> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.prodexlabs.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# BOMs & Configuration Overview

> How BOMs, the Configurator, configuration templates, and configurations fit together.

## Overview

Product structure in ProDex is captured across two related surfaces:

* **[BOMs](/product/bom)** — the production recipes for every item you make or buy: a directed acyclic graph of parents and components that the [planning optimizer](/product/planning-overview) relies on to translate finished-good demand into upstream production and raw-material procurement. (Resource requirements aren't carried on the BOM itself — they're declared per-BOM on the [planning model](/product/planning-models).) BOMs live on the **BOMs & Supply** page.
* **The [Configurator](/product/configurator)** — how you handle configure-to-order products: walk an option tree, make selections, pin per-material attribute values, and land a concrete parts list for one specific order. Templates and their configurations live side by side on the **Configurator** page.

## The Four Artifacts

| Artifact                                                       | What it is                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | Where it fits                                                                                                                                    |
| -------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Entity**                                                     | A product family — a name plus attributes describing how members of the family can differ. Entities live in one factory-scoped registry; a BOM, template, or [simulation](/product/simulation-overview) model node all reference the same entity by its slug. | The single unit that BOMs, templates, planning inputs, and simulation nodes all point at.                                                        |
| **[BOM](/product/bom)**                                        | A production recipe for one entity: parent + components + per-unit quantities, optionally narrowed to part of the entity's configuration space by variant conditions. A BOM with no components is a leaf — typically a raw material or purchased part.        | Read by the planning optimizer to derive production and procurement; the per-BOM resource requirements it pairs with live on the planning model. |
| **[Configuration Template](/product/configuration-templates)** | The possibility space for a configurable product — every option class, every material, every valid nested decision. Authored once per product line.                                                                                                           | Drives the Configurator. Not read by planning or simulation directly.                                                                            |
| **[Configuration](/product/configurations)**                   | A saved walk through one template for one real-world order. An identity-only container whose state lives on a chain of immutable revisions.                                                                                                                   | The output of a Configurator run. Its resolved parts list feeds downstream steps (quotes, planning demand) manually or via a pipeline.           |

## When to Use Which

* **Flat recipe, no per-order decisions** — author it as a **BOM**. If the product varies along a small number of attributes with a fixed recipe per combination, use one entity with [variant BOMs](/product/bom#variant-conditions).
* **Per-order choices with cascading structure** (roof type, engine option, accessories, cross-class rules) — author a **Configuration Template** and run the [Configurator](/product/configurator) per order. The template captures the space; each order writes a configuration under it.
* **A configurable product line that also feeds planning** — do both. Author the template for the customer-facing decision walk, and author BOMs for the material flow the optimizer needs. The two are not automatically linked — see the handoff notes below.

<Tip>
  If you find yourself wanting to use a template directly in a planning model, that's the signal you actually need a BOM. Templates describe what a product *can* be; BOMs describe how it *is* made.
</Tip>

## Exploring the Structure

From the BOMs page you can drill down through any assembly to its raw-material leaves, or run **where-used** up from any BOM to see every parent that consumes it. Both directions — including running them through [Dexter](/product/ai-assistant) — are covered in [BOM Explosion & Where-Used](/product/bom-explosion).

## Planning and Simulation Handoff

* **[Planning](/product/planning-overview)** reads BOMs directly. Every [planning model](/product/planning-models) carries an explicit BOM list — BOMs outside that list are invisible to the model.
* **[Simulation](/product/simulation-overview)** references entities through model nodes. Neither BOMs nor templates flow into a simulation model automatically.
* **Configurations do not auto-create demand orders.** A completed revision's resolved parts list is available for you (or a [pipeline](/product/templates)) to hand off into [planning demand](/product/demand-and-supply) as a distinct step.

<Note>
  Dexter gives you natural-language access to all of the above: ask it to explode a BOM, run where-used, walk a Configurator turn, or reconfigure a completed configuration.
</Note>

## Where to Read Next

* [Bills of Materials](/product/bom) — the BOM graph, variant conditions, material classification, and how BOMs feed planning
* [BOM Explosion & Where-Used](/product/bom-explosion) — walking the graph in either direction
* [Configurator](/product/configurator) — the end-to-end run workflow with gated decisions
* [Configuration Templates](/product/configuration-templates) — authoring the possibility space
* [Configurations](/product/configurations) — the saved per-order results and their revision chains