Nodes and Requirements

A Technical Structure Node is one element in the physical breakdown of your asset — a system, a sub-system, a piece of equipment, or a location. Nodes form the tree that sits beneath a Technical Structure.

Core Node fields

Field	What it is
Name	Short label for this part of the asset (e.g. “Inverter Module 1”)
Image	An optional photograph or diagram of the component
Description	Longer free-text description of what this node represents
General requirements	Free-text field for any engineering notes or constraints that do not fit the structured fields below
Children	Zero or more child Nodes — this is how the tree grows deeper

Three kinds of requirement you can attach

On each Node you can record three distinct kinds of structured requirement. They serve different purposes.

Requirement type	Schema name	What it means
Required Good	technical_structure_good	A specific Good Variant that must be placed at this node, with a quantity. Use this when you already know the exact product.
Required Material	technical_structure_requirement	A generic requirement: “this node needs a Good of Type X”, with a name and description. Use this when you know the category but not the exact variant yet.
Required Spec	technical_structure_spec_req	A specific spec value that the Required Material must meet — for example “diameter ≥ 100 mm” or “voltage rating = 1000 V”. Spec requirements refine a Required Material.

Required Goods in detail

A Required Good ties an exact product — a Good Variant from the goods catalogue — to this Node, along with a quantity. This is the most precise way to specify what will be installed here.

When procurement sees a Required Good on a Node, they know exactly which SKU to order and how many.

Required Materials in detail

A Required Material is a looser specification. It names a Good Type (a category of product) and describes what is needed in plain language. This is useful early in design when the exact variant has not been chosen.

For example: “Needs a DC string combiner box — Type: Combiner Box — must accept 8 strings.”

A Required Material carries a status: open while no Good has been assigned to it yet, fulfilled once at least one Required Good has been linked to it. A status badge under its name reflects both the status and whether the assigned Good still meets its Required Specs:

Badge	Meaning
Fulfilled	The assigned Good meets every Required Spec
Fulfilled, but violates spec	The assigned Good fails at least one Required Spec
Fulfilled, unknown	The assigned Good is missing spec data GreenVee needs in order to check

The Required Material’s Assigned Data tab lists every Required Good currently fulfilling it — name, SKU, and quantity — since more than one Good can fulfil the same Required Material at once (see Engineering to Procurement).

Required Specs in detail

Required Specs refine a Required Material. Each Required Spec names a Spec (a measurable attribute defined on a Good Type — see Specifications) and gives a required value, a minimum/maximum, or an allowed set of options depending on the Spec’s data type. This lets you express constraints like “the pump must have a flow rate ≥ 50 m³/h” without yet naming a specific product.

The Specs available to constrain are not limited to the Required Material’s own Good Type — they include every Spec defined on that Good Type and on all of its ancestor Good Types in the catalogue’s type tree. So a Required Material of type “Electrical Cable” also sees Specs defined further up the tree on “Cable”.

For Engineers

Start with Required Materials and Required Specs when the design is still open. Once procurement selects a specific product, convert or supplement with a Required Good pointing to the chosen Variant. The two can coexist on the same Node.

Assigning a Good to a Required Material (Spec Matching)

Use Spec Matching, from a Required Material’s detail panel, to turn it into a Required Good without leaving the Node. GreenVee lists every Variant under the Required Material’s Good Type (including sub-types), each scored as a percentage against the Required Material’s Required Specs. Pick a Variant, set the quantity, and confirm: GreenVee creates the Required Good, links it back to the Required Material, and marks the Required Material fulfilled.

If the assigned Good later starts violating a Required Spec, or its spec data becomes incomplete, Spec Matching reopens for that Required Material so you can review and replace the assignment.

Checking whether a Required Good meets its Specs

Once a Required Good is placed, GreenVee continuously re-checks its Variant’s spec values against the Required Specs of the Required Material it fulfils (if any). A badge next to the Required Good’s name shows the result:

Badge	Meaning
Spec violation	At least one Required Spec is not met
Spec unknown	At least one Required Spec cannot be checked yet — the Variant is missing that spec value
No badge	Every Required Spec is met, or there is nothing to check

This check re-runs live — edit a spec value on the Variant, or change a Required Spec’s constraint, and the badge updates immediately, without a page refresh.

Attaching documentation

Nodes, Required Goods, and Required Materials each have a Documentation tab where you can attach dated, free-text documentation entries — useful for certificates, installation notes, or service records tied to that specific part of the asset.

How requirements link outward

From	Links to
Required Good	A Good Variant in the goods catalogue
Required Material	A Good Type in the goods catalogue
Required Spec	A Spec defined on a Good Type

These links are what allow the technical structure to drive procurement — the goods catalogue entries carry the pricing, stock, and sourcing information that purchasing needs.