Refresh Child-Board Interfaces Before Validating a Multi-Board System

A multi-board system diagram can look complete while still representing an older connector definition from one of its child projects. A clean system check then verifies the imported model rather than the board that will actually be built. Establish child revision identity before reviewing inter-board connections.

Altium’s multi-board design documentation describes child PCB projects, system-level connectivity, and importing changes from those projects. These separate representations need a controlled update boundary.

Make a child-project manifest

List each board instance, its source project, intended revision, fitted variant, and connector references exposed to the system. Distinguish two instances of the same board from two different board designs. Similar names are not enough to establish which release belongs in an assembly.

Refresh the system model from the intended child sources, then inspect the imported differences. A connector added or removed in a child project should become an explicit system-level decision rather than disappearing into a generic update message.

Review each interface as an endpoint pair

For each connection, identify the board instance, connector, and pin at both ends. Compare signal meaning, direction where relevant, supply identity, and deliberately unused contacts. Pin labels that happen to match do not by themselves prove the electrical interface is compatible.

Keep logical and physical checks connected

After connectivity review, inspect the corresponding physical assembly. Connector orientation, board positioning, and cable routing can invalidate an otherwise correct pin map. Conversely, parts that physically mate may connect incompatible signals.

Include harness or cable revisions in the interface record when they provide the connection. A correct pair of boards does not compensate for an outdated cable pinout between them. Include power-off continuity or other appropriate interface verification in prototype bring-up where it provides an independent check of the assembled connection. Identify any approved interchangeability explicitly.

Run the system checks after importing and resolving changes, and preserve the resulting report with the child-project manifest. Record outstanding warnings with their meaning instead of reporting only that the check completed.

The release should describe one coherent set of board and interconnect revisions. That evidence allows production and later service work to reproduce the system that engineering actually reviewed, rather than assembling individually current boards whose interfaces were never checked together.