DNG 7.0.2 Hierarchical product structure with costs
Hi,
A little bit outside of DNG's normal use case, but we needed a way to capture some product structures, like a BOM so we used a DNG module.
Each artifact (component) has a line quantity so people know how many of that specific item is in the design.
I've now been asked, could we add a line cost to each item and then a summation of total BOM cost based on parent quantity in the hierarchy.
This is a bit beyond my skills in DNG widgets, but I was wondering if it might be possible to do this in JRS with a calculated column?
JRS Datasource is LQE with configuration management.
Accepted answer
I've done stuff like this in four ways, each with their pros and cons:
- in DNG using parent/child links and then creating a DNG widget using the Client API to do the roll-ups and store in an attribute. The widget isn't too hard to do but the risk is the data is stale
- in DNG using parent/child links and then creating an advanced report in Report Builder. I used the Data Warehouse and you do need to know your SQL quite well. Reports are a pain to create and you don't have the values in the same place as the raw data, but the data is then no more than 24 hours old. I actually combined both this and the previous option to show inconsistencies in the calculated values, which meant the day to day the client used the widget but the report was the "source of truth"
- in EWM where I built work items for the CIs, and then they could track all the maturity levels and revisions of the various items and build releases. The focus here was more on tracking the CI through development and release and the cost and BoM was more of a sideline, but I could build calculated fields and reports in a similar way to the above
- in Rhapsody where the product structure and values were captured in UML/SysML. This to me was the cleanest approach, and we could publish it in the AM side of EWM and link to the rest of the lifecycle. It felt the most 'correct' but was a bit more difficult as it required the rich client to update. I'm really keen to revisit this idea with the new Rhapsody SE - I think it could be really good but need to understand if there's an API to do the roll-ups (it was a piece of cake with the Rhapsody rich client)
One other answer
Hi Glyn,
JRS focus is on traceability and statistical data. Hence, this is not something for JRS reporting.
On the other hand, this is aligned with the Publishing (formerly RPE). You should be able to generate document with the custom template. You will either need to engage IBM Services or one of the business partners to help you develop custom template or if you are familiar with PUB and have PUB lic, you can develop such custom template.
Hope this helps.