Hi,
I am currently building a model for production planning, which is largely based on the Bill of Material (BOM) of the different products. I have previously discussed other topics regarding this in this thread.
I have however another question which it would be great to get some input on, namely how to build the BOM structure in Anaplan. It is a multi-level BOM, with a maximum of 9 levels. The highest level is the product itself, and then each BOM level (L1 -> L9) can be either raw material (RM) or Sub-assembly (SA). An SA always have a level below it, consisting of either another SA or RM. RM is always found at the lowest level. The hierarchy is very ragged, meaning that one product could go down to L9 level, while another only goes down to L2. Further, let's assume that product A consists of SA_1 and SA_2 on L1. It could be the case that SA_1 is only RM_1 and RM_2 on L2 level, while SA_2 is SA_3 and RM_3 on L2 level, and SA_2 is RM_4 and RM_5 on L3 level, as can be seen in the table below.
Product A | | | |
L1 | SA_1 | | |
L2 | | RM_1 | |
L2 | | RM_2 | |
L1 | SA_2 | | |
L3 | | SA_3 | |
L4 | | | RM_4 |
L4 | | | RM_5 |
L3 | | RM_3 | |
That is, different SA can go to different levels.
As far as I can tell, there are two ways of doing this structure in Anaplan, and I see issues with both of them.
Alternative 1 - Using composite list
This is the way I currently have the model set up. I have my product list, and then I have L1, L2... --> L9, with the different list being parents to the other ones. Now to the problem. Let's say that I want a module where I calculate the entire material cost for a product. I can do lookups in another list to get the cost, but as seen in the table above, the RM-items are all on different levels. So what should the dimension of my module be? If I select L9, I only capture the RMs on L9 level, and if I select L8, I only capture L8 and so on. What I would need is something like "enter a formula on L9 level and apply that formula to all levels", and as far as I can tell, that is not possible in Anaplan.
Alternative 2 - Using non-composite list
This is an option I am thinking about, namely having the entire hierarchy in the same list. There is however one problem with this, and that is that it cannot be a numbered list. As soon as I turn on the numbered list option, the hierarchy within the list disappears. And since one raw material can be used in several different levels, for example, RM_2 and RM_3 could be the same in the table above, perhaps steel, I would need to have unique names for all the items, which means it would be very strange and long names, since there will be tens of thousands of products, and multiple levels.
I am personally learning towards using the composite list, and as far as I know, this is also what Anaplan recommends. But as described, this also comes with issues. How would you guys deal with this? Any input is highly appreciated!