Finding Similar Components

About Finding Similar Components

During the design process, it may become necessary to substitute one part for another. The part currently used may be discontinued; a cheaper part may become available, or you may need to use a part from another supplier. The Find Similar functionality lets you search for those items in the CES database that are similar to the part you are currently using, based on various criteria.

Access the Find Similar functionality by selecting the desired part within an Assembly window and clicking the Find Similar CES Item button on the CES toolbar. The Sourcing Search window appears, pre-populated with the attribute values of the selected item. You can use all, some, or none of the pre-populated values to perform the search. The results appear in a standard Sourcing Search Results window.

When Finding Similar Components

  • The original component must be shared in the Sourcing Hub.
  • The search is based on Internal Items. If you want to see other information such as Supplier Items or Manufacturer Items, you must use the CES Engineering Catalog Navigator : User Tasks : Item Details functionality from the Sourcing Search Results window.
  • The item for which to find similar components must be selected in an Assembly window.
  • If the item selected is not valid, an error message appears.
  • Multiple items cannot be selected.
  • Only attributes that have been mapped to CES can be used for search criteria.

How to Find a Similar Component

Follow these steps to find a similar component:

This example assumes that:
  • a database including internal item information exists and is accessed by CATIA Client
  • you have a product that contains a part already in the CES database
  1. Start CATIA. Login to ENOVIA V5 VPM and CES. For more information on logging in, refer to Logging in to ENOVIA V5 VPM in CATIA and Accessing CES Functionality.

  2. Using File > Open, open an existing product that contains a part already in CES.


     

  3. Within the Assembly window, select the item for which you want to find similar components.

  4. In the CES toolbar, click the Find Similar CES Item button. The Sourcing Search window appears with the attribute fields pre-populated with the values of the selected item.

  5. You can change these values, set values for other attributes, or accept this as is and perform your search. Once the search criteria is set, click OK to perform the search. A Sourcing Search Results window appears.

Sourcing Search Window

This table describes the fields displayed in the Standard Search tab of the Sourcing Search window.

Fields Description

Search From

Category of data to search.

Type

Type of item for which to search.

Search Form

Type of information to view in the Search Results. This view can be customized based on your requirements. Possible values are:

  • All Items:  Include information on the manufacturer item, supplier item and internal item. This includes Manufacturer Item Number, Manufacturer Item Description, Supplier Item Number, Internal Item Number, Price, Currency Code, and other information.
  • Manufacturers Content:  Information included depends on the item type selected:
    • Manufacturer Item: Contains only manufacturer specific content.
    • Supplier Item: Contains supplier specific content and some manufacturer specific content.
    • Internal Item: Contains internal item specific content and some manufacturer specific content.
  • Suppliers Content: Information included depends on the item type selected:
    • Manufacturer Item: Contains manufacturer specific content and some supplier specific content.
    • Supplier Item: Contains only supplier specific content.
    • Internal Item: Contains internal item specific content and some supplier specific content.
  • Internal Content: Information included depends on the item type selected:
    • Manufacturer Item: Contains manufacturer specific content and some internal item specific content.
    • Supplier Item: Contains supplier specific content and some internal item specific content.
    • Internal Item: Contains only internal item specific content.

Project

Projects in which to search. This field is enabled only if the Type dropdown list is set to Items - Internal. Possible values:

  • Current Project: Search the project you are working on.

  • All Projects: Search all projects.

Revision

Revisions in which to search. This field is enabled only if the Type dropdown list is set to Items - Internal. Possible values:

  • Current Revision: Search the current revision.

  • All Revisions: Search all revisions.

Attribute search fields

Value to search for, for the respective attribute. These fields vary depending on what you have selected in the For: dropdown list and the Search View: dropdown list. The list of attributes also changes if you click the Show Additional Properties button.

Load Search

Name of the saved search to load.

Show Count

Check this box to have the number of items in each category displayed after the category name in the Category Browser.

This table describes the buttons displayed in the Sourcing Search window and the Standard Search tab of the Sourcing Search window:

Button Description

Clear All

Click this to clear the keyword field.

Show Additional Properties

Display other attributes for the selected item type. You can set these attributes as well to further narrow your search. Please note that when you click on the Show Additional Properties button, the Additional Properties : section appears in the Sourcing Search window and the Show Additional Properties button is changed to Hide Additional Properties. This can be seen in Step 4 of How To Perform a Standard Search in CES Engineering Catalog Navigator : User Tasks : Search : Standard Search.

Save Search

Save current search criteria for later use.
Manage Searches Display any saved searches for searching, modifying, or deleting.

OK

Click this to execute the search command, and get search results for items.

Apply

Applies the category selected in the Category Browser to the list of criteria in the search window, without closing the search window.

Close

Click this to close the window without performing the search.