The top level item, (the one you should enter in OE) is a feature/option item, must have an end item code of F and it cannot have a bill of material.
The options of this item, as created in BOM feature/opt config maintenance, can have a BOM.
When you enter the OE Order, you must pick all your options. As a result, a "captured" bill of material is created on-the-fly. At the end of the order, this is taken one step farther and an unreleased POP or SFC order is created for you to manufacture the item, and of course it includes the captured bill with the options chosen at time of customer order entry.
So in your case, are there any options besides the _BOM required option? If not, then you should just use the _Bom item in all cases. I would like to know the reasoning for using FO items if there is only one option and it is required.
If there are more options, but the parts in the _BOM option are common to every configuration, then this approach makes perfect sense.
I hope that helps.
By the way, you should never get rid of Macola demo data. If something does not work properly in your data, Exact Tech support will often tell you to try it in demo data, and unless you can reproduce the issue in demo data, they may conveniently wash their hands of the issue, and blame it on your data, not their program. (Also, to be fair, many times, they are right).
So tell your IT people to keep this very small database on your server for this reason.
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