OpenBOM 101 – Formula and Calculations

Oleg Shilovitsky
Oleg Shilovitsky
16 May, 2019 | 1 min for reading
OpenBOM 101 – Formula and Calculations

Formulas in OpenBOM are equations you create in a cell which performs simple arithmetic operations using the designated cells.  The basic principle to understand is that a formula equation is in the usage of properties as parameters for the formula. The formula is always defined in the context of a specific line (Item).

So if you have a BOM like this one.

A simple formula calculating Ext Cost based on quantity and formula.

The second type of simple formulas in OpenBOM is called rollup. The property to define rollup is in the bottom of the grid. You can enable it by selecting the menu – Enable Totals. Rollup value will show up. You can edit formula for rollup as well.

The following video gives you an idea how it can work.

Conclusion.

OpenBOM formula and calculation is a powerful yet very flexible mechanism to do a very basic, but important calculation based on these formulas.

You can try formula by registering to FREE OPENBOM USER account.

Best, Oleg

PS. Let’s get to know each other better. If you live in the Greater Boston area, I invite you for a coffee together (coffee is on me). If not nearby, let’s have a virtual coffee session — I will figure out how to send you a real coffee.

Want to learn more about PLM? Check out my Beyond PLM blog and PLM Book website

Related Posts

Also on OpenBOM

4 6
19 December, 2025

PLM, as an industry, has never suffered from a lack of awards, quadrants, or analyst graphics. What it has struggled...

19 December, 2025

NEWTON, Mass., December, 19th, 2025 OpenBOM, a provider of cloud-native Product Data Management (PDM) and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software,...

18 December, 2025

When I look back at 2025, what stands out most is not a list of features or releases, but the...

17 December, 2025

For years, I have been watching the same pattern repeat itself across engineering and manufacturing teams. The BOM lives in...

16 December, 2025

In the last few posts, I started with the limits of PDM and file-based workflows, then gradually moved toward collaborative...

15 December, 2025

Looking back at 2025, it is clear to me that this was a year of tightening the foundation. Many of...

12 December, 2025

This is the last post in a series of 30 blogs about OpenBOM. That matters less as a milestone and...

11 December, 2025

Engineering and manufacturing organizations rely on product information that is accurate, accessible, and shared across teams. This is easy to...

10 December, 2025

The article I published earlier this week – Why PDM Alone Is Not Enough to Manage Engineering Data – explored...

To the top