Video Demo – Introducing the New Copy BOM Workflow

OpenBOM has recently introduced several updates to strengthen Part Number management and improve the consistency of data across catalogs and Bills of Materials. The upcoming November release extends this work with a revised Copy BOM workflow designed to remove manual steps and reduce the likelihood of incorrect Part Number assignments.

Recent Updates to Part Number Management

We made changes with Part Number uniqueness enforcement. OpenBOM now validates Part Number uniqueness across catalogs. If duplicates exist, the system identifies them and produces a duplicate Part Number report. This improves reliability when linking BOMs to catalog items or exporting data downstream.

Also, we added a mandatory Part Number for BOM creation. A BOM can no longer be created without a Part Number. This ensures that every BOM has a required 1:1 relationship with an existing Part Number. This change eliminates cases where users created BOMs without properly defined identifiers and reduces inconsistencies between items and their structures.

Limitations of the Previous Copy BOM Process

The previous Copy BOM workflow duplicated the BOM structure but did not address the creation of a new Part Number or catalog item. Users were responsible for:

• Generating a new Part Number
• Selecting or creating a catalog
• Creating the associated catalog item
• Manually linking the new BOM to that item

This multi-step process increased the risk of mistakes, especially in environments where variants or customer-specific assemblies are frequently created.

New Copy BOM Workflow

The updated Copy BOM workflow consolidates all required steps into a single process guided by a new form. Users can now:

• Select the target catalog
• Generate a new unique Part Number using catalog rules
• Automatically create the related catalog item
• Create the copied BOM
• Ensure the new BOM is connected to the newly created item

This approach eliminates several manual operations and ensures Part Number consistency at the time the BOM is copied.

Preview Demo

A demonstration of the updated workflow has been recorded by Steve Hess. The feature will be included in the November update.

Upcoming Extensions

We are continuously looking at how to improve BOM copy function, since it improves and simplifies new project introduction and re-use of existing BOM structures.  As part of the process, we will be introducing the hierarchical copy BOM (with sub-levels) to support for duplicating multi-level BOM structures with automatic Part Number generation at each level.

Also, we plan to enhance Compare Tools with the additional comparison capabilities to support analysis of differences across BOMs, revisions, and variants, including multi-level comparisons.

Conclusion

These changes reflect OpenBOM’s ongoing effort to simplify and improve the customer experience by reducing manual steps and enforcing consistent data structures. Strengthening the relationship between Part Numbers, catalogs, and BOMs is part of a broader initiative to make daily operations more predictable and efficient for teams managing complex product information.

Meantime, REGISTER FOR FREE and check how OpenBOM can help. 

Best, Oleg