If you try to change the status of an item from active to inactive where that item is a component of an obsolete BOM it returns and error message: A BOM exists for the item. It cannot be marked as inactive Problem: leaving this item as active potentially allows it to be used as a component for another BOM in the future, so by definition this is wrong! Proposed Solution: if you allow that change it to inactive it would resolve this potential problem. The only workaround at the moment is to add in the item description DO NOT USE to prevent it.
We also perceive this as a problem and as a temporary solution we decided to prefix items' name with ZZZ ("DO NOT USE" takes up too many characters); we then excluded the items containing ZZZ from the stock take lists and stock listing.
Deletion of BoMs or any records is not a good practice and should not be recommended as a workaround.
I think this needs to be approached from a number of angles and the fix should address the following:
1) item is a component of an active BoM - user should be presented with a warning, unable to deactivate the item until the BoM the item appears in, is made inactive and/or retired;
2) item is a component of an obsolete BoM - user should be able to deactivate the item;
3) item is a product of an active BoM - as per pt 1;
4) item is a product of an inactive/retired BoM - as per pt 2.