TRAINING DAY

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TRAINING DAY August 11,2006
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Reducing Configurator Model Size

• Written By
• Steve Allen
• DARC Corporation
• 503-544-7373
• sallen_at_darc.com

Presented By Arne S. Rosen, CPIM, CIRM DARC
Corporation 312-338-6234 arosen_at_darc.com
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Agenda

• Why model size matters
• Techniques
• BOM-lets
• Design charts
• Property-based compatibility rules
• Populators

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(Model) size matters

• Model performance is direct function of model
  size
• Oracle suggests 800 1000 nodes

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(Model) size matters

• Nodes include
• All optional BOM items (and their parent items)
• Rules and folders
• Features and options

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(Model) size matters
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(Model) size matters

• Model size directly affects
• Model creation time and effort
• Model readability and maintainability
• Staffing flexibility
• Engineering / NPI time and effort

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BOM-lets - definition

• BOM-lets are small BOMs that capture different
  combinations of items
• Multiple BOM-lets are added together to form
  a product
• BOM-lets are often the biggest contributor to
  model size

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BOM-lets - definition

• A subassembly contains three optional components
• Part A has three possible configurations (3
  items)
• Part B has two possible configurations (2 items)
• Part C has four possible configurations (4 items)
• 24 BOM-lets are required to capture all
  combinations

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BOM-lets - definition

• Now imagine an ATO model requires 6 subassemblies
  with 3 configurable items each
• The ATO model will contain 150 nodes
• Better approach is not to use BOM-lets
• 6 subassemblies with 3 configurable items each
• The ATO model will contain just 24 nodes

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BOM-lets example 1
Heat extender
9-wire electronics interface
ManualsInstructionsCertificates
Process connections
Common assembly
4-wire electronics interface
Tags
Conduit connections
Barrier boards
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BOM-lets example 1

• Before
• 70 catalog items
• Configuration required releasing a custom item
  containing the correct combination of BOM-lets
• 28,000 (and counting) custom items
• After
• 70 ATO models containing 30 optional items each
• Configuration performed at order time by Oracle

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BOM-lets example 2

• Before
• 1,200 pricing items to capture variations in 6
  service options
• After
• Replaced with 6 service items with attributes
• Rules create combinations and compute prices

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BOM-lets - summary

• BOM-lets are the often the detritus of legacy
  systems with no Configurator
• Very expensive to create and maintain
• Continuing use of BOM-lets is effectively
  automating a bad practice
• Let the Configurator build combinations at order
  time

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BOM-lets - summary

• Set a corporate goal of eliminating
• BOM-lets
• Ship kits
• Pre-configured BOMs
• Expect a 2-3 order-of-magnitude reduction in ATO
  model size

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BOM-lets - summary

• Payoff
• Significant reduction in new product introduction
  time and effort
• Significant reduction in ATO model creation time
  (due to not reverse-engineering)
• Significant reduction in item master size

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Design charts - definition

• Designs charts
• used to specify compatibility between options
• can eliminate many, many rules
• are very quick to create and change

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Design charts - example
Compatibility matrix
Design chart
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Design charts - UI
Red Xs are not allowed selections
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Design charts - bonus

• Bonus 1
• Using design charts may eliminate lots of
  frustrating de-bugging!!
• Bonus 2
• Design charts may work really well in your
  catalog!
• Eliminate complicated footnotes
• Very effective way to document option
  compatibility rules

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Property-based compatibility rules - 1
Match
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Property-based compatibility rules - 2

• Example
• 12 optional items in an option class
• Use 1 property-based rule to choose one item
• Same result would require 12 logic rules
• New logic rule required every time a new option
  is added

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Property-based compatibility rules - 3

• Advantages
• Potentially large reduction in rule count
• Use 1 rule to select a single item from a list
• instead of one logic rule per item
• List may be arbitrarily long
• Bonus Write the rule once
• New rules not required when new optional items
  are added to list

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Property-based compatibility rules - 4

• Disadvantages
• Design takes a bit of thought
• Less intuitive than logic rules
• Properties must be maintained in Item Master
• May require some modifications to your ECO
  process
• Data entry process is error-prone

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Property-based compatibility rules - 5
Match the MANUAL LANGUAGE property of the options
in the Language feature to
the MANUAL LANGUAGE catalog value of the items
in the OC-MANUALS-H option class
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Populators - definition

• Create menus in user interface dynamically
• search Item Master
• instead of creating features and options
• Without populator N items require N options
  (nodes)
• With populator N items require 1 nodes
• Search is based on item catalog values

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Populators - bonus

• Bonus 1
• Write the populator once
• No modification required when new items are added
  to Item Master
• Bonus 2
• May help with ETO processes

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References

• Oracle Configurator Modeling Guide Release 11i
  Part No. B13605-03
• Oracle Configurator Performance Guide Release
  11i Part No. B10616-01

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Questions Answers

• Q A