Dynamics GP Bill of Materials Module Notes

In this small article we will not be formal and not stick to precise functionality grid, rather we would like to give you industry and special business case example and which processes were automated by our consultants in the past.  We recommend you also to review functionality for BOM via official Microsoft Dynamics GP marketing brochures as good supplement to our highlights.  Please, note that here we are talking about BOM, which is not part of Manufacturing Suite, the whole Dynamics GP discrete manufacturing Suite would be recommended for large manufacturing mills or production companies, where they need such features as Capacity Planning, Production Orders, etc.  We are discussing here Bill of Materials which is simple extension to GP Inventory Control module:
1. Bill of Materials Setup.  This is very simple setup, and you should decide if you need more or just OK with what you see in settings.  Here you have Next Document Number, Date selection from User date or Previous Document Date, four User Defined Fields, plus overriding shortages for components, and allowing linking component to finished good Serial or Lot Number
2. Bill of Materials Card.  Again logic is very simple, you may associate Inventory Item with Bill of Materials, and as such, you simply open Cards->Inventory->Bill of Materials and enter Item Number, which you plan for internal production.  BOM could have status Active, Pending or Obsolete, Type Normal or Phantom (for Phantom BOM, as you may know from Manufacturing terminology these are for subassembly only)
3. Serial or Lot Numbers.  If you in the industry, where regulation requires some of the components tracking by their batch (or lot) number and even unique serial number, then BOM module allows you to track that sort of history for each item produced (where you can also assign Serial or Lot Number)
4. BOM - trying to break through normal manufacturing routines.  If you have to setup new production for new item, where you have several components: raw materials (these are inventory items in GP), Labor (Consider Service Item type for this part of Manufacturing BOM),  and Machinery expense (you can try to think about Miscellaneous Charge Item, or Flat Fee for that sort of expenses).  These shortcuts could allow you to run reasonably complex manufacturing process in simple Dynamics GP Bill Of Materials module.  Simple Material Resource Planning could be done in Dynamics GP Purchase Configurator, where you can automate purchasing and raw materials replenishment process, based on various criteria, including Item ABC code, Vendor lead time
5. Process Manufacturing notes.  Please, if you are in process manufacturing industry, try to consider Dynamics GP AX formerly known as Axapta, if budget permits.  If you think that AX is out of consideration (budget wise or another reason), consider Dynamics GP Advanced Distribution, where you can associate catch weight with each item produced or registered in your Inventory (good for considering in Meat and Food processing industry, Cheese reselling, Oriental Foods wholesale, Deli nationwide distributors, Restaurant Regional Suppliers)
6. BOM Customization Options.  It is unlikely that you would need BOM transactions to be imported, but this option is automated in GP eConnect.  BOM is open for Dynamics GP Dexterity customizations, where the most likely candidates are Dex triggers, where you alter BOM posting logic (by updating custom fields in Inventory Item, or change Finished Goods Price, Posting Account or Cost)
7. Beverages mixing and bottling.  In our opinion, here Dynamics GP BOM module is ideal as you know exactly how many gallons of beverage got to be produced from each gallon of concentrate
8. BOM for multinational corporation.  If your outsourced manufacturing is reasonably low profile, please take into consideration these notes.  Dynamics GP is available in English Speaking Countries, plus in Spanish Speaking Latin America (Caribbean and Central America) and in French Speaking Quebec - Montreal.  If your manufacturing facility hosting country is not listed, then (especially considering the fact that GP doesn't even support Hieroglyphs or Unicode based alphabets, such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean) we strongly recommend you to consider Axapta, and if it is too expensive, please try to shop for SAP Business One (with reasonably good Production module, also fitting to generic Discrete Manufacturing, this application is localized for such countries as China, India, Brazil, Russia, East Europe, Israel) or check for Corporate ERP applications available on the local market (in Russia, for example consider 1C Bukhgalteria, in Brazil it could be Microsiga) 
9. How to get help?  Please, feel free to call us: 1-866-528-0577, outside of USA: 1-630-961-5918 or email us help@albaspectrum.com  We are very technical and real Dynamics GP Dexterity, SAP Business One SDK and Microsoft CRM programming gurus.  We have Great Plains Software Development Factory and could support unlimited Dynamics GP Customization and Programming needs.  Plus we speak English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and not only as native speaking sales folks, but as real technical consultants.  If you prefer skype: albaspectrum