Managing orders through a Bill of Materials (BOM) is essential for understanding how products are built, sourced, and assembled. Yet for many teams, BOMs quickly become difficult to navigate. Long tables, deeply nested components, and multiple dependency levels often turn order reviews into a slow and error-prone process.
The new BOM Graph Mode addresses this challenge by transforming complex, hierarchical BOM data into a clear and intuitive visual experience. Instead of scrolling through endless rows of parts and sub-assemblies, users can now see the entire product structure at a glance.
A Visual Representation of Product Structure
BOM Graph Mode presents materials, components, and sub-assemblies as a connected visual graph. Each node represents a part of the product, while relationships between nodes clearly show how components are linked and depend on one another.
This visual approach makes product structures immediately understandable. Users can quickly grasp how a finished product is built, which components belong together, and how changes in one part of the BOM affect the rest of the structure.
Reducing Cognitive Load When Reviewing Orders
Traditional BOM tables force users to mentally reconstruct product hierarchies from rows of data. This increases cognitive effort, especially for complex products with multiple tiers and dependencies.
By shifting from linear tables to a visual graph, BOM Graph Mode reduces this mental overhead. Relationships that were previously implicit are now explicit, helping users interpret information faster and with greater confidence. This is especially valuable during order reviews, validations, and internal discussions.
Faster Navigation Through Complex BOMs
In large BOMs, finding a specific component or understanding where it fits in the overall structure can take significant time. Graph Mode enables users to visually navigate the BOM, zoom into specific sections, and focus on relevant components without losing context.
This makes it easier to explore complex assemblies, identify critical paths, and understand upstream and downstream dependencies within an order.
Clearer Collaboration Across Teams
BOMs are often reviewed by multiple stakeholders, including sourcing, operations, sustainability, and product teams. Visual representations create a shared understanding that is easier to communicate than dense spreadsheets.
With BOM Graph Mode, teams can align more quickly during reviews, explain product structures more clearly, and reduce misunderstandings caused by misinterpreting tabular data.
Designed for Better Decision-Making
Seeing the full BOM structure at once helps teams make more informed decisions. Whether evaluating sourcing options, validating order completeness, or identifying potential risks, the visual graph provides immediate context that supports faster and more accurate judgment.
By making complexity visible and manageable, BOM Graph Mode turns the BOM from a static list into an interactive decision-support tool.
Building Toward Smarter Order Experiences
BOM Graph Mode is part of a broader effort to improve how users interact with structured product and order data across the CommonShare platform. By focusing on clarity, usability, and visual intelligence, this update lays the groundwork for more advanced workflows and deeper insights.
Conclusion
With BOM Graph Mode, CommonShare transforms how teams interact with Bills of Materials. By converting complex, hierarchical data into an intuitive visual format, this update simplifies order reviews, reduces friction, and improves understanding across teams.
BOM Graph Mode helps users move faster, collaborate better, and make confident decisions—without getting lost in rows of data.