Exploding Phantom BOMs and Their Impact on Production Estimation
Recently a client noticed variances between the Bill of Materials on the Production orders (Production BOMs) and the Bill of Materials on the Items (Item BOMs). As far as anyone knew no manual changes were being made to the either BOM, which seemed plausible. After further investigating, it was clear that upon creation of the Production order the two BOMs were identical, however, after posting the Estimate the discrepancies were evident. There are a few standard Dynamics 365 for Operations (D365) scenarios that can cause differences between the two BOMs, such as consuming raw materials that do not exist on the Production BOM. However, for this blog, the focus will be on Phantom BOM lines and their impact on Production estimation, which was the cause in this particular case.
What are BOM Line Types?
The BOM line type is defined on the individual BOM line. This field tells D365 how to handle the line when estimating a Production order. There are four different options available: Item, Pegged Supply, Vendor, and Phantom.
Phantom BOMs
First, let’s define Phantom BOMs, keep in mind this can vary based on business processes. In general, a Phantom BOM is a non-stocked assembled item; it is a collection of components and sub-components that can be reused to simplify the BOM creation process for items. In D365 when the BOM line type is set to Phantom, the line will explode during master scheduling, planned cost calculation, or relevant to the case mentioned above, production order estimation.
Example of Exploding Phantom BOM during Precaution Order Estimation
For this example, let’s say an audio video company produces a high end speaker that include a specific speaker cabinet. The Item BOM for the high end speaker is shown below:
For simplicity assume the following about the cabinet:
- Consists of a base, fabric, and wire
- Non-stocked item
- Assembled only when needed for an order
- Not sold as a standalone item
For these reasons the cabinet is defined as Phantom BOM and the lines look as follows:
Upon creation of the Production order for our high end speaker, the Production BOM is identical to the Item BOM.
However, after posting the estimate for the Production order, the Phantom line explodes, removing the Phantom BOM and adding the three sub components.
