Example vertical: Discrete Manufacturing

This is an example, not a fact about your business. It shows the shape of a per-customer vertical doc for a manufacturing business: how the client’s everyday words map onto SAP Business One entities so Norma answers in their dialect. A real client replaces this with their own — same structure, their vocabulary. It teaches Norma the customer’s language; it does not change what Norma can do.

Who this is for

A discrete manufacturer buys raw materials and components, assembles them into finished goods (and often sub-assemblies) on production orders driven by a bill of materials, and sells the finished goods to distributors or OEM customers. Staff talk in “BOMs”, “work orders”, “WIP”, “components”, and “finished goods” — not SAP table names. Stock exists in three states (raw / in-progress / finished) and cost rolls up through the BOM. This doc records that dialect.

Vocabulary → SAP entity

Terms that need care

• A BOM is not a document you post — it’s a definition. “Make 50 Model-X” is a production order against the BOM, not editing the BOM. Norma drafts the production order; it does not rewrite the recipe.
• Three stock states. “How much stock?” is ambiguous: raw components, WIP, or finished goods. Norma asks or reads the specific item/warehouse — a finished-good count is not a component count.
• “Consume” vs “sell”. Issuing components to a production order (consume) is an internal goods movement, not a sale. Only finished goods leave via a sales document.
• Cost rolls up. The finished good’s cost derives from its components + labour/overhead in the BOM; Norma reads item cost, it does not recompute the roll-up.
• “Short on parts” means a component shortage against open production demand — a stock read against the BOM explosion, not a customer under-delivery.
• Multi-level BOMs: a sub-assembly is both a product and a component. “Do we build or buy the motor unit?” depends on whether it’s a made sub-assembly or a purchased item — read the item + its BOM.

Industry jargon

The words manufacturing staff actually use, and where each lands:

• SKU — stock-keeping unit → a SAP Item (raw, sub-assembly, or finished good).
• BOM — bill of materials → Bill of Materials (OITT): the recipe of components per finished good.
• Routing / operations — the sequence of steps to build it. SAP B1 tracks this lightly; largely operational.
• Work order / production order / job — the order to make N units → a Production Order (OWOR).
• WIP — work-in-progress → value/qty on an open production order (consumed but not yet received).
• RM / FG — raw material / finished goods → Items in raw vs finished warehouses.
• Sub-assembly / phantom — a component that is itself built; a phantom is a BOM grouping never stocked.
• MRP — material requirements planning: explode demand → components. Norma can read a BOM explosion; it doesn’t run full MRP.
• Lead time — days from order to availability. An item/supplier attribute.
• MOQ / lot size / min run — minimum quantity to purchase or produce economically. A rule on the item/BP.
• Reorder point (ROP) / safety stock — the level that triggers replenishment / the buffer. Stock heuristics.
• Yield / scrap / rework — good output % / waste / redo. Scrap is an inventory write-off (goods issue).
• Backflush — auto-consuming components when the finished good is received. A production-receipt behaviour.
• Kitting — pre-picking a set of components for a job. An internal goods movement.
• Cycle count — periodic partial stock count → inventory counting, not a sale.
• Standard cost / cost roll-up — the finished good’s cost derived from its components + overhead. Norma reads item cost; doesn’t recompute.
• Takt time / throughput — pace/rate of production. Operational KPIs, not SAP documents.

Typical asks → what Norma does

• “Do we have enough impellers to build 50 Model-X pumps?” → explode the Model-X BOM, read component stock, compare to demand.
• “Draft a production order for 50 Model-X.” → a production order against the BOM, through the review gate.
• “What raw materials are we low on?” → a stock/coverage read on component items.
• “Order more steel from the mill.” → a purchase order to the supplier BP, held for review.
• “What did we ship the Leon OEM this month?” → an A/R / delivery read on that BP.

What Norma will and won’t do here

• Will: read stock across raw/WIP/finished, explode BOMs to check component coverage, and draft production orders, purchase orders, and sales documents — with the human approving every write.
• Won’t: plan the shop-floor schedule, recompute standard cost roll-ups, or decide make-vs-buy — those are planning/costing judgements, not documents Norma posts.

Replace this file with your own vocabulary. Keep the habit — your word → the SAP entity — and note the terms that need care.