Synchronizing Upstream and Downstream Structures
There may be multiple iterations of the engineering bill of materials during the product design stage. As a manufacturing engineer, you may want to keep the downstream structure updated with the concurrent changes in the upstream structure using the 
Review and Resolve Discrepancies action. However, at the end of the design stage, you will want to ensure that both the structures are in sync with each other. You can use the 
Synchronize Structures action to detect discrepancies between the first-level equivalent parts in both the structures based on the criteria specified in the preference Structure Synchronization Criteria. You can then resolve the discrepancies by propagating the changes to the downstream structure. Here, the term “discrepancies” is used to indicate the differences between the latest version of engineering bill of materials and manufacturing bill of materials.
Review and Resolve Discrepancies action. However, at the end of the design stage, you will want to ensure that both the structures are in sync with each other. You can use the Synchronize Structures action to detect discrepancies between the first-level equivalent parts in both the structures based on the criteria specified in the preference Structure Synchronization Criteria. You can then resolve the discrepancies by propagating the changes to the downstream structure. Here, the term “discrepancies” is used to indicate the differences between the latest version of engineering bill of materials and manufacturing bill of materials.The Review and Resolve Discrepancies action does not detect discrepancies after the equivalent links for discrepant parts are updated or if some changes were made directly in the downstream structure. The Synchronize Structures action is useful in such scenarios.
Procedure
To detect discrepancies and synchronize the tree structures, perform the following steps:
1. In the upstream structure, select the parts or assemblies for which you want to detect discrepancies.
2. Click Synchronize Structures.
Synchronize Structures.If the Highlight All Search Results for Discrepancies in the Structure preference is set to Yes, the discrepant parts are highlighted in the upstream and downstream tree structures. The Synchronize Structures dialog box opens, displaying the discrepancies for the highlighted parts. Review and resolve the discrepancies as needed.
Out of the box, the following columns are displayed in the dialog box: Identity, Number, Name, Version, Criteria, Upstream Value, Downstream Value, Downstream Parent, Status, and Downstream Context.
◦ The Criteria column shows information about each change. For more information, see step 3 in Propagating Upstream Changes.
◦ The Downstream Parent column displays parent part information. The parent part information appears as a path from common equivalent context. The part numbers are separated by a pipe sign.
◦ The Status column displays the following information for each change:
▪ Auto—The changes in the upstream structure can be propagated to the downstream structure using the 
action.
action.▪ Interactive—The changes in the upstream structure can be propagated by using the default logic and with user interaction. Use the action to resolve discrepancies with status as Interactive.
action to resolve discrepancies with status as Interactive.▪ For Information—Discrepancies with Status as For Information appear for upstream parts that are not consumed in downstream or discrepancies that exist only in downstream. These discrepancies, as the name suggests, are just for information. For details, see the “About For Information Status” section in Key Points.
▪ Resolved—The changes in the upstream structure are already resolved in the downstream structure.
◦ The information in the Downstream Context column is useful when you initiate the Synchronize Structures action on a part in the upstream view that has equivalent parts in multiple contexts. You can resolve the discrepancies present in all contexts.
Select the Show only selected part discrepancies checkbox to view the discrepancies related to the selected parts in the upstream tree structure. For more information, see Use case: Resolving Individual Discrepancy Using the Show only selected part discrepancies checkbox.
Select the Check in after propagation checkbox to check in the affected objects in the downstream view after propagation. The already checked-out affected objects in the downstream view remain checked out irrespective of the status of the Check in after propagation checkbox. For more information, see Use case: Check in after propagation checkbox.
Use the options under the Criteria and Status sections in the left pane to filter any specific discrepancies that you would like to review and resolve.
3. Select the checkboxes for the discrepancies that you want to review or resolve. You can also use the following actions given in the toolbar:
Icon | Action | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Clear all | Clears the selected entries. | ||
 | Select all | Selects all the entries listed in the table. | ||
 | Invert selection | Inverses the current selection. Clears current selection and selects the entries that are not selected. | ||
 | Select in downstream structure | The discrepancies selected in the table are selected and highlighted in the downstream tree structure. For more information, see Use Case: Select in Downstream Structure Action.
| ||
 | Select a downstream parent to propagate | Propagates the newly added part in upstream to the selected part in downstream. Use this action when you want to propagate the newly added upstream part to a different parent part in downstream. You can use this action only for discrepancies that have Criteria as Added Parts, Status as Auto, and a single downstream parent part. For more information, see Use Case: Select a Downstream Parent to Propagate.
| ||
| Propagate changes to downstream | Propagates the selected changes to the downstream tree structure. | ||
  | Next Discrepant Part Previous Discrepant Part | Traverse up or down through the upstream structure to identify the next discrepant part. |
4. Click to propagate the changes to the downstream side.
to propagate the changes to the downstream side.The action propagates upstream changes to all the equivalent parts in the downstream structure.
action propagates upstream changes to all the equivalent parts in the downstream structure.For every resolved discrepancy, two entries of the discrepancy are displayed in the Synchronize Structures dialog box. You can view those entries when you select the Resolved checkbox. The entry that is in italics represent the resulting downstream change. The highlighted entry in blue represents the detected upstream change that is resolved.
Sometimes, no discrepancies are listed in the Synchronize Structures dialog box. Here are some possible reasons, and the resolutions that you can apply:
Possible Reason | Suggested Resolution |
|---|---|
No discrepancies detected in a selected part. | If you have detected the discrepancies, select a discrepant part from upstream tree structure. Alternatively, you can use or actions in the Synchronize Structures dialog box to move to the next or previous discrepant part in the upstream structure. |
Selected entity is not a part. | Select a valid entity in the tree structure. |
Incorrect discrepancy criteria selected in the Synchronize Structures dialog box. | Use the options provided in the Criteria and Status sections in the Synchronize Structures dialog box. |
 | Some of the topic links given above discuss use cases that can be performed using the Review and Resolve Discrepancies action. You can perform the same use cases using the Synchronize Structures action. |