Active Sensing, Inc. Visit us at www.BuyPLM.

com
18-Jul-2007
Template column
Parent assembly
Parent assembly

Function or usage
to be specified by BOM author
should not need to change contents of these cells

Child items
Assembly details

these are common item properties shared by all assemblies

these values may be unique for this assembly

Source items
Source items

these supplier source items are related to child items, and independent of assembly details
do not change contents of these cells

Find
Owner
Type
Number
Revision
Description
Quantity
Units
RefDes
Supplier
Identifier
UnitCost
Extended

Item locator on assembly drawing, so that assembly drawing does not have to maintain actual part number
Company responsible for creating or specifying the capabilities and performance of applied item (usually the assembly owner, or "hom
Classification of the item, typically with a unique set of business rules
Item identifier, typically corresponding to an inventory location
Data record iteration; best practice is that physical items do not have revisions, but their data records may
Summarizes the major characteristics of item
Number of units required for current assembly
Units of measure
Identifies the schematic and/or physical location a single instance of a child item
Company responsible for creating or specifying the capabilities and performance of supplied item (the "partner" organization)
Supplier's part number
Cost of a single unit in same Units as child item
Cost of a single unit, multiplied by the Quantity

Note: Many people hope to use Excel to manage bills of materials because it's commonly available, relatively cheap,
and very familiar. While we've tried to make a useable BOM template, the fact is that Excel makes a really
poor BOM tool compared to a specialized PLM database, and in most cases we don't recommend its use.
Some of the risks of using Excel:
1 Use caution when sorting. Since cells are not tied together, sorting a list by, say, part Number or Type
risks mismatching adjacent cells. Any SUM() that relies on rows should also be checked.
2 Inspect each BOM carefully after every edit. You'll be entering the same data over and over again and
any cell can be changed (even accidentally), so it's likely that a child part number or description on one
assembly may not match the same part on a different assembly.
3
Changes in one place won't get propagated across all other assemblies. Each spreadsheet must be
separately discovered and updated (imagine changing the supplier source for a single screw or resistor).
4 Watch out for proprietary data, which may need to be cleaned before sharing with your supply chain (do
you want your new suppliers to know what you pay your current suppliers?).
5 Carefully verify that units of measure are consistent (no mixing "each" and "gram") and calculated to
ensure that the cost roll-up is correct. If a wire is specified in mm, and purchased in cm, will that
conversion be caught?
6

When you decide to adopt a true BOM database system, you'll find that spreadsheets with little or no
formatting will import easier than highly formatted (and more readable) spreadsheets. This BOM
spreadsheet template will be somewhat useful for importing into a PLM database, but be careful about
making significant changes (for example, do not put supplier parts directly below home parts).

7 Ensure you have access to all released BOMs every time you revise an item. Searching across
spreadsheets to discover where a specific item is used is difficult, slow and error-prone.
8 Keep good records. There is no audit trail to identify why or when a change was made, or who
authorized it.
9 Review and enforce business rules, such as item numbering and data revisioning, change approval
authority, and using approved suppliers.

10 Verify each item's release status (pending, released, canceled) and lifecycle (prototype, production,
obsolete) to ensure production assemblies aren't using prototype, unreleased or canceled parts.
Excel is a very cheap solution that could easily cost you a lot of money in time & errors.
On the other hand, PDXpert PLM offers:
1 Automatic assignment of part numbers according to specified rules
2 Free-form text searches to precisely locate exact matches and possible alternate parts
3 Snapshot duplication of an existing BOM for modification
4 Drag and drop of complete items onto the BOM
5 automatic application of each child item's current revision to existing BOMs; the released assembly
always shows the latest released child item revision
6 Built-in "where used" lists for each item in your database: what assemblies use it, where it appears as a
source, and what changes have affected it
7 Instant information about each item's release status and lifecycle
8 Unlimited supplier sources with preferred rank
9 Design, production and acceptance files attached directly to database items, for immediate viewing by
engineers, quality personnel and supply chain managers
10 Data export for supply chain data exchange
11 A full audit trail of all changes
You can download a free, fully-functional evaluation of PDXpert PLM now. Visit us at www.BuyPLM.com

(usually the assembly owner, or "home" organization)

(the "partner" organization)

BuyPLM.com
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YourCompany
Owner
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany
YourCompany

Assembly
Type

Number

Revision

Description

1
Quantity
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
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0.0000
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0.0000
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0.0000
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0.0000
0.0000
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0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000

each
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each
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each

RefDes

Source
Supplier

Identifier

Total cost:
UnitCost
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
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0.0000
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0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000

0.0000
Extended
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
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0.0000
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0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000

BuyPLM.com
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XYZ Co.
Owner
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.
XYZ Co.

Assembly
Type
PCB
Solidstate
Solidstate
Passive
Passive

102256
Number
100010
100022
100231
100176
100149

A
Revision
C
A
A
A
A

Assembly, PCB, LED with drivers

1
Description
Quantity
Printed circuit board, LED driver
1.0000
Diode, light-emitting, red, 20mA, T-1 3/4
6.0000
Transisitor, NPN, 2N2222A
6.0000
Resistor, 120 ohm, 5%, 0.25W
6.0000
Capacitor, 10 uF, 15WVDC
1.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000

each
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each

RefDes
L1-L6
Q1-Q6
R1-R6
C1

Source
Supplier
BestPCB Co.
LEDex
XistorFactory
PassiveStuff
PassiveStuff

Total cost:
2.7780
Identifier
UnitCost Extended
23-00918-A-2
1.2300
1.2300
761992.245
0.0720
0.4320
2N2222A
0.1400
0.8400
876-0050-121
0.0250
0.1500
962-0015-106
0.1260
0.1260
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
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