You can use Autodesk Inventor to manage the BOM in Vault Professional. In an Autodesk Inventor assembly file, you can assign a BOM status for each component within the file. The status you assign determines whether the component displays in an Item in Vault Professional. In Autodesk Inventor, in the BOM dialog box, a component can be assigned one of the following:
- Normal: treats an item as component in the BOM and can be assigned quantities.
- Phantom: indicates the component is used to simplify the design process and only exists temporarily. They exist in the design, but are not distinct line items in a bill of materials. These do not appear in Vault Professional when an assembly is assigned an item.
- Reference: indicates the component is used as construction geometry or to add context to a design, such as a skeleton part or assembly for skeleton modeling. These do not appear in Vault Professional when an assembly is assigned an item.
- Purchased: indicates the component is not fabricated, such as Cylinders, pistons, or shock absorbers. Purchased components are considered a single BOM line item, regardless if it is a part or an assembly. For example, an assembly marked as purchased is listed as a part in parts-only parts list. If the purchased component is an assembly, its children are not generally included in the BOM. Children are also excluded from quantity calculations in the BOM. Normal child components of a purchased assembly are included in structured parts lists, and numbered, but are hidden in parts-only parts lists.
- Inseparable: indicates a fabricated assembly whose child components are maintained as a single item.
For detailed information on these different categories, see the Help in Autodesk Inventor.