A bill of materials is one of those accounting-system concepts that makes immediate sense to anyone who has ever built something from parts.
Sage 100 uses Bill of Materials to describe that structure.
The Bill Defines the Relationship Between Components
Sage describes a bill of materials as a bill structure because it defines the relationship between the component items that make up the bill—or product.
A bill contains header information such as its description and bill type, along with the components beneath it.
Those components can include inventory items, miscellaneous charge codes, comment lines, subassemblies, and other bill relationships depending on the bill type.
Sage Supports Several Different Bill Types
Sage documents five fundamental bill types:
- Standard
- Engineering
- Inactive
- Kit
- Phantom
Each exists because not every product structure has the same purpose.
Standard Bills Can Be Multi-Level
Standard bills can be used in production and work-ticket activity and can contain multiple levels or subassemblies.
They can include many component items, phantom bills, miscellaneous charge codes, and comment lines in the structure Sage needs to represent.
Engineering Bills Are for Products That Are Still Becoming Themselves
Engineering bills can be used to formulate new product structures and estimate costs or profitability.
When Engineering Change Control is enabled, they can also support revisions to the original structure.
Kit Bills Are Simpler Assemblies
Kit bills are single-level structures for assembled items.
Sage also supports kits with options so the customer can choose from predefined variations.
Phantom Bills Represent Something Useful That Is Not Really Stock
Sage describes phantom bills as a way to represent an interim manufacturing step, such as a subassembly, or a component group that is often used together but is not itself a stocked inventory item.
That is a good example of why manufacturing data structures exist: the system needs to understand relationships that may be operationally real even when they are not separate inventory items.
The Bill Can Feed Production
Bill of Materials does not have to remain a static product definition.
Sage documents integration with Production Management that can create work tickets from bills and import materials from bills.
That creates a path from product definition to production activity.
Why We Like BOM Work
Because the questions are wonderfully concrete.
What is this product made of?
Which components change?
Which pieces are stocked?
Which pieces are really just logical groupings?
What happens when the design changes?
What should Sage consume when the finished item is produced?
A good bill gives Sage a useful answer to those questions.