Introduction

Bill of Materials (BOM) is a key source of data used by Makersite to create the Digital Twin of your product. This article explains how to import the sample BOM into Makersite, find and edit unmapped components against Makersite datasets, and open the product datasheet.

Import a BOM

In this case, we're using a sample file which is compliant with Makersite BOM importer. For information about how to prepare your own BOM files, see the How to Prepare BOM Files article.

Download the sample Ball Pen BOM file. Note that the file is in the .csv (Excel) format - this is a requirement.
Select Additional Makersite Tools > Importer from the pop-up window.
Select Bill of Materials from the list.
Drag and drop the file onto the Makersite page or click Upload File to open the upload dialog.

Once the file has completed uploading, Makersite asks you to enter the Product Category for your product. Skip it for the time being and proceed directly to reviewing the imported dataset list. Further information on Product Category Rules for automating Life Cycle Assessments can be found here.

Makersite now indicates which of the imported datasets are mapped and which are not. The unmapped datasets are shown in the list by default.

The toggle on the upper left corner allows you to see which of the imported datasets are mapped against which Makersite data. The automatically mapped datasets can be manually adjusted if required.

Typically, the AI of Makersite is trained to identify matches to our IDO's. However, data may not be identified for several reasons before a full implementation has been completed. You need to manually assign Makersite data to the unmapped datasets in this case.

Map BOM Items to Datasets

In the Ball Pen BOM example, the Ball, Socket and Grip datasets have no material assigned and therefore cannot be automatically mapped in Makersite.

To manually map a component from the BOM to a Makersite dataset, first select whether the data is going to be Alternative or Composition mapped, for this example click the toggle to set Composition.

More information about the differences between the two categories can be found in the Alternative vs. Composition Dataset Mapping FAQ article.
Once the data type has been set, click in the area where Search for product group is shown to open the search drop-down where Makersite lists suggestions automatically.
Type the material, product group, process, substance or resource name into this box and Makersite will populate the drop-down with the closest matches based on your specific search.
Select the desired material, or the closest match to the specific material required. For this example, type Latex into the search box, and then select Latex from Source: EcoInvent.
Now finalize the mapping in accordance to the material description in the Ball Pen BOM. Set Socket to Brass and Ball to Steel (unalloyed).
Check that the factor suits the units of the imported dataset. We have imported the Grip dataset which is in grams. The Makersite dataset is in kg by default. Therefore, s conversion factor of 0.001 is automatically applied.
Use the Save button at the top of the page to save any changes at regular intervals to avoid data loss. If the import BOM is particularly large, the save may take a few seconds to complete. Saving is finished when the Save icon has greyed out and the number of Items Mapped indicator next to the toggle has stopped counting up.
Once you have finished the mapping for all components, click on the Open DPM icon above the list, this completes the BOM import process into Makersite and takes you to the Dynamic Performance Modelling page, which is an overview of the key performance aspects of your product.

Note: It might be that the importer will ask to match single materials and parts. This situation might occur if new part or material names have been added after the implementation project was conducted by Makersite. These materials will require mapping. Please refer to Step 4 in this tutorial.

Where Did My Data Go?

Please check the table below for an overview of where the data from your BOM can be found in Makersite.

BOM Column	Makersite location
Level	This field tells Makersite how products relate to each other (for example a car would be level 0, engine could be level 1, engine block could be level 2, and so on). This relation is represented in the product model.
Name	Makersite creates or looks up Product Groups based on Name column in the BOM. Name can represent a Product Group or a Product, depending on data found in the import file for a given row.
Amount	Amount of a given product. Shows under the Process associated with a Product group, under Compose > Outputs > Amount.
Unit	Found under Analyze > Information > Unit
mpn	Represents a part from the supplier perspective. Found under Analyze > Information > MPN Identifier
part_number	Represents a part from the perspective of company using Makersite. Found under Analyze > Information > Part Number.
material / prop_material	Represents material the product is made of. `prop_material` is a special case used for IMDS import.
Synonym	Found under Analyze > Product Datasheet > Information > Synonyms
CAS	Found under Analyze > Information > CAS Nr.
guid	Found under Analyze > Information > guid
material	Found under Analyze > Additional Properties > Material
geo	Found under Analyze > Information > Geography
weight / prop_weight	If set, it is used as the source of truth at all times and not subject to recalculations based on input weights. weight refers to the row weight. That is, the total weight for that row when taking into consideration the amount/quantity. The net weight per unit is then calculated as prop_weight/amount on Makersite during the import process. Found under Analyze > Product Datasheet > BOM Import > Weight
unit of weight	Found under Analyze > Product Datasheet > BOM Import > Weight Unit
role	Coming soon
supplier	Found under Compose > Products > Products (column) - supplier is added to product name
min proportion	Relevant for chemical substances (works only with CAS), used to define BOM item compliance with regulations known to Makersite.
max proportion	Relevant for chemical substances (works only with CAS), used to define BOM item compliance with regulations known to Makersite.
description	Found under Analyze > Information > Description
min_price	Found under Analyze > Price Distribution
max_price	Found under Analyze > Price Distribution
product category	Found under Analyze > Information > Product Category. Note that without a UNSPSC product category, it's not possible to create life cycle models for a product group, and therefore not possible to generate a PEF/EPD score.
shift type	Shifts show up as part of the Process under Compose > Description > Costing Options > Operational Parameters > Shifts
prop_fte_op	FTE information shows up as part of the Process under Compose > Description > Costing Options > Personnel > FTE Operation
prop_skill_op	Skill level information shows up as part of the Process under Compose > Description > Costing Options > Personnel > Skill level (Operation)
machinery description	Machinery information shows up as part of the Process under Compose > Description > Costing Options > General > Machine
batch setup time (unit)	Setup time shows up as part of the Process under Compose > Description > Costing Options > Operational Parameters > Setup Time (s)
manufacturing	Coming soon
other custom columns	Custom columns are added to the Product Group under Analyze > Product Datasheet > BOM Import > COLUMN_NAME

What's Next?

For more information on how to update an existing BOM, read the How to Update an Imported BOM article.
To gain an understanding on the significance and impact of the imported data, read about the Dynamic Performance Modelling app.