REV Compare User Guide

This guide provides instructions on how to use the REV Compare tool to analyze differences between two Bill of Materials (BOMs) or two EDIF Netlists.

1. Uploading Files

The interface has dedicated sections for BOM Compare and Netlist Compare.

BOM Compare

1. Use the top section to upload two BOM files. Drag and drop your .xlsx files or click Select File. The tool expects columns for Designator, Manufacturer Part Number, and Description.

2. Optionally, use the Task List (Optional) section to upload a task list (.csv, .txt, or .xlsx). You can drag and drop a file or use the Select File button. This allows you to validate BOM changes against a list of engineering tasks.

Netlist Compare

1. Use the bottom section to upload two EDIF netlist files (.edf, .edif).

2. Once both files are loaded, click the Run Compare button to initiate the analysis.

2. Generating an EDIF Netlist from Altium Designer

To generate an EDIF netlist in Altium Designer, follow these steps:

• Open your schematic
• Navigate to Design » Netlist For Project from the schematic editor's main menu
• From the sub-menu that appears, choose EDIF for PCB.

3. BOM Comparison Tabs

BOM Comparison

• This tab shows the standard BOM breakdown: Added, Removed, and Changed components.
• Character-level differences are highlighted with bold black text on a yellow background for easy identification.

Task List

• This tab appears when a Task List is uploaded. It provides an editable text area where each line is a separate task. You can manually edit tasks, and your changes are automatically reflected in the ECO Report.

ECO Report

• This tab automatically generates a list of changes based on the BOM comparison.
• You can manually link each change to one or more tasks from the list via a "Reason / Task" column.
• The report can be downloaded in Excel or PDF format.

4. Netlist Comparison Tabs

After running a netlist comparison, the following views are available:

EDIF Stats

• Provides a high-level summary of changes to the EDIF cells (library parts). It shows counts for total, added, removed, and modified cells.
• Use the "Show only differences" switch to hide unchanged cells.

Instance Stats

• Details the changes to component instances (e.g., R1, C10). It shows which instances were Added, Deleted, or Modified.
• Modified instances are grouped by the property that changed (e.g., Footprint, Value), and are collapsed by default.

NET Stats

• Summarizes changes to the electrical nets. It identifies added, removed, and modified nets, showing which components were added to or removed from each connection.

Visual Diff

• Provides a detailed, line-by-line visual comparison of the two netlist files.
• Filtering: Use the checkboxes to filter the view to show only changes related to specific properties (e.g., 'MFGPN', 'Footprint').
• Sorting: Enable "Sort by Property" to group the diffs by the property being changed.
• Navigation: Use the up/down arrows to quickly jump between filtered diff sections.

5. Downloading Reports

• Use the Download Report button on the relevant tab to export the results.
• PDF Export (Netlist): Must be a verbose, multi-page landscape report containing all summary tables and the full visual diff with color-coding.
• Excel Export (Netlist): The visual diff sheet must only contain data corresponding to the currently selected property filters.
• Character Highlighting: Character-level differences must be highlighted in bold red text in exported reports.

6. About Tab

The "About" tab contains this User Guide, a detailed Requirements document, and a Change Log for the tool.