BOO Who? Turning Bills of Operations into Real Routes in D365 F&O

If someone in the plant tells you to update the BOO, they do not mean Halloween decor. They mean the sequence of steps, machines, and time that actually make the thing. In D365 F&O, that is your routing. Same concept, different label.

What people mean by “BOO”

“Bill of Operations” is classic MRP language for the operation steps and resource needs to produce a product. In D365 F&O, you build that with:

• Operations: your reusable step library

• Routes: the ordered list of steps

• Resources and resource groups: people and machines that do the work

• Route groups: posting, costing, and scheduling behavior

• Route versions: site, dates, and from-quantity control

Think of BOO as the idea. Route is the actual object you configure and use.

The D365 translation cheat sheet

• BOO term: Route

• Operation step: Route line that references an Operation

• Work center or machine: Resource or Resource group

• Costing and ledger behavior: Route group

• Effectivity and site: Route version on the released product

• Material timing by step: Operation link on BOM or Formula lines

Where to click

• Operations: Production control → Setup → Routes → Operations

• Route groups: Production control → Setup → Routes → Route groups

• Resources: Production control → Setup → Resources → Resources / Resource groups

• Routes: Production control → Setup → Routes → Routes

• Attach to item: Product information management → Released products → Engineer tab → Route versions (Approve and Activate)

Quick win setup checklist

1. Calendars, resource groups, resources, cost categories

   1. Cost categories on resources drive labor and machine costs. Forget these and your time is “free” on paper.

2. Operations master

   1. Create the common steps with default runtimes and default cost categories.

3. Route groups

   1. Decide what posts to WIP, whether to backflush time, and how scheduling behaves.

4. Routes

   1. Build the sequence. Assign resources or groups. Use realistic run times and setup times.

5. Route versions

   1. Create the version for the correct site, set From quantity and dates, then Approve and Activate.

How BOO maps across manufacturing types

• Discrete: Route + BOM.

• Process: Route + Formula. You can still link materials to an operation so consumption happens at the right step.

• Lean: No Route object. Use Production flows with activities, then link items via Kanban rules. Treat the flow like a route because that is exactly how it operates.

Scheduling choices that actually matter

• Operation scheduling: fast, good for rough cut capacity and promise dates.

• Job scheduling: detailed, includes setup, run, overlap, and queue. Use at bottlenecks where sequence matters.

  
  
  
  

Use overlap and transfer batch only after you measure real lead time impact.

Costing choices that bite people later

• Cost categories on resources drive labor and machine cost.

• Route group decides whether time posts to WIP, which accounts move, and whether you backflush.

  
  

Roll to standard cost or run actual with eyes open. Align Finance up front so ledger entries match expectations.

Lean bridge for BOO fans

In Lean, your “BOO” is the production flow. Model process and transfer activities with takt and capacity. Use Kanban rules to connect items to that flow. Same thinking as routes, different screens.

Dad joke

I asked my router for directions. It said take the next operation and queue right.

See you on the shop floor, not the haunted house.

DynamicsDad