Running accountability checks

You can compare two structures to ensure all lines in the source structure are accounted for in the target structure. For example, you can compare the EBOM structure to the MBOM structure to ensure all parts and assemblies are assigned or compare the product structure and the process structure to ensure that all occurrences of product components and features are used in the process structure as consumed items. You can compare the entire assembly or only a subassembly to the process structure. These types of comparison are performed using an accountability check.

Any differences found during the comparison are reported, as they may indicate problems in manufacturing the product to its specification. However, an imbalance between the structures may not necessarily indicate a problem with the structure itself.

An accountability check or comparison:

1. Traverses the source structure.

2. For each line in the source, finds one or more matching lines in the target structure, according to defined equivalence criteria.

3. For each pair of equivalent lines, identifies if there is a full match or a partial match. A partial match exists if one or more aspects of the structures that you compare are not equal.

4. Colors each line in the structures and, if you have the correct license, opens the Accountability Check Result view displaying the full matches, partial matches, and unmatched lines.

The following differences are reported:

• Lines in the source structure that do not have counterparts in the target

• Lines in the source that have more than one counterpart in the target

• Lines in the target that do not have counterparts in the source

• Lines in the source whose counterparts in the target have some significant difference, for example, a different quantity

The analysis is done on the structures as they are configured in the rich client. You can run the analysis with any combination of configuration options on both structures.

When setting up the accountability check feature, a power user generally creates favorites—a collection of typical options and settings for different situations. An administrator can publish these favorites for different groups or roles so that regular users can then select one of them to quickly run the comparison.