electronic parts catalog

The BMW Group has implemented a software called ETK or electronic parts catalog (EPC). This software is intended for official dealers in order to facilitate a process or parts selection for its end users who are needed to repair their cars.  BMW ETK allows so select right parts by its OEM number or by providing a VIN number (last seven digits are needed). BMW updates ETK on regular basis once a month.

ETK contains photos and diagrams. The main workflow is to choose a model and country of origin in order to  get correct information by service mans. Despite ETK is normally installed on a desktop platform (only Windows OS are supported at the moment), BMW has recently allowed to its customers to use an online version of this catalog. However, customers are obliged to register. The online version is not that bad, but it is not as convenient as offline one.

Many features are not available. Fortunately, fans and enthusiasts of the brand have created community version of the catalog. In my opinion, one of the best examples is http://www.etk.cc. It has unique graphic interface and designed to search parts as fast as possible. Moreover, it has a special feature to filter parts by car options, which is not even present in desktop ETK. Most popular case is searching a specific part by VIN number. VIN number contains all needed info: model, year, type, options. http://www.etk.cc can help car owners to decode VIN numbers and show a lot of information about a car.

The information on VIN can be exported to a pdf file or saved as html page. Without any doubts, this online service is quite useful for those both professionals and fans who desire to repair or extend vehicle configuration.