Most manufacturing industries sell products that are clearly defined by their parts or product components number, but some make and sell items that have so many options or choices that a unique part number for all of them would be unmanageable.

Most obviously, when we go to buy a sofa, we are given a range of cloth types and colors to choose from, but things can get more complicated if the cushions can be turned over, we may choose to have a different color or pattern on the reverse side. And, if we look for an office chair, as well as being asked to choose a cover (material), we may be asked:

• With castors or slides?
• With or without arms?
• With or without a writing tablet?

Now we have to apply rules according to the selection; for example, if a customer chooses not to have arms, we can’t include a writing tablet because there is nothing to fix it to.

A Sales Order Configurator tool or framework has several benefits:

• As the options may have different prices, it allows the sales price to be accurately calculated,
• It ensures that the customer cannot choose a configuration that cannot be built (as we discussed above, the chair without arms and a writing tablet). This will be especially useful when customers place orders online without consulting any person.
• It allows back-to-back work orders to be raised for a specific order item. That Works Order will quote the relevant Sales Order so that the finished item can be quickly and correctly dispatched.

If you are a manufacturer using Odoo and have similar requirements, here’s how we have accomplished it:

Dynamic BOM Selection for Odoo Sales Order Creation

Often there are requirements for custom components to build the Finished Product. For that, we have added a Selection Sheet that manages Dynamic BOMs adding/removing components based on the customer’s choice.

• In an Odoo Sales Order, we have added a new section or in-line button named “Selection Sheet,” which helps segregate groups of Sales Order Line Items from each other.
• This button is only visible if the Company within which the Quotation or Sales Order exists is populated in the Sales>Configuration>Selection Sheet>Companies field.
• When clicked, a new wizard will be displayed with the fields as per the requirement. In this case, if you are placing a Sales Order for a chair with an armrest then the wizard will provide options for a writing pad/tablet and so on.
• In another case, if you are placing an order for a chair without an armrest then the wizard won’t offer component options to build a pad/tablet holder.
• Confirming or saving the Sales Order would create multiple Manufacturing Orders. Upon execution, the system shall update the product variants or quantities of the MO component to match the values from the selection sheet.

This might seem simple, but working through Dynamic BOMs can be of utmost use when product architecture becomes complex for various manufacturing industries.

If you are someone referring to similar requirements, then we can help you set up Sales Order Configurator for your system and business process.

Contact us for a free consultation or demo.