The complete workflow
One drawing, then the work it carries
Draw → Generate → Instant Quote → Prepare → Build & Route. Generate is the software at work — Harnessora derives the five outputs from the drawing. The stages around it describe how your people use those outputs.
Draw
— Harness engineerThe harness engineer creates the source drawing — the single document that describes the harness. It captures the verified engineering information: which connectors the harness uses, which wires connect them, the lengths, and how the harness branches.
Generate
— HarnessoraHarnessora reads the drawing and generates the five outputs: digital work instructions, the instant quote, the bill of materials, the formboard, and the wire cut list. Each output is derived from the same drawing rather than re-entered document by document.
- 1. Digital work instructions — on-screen instructions for building the harness and routing wires on the formboard.
- 2. Instant quote — a quote generated from the same harness drawing.
- 3. Bill of Materials (BOM) — a component and material list generated from the harness drawing.
- 4. Formboard — a formboard layout generated from the harness drawing for assembly and wire routing.
- 5. Wire cut list — a wire preparation list generated from drawing data.
Instant quote
— EstimatorThe estimator builds the quote from the drawing-derived information — the component list, the wire list, and the geometry that drives preparation and assembly effort. Engineering facts come from the drawing; commercial decisions — labor, margin, pricing — remain the estimator’s.
Prepare
— Wire preparationWire preparation pulls the cut list generated from the drawing and cuts each wire to its drawn identifier and length. Preparation works from the same wire definitions the formboard and work instructions use, because they all come from one source.
Build & route
— Assembly operatorThe shop floor builds the harness at the formboard, guided by the on-screen digital work instructions. The three documents that reach the floor — formboard, cut list, and work instructions — work together because they all derive from the same drawing.
Stages at a glance
Each stage works from information the previous stage produced. The software appears at Generate; the people carry the rest.
| Stage | Source information | Generated or used output | Responsible role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Verified engineering information the engineer represents | The harness drawing | Harness engineer |
| Generate | The harness drawing | Digital work instructions, instant quote, BOM, formboard, wire cut list | Harnessora |
| Instant quote | Drawing-derived component and wire information | The quote | Estimator |
| Prepare | The wire cut list generated from the drawing | Wire cut to the drawn lengths | Wire preparation |
| Build & route | Formboard and on-screen digital work instructions | The built harness | Assembly operator |
Follow HAR-EX-101 through the workflow
One illustrative example harness — the same drawing, the same connectors, the same wires — shown at each stage. Example values are synthetic, for illustration only — not manufacturing guidance or supported product specifications.
Illustrative example: HAR-EX-101 (drawing rev B)
Illustrative exampleA small industrial control-panel accessory harness: four connectors, eight wires, and one branch.
Connectors on the drawing
| ID | Type | Housing positions | Occupied |
|---|---|---|---|
| J1 | Rectangular connector, 12-position | 12 | 6 |
| J2 | Rectangular connector, 8-position | 8 | 5 |
| J3 | Rectangular connector, 6-position | 6 | 3 |
| J4 | Rectangular connector, 4-position | 4 | 2 |
Wires on the drawing
| Wire | From | To | Gauge | Color | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W1 | J1-1 | J2-1 | 20 AWG | Red | 940 mm |
| W2 | J1-2 | J2-2 | 20 AWG | Black | 940 mm |
| W3 | J1-3 | J2-3 | 20 AWG | Black | 940 mm |
| W4 | J1-4 | J2-4 | 20 AWG | White | 940 mm |
| W5 | J1-5 | J3-1 | 22 AWG | Blue | 1120 mm |
| W6 | J1-6 | J3-2 | 22 AWG | Blue | 1120 mm |
| W7 | J2-5 | J4-1 | 20 AWG | Green | 610 mm |
| W8 | J3-3 | J4-2 | 22 AWG | Yellow | 580 mm |
Example values are synthetic, for illustration only — not manufacturing guidance or supported product specifications.
Work instruction excerpt — HAR-EX-101 rev B
Illustrative example
-
Place housing J1 at its drawn position on the formboard.
-
Route wire W1 (20 AWG Red, 940 mm) from J1 position 1 to J2 position 1 along the drawn path.
-
Crimp W1 with the specified terminal and seat it into J1 position 1; repeat at J2 position 1.
-
Continue with wires W2 through W8 in the drawn sequence, terminating each at its drawn position.
BOM excerpt — HAR-EX-101 rev B
Illustrative example
| Item | Qty |
|---|---|
| Housing J1 | 1 |
| Housing J2 | 1 |
| Housing J3 | 1 |
| Housing J4 | 1 |
Cut list excerpt — HAR-EX-101 rev B
Illustrative example
| Wire | Length |
|---|---|
| W1 | 940 mm |
| W2 | 940 mm |
| W3 | 940 mm |
| W4 | 940 mm |
What changes when the drawing changes
When a harness drawing changes, the outputs that derive from it can be regenerated from the new drawing revision. Deriving documents from a common drawing can reduce repeated entry and inconsistent documents — each output traces back to the drawing revision it was generated from.
This site does not claim automatic updates to every released document, printed formboard, or active operator session. The exact regeneration, review, approval, and release behavior is an internal confirmation item.
In the illustrative example, HAR-EX-101 is at drawing rev B. Every excerpt on this site carries that same revision, so you can see identifiers stay consistent across outputs.
Who does what
Harness engineer
One drawing instead of many disconnected documents: the connector pinouts, wire list, and lengths live in one place, and the five outputs derive from it.
Estimator
Drawing-derived component and wire information for the quote, so the estimate starts from the same engineering facts the shop will build from.
Production manager
A consistent set of manufacturing documents — formboard, cut list, and work instructions — generated from the same drawing the estimator quoted from.
Assembly operator
On-screen work instructions for routing wires on the formboard, generated from the drawing rather than hand-copied from a print.
Owner
A single source of engineering information from drawing through quote and build, so the documents the shop uses match the documents the customer approved.
See Harnessora generate every output from one drawing
Request a demo and watch a single harness drawing produce the digital work instructions, the instant quote, the BOM, the formboard, and the wire cut list.