Compare two BOM revisions and list every change
Give Claude the old and the new bill of materials of a product. It matches them line by line, at every level, and lists every part added, removed, changed or replaced, with what production and purchasing have to do about it.
FullProductionWhen you need it
Set it up4 steps
Open the Claude desktop app and sign in with the Claude account you use for work. On a personal Free, Pro or Max plan, chats can be used for training unless you switch off SettingsPrivacyHelp improve Claude.
No account yet? Ask your manager.
Where things are in Claude
- CustomizeConnectors In Claude's left sidebar: connect your email and files.
- /schedule Type it in a new Cowork task to run a prompt on a schedule.
- Scheduled In Claude's left sidebar: what runs, to pause or change it.
- Save both revisions into a BOMs folder inside your Engineering folder, as exported from your CAD or PDM program, or as the PDFs you have: every level, with part number, description, quantity and revision.
- Connect Google Drive under CustomizeConnectors. Keep this workflow's files in one Drive folder called Engineering.
- Open Cowork, paste the prompt and name the old and the new file.
- Check the list against both files before it goes into the change note or to production and purchasing.
Set this up on your computer: the Claude desktop app runs it.
The prompt
- Compare the two bills of materials named below, in the BOMs folder inside my Engineering folder: the old revision and the new one of the same product.
- 1. Match the lines by part number and, where the files have them, position numbers. Read every level, sub-assemblies included.
- 2. List every difference, one per line, grouped: added, removed, quantity changed (old and new), a component's revision changed, a part replaced by another in the same position, unit or material changed. For each, give the part number, description, level and position.
- 3. Count the lines and parts in each file and show that every line is accounted for. List any line you could not match or read.
- 4. For each added or replacing part, say whether it already appears elsewhere in the old BOM. Mark each removed or replaced part "check stock and open orders" for purchasing and production.
- 5. If the files have a cost column, give the cost change per changed line and in total, using the new file's cost for added parts and the old file's for removed ones.
- 6. Three lines for the change note: what changed, what production must do differently, and what purchasing must start or stop buying.
- Write the list as a new sheet in the same folder. Use only what the two files show, and never guess why a part changed.
If your company keeps prices out of AISafe version
Reads BOM exports without cost or price columns, so the comparison covers parts, quantities and revisions. Any cost change is left for you.
What you get
One change list grouped by kind, every line accounted for, the parts to check in stock and on order, and a three-line summary for the change note.
Learn how
Get this workflow for your team
Two minutes each: everyone gets a plan of ready workflows like this one, inside your company's rules.
Your manager sees progress and hours. Never what Claude reads or writes.
FirstPrompt's workflow library adapts parts of Anthropic's knowledge-work-plugins (Apache-2.0), rewritten by FirstPrompt. Source and licence