Checking distributors and data aggregators daily to see if electronic parts are available or in shortage condition is a giant time suck for many in hardware... so we built Watchlists. They are logic-based conditions you can set up that are compared against global supply chain data. Cofactr checks the internet for you, alerts you in Cofactr, and emails you when things change in a way that matters to your organization. These checks will happen daily (or hourly for enterprise customers with that option enabled).
You can create a Watchlist from any part page under the 'Part Watchlist' tab. The controls for Watchlists are very simple. Once you click the 'Add a Watchlist' button, you'll see a dialogue asking you for a few things. First, name the Watchlist subscription something memorable. Next, you'll be able to choose 'AND' or 'OR' as the logic for your watchlist. This selection allows you to make more complex conditions, like "I want to know when a part is available AND less than $1 at a purchase of 100 units" or "I want to know when any of this part is buyable OR quotable."
AND statements mean that every rule you add has to be met to trigger an alert.
OR statements mean that any rule in the watchlist that is met will trigger an alert.
Once you've named and determined the AND/OR logic, you're ready to build a rule. You click on '+ Add Rule' and then chose the condition you'd like to watch, such as 'Buyable Stock' or '10pc Buyable Ref Price', the comparison you want to make, such as 'is less than' or 'is greater than or equal to', and the value you'd like to compare it to such as '0' or '$1.25'. Then you click 'Save', and Cofactr will start watching the condition, alerting you when it is matched against the rule you created.
Examples of how to make Watchlists
First, we'll cover the most common use case: You need a part that isn't available. For this example, we'll say we want to watch the market to see if any of the ATTINY3224-XU appear as buyable.
Go to the part page for the ATTINY3224-XU and navigate to the 'Part Watchlist' tab.
Click on 'Add to Watchlist', and you'll see a dialogue pop up to author your Watchlist.
Name the Watchlist something memorable, like "Any buyable".
Leave AND/OR as AND. It won't matter if you're only using a single rule.
Click on '+ Add Rule' to create your logical rule, where we'll get an alert if any of the ATTINY3224-XU becomes available on the market. The simplest way to do this is to make the rule "Buyable stock is greater than 0"
To accomplish this:
Select the condition to watch: 'Buyable Stock' from the first dropdown.
Select the comparison you want to make: 'is greater than' in the second dropdown.
Enter the value you want the condition compared to: "0"
Click on 'Save', and the Watchlist subscription is live!
Now, if any buyable stock of the ATTINY3224-XU shows up on the market, you'll be alerted.
Now let's say you wanted to know if any of the ATTINY3224-XU become quotable or available at all, even as 'Maybe Available' stock. Let's create another watchlist subscription that states that if any show up anywhere OTHER than through buyable channels, I want to be alerted.
Go to the part page and navigate to the 'Part Watchlist' tab.
Click on 'Add to Watchlist', and you'll see a dialogue pop up to author your Watchlist.
Name the Watchlist something memorable, like "Any quotable or maybe stock".
Change the AND/OR selector to OR because we want to be alerted if either condition we're writing is met.
Click on '+ Add Rule' to create your logical rule, where we'll get an alert if any of the ATTINY3224-XU becomes available on the market via channels other than immediately buyable. The simplest way to do this is to make the rule "Quotable Stock is greater than 0 OR Maybe Stock is greater than 0". This will mean we are going to make 2 rules.
To accomplish this:
Select the 1st condition to watch: 'Quotable Stock' from the first dropdown.
Select the 1st comparison you want to make: 'is greater than' in the second dropdown.
Enter the value you want the 1st condition compared to: "0"
Click '+ Add Rule' again to make the 2nd rule.
Select the 2nd condition to watch: 'Maybe Stock' from the first dropdown.
Select the 2nd comparison you want to make: 'is greater than' in the second dropdown.
Enter the value you want the 2nd condition compared to: "0"
Click on 'Save', and the Watchlist subscription is live!
Now, if any quotable or maybe available stock of the ATTINY3224-XU shows up on the market, you'll be alerted.
I've made 2 watchlists for this one part because I want to know if any show up on the market, but I prioritize buyable over quotable and maybe available. This will mean that when I get an alert for 'Any buyable' I will act fast to buy them ASAP.
You can add as many watchlist subscriptions to a part as you want!
Let's try another, more complicated, use case. This will represent me tracking conditions of a part that I plan to buy just in time for my production, but I want to track it just in case. This part is extremely important to my product, so I want to watch to see if the global supply of the part drops below 20x the needs of my production or if the part starts getting more expensive. We'll use the ADS7128IRTET as our example and assume that I need 500 for my production. There are only 12,261 on the market right now, so if the global buyable supply drops below 10,000 (20x500), I want to be alerted. Also, the price is $6.22 at quantities of 100 right now, which is already a little rich for my blood. I'll also track to see if the part goes up in buyable reference price.
Go to the part page and navigate to the 'Part Watchlist' tab.
Click on 'Add to Watchlist', and you'll see a dialogue pop up to author your Watchlist.
Name the Watchlist something memorable, like "Buy this part now".
Change the AND/OR selector to OR because we want to be alerted if either condition we're writing is met.
Click on '+ Add Rule' to create your logical rule, where we'll get an alert if the ADS7128IRTET's buyable availability falls below 10,000 units or if the price of buying a quantity of 100 of these parts is over $6.22 per piece. The simplest way to do this is to make the rule "Buyable Stock is less than 10,000 OR 100pc Buyable Ref Price is greater than 6.22".
To accomplish this:
Select the 1st condition to watch: 'Buyable Stock' from the first dropdown.
Select the 1st comparison you want to make: 'is less than' in the second dropdown.
Enter the value you want the 1st condition compared to: "10000"
Click '+ Add Rule' again to make the 2nd rule.
Select the 2nd condition to watch: '100pc Buyable Ref Price' from the first dropdown.
Select the 2nd comparison you want to make: 'is greater than' in the second dropdown.
Enter the value you want for the 2nd condition compared to: "6.22"
Click on 'Save', and the Watchlist is live!
You can make quite complex watchlists and use these powerful tools to allow Cofactr to monitor global supply for you, freeing you up to only act when the market matches your desires or concerns.