separating each line item into four different categories. Match, Needs Review, No Match, and Pending. “Match” indicates that an exact item from the spreadsheet has been found in the distributor catalog. “Needs Review” indicates that the automation process is not able to match an item with certainty, and needs a manual review. “No Match” indicates that there is no such item in the distributor catalog that matches the spreadsheet description. “Pending” indicates the number of line items left to be processed.
Finally resulting in the product match page.
The match page is the heart of the application and displays a multitude of important information to the user.
This includes document name and information (ie date and time created, and lust update.) Document parameters such as customer name, order entry system, branch id and dividends by share (DPS). Infographics display the number of line items in each category after processing. As well as an option to narrow down the line item displayed to those only in that specific category.
Next we have the line items themselves. The basic line items contain information on the specific part as described by the distributor and column headers that the user has tagged earlier. In the far right end of the item line we have a number of actions the user can take. The top four allow edits to the line item, mark item as not matched, and utilize other databases to find a specific item. In this case the client has chosen to use Amazon and Google. The bottom four allow the user to interact with a matched item. These include seeing a list of comparable items, view inventory availability, view SIM and part numbers, and redirect to the distributor database to gain more detailed information on the specific item.
Once this document is completed to the users satisfaction a document is generated. Informing the client on what items are available currently, substitutions for items not in the distributor database, item quantity, and cost estimation quotes. Thus allowing the client to make efficient informed decisions, in a short amount of time.
A process book document is currently being worked and will be displayed here as soon as its ready. Thank you so much for your patience.
