The sales configurator in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central lets you produce configurable items with different bills of materials directly from a sales order. You start from a base item bill of material and adjust it per order. You do not create new master data or new bills of materials to do this.
You unfold the bill of material hierarchy on the sales order and change it for that specific order only. You can substitute items based on master data information, so each customer gets a unique bundle of components without new item numbers or new BOM hierarchies in your base setup.
This keeps your master data manageable. You avoid creating item numbers that you only use once.
Producing configurable items from a base bill of material
With the sales configurator, you can produce configurable items with different bills of materials based on a single base item bill of material. The key point is that you do this without creating new master data and without creating new bills of materials for every variation.
Everything happens directly on the sales order. You unfold the bill of material and change the hierarchy from there, or you change it only within the specific order you have created.
Changing and unfolding the bill of material hierarchy on the sales order
Once you have built the hierarchy, you can enter the order, make your changes, and unfold further down the structure based on those changes. The adjustments apply to that order without touching your underlying setup.
You can also substitute items based on master data information. For one customer, you might produce with a specific bundle of components that is unique to that customer. You handle this on the order itself, so you do not need to create new hierarchies of bills of materials and items in your base setup.
Why this approach keeps master data under control
The reason for working this way is to avoid having too many master data records to keep track of. Every new item number and every new bill of material adds to what you have to overview and maintain.
By configuring on the sales order, you avoid creating item numbers that you only use once. Your base setup stays clean while you still deliver customer-specific configurations.
Q&A
Do you need to create new master data to configure items with the sales configurator?
No. You produce configurable items with different bills of materials based on a base item bill of material, without creating new master data or new bills of materials.
Where do you change the bill of material with the sales configurator?
You change it directly on the sales order. You can unfold the bill of material and change the hierarchy, or change it only within the specific order you have created.
Can you give a customer a unique bundle of components?
Yes. You can substitute items based on master data information, so one customer is produced with a specific bundle of components unique to them. You do not need new bill of material hierarchies or items in your base setup to do this.
Why use the sales configurator instead of creating new item numbers?
It keeps your master data manageable. You avoid having too many records to overview and you avoid creating item numbers that you only use once.