Visio - Building a template (4 of 8)

If you read my previous post of Visio Borders then you already know that Visio is my only skill. This isn't a Visio tutorial though. It is a recommendation on how to create a visio template to save you time and give your diagrams a more professional look. Once you have the basics you can change this to fit your specific individual or organizational needs.

This post is about creating a document with a bill of materials tab.

What is a Bill of materials tab?

A Bill of Materials (BOM) or an Equipment Order List (EOL) are two phrases to show what has been ordered or is required to complete a project. If you have a larger project it can be helpful to include this information to answer questions about equipment types and quantities.

Why add a BOM/EOL tab?

This is a simple list of the items you have purchased or plan to purchase to support your project. It can include the physical hardware, software, licensing, connectors, cable plant equipment, racks, etc.

What is in my BOM/EOL block?

First create a new tab, 'Bill of Materials', with the same background as the revisions tab. Add a title block at the top and a similar text block for the materials themselves. Now you can quickly add the materials on the left side and the quantities, price, discount, etc. on the right side.

Final Bill of Materials block example

Alternative Solutions

If you have a long BOM you may find that a single page doesn't suite your needs. Or you may have a complex BOM that you'd prefer to keep in the original format. In these cases I recommend that you save them to PDF. Save your diagrams as PDF. Then append your BOM to your diagrams. This is one way to keep your relevant documentation together.

Wrapping Up

We are done with the Bill of Materials block. Next up is a technical service description. Hopefully you can begin to see how this template is coming together so that you aren't reinventing the wheel with each project or diagram you create.

Reference documents

Source files

Visio - Revisions Block

Other Pages

• Visio - Building a Template (1 of 8) Basic Border, Page Size, Scaling
• Visio - Building a Template (2 of 8) Title Block
• Visio - Building a Template (3 of 8) Revisions Block
• Visio - Building a Template (4 of 8) Bill of Materials
• Visio - Building a Template (5 of 8) Technical Service Description
• Visio - Building a Template (6 of 8) Stencils
• Visio - Building a Template (7 of 8) Templates
• Visio - Building a Template (8 of 8) Bringing it All Together