For necessary background, please preread Mastering Bill of Materials (BOM) before proceeding with this article.

Purpose

The Bill of Materials (BOM) tab on the Inquiry screen is an interactive tool for visualizing an item's structure and demand. It displays the BOM structure for any item, whether it is a raw material, semi-finished good, or finished good.

Step 1: Open the BOM tab

Navigate to the Inquiry screen for an item and select the BOM tab.

Step 2: Review the visual hierarchy

Review the visual hierarchy, which shows:

Pure finished goods: The top row.
Semi-finished goods: Any middle rows.
Pure raw materials: The bottom row.

Step 3: Check component ratios

Hover your cursor over the line connecting any two products to see the Ratio, which is the quantity of the component needed to make one unit of the parent.

Step 4: Explore product connections

Click on any other product code in the visual structure.

This action will:

Highlights the product in the BOM structure.
Display its direct ascendants (parents) and descendants (children).
Immediately navigate you to the Inquiry screen for that product.

Step 5: View product details

Click the (i) icon next to any product code in the structure to see a pop-up summary of its key information, including:

Average cost and selling price
Sales and purchase orders
Average forecast
Item status
Recommended order

Step 6: Switch to demand summary view

Click the Table button in the top-right corner to switch to a summary of demand.

This table contains:

The products creating demand for this item
The total quantity required, summarized by month

Step 7: Drill into demand details

While in the Table view:

Click a numerical demand quantity to see a pop-up with a detailed breakdown of the requirements, including the required date, the demand from the finished good, the ratio, and the required quantity.
Click a product link (for example, “YRYB-2537”) in the list to open the Inquiry screen for that specific finished good.

Step 8: Adjust the hierarchy complexity

Change the complexity of the visual hierarchy by selecting one of the three traversal options in the top-right corner:

Direct: The simplest view, showing the item you are on plus only one level up (direct ascendants) and one level down (direct descendants).

Line: Similar to Direct but extends the graphic all the way up to all pure finished goods and all the way down to all pure raw materials in that specific line.

Full: The most complex view, showing a view similar to Line but also displaying the full BOM for each of the pure finished goods shown.

⚠️ Watchouts

Complex structures: In large or multi-level assemblies, the Full view can become crowded. Simplify your analysis by using Direct or Line views when focusing on a single product path.