SharePoint · .NET and ASP.NET · Automotive

SharePoint and ASP.NET product costing tool for bills of materials

A product costing tool for an automotive component maker. Product teams raise costing requests with a bill of materials, the costing team prices every line at the lowest landed cost, and the costing head reviews and signs off.

Client: An automotive component manufacturer with product teams and a central costing team
Industry: Automotive
Platform: SharePoint, .NET and ASP.NET

01The challenge

Costing a new product meant working through a bill of materials line by line in spreadsheets. Quotes from different manufacturers were compared by hand, the lowest landed cost was hard to prove, and the costing head reviewed files sent by email. There was no single place to see which requests were waiting.

02The solution

We built the tool on SharePoint Online, with ASP.NET for the costing screens. A requester creates a costing request with project details, five year volumes and the bill of materials. The BOM is checked against the component and manufacturer database, and errors go back to the requester with an error file. The costing team compares landed costs from up to five manufacturers and up to three alternates per line, and the tool picks the lowest cost by default. The PCC head approves the result or sends it back for re-costing, and the approved costing is published with a full audit trail and an Excel export.

How a costing request moves from request to publication

Request createdThe requester fills in basic information, project details with currencies and exchange rates, five year volumes and target dates, then uploads the bill of materials. The assigned costing team is set from the product family.
BOM checkedThe bill of materials is checked against the component and manufacturer database when the request is created. If checks fail, the status becomes BOM Error, an error file lists each issue, and the requester uploads a corrected file. Drafts can be saved before submission.
Initial reviewThe costing team reviews the request and the component details, then accepts the request, raises a query or closes it.
Costing runRun Costing fetches landed cost for up to five manufacturers per component and selects the lowest. Alternate Search adds up to three alternates, and the total BOM cost updates as selections change.
Choice and remarksThe team can pick a different manufacturer for any line and add remarks per component. Colours show the current choice, the lowest cost and, on re-costing, the earlier choice.
Submit for approvalWhen costing is complete, the team submits the request. Its status changes to Under PCC Head Review.
Head reviewThe PCC head approves the costing, which publishes it, or rejects it and sends it back to the costing team for re-costing.
Published and exportedThe status becomes Costing Published, the full history stays in the audit trail, and the whole request can be exported to Excel in several sheets. A requester can withdraw a request before it is published.

Screens from the system

Sample data only. These screens show the layout and flow, not real records.

Screen 1 of 8Built for this client

Home dashboard

Project counts and a list of requests with their status.

What we built

Request formBasic information, project details, five year volumes with peak and series totals, target dates and BOM upload, with draft saving.
BOM validationChecked on create, with an error file and a red error panel. The requester fixes the file and uploads it again.
Role dashboardsSeparate dashboards for the requester, the costing team, the PCC head and an admin with view-only access. Each shows summary cards and All, Pending and Completed tabs.
Landed cost comparisonUp to five manufacturers per line, plus up to three alternates from the database, with the lowest landed cost selected automatically.
Costing tableQuoted part number, make, base price, currency, landed cost, BOM cost, supplier, MOQ, SPQ, lead time, quote reference and validity for each quote.
Re-costing loopWhen the PCC head rejects a request, the earlier selection stays visible in blue while the costing team changes it and recalculates.
Audit trailEvery request page shows the stage history with timestamps, user remarks and the action taken at each step.
Excel exportThe complete request downloads as an Excel file in several sheets, including the final BOM costing.

Built with SharePoint · ASP.NET · Email notifications

The result

Four roles: requester, costing team, PCC head and a view-only admin
Up to eight manufacturer options per component, five from the BOM and three alternates
Lowest landed cost selected automatically, and changed by hand when needed
BOM errors caught at request creation, with an error file to fix them