# Where-Used Analysis

> Source: https://netray.co/glossary/where-used-analysis
> Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems.
> Section: Glossary

## Short answer

Where-used analysis starts from a component or raw material and lists every parent assembly and finished product whose BOM includes it, at any level, so you can see what a change or shortage will affect.

## Aliases

- where used report
- BOM implosion
- where-used inquiry

## Category

manufacturing

## Full Definition

Where-used is the reverse view of the BOM. Instead of asking what goes into this product, it asks which products use this part. It can be single level (direct parents only) or fully indented up to the end items and, in better systems, to open customer orders.

Its main job is impact analysis. Before approving an ECO, discontinuing a part, or switching a supplier, you need to know every assembly affected and whether open work orders or sales orders contain it. During a shortage or a quality escape, it identifies which products to hold, and with lot tracing, which shipped serials to recall.

ERPs expose it as an inquiry or report. Infor LN and SyteLine have where-used screens at the item level, NetSuite provides a where-used report on item records. Performance on large BOMs can be slow, which is why teams export BOM tables for analysis or put an AI layer over a read-only copy.

Accuracy depends on effectivity. A where-used that ignores date ranges overstates impact by including obsolete structures.

## Why It Matters

- It prevents changes that fix one product and break three others that share the part.
- Supplier quality alerts and recalls need fast identification of every affected product.
- Obsolescence decisions need to know whether a part is still consumed anywhere.
- It supports cost impact estimates for a price increase on a commonly used part.

## In Practice

A capacitor goes end-of-life. Where-used shows it in 14 assemblies across 6 end items, 3 of which have open orders. The team prioritizes a last-time buy sized to the demand of those 3, and schedules redesign for the rest, rather than discovering the problem one shortage at a time.

## Faq

### What is the difference between where-used and BOM explosion?

**Answer:** Explosion goes down from a parent to its components. Where-used goes up from a component to its parents.

### Should where-used include open orders?

**Answer:** For impact analysis, yes. Knowing which open work and sales orders carry the part decides how urgent a change is.

### Why is my where-used report slow?

**Answer:** Fully indented queries on large multi-level BOMs are recursive. Indexing the BOM component table or querying a reporting copy usually helps.

## Search terms

where used analysis, where used report ERP, BOM implosion, where used in BOM, component where used, impact analysis part change

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