A Bill of materials (BOM) defines the material requirement for a project, specified in terms of drawings, stock or component codes, and the quantities of each item required.

A Bill of materials may be generated in total as a single BOM for the complete project, or as a number of smaller BOMs, perhaps on a discipline by discipline basis or, on a per area basis.

A BOM can be entered into QMS manually or, on larger projects, imported electronically. A combination of these two methods may also be used. As the project design and hence the BOM changes, the revised quantities can be recorded in QMS while maintaining a complete audit trail. Hence QMS facilities the management of change to the BOM throughout the project life cycle.

A single BOM typically moves through the following phases:

• Preliminary
• Intermediate
• Final
• Revised Final

QMS maintains all Bills of Materials, at all revisions, enabling historical analysis of how the BOM changes during the project.

Inquiries and Purchase Orders can be generated at any stage from a single BOM or combination of BOMs.