Parts cross-referencing
Links equivalent parts from different suppliers and manufacturers under one shared item number, with rule-based merging during bulk uploads.
Anonymised professional work. Company names, internal systems, data and code are left out on purpose.
- My role
- Backend developer: code review, fixes and the design of the automatic merge rules.
- Type
- Professional
- Technologies
- Node.jsExpressPostgreSQLReact
Overview
Every part gets a shared item number that groups its equivalent manufacturer numbers, vehicle references and supplier products. Buyers maintain the links through bulk spreadsheet uploads.
The problem
During bulk uploads, every overlap between existing groups was flagged as a conflict, so people spent time resolving merges that a clear rule could have decided.
Approach
- Wrote the merge rules down in plain language before writing any code.
- Put the merge logic in one shared module used by both the single-merge endpoint and the bulk upload processor.
Key features
- Automatic merging for clear-cut cases
- Manual review only for genuinely ambiguous groups
- Detail pages linking each number to its parts and vehicles