Creating Multiple Revisions for a Single Assembly Item

While the customer has the option to use Revision Control as the Effective BOM Control for Assembly Items there is no current documentation of to maximize the use of this feature.

This will be very helpful for clients with assembly items with several versions (revisions) composed of default components plus special/seasonal components.
--- No need to manually edit the work orders to include or exclude seasonal components
--- No need to create several assembly records to cover different variations

 

To Illustrate:

An events organizer can have a basic party package that has seasonal promotions:

Default Assembly Item - Party Package

Versions: (Seasonal promos)
Party Package - Food Cart
Party Package - Magic Show
Party Package - Food Cart and Magic Show

	Revision Type**	Food Cart component	Magic Show component
Party Package	Default	X	X
Party Package – Food Cart	Revision 1	Yes	X
Party Package – Magic Show	Revision 2	X	Yes
Party Package – Food Cart and Magic Show	Revision 3	Yes	Yes

SOLUTION/GOTCHA:

Prerequisites:
1. Assembly Item has Effective BOM Control = Revision Control. (Note: Once reverted to revision control, this can no longer be changed back to effective date)
2. The following features are enabled = Assembly Items, Work Orders (Set Up > Enable Features > Items & Inventory tab > Inventory heading)

Steps:
1. Edit chosen assembly record and set Effective BOM Control to Revision Control
-----a. Navigate to Lists > Accounting > Items > select assembly item > Edit record.
-----b. At the Purchasing/Inventory tab > Components subtab, select Revision Control as the Effective BOM Control.
-----c. Hit Save.
Result: This will allow the assembly to create multiple revisions.

2. Create item revisions for the chosen assembly.
-----a. Navigate to Lists > Supply Chain > Item Revisions > New
-----b. At the Item field, select the name of the assembly item.
-----c. At the Name field, type in the name of the revision.
-----d. For the effective date, set to the earliest date to maximize the date range allowed by the system as it only allows one revision per date.  If you enter a revision with an existing effective date, you will receive the prompt "The effective date of the revision must be unique for an item.  Please enter a different effective date."  The system accepts dates ranging from 01/01/1970 until 12/31/2099 (current limitation of 47,481 revisions for all assembly items based on date coverage).  You can use the earliest date available or edit any current existing revision date.
-----e. Hit Save.
Result:  This will create the various revisions for your assembly item which we will now set in the item record.
Using the example, three revisions were created (Obsolete dates are automatically populated, Default set at 01/01/1970 Effective Date):

	Name	Effective Date
Party Package – Food Cart	Revision 1	01/02/1970
Party Package – Magic Show	Revision 2	01/03/1970
Party Package – Food Cart and Magic Show	Revision 3	01/04/1970

3. Edit the assembly item record to set the effective revision and obsolete revision of the components. 
-----a. Navigate to Lists > Accounting > Items > select assembly item > Edit record.
-----b. At the Purchasing/Inventory tab > Components subtab, enter the following changes in the table:

COMPONENT LIST	EFFECTIVE REVISION	OBSOLETE REVISION
Default Component	(Default)	(Default)
Food Cart	Revision 1	Revision 1
Magic Show	Revision 2	Revision 2
Food Cart**	Revision 3	Revision 3
Magic Show**	Revision 3	Revision 3

**NOTE: If a component will be appearing in more than one revision, it has to be added in the component list FOR EACH revision it is included in.

-----c. Hit Save.

Result: When you now  create a work order for the assembly item, only the seasonal components of the selected revision will appear. 

Using the above example when you navigate to Transactions > Manufacturing > Enter Work Orders, and select the assembly = Party Package, the following components will appear :

Assembly Item: Party Package

REVISION SELECTED	DEFAULT COMPONENT	FOOD CART	MAGIC SHOW	TOTAL COMPONENTS
(None)	Yes	X	X	1
Revision 1	Yes	Yes	X	2
Revision 2	Yes	X	Yes	2
Revision 3	Yes	Yes	Yes	3

Limitations:

1. This is good for assembly items with the same selling price across revisions.  Only the cost component change depending on seasonal components' costs.  Should you wish to have different pricing levels for each revision, you can add additional price levels in the Sales/Pricing tab of the item record and select it from the sales order or invoice.
2. When the Display Components on Transactions box is checked, it will not display the components of the chosen revision, but list all components in the item record including duplicates.
3.  There are no current standard reports that will show the breakdown of quantity on hand based on revision.