Strategy for tracking revision of PCB, Schematic, & BOM

Community
#1

Hi folks,

I wanted to see what strategies people are using for revision tracking. This would include PCB (i.e. layout), schematic, & BOM.

In an ideal world they would all have the same revision number, all the time. In the real world there are instances where you need to make a BOM change without changing the layout, or you need to make a layout change without changing the schematic, etc.

What strategies have you found useful for handling this?

FWIW, I’m currently using a system where we force the schematic & BOM to always be in sync & thus have the same revision number. We allow the PCB to have its own revision number. These are then placed into an “overall release” which has its own revision number. We have good reasons for doing it this way but I’m interested to see how others have handled it.

Thanks!

Steve

#2

Hello,

In order to avoid versioning problems between Bom and schemas, we have set up a “document pool” system.
Let me explain.
Each card has a file number ex: PCB0123
At the root of the folder there is only one indexed file ex:PCB0123_V1.12. It is this reference that gives the product index for our subcontractors.
Inside this file there is a table containing all the documents necessary for the manufacture of the product.
For example, the following is an example:
Schemas V1.02
Bom V2.3
Mechanics V1.05
Soft V1.234
…

This facilitates the follow-up and the correct transmission of documents

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

#4

Looks like a great system - very well organized. Thanks for the input!

Steve

#5

I think that schematic and BOM must always have the same revision, but PCB does not need to have the same revision as these. I think a two-component system works well, where the revision of the schematic+BOM is formed from the revision of the PCB plus extra revision information.

One scheme for doing this is to use a letter for the PCB revision and then a number for the schematic/BOM revision. So for example:

First revision is A01
BOM change becomes A02
Layout change becomes B01

and so on.

This means that the PCB artwork can include revision “B” on the silkscreen, and the full assembly revision (B01) can be added with post-assembly marking of some sort. Making BOM changes does not change the PCB revision so there is no need to invalidate the rev B printed on the PCB.

#6

I wrote a Java - SQL app to do it ( the link ) Your file could be the Table is the Project and the Desc’c could be PCB, Schematic…etc

Further, I also created a DataBase in Libre ( the link ) …etc, etc… just imagine…