I asked Lynn this question and she thought it would be a good one for the forum:
 
Can you tell me what mechanism(s) you as small manufacturers use to manage Engineering BOMS?
 
Our company is finding that our usual Excel spreadsheet EBOMS are not sufficient for us as we continue to grow.  We have researched Product Lifecycle Management software but find the cost to be over $30,000 initial cost with additional expensive yearly subscription fees.
 
Any information is appreciated.
 

We build large assemblies in batch production runs for different models of products.  Our product is an add-on to a large piece of farm equipment.  When the major manufacturers of the farm equipment have a planned model change, our engineers are working on the new design needed to match with the OE piece of equipment.  Our batch runs are set for months in advance and they need the current manufacturing bill of materials to manufacture the product.
 
Also, since our designs morph from year to year to match the OE product, sometimes our engineers also may need to make mid-year upgrades to the current production BOM for the next production run of that model.    
 
The separation of EBOM and MBOM is an important one for us so that Engineering and Manufacturing can function in their own environment and the process moves along.

Hmmm........
Well, being in the predicament as I am guessing most DBA/EVO users are, this type of control just doesn't seem possible within the software.  We don't have the same issues, although some marginally similar ones.   What we often do is try to figure out how to make the software work for our production and documentation processes.
 
In this case the only suggestion I can think of, off the top of my head, is that you control builds by essentially using different part numbers.  An example would be - your present build is item number aaaaa-a (the -a representing the revision), the next build could be entered into the system as aaaaa-b, etc.  Each one has its own contollable BOM, but with the same parent item number up front.  
 
Not sure if this would work for you or not.  It would require a lot of careful thought up front.  

To clarify, we are looking for an answer to the EBOM management that may or may not be accomplished through Evo.
 
Hoping to hear more feedback.