The goal of this module is to allow generic BOMs on products with the help of characteristics. The typical use is garment industry with color and size as characteristics. Generic BOMs helps you to manage the variety in mass customisation or assembly-to-order activities. You can design your products easily for the MRP system and improve correctness, completness and consistancy of your technical data. Use those BOMs when you have sets of products very similar but some characteristics. Use them also to turn business characteristics of sale products into technical characteristics This module can handle unlimited number of characteristics per product, but more than 2 is usually avoided (think about a greater than 2 dimensional space...). Well known products have more: tree: bras (color and two sizes), cars (color, motor, options level), and four: windows (2 sizes, plastic/wood/aluminium, pane simple/double/double anti-reflecting ) data model: characteristic group Group of homogeneous characteristics. color, size, diameter, level, power, option, capacity... axis is the prefered axis for layout (for fixed designation in specific reports or views) characteristic blue,red, XL... magnitude should be used for sorting purpose in a group of characteristics (may be stature for sizes , hue for colors ...) on template object group of characteristics (allowed on the variants) on variant object characteristics (one for each group defined on the variant) group of the characteristics into a pool of same charateristics' type. on BOM object variation lines to modify BOM behavior. Variation variation is a rule saying how a product's characteristic modifies the BOM behavior. parent's characteristic is to say when applying this rule. product's characteristic is the component's charateristic wanted (if any) qty is the specific bom quantity if varying (overwrite the generic bom qty) (should be use as a generic qty rate if generic qty not null) exclude? is to cancel the bom line explode bom method is changed to follow variation lines on BOMs , to give the right components. example: template shirt allowed color and size characteristics product variant shirt /none/ as a generic product for the generic BOM product variant shirt red XS color red, size XS product variant shirt red XL color red, size XL product variant shirt blue XS color blue, size XS A phantom BOM is to create for each real product as an entry point of BOMs. A dummy variant with no characteristic is to create for each template product, to allow generic BOM definition on it. the generic BOM define components for the 4 variants generic BOM on the /none/ variant sub BOM fabric col red==red col blue==blue s XS qty 1 s XL qty 2 BOM button qty 8 red==grey blue==grey s XS==diam 15mm s XL==diam 20mm BOM embroidery "i love red" qty 1 col blue exclude product variant fabric /none/ color blue product variant fabric blue color blue product variant fabric red color red product variant button /none/ product variant button color grey, diameter 15mm product variant fabric blue color grey, diameter 20mm product BOM embroidery "i love red" for exemple components explosion for "shirt blue xs" give -1(m) blue fabric -8 grey button diam 15mm