Fully exploding a Bill of Materials

Question

I am trying to write a system that will allow a multilevel BOM. I can use a many-to-many table to allow the same part to be attached to many different higher level parts. I can write reports that show high level parts and all the parts that go into it, and reports that show all the higher level parts that a single part can go into. But, I don't know how to write a report that shows a high level part, the parts that go into it, and the parts that go into those parts, all the way down to the base level parts.

In other words, a fully exploded BOM.

Does anyone have any examples or can give me a general framework on how to generate that? Thanks in advance!

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Edward Hefter
www.Sutubra.com
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markshnier__you · Answer

I have worked with Clients to develop those kind of apps. I put an App in the Quickbase Exchange (Explore Sample Apps) off the My Apps page called Assembly Costing. I believe I added some help notes as some automations are required to do the multi level costing updates if yo are trying to roll up the parts and labour costs up to the top level Assembly.

The help text refers to Webhooks but it was written before we had Automations and Pipelines.

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Mark Shnier (YQC)
mark.shnier@gmail.com
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donlarson · Answer

I am assuming that you have your application has a structure that lets you build the BOMs. Something like this:

Now there are two answers I use.

1) In the Sub Assembly Table run a report

Grouped on Related Product
Group again on Related Assembly
Sort on Related Item Master

Instead of the "Related Field", you should use the Description field for those tables or what ever data from the tables makes sense for your BOM Report.

2) Get the data out and use Tableau, PowerBI, Sigma, QLIK or another BI/BA tool. This is more work but gives you the control to really make the report look like you need it, so it is intuitively inform the user.

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Don Larson
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markshnier__you · Answer

In my experience with these type of apps, the issue is that a subassembly gets used in other subassemblies recursively.

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Mark Shnier (YQC)
mark.shnier@gmail.com
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souheilkaram1 · Answer

Hello Edward,An approach you may consider is described below:1 - Every item on a BOM has a parent coming from part master table or another part/assembly table.2 -&nbsp; Create a BOM table that references part master table3 - Assemble your product BOM with parts by selecting from part master table. Identify each BOM part with a parent. The parent will be a part. Same as you do with project task dependency4 - Identify each BOM part with an order5 - create your report by grouping on the parent and sorting on the order.------------------------------Souheil Karam------------------------------

edwardhefter · Answer

Thanks for the quick response and apologies for my slower one! This app looks like a good way to roll up costs (and anything else that can be summarized) to the top level. I am hoping to find a way that will give me details (names, quantities, etc.), of the sub-components and their subcomponents, too.

Any thoughts on that?

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Edward Hefter
www.Sutubra.com
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Fully exploding a Bill of Materials