Bills of Materials
A material list on the project that your client can see, add to and approve line by line.
Bills of Materials
A bill of materials (BOM) is a list of the materials a project needs — what, how many, at what price, from which supplier — kept on the project and shared with the client, who can see it, add to it and approve or reject each line from the portal.
Open a project and choose Materials under the Delivery group. Your client finds the same lists under Materials in the portal menu.
Creating a List
Click New BOM, give it a Name (e.g. Electrical Materials) and a description. A project can carry several lists. Add Item adds a line:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Name, Description, SKU | Free text — items are not linked to your product catalogue |
| Category | Your own two-level tree, shared across every BOM in the company; managed with Categories |
| Quantity, Unit, Unit Price | The line total and the list's Est. Cost follow |
| Supplier, Supplier URL, Notes | Where it comes from |
| Product Image | Up to 5 MB, shown on the line |
The four figures at the top — Total Items, Approved, Pending, Est. Cost — and the category filter read the selected list.
Working With the Client
Everything on the list is visible in the client's portal, and the client can do the same things you can: create a list, add and edit lines, upload images. Every line shows Added By, so you can see who proposed what.
A new line starts as Suggested. Either side can Approve or Reject it with the tick and cross on the row; the line records who decided and when. Once a line is approved, the client can no longer edit or delete it — you still can.
PDF downloads the list as an A4 document grouped by category, from the project or from the portal.
A BOM is a shared list, not an order. Nothing is bought, invoiced or added to an estimate from it, and nobody is notified when a line is added or approved — agree the moment to look at it with your client.