Working with BOMs

A bill of materials (BOM) represents a collection of products (devices, modules, cables, etc.) to be ordered for installation.

Creating a BOM from NetBox Objects

The recommended workflow for creating bills of materials is to first populate the intended design in NetBox, then employ scope rules to select the relevant devices and generate a BOM automatically.

1. Populate the desired objects (racks, devices, etc.) in NetBox. Be sure to create all relevant objects within the BOM's intended scope (e.g. all devices within a rack, or all racks within a site).
2. Create a new BOM by navigating to Asset Lifecycle > Bills of Materials > Add. Give the new BOM a name and click Create.
3. Navigate to the BOM's Scope Rules tab and add a new rule.
4. Select the object type(s) to which the rule will apply (devices, racks, etc.), then select one or more qualifiers (sites, tenants, etc.). All items which match the defined rules will be collected into the BOM. Click Create when finished.
5. Create additional rules as needed to extend the scope of the BOM. You can also opt to create exclusion rules (by changing the rule's action) to exclude certain objects from the BOM's scope. All inclusion rules are applied first; any exclusion rules are then applied to the set of included objects.
6. Once the rules have been created, navigate to the Bill of Materials tab and click the Generate button. Review the list of rules to be applied and confirm the action. (Note that the BOM must be in "Draft" status.)
7. Navigate to the Line Items tab and inspect the set of line items generated for the BOM. If the results are incorrect, modify the scope rules accordingly and regenerate the BOM.
8. Once the line items and their quantities are correct, set the BOM's status to "Approved" to prevent additional changes.

Note that you can also inspect the particular NetBox objects now associated with the BOM under its Assets tab. Like line items, these are updated automatically when regenerating a BOM.

Changing BOM Scope Rules

To alter the scope of a BOM prior to regenerating it, modify its scope rule(s).

1. Ensure the BOM is in "Draft" status.
2. Open the BOM's Scope Rules tab and click the Edit button next to the desired scope rule.
3. Make any changes necessary and click Save.

Regenerating a BOM

If your intended design has changed after generating a BOM, you can easily regenerate it to update its line items.

1. Ensure the BOM is in "Draft" status.
2. Under the "Bill of Materials" tab, click the Generate button. This will display a list of the scope rules to be applied.
3. Review the listed scope rules and confirm the action.
4. Once finished, set the BOM's status to "Approved." This will protect against further changes.

Manually Adding Items to a BOM

In addition to dynamic generation, users can also add line items to a BOM manually.

1. Ensure the BOM is in "Draft" status.
2. Navigate to the BOM's Line Items tab.
3. Click the Add Line Item button.
4. Select the item type and item, and enter the desired quantity.
5. Enter any variant data, if applicable.
6. Click Create.

Under the BOM's Line Items tab, notice that the "Auto" column is empty for line items added manually.

Archiving a BOM

Once a BOM is no longer needed for production use, it can be archived. Archiving a BOM, rather than deleting it, preserves its details for potential future reference.

1. Navigate to the desired BOM.
2. Click the Archive button at top right.

Once a BOM has been archived, it will no longer appear in the BOMs list, and changes cannot be made to it.

Restoring an Archived BOM

1. Navigate to the desired BOM.
2. Click the Unarchive button at top right.

The BOM will be restored with its status and other attributes set at the time of archival.