Editing Multi-Level BOMs on Open Production Orders

Customer-driven changes to subassembly revisions often arrive after a production order is already open. When those subassemblies are part of a multi-level BOM and behave like phantoms, there may be no separate suborder to edit. Without the right tool, your team can be forced to rebuild the order, risking errors and lost time on the shop floor.

Cetec ERP includes an Add Multi-level BOM button on production orders that lets you re-commit a multi-level BOM to an existing order line. This gives you a controlled way to update phantom subassembly revisions while keeping the original order and pick list intact.

How the Add Multi-level BOM Button Works

In Cetec ERP version 3.9 and later, the Add Multi-level BOM button appears on a production order when you add a Build line for a BOM-driven part. The button gives you another opportunity to drive the full multi-level BOM through the Commit to Order screen and decide, for each subassembly, whether it should be built as a suborder, pulled from stock, or included With Top.

Once a Build line is present, using Add Multi-level BOM opens a window where you can review the subassemblies that belong to that BOM and adjust how Cetec ERP treats each one on the order.

Understanding With Top and Phantom Subassemblies

When you place an order for a multi-level BOM in Cetec ERP, the Commit to Order screen asks how to handle subassemblies. You can choose to build them on separate production orders, pull them directly from stock, or include them With Top. With Top means the components for that subassembly are rolled into the pick list for the top-level assembly and processed together, so no separate suborder is created.

Phantom BOMs and other subassemblies that run With Top are common in many manufacturing environments. The tradeoff is that, because there is no suborder, you cannot later use the Change Rev feature on a subassembly. The revision effectively lives inside the committed BOM structure tied to the top-level order line.

If a customer or engineering team asks you to change the revision of a phantom subassembly after the order has been committed, you need a way to re-apply the multi-level BOM so that the updated revision is captured on the open order.

Step-by-Step: Update a Phantom Subassembly Revision

Consider a production order where a subassembly was originally committed as a phantom, With Top. A customer now wants that subassembly built at a different revision, and there is no suborder available for a simple revision change. In this case, you can re-add the top-level assembly and use Add Multi-level BOM to introduce the new revision.

First, navigate to the order edit screen and add a new line for the same top-level assembly that is already on the order. On this new line, select the updated revision of the BOM part that you need to produce.

Set the transaction code on this new line to Build so Cetec ERP knows to create manufacturing demand from this order line. When you save the line with the updated revision and Build transcode, the Add Multi-level BOM button becomes available for that line.

Click Add Multi-level BOM to open the commit window. Cetec ERP lists the subassemblies from the BOM and lets you choose, for each, whether to build it, pull it from stock, or include it With Top on the new line that uses the updated revision.

For the phantom subassembly that needs a revision change, select With Top again so it remains a phantom related to the top-level assembly. Commit the order from this window. The updated revision of the phantom subassembly is now reflected in the order and its pick list, without requiring you to rebuild the entire job from scratch.

When to Use the Add Multi-level BOM Workflow

Use this approach when a subassembly committed With Top needs a revision change on an open order and there is no suborder available for direct editing. It is especially useful for phantom BOMs, where you expect the work to remain embedded under the top-level assembly but still need to honor a new revision from the customer or engineering team.

If the subassembly exists on its own production order, you can typically use the Change Rev feature on that suborder instead. The Add Multi-level BOM button is most valuable when the original configuration prevented that option and you need a controlled way to realign the BOM structure with current requirements.

Key Takeaways

• Subassemblies committed With Top behave like phantoms and do not create separate suborders for revision changes.
• The Add Multi-level BOM button appears on Build lines for BOM-driven parts in Cetec ERP and lets you re-open the commit process for that structure.
• Re-adding the top-level assembly with a new revision and committing With Top again updates the phantom subassembly revision on the open order.
• Using this workflow helps your team handle late BOM changes without rebuilding jobs or disrupting production schedules.

Conclusion

Revision changes on multi-level BOMs are a normal part of production, but they can complicate open orders when subassemblies are modeled as phantoms. The Add Multi-level BOM button in Cetec ERP gives you a practical way to re-commit the BOM and update phantom subassembly revisions while keeping your order structure, pick list, and customer expectations aligned.