Abstract:
The invention relates to information exchange when a design organization sends a design document to a manufacturer. The design documents may have errors and, once detected, the errors may not be corrected by the design organization. The documents may be resent with a small number of changes or perhaps no changes at all, but may have errors that have been seen before. The documents may have many items that are not important to the receiving organization. A dictionary is used to validate and correct the documents. Changes in the dictionary may require changes in the information used by the manufacturer. The invention provides a system and method for use with a computer that aids in the validation and correction of the information contained in the document, in that it detect changes in the document when resent so that the changes are validated or corrected, filters the document so that only relevant information is processed, detects changes in the dictionary so that only changes are processed, and filters the dictionary so that only relevant information in the dictionary is processed. In addition, the invention provides means to initialize the information that are in use and assumed to be valid to avoid the validation and correction of the information.

Description:
BACKGROUND  
         [0001]    The invention relates to systems and methods to organize and validate data contained in documents transmitted over computer networks, and in particular computer implemented systems and methods to organize and validate data contained in design documents used to manufacture products.  
           [0002]    Design organizations have increased profit margins by focusing on their core competencies of design and development of products and outsourcing manufacturing. Contract manufacturers can be more cost effective because of manufacturing expertise, flexibility, infrastructure, scalability, and global locations. However, to be more cost effective design organizations and contract manufacturers must reliably exchange the information needed to manufacture the products. Computers, the Internet and TCP/IP protocols, the Web, relational databases, mass storage systems, and enterprise software provide infrastructure for information exchange, but problems still persist.  
           [0003]    Design organizations transmit several types of design documents to the contract manufacturer. One type of design document is the bill of materials, abbreviated BOM, which lists the parts and materials needed to assemble a product. Another type is the approved manufacturing list (AML), which also lists the approved part and material suppliers.  
           [0004]    Maintaining the integrity of the BOM and the AML over the product life cycle is difficult, because the cycle can last several years and costs drive the design organization to change the data in its AML many times. Also, high tech products typically have many parts, thus the BOM may list several thousand parts and the AML 2-3 times more. Some design organizations make this even less manageable by maintaining a single list for all product offerings resulting in AMLs of, e.g., 50,000 to 100,000 parts. Thus, an AML typically lists many part and material suppliers, each which can change offerings, numbering, and prices of parts during the product life cycle.  
           [0005]    Contract manufacturers can manually check the data contained in the BOM and AML against data provided by reputable sources to catch errors before parts are ordered. For example, checking the parts against a part supplier&#39;s catalog can detect error before the part is ordered. This may be adequate when the number of part numbers in the BOM and AML are small and there is sufficient time to carefully check. Also, workers can detect and correct errors or interpret the intent of the document without the need to change the original document. However, even conscientious workers may commit errors when comparing lengthy lists of parts identified by alphanumeric codes, and it is expensive to check the parts by functional descriptions.  
           [0006]    Although manual processing is fault tolerant, many design documents are now transmitted over the Internet and might be input to computers. However, computers do not have the fault tolerance of humans, and small errors can propagate, amplify, and create large problems. Some documents are incomplete when transmitted and only completed when received. The documents may be also transmitted each time the document changes even when most of the document has not changed or transmitted on a periodic basis even when no changes were made. Care must be taken not to overlay the additional information or corrections that may have been made based on the earlier transmissions of the documents.  
           [0007]    As a result, many organizations check the prototype to ensure everything is correct in the BOM and AML. Errors found in the prototype are used to correct the data used to purchase the parts and assemble the product. In some cases the original document is corrected but in others only the data used by the contract manufacturer is corrected. However, the contract manufacturer cannot assume that if the prototype works, the BOM or AML is correct. The fact is the prototype only passed certain tests, which may be inadequate to catch all errors, and catching them later may delay product introduction, particularly, if the product is complex, and involves parts with long lead times. Worse, the lack of integrity in the BOM and/or AML may not be discovered until after the product goes into mass production, resulting in recalls. Because of these problems, contract manufacturers must maintain the integrity of the BOM and AML.  
           [0008]    [0008]FIG. 1A illustrates a contract manufacturer that receives a new version of a design document and simply uses the data to produce the product. This is rarely acceptable, because errors in the documents may result in a defective product that goes into mass production.  
           [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1B illustrates a contract manufacturer that receives a new version of the design document, uses the data without checking its integrity, but checks the prototype for errors produced as a result of errors in the new version. This will help find errors before mass production, but is labor intensive and error prone.  
           [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1C illustrates a contract manufacturer that receives a new version of the design document, and manually validates and corrects the data in the design document before using it. A dictionary of correct data is used for validation and correction of the design document. However, manual validation is labor intensive and error prone over the product life cycle, and errors found in one version of a design document may reappear in subsequent versions of the document.  
           [0011]    The BOM and the AML are now described in more detail. Each part listed in the BOM and AML should have a unique part number for identification so similar but different parts are distinguishable and to facilitate automated processing by creating systematic naming of the parts independent of part characteristics.  
           [0012]    Below is a simplified example of a BOM:  
                                       Part Number   Quantity   Description                   123   1   electronic product       456   5   1-kiloohm resistor       789   3   1-microfarad capacitor       567   1   printed circuit board (PCB)       678   1   application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)                  
 
           [0013]    As shown above, the BOM of the electronic product 123 lists five 1-kiloohm resistors, three 1-microfarad capacitors, a PCB, and an ASIC. Assembly instructions and drawings describe how the electronic product will be assembled.  
           [0014]    The second document is the AML, which lists all of the parts with their approved suppliers:  
           [0015]    Below is a simplified example of the AML:  
                                                               Supplier       Part Number   Quantity   Description   Supplier   Part Number                   123   1   electronic product               456   5   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   234       789   3   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       ″   3   1-microfarad capacitor   Smith   467       567   1   PCB   Jones       678   1   ASIC   Adams                  
 
           [0016]    The AML lists the approved resistor is the Acme 234, the approved 1-microfarad capacitors are either the Acme 345 and the Smith 467, Jones supplies the PCB 567, and Adams the ASIC 678. Because the PCB and ASIC are custom manufactured, they do not have a supplier part number. The symbol ″ below part number 789 indicates there are alternative sources of the capacitor. Once the design organization selects its parts from the approved suppliers, the contract manufacturer can assign its own part numbers so the parts can be ordered again.  
           [0017]    Now assume the design organization introduces an error in the AML:  
                                           Part Number   Quantity   Description   Supplier Part Number                   123   1   electronic product           456   5   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme 239       789   3   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme 345       ″   3   1-microfarad capacitor   Smith 467       567   1   PCB   Jones       678   1   ASIC   Adams                  
 
           [0018]    Assuming that the first AML is correct, the error is that the resistor is misidentified as part number 239. If undetected, the contract manufacturer will order the wrong resistor. A worker may detect the error by noting Acme part number 239 is not a 1-kiloohm resistor, but this is not a reliable way to correct the error.  
           [0019]    The added part numbers for the PCB and ASIC must be protected from being overlaid (e.g., overwritten) when the design organization sends a new version of the AML to add, change, or remove parts in the AML. For example, the design organization may remove the Smith capacitor because it costs more than the Acme capacitor producing an AML as follows:  
                                           Part Number   Quantity   Description   Supplier Part Number                   123   1   electronic product           456   5   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme 239       789   3   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme 345       567   1   PCB   Jones       678   1   ASIC   Adams                  
 
           [0020]    Because the contract manufacturer did not protect the correction of the misidentified resistor part number in this example, the incorrect resistor part number 239 reenters the AML when the design organization sent the new version of the AML. This illustrates some of the reasons there is a need to shift the work of comparing, updating, filtering the data found in design documents from workers to computers.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0021]    The invention relates to the integrity of information exchanged on computer networks. For example, the invention relates to when an organization sends documents to another organization for manufacturing, the documents may have errors and, once detected, the errors may not be corrected in the sending organization&#39;s documents. The documents may be resent with a small changes or perhaps no changes at all, but may have errors that have been seen before. The documents may have data that is irrelevant to the receiving organization. The invention provides for filtering of irrelevant data. A dictionary is used to validate and correct the documents. Changes and filtering of the dictionary may also occur to prepare the information used by the receiving organization for processing.  
           [0022]    The invention provides a system and method for use with a computer that aids in the validation and correction of information in a document, in that it detect changes in the document when resent so that the changes are validated or corrected, can filter the document so that only relevant items are processed, detects changes in the dictionary so that only changes are processed, and filters the dictionary so that only relevant data in the dictionary is processed. In addition, the invention initializes information in tables that are in use and assumed to be valid to avoid unnecessary validation and correction.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0023]    FIGS.  1 A- 1 C illustrate some ways contract manufacturers use the information contained in design documents to manufacture products.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 2A illustrates a system, including a change detection function, for organizing and validating data contained in design documents transmitted from a design organization to a manufacturing organization.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 2B illustrates the system of FIG. 2A with the addition of a filter function to remove data contained in design documents that is not useful to the contract manufacturer.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 3A illustrates the system of FIG. 2B with the addition of a dictionary change function to update the dictionary used to validate and correct the data contained in design documents.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 3B illustrates the system of FIG. 3A with the addition of a filter function to remove data contained in the dictionary that is not useful to the contract manufacturer.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the software program depicted in the block diagrams of FIG. 2A.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the software program depicted in the block diagrams of FIG. 2B.  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the software program depicted in the block diagrams of FIG. 4, which permits using the validated data from the table Data to Use to avoid revalidation of data known to be correct.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0031]    The invention relates to the integrity of information exchanged over computer networks. One example is where a design organization creates documents that are sent over the Internet to a manufacturing organization to be used to manufacture a product.  
         [0032]    Background for suitable computer networks, e.g., the Internet, to use in conjunction with the invention are discussed in Tannebaum,  Computer Networks,  third edition (1996), and Stevens,  TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume  1 (1994), which are hereby incorporated by reference. Background for suitable database and application server architecture to use in conjunction with the invention is discussed in Loney and Koch,  Oracle  8 i: The Complete Reference  (2000), Greenwald et al.,  Oracle Essentials: Oracle  9 i, Oracle  8 i  &amp;  Oracle  8 (2001), and Kyte,  Expert One - On - One Oracle  (2001), which are hereby incorporated by reference.  
         [0033]    The information exchanged is preferably stored in tables in relational database(s) running on a suitable operating system, such as Windows, Unix, Linux running on one or more (e.g., a cluster) compatible computer(s) using Intel, AMD, and/or Sun processors.  
         [0034]    Table 1 represents an AML to manufacture a product. A typical AML will list more parts, but it is not necessary to expand this AML to understand this aspect of the invention. Each column heading in Table 1 describes the data found in that column and each unique set of data has its own row. For example, the first row consists of the design organization&#39;s part number 456, a 1-kiloohm resistor, supplied by Acme as part number 234. A change in the description, the part supplier, or part supplier is considered to be a change on the row.  
                                 TABLE 1                           Example AML            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   234       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       ″   1-microfarad capacitor   Smith   467       567   PCB   Jones       678   ASIC   Adams                  
 
         [0035]    The Change Detection Function  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 2A shows one flow path of the present invention, which includes the change detection function. The contract manufacturer can implement this in software with the Oracle 9iAS application server and Oracle 9i database, and will store two versions of Table 1 in the database. The first version named table Past contains the most recent AML sent by the design organization, and the second version named table Data to Use contains the validated or corrected data for the contract manufacturer to use to make the product. For example, the application server and relational database receive and store a new version of the design document  10  and compare the new version with the past version to detect change  11 . If there is no change, the flow path ends. If there is a change, the software sets the past version to the new version, then validates and corrects data  12  based on a reliable source  14  of a dictionary  15 , resulting in data to use  13  to manufacture the product.  
         [0037]    Referring to step  40  of FIG. 4, the software program initializes the table Past and the table Data to Use to null values. Null represents the lack of a value. At step  41 , the contract manufacturer receives Table 2—New Version from the design organization, which misidentifies Acme resistor part number as 239 rather than 234.  
                                 TABLE 2                           New Version            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   239       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Smith   467       567   PCB   Jones       678   ASIC   Adams                  
 
         [0038]    At step  42 , the program compares Table 2—New Version to the table Past to detect if there is any change. Because the initialization step set all the data in table Past to null values, none of the data in the Table 2—New Version matches the data in the table Past. Accordingly, at step  43 , the table Past is set to the table New Version as shown as Table 3—Past below.  
                                 TABLE 3                           Past            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   239       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Smith   467       567   PCB   Jones       678   ASIC   Adams                  
 
         [0039]    At step  44 , the data is validated and corrected, including the resistor part numbering error, using a source  45  of a reliable dictionary  46 , which may be stored in, among other things, a catalog, CD, Web site, or other data storage system. At step  47 , Table 4—Data to Use is set to the table Validated/Corrected New Version.  
                                 TABLE 4                           Data to Use            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   234       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Smith   467       567   PCB   Jones       678   ASIC   Adams                  
 
         [0040]    Table 4—Data to Use, however, still needs the supplier part numbers for the PCB and ASIC. Thus, the contract manufacturer transmits the specification of the PCB to Jones, which informs the part number is 567A, and transmits the specification of the ASIC to Adams, which informs the part number is ABC678. The contract manufacturer adds these part numbers to the table Data to Use, which then appears as Table 5—Data to Use.  
                                 TABLE 5                           Data to Use            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   234       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Smith   467       567   PCB   Jones   567A       678   ASIC   Adams   ABC678                  
 
         [0041]    Next, the system addresses the event of supplier change. For instance, suppose the design organization decides New Tech should replace Smith as the supplier of capacitors. To inform the contract manufacturer of this change, the design organization transmits Table 6—New Version, which is received by the contract manufacturer at step  41 .  
                                 TABLE 6                           New Version            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   239       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       789   1-microfarad capacitor   New Tech   890       567   PCB   Jones       678   ASIC   Adams                  
 
         [0042]    In reviewing Table 6—New Version, which is what the design organization possesses and just transmitted to the contract manufacturer, one gleans the design organization&#39;s AML is not “up to date.” It still has the Acme resistor part numbering error, and the Jones and Adams part numbers are missing, because the contract manufacturer did not notify the design organization of errors and omissions in the design documents to prevent its competitors from free riding on its corrections. In fact, the invention&#39;s ability to tolerate “noisy” design documents is a practical advantage and makes it useful for cleaning up design documents while protecting the contract manufacturers&#39; interests.  
         [0043]    Referring to FIG. 4, at step  42 , the program compares Table 6—New Version to Table 3—Past and detects that New Tech replaced Smith as supplier of the capacitor. Thus, at step  43 , the program updates the table Data to Use by replacing Smith and its part number with New Tech and its part number. The program does not, however, detect a change in the resistor part number nor the added Jones and Adams part numbers so that correct data remains unchanged. Table 7 illustrates the table Data to Use after this step  43 , which is ready for use in manufacturing. However, if desired, in another feature, the program can validate the New Tech part number at step  44  and sets table Data to Use to the Validated/Corrected New Version at step  47 .  
                                 TABLE 7                           Data to Use            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   234       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       789   1-microfarad capacitor   New Tech   890       567   PCB   Jones   567A       678   ASIC   Adams   ABC678                  
 
         [0044]    The Filter Function  
         [0045]    As mentioned earlier, the AML of the design organization may encompass all of its product offerings, which means the AML may list parts, which are irrelevant to the contract manufacturer making a certain product. The invention provides a filter function to exclude the irrelevant data as illustrated in FIG. 2B and FIG. 5. The contract manufacturer can implement this software with Oracle architecture and technologies as before, and again stores two versions of Table 1 in a database. The first version named table Past contains the most recent AML sent by the design organization, and the second version named table Data to Use contains the validated or corrected data for the contract manufacturer to use to make the product.  
         [0046]    [0046]FIG. 2B shows the filter function in the flow path illustrated in FIG. 2A. As shown, the software, application server and relational database receive and store a new version of the design document  10 , filter the new version  16  for relevant information and compare the new version with the past version to detect change  11 . If there is no change between the past and the new version, the flow path ends. If there is a change, the software sets the past version to the new version, then validates and corrects data  12  based on a reliable source  14  of a dictionary  15 , resulting in data to use  13  to manufacture the product.  
         [0047]    At step  50  shown in FIG. 5, the program sets the table Past to null values. At step  51 , the contract manufacturer receives the AML sent by the design organization, which includes irrelevant parts not used by the contract manufacturer and for which validating and correcting will not have value. Table 8 illustrates the AML sent by the design organization and received by the contract manufacturer.  
                                 TABLE 8                           New Version            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               234   Nut   Old Tech   458       456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   239       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       ″   1-microfarad capacitor   New Tech   890       235   Bolt   Old Tech   459       567   PCB   Jones       678   ASIC   Adams       346   Washer   Mid Tech   679                  
 
         [0048]    At step  52 , the program retrieves the relevant part numbers, e.g., from the table Data to Use. This step results in Table 9—Filter from Data to Use below:  
               TABLE 9                           Filter from Data to Use       Part number               456       789       567       678                  
 
         [0049]    At step  52 , the program also uses Table 9 to filter Table 8—New Version so that only relevant rows of Table 8—New Version pass to the change detection function. The filter function also detects if a relevant row is missing from Table 8—New Version, because this must be also passed to the change detection function. The result of step  52  is the Table 10—Filtered New Version below.  
                                 TABLE 10                           Filtered New Version            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   234       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       789   1-microfarad capacitor   New Tech   890       567   PCB   Jones       678   ASIC   Adams                  
 
         [0050]    At step  53 , the program operates on Table 10 as before, namely, the change detection function compares Table 10—Filtered New Version to the table Past and detects if there is a change. If there is a change, the program sets the table Past to Table 10—Filtered New Version at step  54 . At step  55 , the program uses the dictionary  57  from the source  56  to validate and correct Table 10—Filtered New Version. Finally, at step  58 , the program sets the table Data to Use to the validated and corrected Table 10.  
         [0051]    The Dictionary Change Detection Function  
         [0052]    Each part and/or material supplier has a catalog or some other listing of its parts and materials that can be used as the dictionary  15  shown in FIGS.  2 A- 6  to validate and correct the AML and the BOM. The catalog is typically in paper, CD&#39;s, and/or increasingly on web sites in, for example, HTML, XML, and PDF formats. Of course, from time to time, the supplier will introduce new parts, change parts, and discontinue parts. However, the design organization may not be aware of these changes and may not change its own AML to reflect the changes and transmit them to the contract manufacturer.  
         [0053]    On the other hand, the contract manufacturer can address this information gap by subscribing to the supplier to receive the updates to the catalog or subscribe to a service that provides these updates. Each release of the catalog may have changes from the last release. Some catalogs flag the changes since the last release, but nevertheless require the subscriber to stay current to use these flags and missing one release can make the flags for the next release invalid.  
         [0054]    The invention provides for a dictionary change function, implemented in a manner similar to the design document change detection function described earlier where the relational database stores a table Past Dictionary that keeps the values from the previous release of the dictionary.  
         [0055]    The dictionary change detection function is illustrated in FIG. 3A. To carry out this function, the contract manufacturer stores two versions of the dictionary in a relational database, namely, in a table named Past Dictionary and in a table named Dictionary to Use. As discussed before, the source  14  provides a dictionary  15 , for example, Table 12 to validate and correct  12  the AML from the detect change function  11 . The contract manufacturer may then receive a release of the catalog, for example, Table 13 that flags changes in the dictionary  15 . The program then compares the release of the dictionary with the past dictionary to detect a change  17 . If the program detects a change, the program changes the past dictionary  15  such that it becomes the new version of the dictionary used to correct and validate the table Data to Use  13 . As a result, the AML stored in the contract manufacturer&#39;s database is accurate, up-to-date with the supplier catalogs, and ready to use for manufacturing the product. Table 12 represents the table Past Dictionary for Acme.  
                         TABLE 12                           Past Dictionary            Supplier part number   Description               234   1-kiloohm resistor       240   2 kiloohm resistor       241   3 kiloohm resistor       345   1-microfarad capacitor       346   2 microfarad capacitor                  
 
         [0056]    To better understand how the dictionary change detection function is implemented suppose Acme changes the part number for the 1-kiloohm resistors. This change could be for many reasons. One reason might be a change in the manufacturing process improves the resistors&#39; tolerance. The change is published in a release of the Acme catalog, and stored in the table New Version represented in Table 13.  
                         TABLE 13                           Release of Acme catalog            Supplier part number   Description               234   Obsolete on 12-1-2001       235   1-kiloohm resistor replaces part number 234       240   2 kiloohm resistor       241   3 kiloohm resistor       345   1-microfarad capacitor       346   2 microfarad capacitor                  
 
         [0057]    Part numbers 234 and 235 are detected as changes from the table Past Dictionary, thus the part numbers and description are changed as discussed above. The updated dictionary is then used to correct and validate the table Data to Use. Table 14 illustrates the table Data to Use after Dec. 1, 2001:  
                                 TABLE 14                           Data to Use            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   235       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       789   1-microfarad capacitor   New Tech   890       567   PCB   Jones   567A       678   ASIC   Adams   ABC678                  
 
         [0058]    The Dictionary Filter Function  
         [0059]    Supplier catalogs typically list many parts and materials. Thus, many changes in the dictionary are irrelevant to a contract manufacturer making a given product and should be filtered out. Otherwise, the program updates the dictionary based on changes to irrelevant data. FIG. 3B illustrates the system of FIG. 3A with the addition of a filter function to remove irrelevant data contained in the dictionary. As shown, the filter  18  (depicted as Table 15—Part Filter) limits the changes to the dictionary  15  to only those of interest as discussed above in connection with the design document filter. Unlike the document filter, the catalog filter must also detect if a catalog entry is missing. This will cause it detect the change in the Acme 1-kiloohm resistor even if Acme fails to indicate the change to part number 234 to 235 since part number 234 would be missing from the Acme catalog.  
                                 TABLE 15                           Part Filter                Supplier   Supplier part number   Description                       Acme   234   1-kiloohm resistor           Acme   345   1-microfarad capacitor           New Tech   890   1-microfarad capacitor           Jones   567A   PCB           Adams   ABC678   ASIC                      
 
         [0060]    Adding a Part Number to the Filter  
         [0061]    To assure that all the required part numbers are available to the filter  16  shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B,  3 A,  3 B, and  5 , the program compares each part number in a BOM  70  with the contents of the part number associated with filter. If a part number in the BOM  70  is not available to the filter  16 , the part number is added to the filter  16  and the design organization part number, the associated supplier, and the supplier part numbers are added to the table Past, and the validated and corrected data are added to the table Data to Use. If the part number is not in the unfiltered AML  10 , then the program and/or contract manufacturer can request that the part number be transmitted from the design organization.  
         [0062]    The Initialization Function  
         [0063]    The contract manufacturer may have validated the table Data to Use and want to use the change detection function in FIGS.  4 - 6  and the filter function in FIG. 5 without revalidating all of the data. FIG. 6 illustrates this embodiment, where the table Data to Use can initialize the table Past so that the change detection function can be used for subsequent releases of the AML. In the AML, the variable data that are subject to error are the supplier name, the supplier part number, and the part description. Thus, at step  60 , the program extracts the part number data from the table Data to Use, and sets each supplier name, supplier part number, and part description to “*”, which is a specific value that signals that the current version of the AML provides the data. Table 16 represents the table Data to Use and Table 17 represents the table Past derived from table Data to Use after initialization as discussed.  
                                 TABLE 16                           Data to Use            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   234       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       789   1-microfarad capacitor   New Tech   890       567   PCB   Jones   567A       678   ASIC   Adams   ABC678                  
 
         [0064]    [0064]                                 TABLE 17                           Initialized Past            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   *   *   *       789   *   *   *       789   *   *   *       567   *   *   *       678   *   *   *                    
         [0065]    At step  61 , the program, application server, and database receive and store Table 18—New Version:  
                                 TABLE 18                           New Version            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   239       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       789   1-microfarad capacitor   New Tech   890       567   PCB   Jones       678   ASIC   Adams                  
 
         [0066]    At step  62 , the change detection function determines Table 17—Initialized Past does not Table 18—New Version, and moves to step  63 . At step  63 , the program detects the data in Table 17—Initialized Past (except the far left column) is set to “*” as discussed earlier so the program moves to step  64 . At step  64 , the program sets Table 17—Initialized Past to Table 18—New Version, producing Table 19—Past After Processing New Version below.  
                                 TABLE 19                           Past After Processing New Version            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   239       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       789   1-microfarad capacitor   New Tech   890       567   PCB   Jones   *       678   ASIC   Adams   *                  
 
         [0067]    Because incorrect Acme part number 239 is in the table Past After Processing New Version when a matching AML is subsequently received at step  61 , the program will not detect change at step  62 , and will not therefore invoke the validation and correction of the AML at step  66  using the dictionary  68  from the source  67 . This initialization process does not add risk if the program validated the New Version as discussed above. However, the functions are now ready so that the full change detection and filter functions can be used.  
         [0068]    Duplicate Use of Part Numbers  
         [0069]    Some design organizations use the same part number to designate different parts, which can lead to misunderstandings and errors. However, since the practice exists the contract manufacturer should be able to accommodate it. To understand how, let&#39;s assume the design organization instructs the contract manufacturer to make an electronic product 123 using Table 20—BOM and Table 21—AML, and the Table 22—Data to Use is as shown below:  
                                 TABLE 20                           BOM for Electronic Product 123                Part Number   Quantity   Description                       123   1   electronic product           456   5   1-kiloohm resistor           789   3   1-microfarad capacitor           567   1   PCB           678   1   ASIC                      
 
         [0070]    [0070]                                 TABLE 21                           AML for Electronic Product 123            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   239       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       ″   1-microfarad capacitor   New Tech   890       567   FOB   Jones       678   ASIC   Adams                    
         [0071]    [0071]                                 TABLE 22                           Data to Use for Electronic Product 123            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   234       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       ″   1-microfarad capacitor   New Tech   890       567   PCB   Jones   567A       678   ASIC   Adams   ABC678                    
         [0072]    Now assume the design organization instructs the same contract manufacturer to manufacture a new related electronic product designated part number 124. To do, the design organization sends the following Table 23 and Table 24, the BOM and the AML, respectively, for electronic product 124.  
                                 TABLE 23                           BOM for Electronic Product 124                Part Number   Quantity   Description                       124   1   electronic product           456   5   1-kiloohm resistor 5%           789   3   1-microfarad capacitor           568   1   POB           690   1   ASIC                      
 
         [0073]    [0073]                                 TABLE 24                           AML for Electronic Product 124            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor 5%   Acme   434       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       ″   1-microfarad capacitor   New Tech   890       568   PCB   Jones       690   ASIC   Adams                    
         [0074]    Comparing the AMLs, in Tables 21, the PCB is part number 567, and in Table 24, the PCB is part number 568. The change detection function detects this change in part number, and determines the two sets of tables contain different PCBs. Likewise, the change detection function detects that different ASIC exist in Table 21 and Table 24, and the same capacitor exists in Tables 21 and 24.  
         [0075]    Now assume the design organization designates a 1-kiloohm resistor as part number 456 Table 21—AML for electronic product 123, but reuses part number 456 for a different part, namely, the 1-kiloohm resistor 5% in Table 24—AML for electronic product 124. This may very confusing, however, because the supplier resistor part numbers differ in Tables 21 and 24, the change detection function detects the change. The program and/or contract manufacturer can contact the design organization, which respond, for example, that part number 456 used to make electronic product 123 is really different than part number 456 used in electronic product 124. However, the table Date to Use only permits one mapping of the design organization part number to the supplier and to supplier part number, and a second mapping may make data processing ambiguous if not impossible to implement.  
         [0076]    In an embodiment, the program addresses this problem as follows. It changes the design organization part number as shown in Table 25—the BOM, and the corresponding entry in Table 26—the AML, Table 27—Data to Use, and Table 28—New Past. In an embodiment, the program changes the part number by appending a distinguishing symbol to it, such as suffix “%A” to distinguish the duplicate use of the same part number.  
                                 TABLE 25                           BOM for Electronic Product 124                Part Number   Quantity   Description                       124   1   electronic product           456% A   5   1-kiloohm resistor           789   3   1-microfarad capacitor           568   1   POB           690   1   ASIC                      
 
         [0077]    [0077]                                 TABLE 26                           AML for Electronic Product 124            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456% A   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   434       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       789   1-microfarad capacitor   New Tech   890       567   POB   Jones       678   ASIC   Adams                    
         [0078]    [0078]                                 TABLE 27                           Data to Use for Electronic Product 124            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   234       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       789   1-microfarad capacitor   New Tech   890       567   PCB   Jones   567A       678   ASIC   Adams   ABC678       456% A   1-kiloohm resistor 5%   Acme   434       568   PCB   Jones       690   ASIC   Adams                    
         [0079]    [0079]                                 TABLE 28                           New Past            Part Number   Description   Supplier   Supplier Part Number               456   1-kiloohm resistor   Acme   239       789   1-microfarad capacitor   Acme   345       ″   1-microfarad capacitor   New Tech   890       567   PCB   Jones       678   ASIC   Adams       568   PCB   Jones       690   ASIC   Adams       456   1-kiloohm resistor 5%   Acme   434                    
         [0080]    It should be understood from the above, that the repeated part number 456 in Table 28 is different from the repeated entries for part number 789 in that there are two different uses of the part number 456.