Understanding a Bill of Materials

A bill of materials (BOM) is best described as a list of products used to make up another product – the component parts of the main product.

You set up each component as a separate product record and link them all together with a BOM; the various levels of components get different names. To help you keep everything straight, look at the following example. I use a Magic Party product that the fictional card shop Jingles offers.

The product assembly, or the list of components that make up a product – in this case, a Jingles Magic Party – includes the following elements:

A magician

A box of tricks

Wizard-themed party dishes pack

Each of these three items is a subassembly of the product assembly – it may be an individual component (such as the magician) or a group of components that together form the main product assembly, for example the box of tricks below.