BOM Archive creates a snapshot of the entire, exploded, Bill of Materials structure (the top level of the BOM, and also the Bills of allsubassemblies), and stores it as a series of named Archived BOMs. The archival process can also capture a similar snapshot of all associated Routings (the parent routing, and all subassembly routings).
The image above shows 100XLG archived by BOM Archive. It creates an ARCH BOM named 100XLG160722 for 100XLG, and each of its subassemblies. The result is a complete copy of the entire exploded BOM at the moment the snapshot is taken. Since it is an active, ARCH BOM, it can still be used on an MO to create an assembly at a specific revision level.
This contrasts to the BOM Copy or BOM Revisioning in GP Manufacturing which capture only the top-level components.
The BOM Revision functionality in GP Manufacturing captures only the top-level BOM. As shown above, both Rev 1 and Rev 2 for 100XLG still link to the current MFG BOM for BA100G, so any changes in BA100G are incorrectly shown in this historical Rev 1 BOM.
BOM Archive can auto-generate an Archive Name using several different naming methods (such as YYYYMMDD), or you can manually enter one.