Excel B.O.M. to generate procurement requirements

**Winon** · 09-21-2011, 01:35 PM

Hi there again all you bright fundis ! I have to build a B.O.M. to generate purchase requirements for a "Jobbing Shop" where the permutations of any order derived from the B.O.M.'s can vary up to 400 or more "combinations" PLUS any other specific requirements not specified in any existing B.O.M. ! to be added on a as and when occurrence.

I have tried various approaches, without success, and would like to know if anyone of you could help me with a sample of anything similar accomplished in Excel? Is it at all possible?

With great appreciation, best of all, to all of you!

**Andrew-R** · 09-21-2011, 02:25 PM

Can Excel do this? Yes, almost certainly - but that's the answer to most questions about software you could ask. This is a judgement call between what's practicable and what's practical.

I'd say your starting point would be to build a table of basic components, which you'd then probably use to build a table of sub-assemblies, which would then feed into a standard BOM table and you'd have to construct some sort of user-interface to interrogate/update the whole lot.

You're likely to hit issues with Excel not being either a robust data validation utility nor a 'proper' multi-user application and you're probably looking at weeks of coding and development effort.

It's hard to imagine a scenario where it wouldn't be a good deal less painful and cheaper (in the long-run) for you to just go out and buy an off-the-shelf MRP or ERP package.

That said, if you want to try to do it in Excel I'm sure people on here will help you with specific issues that arise (and I can think of a dozen or so likely ones without even having to scratch my head), but you're not likely to get the whole thing written for you, sorry.