Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

Bills of materials
Conceptual model
Concept Paper
Bill of materials is a concept serving as the basis for the
Production, Shop floor control, and Master planning modules of
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

July 2011

CCAX2012DI0052

Table of Contents
Overview..................................................................................................... 3
Conceptual model ....................................................................................... 4
Conceptual entities and relations ............................................................................................ 5
BOM ................................................................................................................................. 5
BOM Line .......................................................................................................................... 5
Worker ............................................................................................................................. 5
BOM Version ..................................................................................................................... 5
Product instance ................................................................................................................ 5
Released Product ............................................................................................................... 6
Dimensions ....................................................................................................................... 6
Tracking dimensions .......................................................................................................... 6
Product dimensions ............................................................................................................ 6
Storage dimensions ........................................................................................................... 6

Glossary of terms ........................................................................................ 6

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BILLS OF MATERIALS CONCEPTUAL MODEL

Overview
The concept of bills of materials serves as the basis for the Production, Shop floor control, and
Master planning modules of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. It describes the pre-production (raw
material) list and the output product instance.
The Production module uses the BOM structures to identify the products to consume and create
during a production order process, and the dimension data of those products. It connects the products
defined in Product information management with the distribution modules (for example, Sales
and marketing) through the Master planning module, by connecting demand for an output product
with the requirements for the raw material.
The BOM structures are defined and maintained in the Inventory and warehouse management
module.
The BOM features have been a part of Microsoft Dynamics AX for some releases. The current
document describes the current concept for the architectural state of these features.
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, many entities in the system have moved from a legal entity
dependent level to a legal entityindependent or enterprise level. These changes are also described in
the document in the Conceptual entities and relations section.

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BILLS OF MATERIALS CONCEPTUAL MODEL

Conceptual model
The following figure gives a high-level concept overview of bills of materials and their most basic
relating concepts.

Worker
0..1

-Approves/Activates

-Approves / Activates

0..1

*
*

-Produces

BOM Version

BOM
1

-Applies in

-Active : Boolean
-Valid From : Date
-Valid To : Date

0..1

1..*

-Raw material
*

BOM Line

Product instance

-Composes

Released Product

Dimensions

0..1
0..1
1
Site

Defines Storage dimensions

Value

1
Warehouse

Warehouse location

Value

Pallet

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BILLS OF MATERIALS CONCEPTUAL MODEL

1
Tracking dimensions

1
Product dimensions

Conceptual entities and relations

BOM
The BOM entity represents the structure of a bill of materials. It is composed of a collection of BOM
lines and has directly defined the site information where the structure can be produced.
This entity is remains legal entitydependent in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.
It is implemented physically in the BOMTable table.

BOM Line
The BOM Line entity represents the relation between the structure and the product serving as raw
material.
A BOM line contains information about a product instance1 and quantities, and other productionrelated information.
If the product identified on a BOM line is itself produced by an independent bill of materials, then the
BOM line can be read and manipulated as a sub-BOM2, making the top structure a multi-level BOM3.
This relation remains legal entitydependent in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.
A BOM line is implemented physically in the BOM table.

Worker
The Worker entity represents the entity of a responsible person, employee, or contractor that has the
role of approval and activation of bills of materials.
This entity has changed from Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, replacing the former employee concept.
This new concept is legal entityindependent, allowing a single worker to be affiliated with multiple
legal entities.
To comply with the legal entitydependent status of bills of materials, only workers who are affiliated
with the legal entity where the structure is defined can perform the approval and activation actions.
A worker is implemented physically in the HcmWorker table.

BOM Version
The BOM Version entity represents the relation between a BOM structure and a product instance by
identifying the active and approved BOM, if any, for a time frame, quantity, and particular set of
dimensions for a product.
A BOM version can be approved and activated by a worker under the same affiliation constraints as a
BOM.
It is implemented physically in the BOMVersion table.

Product instance
A product instance represents a virtual relation between a product and a set of dimensions.
It is not implemented physically, because the information identifying both concepts is carried through
all the relating tables.
It represents a specialization of a productfor example, a small red box in site 1, where small,
red, and site 1 are the dimensions of the product box.

1
2
3

See the Glossary of terms section.

See the Glossary of terms section.
See the Glossary of terms section.
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BILLS OF MATERIALS CONCEPTUAL MODEL

Released Product
The Released Product entity represents a product available in a specific legal entity.
It is implemented physically in the InventTable table.

Dimensions
The Dimensions entity is a collection of specialized values for a specific product.
It is implemented physically in the InventDim table.

Tracking dimensions
Tracking dimensions are the subset of dimensions that contain the tracking properties: batch number
and serial number.

Product dimensions
Product dimensions are the subset of dimensions that contain the product-related properties:
configuration, color, and size.

Storage dimensions
Storage dimensions are the subset of dimensions that contain the storage-related properties: site,
warehouse, pallet, and warehouse location.
Note that the site information is also a property of the BOM entity.

Glossary of terms
Term

Definition

BOM

Bill of materials.

Product instance

A combination of a product definition and a collection of dimensions.

Sub-BOM

An independent BOM structure that composes, in part, another BOM

structure.

Legal entitydependent

Describes a concept, a structure, or data that only exists within the scope
of a legal entity.

Legal entityindependent, enterpriselevel

Describes a concept, a structure, or data that exists throughout all legal

entities.

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BILLS OF MATERIALS CONCEPTUAL MODEL

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