Testing
Test the VPEs
It is important to test configured VPEs and reports to make sure they are compatible with the new version of aPriori. At the time your VPEs were configured, a VPE test and calibration plan may have been created. If so, run that test plan in the new version of aPriori.
If you do not have a test plan already, one approach is to open and cost a set of parts in both versions and compare the results of each. An easy way to do that for many parts is to create a roll up in each version and add the same parts to each rollup. Note that there are differences in the cost of the same component in each version.
aPriori publishes release notes as well as a detailed list of changes to the cost models that cause differences in the costs between versions. Please refer to those documents for specific changes. Here are typical reasons for cost changes.
1 Improvements to geometry extraction.
• If you are costing the same CAD file in 2 different versions of aPriori, the way in which aPriori analyzes the geometry may differ. Improvements are often made which allows aPriori to more accurately and granularly interpret the geometry. If you are re-costing parts in the database that are not connected to a CAD file, these types of changes are not relevant.
2 Changes to baseline VPE cost model logic
• Baseline VPEs: The aPriori baseline VPEs are based on logic from the baseline cost models. The baseline cost models often change with a new release of software to include new functionality. This is very likely to change cost estimates when using the baseline VPEs.
• Configured VPEs: Configured VPEs also typically inherit costing logic from the baseline cost models. However, the baseline cost models are versioned. New functionality is only put into new versions. VPEs inheriting from baseline cost models continue to inherit from the same version. Therefore, there is likely no change to the cost model from which the VPE is inheriting. Bug fixes are an exception to this.
• The above is true for both overlay (inherited) VPEs as well as standalone VPEs. However, with overlay VPEs, you can easily update the version from which it is inheriting from the VPE Manager.
3 Changes to baseline VPE labor and overhead rates.
• For standalone VPEs, these changes have no effect. For inherited VPEs and baseline VPEs these changes result in an expected cost difference.
4 Improvements to cost engine.
• These types of changes are less likely to cause a difference than the ones above. However, it does happen on occasion. For example, in 2015 R2, improvements were made to the sheet metal nesting algorithm which could result in more parts per sheet, which increased the material utilization and decreased material cost compared to older versions.