The sales configurator in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central lets you change a bill of material directly on a sales order and then build the production order hierarchy afterwards. You start by substituting items and components at the top level, then drill down to create the subordinate orders. The system carries your changes through to every level of the hierarchy.
You can adjust the bill of material on a specific production order to match a customer’s requirement. For example, you can add extra lamps, change the number of front wheels, or delete components you do not need.
You can also make changes at lower levels of the hierarchy, not just the top. This means you can build your own order hierarchies directly on the orders and get an overview of them.
Changing the bill of material directly on a sales order
When you use the sales configurator, you can substitute the item at the top level along with its components, and then drill down the hierarchy afterwards. In practice, this means you can create a production order from a sales order without unfolding the hierarchy first.
Once the production order exists, you navigate into it and change the bill of material. You adjust the components on that specific production order based on what the customer needs. Maybe you need three lamps. Maybe you need four front wheels for some reason, and you do not need any back wheels at all, so you delete that line. The point is that you change the bill of material on the top level before anything else happens.
Creating the order hierarchy after the changes
After you adjust the top-level bill of material, you create the order hierarchy. The system drills down and creates the subordinate orders, and it takes your changes into account along the way.
When you view the hierarchy afterwards, you can see the effect directly. The quantities on some items are higher than usual because they were drilled down with the changes you made. The adjustments at the top flow correctly into the components below.
Making changes at lower levels of the hierarchy
The flexibility is not limited to the top level. You can work with hierarchies further down as well, which means you can change items at lower levels too. This lets you build your own hierarchies directly on the orders and keep an overview of the whole structure.
Q&A
Can you create a production order from a sales order without unfolding the hierarchy first?
Yes. You can create the production order from the sales order without unfolding the hierarchy, then navigate into the production order to change the bill of material before drilling down.
What happens to your changes when you drill down the order hierarchy?
The system takes your changes into account when it creates the subordinate orders. You will see this in the hierarchy, for example as higher quantities on the items you adjusted.
Can you change components at lower levels of the hierarchy, or only at the top?
You can change components at both the top level and at lower levels of the hierarchy, so you can build your own order hierarchies directly on the orders.