When you select a Compare block, you will see the output results in the Calculation View below. There is a column for each block in the chart.

Block names can be modified in their Quick Properties for a more specific description. Shorter names will result in narrower columns that may look better when printed. The new names are reflected in the Compare Article View.

View Settings

The View Settings for the Article View can be modified similar to how they would be in CET's Calculation View. Click the folder icon in the middle of the screen to open the View Settings dialog.

There are tabs for Columns, Grouping and Compare, and Sorting. 

• Columns  
  1. Select the columns to be visible.
  2. Split by will indicate which Compare By options were selected in that drop down.

  3. Modify the order of the columns. First select the column to move, then use the arrows to move it up or down in the column order.

     

• Grouping and Compare
  1. Select the Columns to Group By. When there is more than one Group by selection, you can select those and use the green arrows to change the order.

  2. Select the Columns to Compare By. In addition to the choices in the Compare By drop down, other columns can be selected. Columns that cannot be used for comparison are greyed out and cannot be checked. Fewer Column options are shown in Standard Mode to help produce the best results. For additional Column options, the Mode can be switched to Advanced in the Reconfiguration Tool window.

     

• Sorting
  1. Select the Sort by option. 
  2. Click the arrows to set the order as ascending or descending.

  3. When multiple options column options selected to Sort by, use the green arrows to change the order. In the example below, the list will sort by Part Number and then by Category.

     

Similar to CET, the View Settings can be saved for reuse or as your default. 

• Save default - Saves the current settings as your default in the tool.
• Save as - Opens a Save As dialog to save the Calculation settings as a reusable (.cmclc) file. 
• Reset default - Restores the program's default settings.

• Load - Opens a dialog to select and load an existing .cmclc file. 

  

Compare By

When you select the Compare block, the Calculation area displays the full list of part numbers from your Existing and Proposed blocks. By default, it considers the Part Number and Options for each part to determine what parts can be reused, which parts will be in excess, and which parts need to be ordered. You can also select Ind. Tag in the Compare by drop-down if that is appropriate for the products being compared.

Compare by determines the split of the lines in the Article View.

Reviewing the Compare Results

If only Part Number is selected to Compare By, lines will only be split by Part Number. If a part exists with different options in the Existing versus the Proposed lists, the lines will be combined with a green arrow in the first column. These green arrows indicate that while the Part Number is the same, some other part of the data is different from the Existing to the Proposed. 

The lines can be expanded by clicking on the green arrow and the specifications can be analyzed by clicking on the symbol to review to the details. 

In addition to varying options, part lines can be combined for other variations as well. If a part has a different Part Tag in the Existing versus Proposed lists, this will also result in a combined line. When reviewing the Compare list, you may want to identify any part differences and consider where items can or cannot be reused.

Symbols from different sources, like the extension versus the Commercial Interiors Library, may also have varying Catalogs or Categories. You may need to turn on additional columns to find the variations in the data. 

For example: 

In this existing drawing, the Fika chair is Vertical Golv with no arms and in the Proposed drawing, it is Delphenium with arms. 

When these drawings are compared by Part Number and Options, the result shows each chair on separate lines. The Vertical Golv chair will not be reused, and it will be listed as Excess. The Delphenium chair will be shown as New. 

However, if the parts are only compared by Part Number, the Existing chair will be reused for the Proposed version that has the same Part Number and no chairs will indicated as New.

Clicking the green arrow and will display the line details. 

If a line is combined and information for a field, like Ind. tag varies for each product line, the field will show ..

Again, clicking the green arrow will expand the lines, allowing you to see the variation.