Creating Configurations and cross link parts

Hello,

I would like to link certain parts to a design table and then interconnect parts to create a fully automated assembly.

I got one reference assembly with all the parts in it. 50% of the components are identical, but a lot of the parts need to be changed.

I would like to automate this and use 3 reference mates(length, width and depth) to create the assemblies.

Questions:

-      Can I do this? If so,

     -      How do I link unique numbers to all the different configurations?

     -      How do I cross-link parts within an assembly? Do I use a design table/Excel Sheet?

     -      Create drawings for the configurations.

Thanks in advance for the help!

SolidworksConfigurations design Tables