There is no inherent limit on the size of the problem that can be handled with the BOM procedure. The number of items and relationships are constrained only by the amount of memory available. Naturally, there needs to be a sufficient amount of core memory available in order to invoke and initialize the SAS System. As far as possible, the procedure attempts to store all the data in core memory.

However, if the problem is too large to fit in core memory, the procedure resorts to the use of utility data sets and swaps between core memory and utility data sets as necessary, unless the NOUTIL option is specified. The procedure uses the NPARTS= and NRELTS= options to determine approximate problem size. If these options are not specified, the procedure estimates default values on the basis of the number of observations in the Product Structure and Part Master data sets. See the section PROC BOM Statement for default specifications.

The storage requirement for the data area and the time required by the procedure are proportional to the numbers of items and parent-component relationships in the problem.