Defining a Structure Compare Report (PowerView)

You can compare the hierarchical structures of two objects to determine the differences or common components. You enter criteria at the top of the window, and then can click tabs at the bottom of the window to view the different types of reports.

You can only compare structures if the Structure Compare button shows in the page toolbar or Actions menu. Each app configures the structure compare for the types of objects that app uses. For example, Engineering BOM Management compares Bills of Material and Variant Management compares feature structures. These instructions provide general guidelines for creating structure compare reports; see the user's guide for you app for more specific instructions.

See Also
Generating an Object Comparison Report
  1. Click the Structure Compare tool. Depending on your app, this could be a toolbar button or a menu item. As an example, this task shows the BOM Compare Report used in Engineering BOM Management.

    If you see a dialog box (only criteria fields), instead of a PowerView page, see Defining a Structure Compare Report (Wizard).

    The specific app determines the criteria available for generating the report.

  2. Click for the first object and select the needed object. The search page restricts you to selecting only those types that the report supports (such as Parts in this example).
  3. Click for the second object and select the needed object.
  4. In the Match Based On section, choose the fields to use to determine if a child object of Object 1 matches a child object of Object 2. The form could have check boxes or a selection list. Child objects are considered the same if the values for all selected fields are the same.
  5. From the Expand Level list, select how many levels you want to expand the structure prior to the comparison. Only expanded nodes are compared.
  6. In the Compare By or Report Differences By section, check each field you want to compare between matched objects.

    If you customize the Structure Browser, the Structure Compare dialog box and the resulting Structure Compare reports show the default fields, not the customized fields.

  7. Select any other needed criteria for the specific types of objects.
  8. Click Apply.
    The bottom of the window shows the report results. You can export the report results using the export toolbar button. For these reports, you can only export to HTML; CSV export is not supported. CSV does not permit the color-coding required for these reports. The HTML file can be opened in Excel.
  9. Click the tabs to view the needed report (see About the Structure Compare Reports for more details):

    Tab Description
    Complete Summary Displays all results, including differences and common components.
    Difference Only Displays differences only (if any exist).
    Unique to Left Displays components that exist only on the first object based on the Match Based On choices.
    Unique to Right Displays components that exist only on the second object based on the Match Based On choices.
    Common Components Displays only those components that exist in both objects.

    The structure compare reports use this color coding:

    Color Description
    Red Column is used for comparison
    Yellow That row is unique for that object
    Blue The value in that cell for that object differs from the value for that attribute of the other object

    If you export the report, the exported file includes both the criteria and that tab's results. Only the current tab is exported.

  10. For the Complete Report only:
    1. Select a row and click Sync to Right if you want to:

      • Copy the compared values from the left side to the matched object on the right side of the page
      • If the child object is unique to the parent object on the left, copy the child object to the parent object on the right
      • If the child object is unique to the parent object on the right, disconnect the child object from its parent object on the right

    2. Select a row and click Sync to Left if you want to:

      • Copy the compared values from the right side to the matched object on the left side of the page
      • If the child object is unique to the parent object on the right, copy the child object to the parent object on the left
      • If the child object is unique to the parent object on the left, disconnect the child object from its parent object on the left

    3. To reset the report to its initial values (prior to using Sync to Right or Sync to Left), click Reset.
      You cannot reset the values if you have already clicked Save.
    4. Click Save.