Create your first bill of materials

In Upchain, a bill of materials (BOM) is a structured list of the assemblies and parts managed within a project. A BOM cannot be created or managed outside of a project.

Each assembly and part is represented by an item. Items manage the information and documentation related to one object in a BOM. An item can contain: CAD models and drawings, translations, visualizations, markups, non-CAD documents, and metadata (attributes). Learn more about items here.

You’ll find the bill of materials within the BOM () section of the project.

Create a top level item

To begin creating a BOM within the web application, start by creating the top level item. This is known in Upchain as an end item. A project can contain one or more end items.

To create an end item:

1. Click Add End Item at the top of the navigation tree.

   The Add End Item window opens.

2. Select the item type.

   The item type helps to identify the purpose of the item at a high level. For example, choose Assembly.

3. Enter an item name.

   This is a brief descriptor of the item. For example, type in: My Assembly.

4. Enter an item description.

   This is where you can be more descriptive on what the purpose and function of this item is. For example, type in: My assembly used to test Upchain functionality.

5. Click Create.

The item is created with the type, name, and description you entered. The item is assigned an item number based on the item numbering rules configured by your Tenant Admin. You can now see the item in the navigation pane on the left.

Click the item in the navigation pane to load it into the center view. The center view displays attributes and statuses of the item in a customizable table. Click the item in the center view to open its details view on the right side. Here you can manage the item’s attributes, access its files and documents, and view the item’s use in other projects and business processes, among many other functions.

Create a child item

Now that you have created an end item, you can create child items underneath it.

To create a child item:

1. Click the more actions icon next to the item in the center view.

2. Place your cursor over Create. This opens a new menu.

3. Select Item.

   This opens the Add Item window.

4. Select Manufactured Item as the item type.

5. Enter a name and description for the item.

6. Click Create.

Again, the item is created with the type, name, and description you entered, and assigned an item number. It is placed underneath the assembly item and indented to show the parent-child relationship. Repeat this process as many times as needed.

Summary

We've demonstrated how you can manually create new items in your project. You can learn more about the BOM interface here and other item actions here.

It is unlikely that you would create an entire BOM this way. The good news is that it is possible to reuse existing items from other bills of materials and projects, and you can create items in bulk using the Office plugin or the CAD plugin.