Bill of materials (BOM) and assemblies let you define what each product is built from, cost it up from its parts, see how many you can build per location, and turn components into finished stock. It is part of Organizely's manufacturing toolkit for makers, kitters, and light assembly.
This is a Pro feature. Bill of materials and assemblies require Raw-Material Tracking, which is included on the Pro and Scale plans. The entitlement is enforced on the server, not just hidden from the menu.
Key terms
Assembly: any product variant that has a bill of materials, that is, a variant you build from other parts.
Component: a part or material listed on an assembly's bill of materials, each with a "qty per" (how many units of that component go into one finished unit).
Subassembly: a component that is itself an assembly. Subassemblies expand inline so you can see the full multi-tier (indented) tree, not just the top level.
Untracked part: a non-inventory part (screws, glue, labels) that belongs on the recipe for cost and documentation but is never stock-tracked.
Where to find it
A variant's Bill of Materials tab is where you define and cost a recipe. Open Catalog → Products, open a product, open a variant, then open its Bill of Materials tab.
Assemblies directory (Catalog → Assemblies): a catalog-wide list of every variant that has a bill of materials.
Bill of Materials index (Catalog → Bill of Materials): the same catalog viewed as components grouped by assembly, with qty-per, on-hand, and buildable.
Define a bill of materials
You build a recipe on the variant's Bill of Materials tab.
Open the variant you want to turn into an assembly and go to its Bill of Materials tab.
Choose Add component, then search for the product or variant it is built from. You can also copy a full recipe from another assembly, or add several components at once.
Set the component's qty per finished unit (for example, 4 legs per table).
Repeat for each component. Any component that is itself an assembly expands inline as a subassembly, giving you a multi-tier indented tree.
As soon as a variant has at least one component, it counts as an assembly and shows up in the Assemblies directory and the Bill of Materials index.
Untracked materials
Beneath the tracked components is an Untracked Materials section for non-inventory parts. Their cost rolls into the assembly's material total, but they have no inventory impact: the build engine never consumes them.
Add untracked parts to the recipe here from your org's parts registry (Catalog → Untracked Parts).
Each part can carry an optional part number, supplier, default unit cost, and unit of measure.
Parts are archived rather than deleted, so historical work orders keep resolving.
Component options (advanced)
Each component has an optional Advanced section for more exact recipes:
Unit of measure: label the component's unit and the assembly's unit (for example, meters and units). These labels are for display only.
Scrap percentage: record expected loss from 0 to 100 percent. It feeds cost and build planning only.
Effectivity dates: set an "Effective from" and "Effective to" window. This filters as-of-date views only; it does not activate or deactivate the line.
These advanced fields are display and planning aids. None of them changes the component's quantity per unit or moves inventory on its own.
Costs and margin
The Bill of Materials tab rolls the recipe up into a live cost view:
Per-component unit cost and extended cost (unit cost times qty per).
The assembly's total material cost .
Margin against the assembly's own selling price.
An estimated flag when a component is missing a unit cost, so you know the rollup is incomplete.
Untracked-part cost is included in the material total. If you set a labor cost per unit in the variant's Manufacturing settings, it folds into the costed bill of materials as a distinct labor line, so planned labor reaches product cost too.
Buildable and bottleneck per location
For any location, the Bill of Materials tab shows how many finished units you can build right now from the components currently on hand, plus the limiting (bottleneck) component, the part that runs out first. Switch locations to see buildable stock where you actually assemble.
Build finished units
A build consumes component stock and produces finished units of the assembly.
On the Bill of Materials tab (or from Manufacturing → Bill of Materials), choose Build.
Pick the location you are building at.
Enter the quantity to build.
Review the Components to consume preview and the live availability check: Organizely shows what each component contributes and whether every component is in stock ( Components available ) or which ones are short ( Insufficient components , with the shortage per component and the maximum you can build).
Choose Build to commit.
No stock moves until you commit, so you can adjust the quantity and re-check availability first. Committing consumes each component according to its quantity per unit (plus any scrap allowance) and adds the finished units to the variant's stock at that location.
For a full production document with a lifecycle, assignees, due dates, and cycle-time tracking, use a Work Order instead. A work order linked to an assembly can consume the same bill of materials when it builds.
Simulate an inventory change
The Bill of Materials tab also has a Simulate button that opens Simulate Inventory Impact, a what-if preview. Pick a location, enter a quantity change for this variant (a negative number for a decrease such as a sale, a positive number for an increase), and Organizely shows how that change would ripple through its components and the assemblies that use it. It moves no stock.
Where Used (reverse BOM)
The Where Used view answers the reverse question: given this component, which assemblies consume it? It lists every assembly that uses the component, both directly and indirectly (through subassemblies), so you can see the impact of a part before you change or discontinue it.
Component inventory sync
Each component has an inventory-sync setting that controls whether it drives the assembly's derived buildable inventory:
Auto-calculate buildable: the component counts toward the assembly's derived buildable quantity.
Reference only: the component is listed and costed but does not drive buildable inventory.
The Assemblies directory and BOM index
Two catalog-wide views help you manage assemblies at scale:
Assemblies directory (Catalog → Assemblies): every variant that has a bill of materials, with its component count, rolled-up material cost, and buildable quantity per location.
Bill of Materials index (Catalog → Bill of Materials): the components grouped by assembly, with qty-per, on-hand, and buildable.
Editing always happens on the variant's Bill of Materials tab; these directories are for reviewing and building across the whole catalog.
Need help?
If you have questions or run into anything unexpected, reach out to our support team.