The same microcontroller appears in a dozen BOMs across several programs. The knowledge about it usually does not — its lifecycle status, the alternates someone already evaluated, the sourcing context, and the reason behind the last decision live in whichever spreadsheet, thread, or head handled the question most recently.
PCNshark keeps one shared component record per part, spanning every BOM and program that uses it: lifecycle status with the evidence behind it, alternate recommendations (Team plans and above), distributor sourcing estimates, datasheets, notes, and a part-level history of who decided what, when, and why. Decide once, on the record — and every BOM that uses the part sees the same answer.
Available on Starter and Team. A payment method is required.
PCNshark records and connects the organization's component decisions. Engineering owns qualification and the decisions themselves — the record preserves them; it does not make them.
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Take an illustrative STM32F407VGT6. It ships in BOMs A through D, across 3 programs and 4 active board revisions. Then the manufacturer marks it NRND. Without a shared component record, here is what typically exists instead:
None of these people are careless. They are missing a place where knowledge about the component — as opposed to knowledge about one BOM — is supposed to live.
The difference is not effort — both paths involve capable engineers doing a real review. The difference is whether the result lands somewhere every other team that uses the part can find it.
A component decision made once, recorded once, and visible everywhere the part is used — instead of remade per program until the rationale is gone.
Both levels matter, and they answer different questions. BOM-line data belongs to one design. Component-level knowledge belongs to the organization — and should not have to be re-derived per BOM.
How one assembly uses the part: quantity, reference designators, revision, program
What is known about the part itself, wherever it is used
A column copied into each spreadsheet, drifting with every copy
One reviewed status with the evidence behind it — a supplier notice, a distributor signal, or an engineering judgment
Re-researched whenever a program hits the problem
The manufacturer-recommended replacement from the notice plus spec-ranked functional candidates, kept with the part (Team plans and above)
Whatever a buyer last pasted into the line notes
Stock, MOQ, price breaks, and estimated lead times across ~15 distributors, refreshed on demand — plus the team's own lead-time override where it disagrees
A PDF in someone's downloads folder
Found via available sources or uploaded once, attached to the record
Chat threads and tribal memory
Notes and attached evidence on the record — including which alternate the team prefers, and why
Reconstructed from email, if at all
Part-level history: who changed what, when, old → new, with the reason and source
PCNshark keeps both levels connected. The BOM line answers "where, and how much"; the component record answers "what do we know, and what did we decide" — and the impact workflow ties each supplier notice to both.
Active → NRND, recorded with who made the change, when, the reason, and the evidence behind it — a manufacturer notice, a distributor signal, or an engineering judgment. A reviewed manual decision is never silently overwritten; a later conflicting signal is flagged for review instead.
The distributor estimate said 8 weeks; your supplier contact says 14. The override is recorded with the old value, the new value, who set it, and why — so the number on the record has a traceable origin instead of an anonymous edit.
Found via available sources or uploaded from a qualification package, recorded with who attached it and when. The next engineer opens the same document the decision was based on, instead of hunting for their own copy.
Qualification results, notice excerpts, application caveats — and the alternate the team prefers, recorded as a note with its rationale. The preference travels with the part, not with the person who formed it.
An illustrative NRND review. The manufacturer's notice names a recommended replacement; spec similarity ranks it for review — it is a prioritization signal, not qualification. The engineer reviews the part's full usage before applying the change. Illustrative data — every value here is invented.
Illustrative data. Reviewing usage first does not force one outcome — a team can accept the change everywhere, carve out per-BOM exceptions through per-line impact decisions, or stage the transition per program. The point is deciding with the blast radius visible, and keeping the decision on the record. Sourcing figures are distributor estimates, not quotes.
A shared component record is not about any single decision. It changes what the organization retains after each decision is made.
Finds the last evaluation — the candidates considered, the evidence, the outcome — instead of repeating the research because the previous answer cannot be found or trusted.
Reach consistent answers. When one program resolves an NRND, the others inherit the record — the status, the preferred direction, the reasoning — not a secondhand rumor of it.
Handoffs carry the component knowledge along. The record explains why the part is marked the way it is, which alternate the team preferred, and what evidence backed the call.
When the engineer who made the call moves on, the rationale stays: who decided, when, what changed, why, and from what source. Institutional memory stops depending on tenure.
PCNshark keeps what your organization knows and decides about a component connected to the BOMs that use it. It complements — and does not replace — your parts database, PLM, and sourcing tools.
Upload the BOMs your team already maintains, and every distinct part gets one shared record — lifecycle status with evidence, alternate recommendations (Team plans and above), sourcing estimates, datasheets, and a decision history that outlasts the spreadsheet and the person who kept it.
Lifecycle risk end to end: evidence, exposure, disposition, and history.
Read →Manufacturer-recommended and spec-ranked candidates — qualified by your engineers.
Read →The role-level workflow from supplier notice to disposition.
Read →EOL, last-time-buy deadlines, and BOM exposure.
Read →Workflow and record descriptions are based on PCNshark's current production capabilities. All part numbers, counts, prices, lead times, and dates on this page are invented illustrative examples, not customer data. Distributor figures are estimates refreshed on demand, not quotes. Engineering, quality, and sourcing owners remain responsible for qualification and final decisions.
