Using Templates for Bills of Materials

This set of resources provides you with practical information on how to use templates for creating BOMS in OpenBOM.

OpenBOM provides a template mechanism for the bill of materials as a repeatable way to create BOMs with the same set of properties, formulas, and an initial set of data. BOM templates are a foundation to improve productivity and to support the BOM process in the organization.

BOM Template Options

BOM templates can be created from the existing bill of materials using the “Save Template” command. It has four different options.

1. Save Catalog Configuraiton

All catalogs configured with the BOM are added to the template. The new BOMs will be initially configured with these catalogs. This option is the default. Unless you do something very specific, I don’t recommend that you uncheck this option.

2. Copy of the Data

If this option is used, an entire BOM data set will be included in the template. The new BOM will be created with all the data. This is useful for repeated projects.

3. Save Formulas

This option will keep all formulas created in the BOM and will allow initiating all BOMs with already created formulas. This saves tons of time. Keep in mind that formulas are usually dependent on the catalog. So, to have catalogs saved with the template this must be switched on as well.

4. Lock BOMs from Changes

It is very useful to be able to preserve the BOM from alteration such as removing or adding more properties. Locking the BOM from changes does exactly that. The template with the “Lock” flag enabled will not allow new properties to be added. It helps to enforce the BOM process in the organization and to standardize the BOM structure.

Default BOM Template Settings

The following two settings are set by default when you create a BOM template. Unless you do something very specific, I don’t recommend that you change them.

Here’s a short video to help you:

Use BOM Templates in CAD Integrations

When you have repetitive projects, templates save tons of time. Since you can use all settings you did before – BOMs, catalogs, formulas, etc. – you can use them to create a similar BOM from another CAD assembly. You don’t need to spend time to configure the project again. A template allows you to repeat all this work literally in minutes.

The idea of templates is about how to deal with repetitive projects you might have in your organization. Let’s say you create a new project using OpenBOM and create a bill of materials, rollup, calculations, etc. Everything is set up in the way you need it to be. When you get another project, you need to repeat all these tasks again. You want to create a BOM for the second project.

FAQ: What about Templates for Catalogs?

OpenBOM doesn’t provide templates for catalog creation. Catalogs are a database mechanism to store and classify items. An OpenBOM best practice is to have a number of catalogs, each of them representing a specific set of characteristics for items of some time (mechanical, electronic, standard, assemblies, materials). Read more about it here.

To create catalogs with the same set of properties, use the export/import to Excel option.