With the button Add altrn. material located in the Recipe sup-tab, users have the ability to add alternative material to a recipe. This feature works in conjunction with the Related Components button in the Master Data module which contains the predefined alternative materials associated with the component. Therefore, the alternative materials must first be assigned in Related Components before they can be added to a recipe.
1. Assigning Material in Master Data (Version 11.4 onward)
To define alternative material in Master Data, first go to the Definition tab and click on the 
icon in the taskbar.
In the new dialog, click Add.
When the dialog pops up, scroll through or filter the materials to choose your material and click Apply at the bottom. After the dialog is closed, the material will display as a related component. You can add more components or delete them as needed.
Assigning Material in Master Data (Earlier versions of SpecPDM)
To define alternative material in Master Data, first go to the Definition tab and click on the Related Components button.
Some material may already be listed, but more can be added using the Insert button located at the bottom left screen.
When the dialog pops up, scroll through or filter the materials to choose your material and click Apply at the bottom. After the dialog is closed, the material will display as a related component. You can insert more components or delete them as needed.
2. Adding Material in Recipe
Next, go to the Recipe sub-tab in the Recipe module and right click on the component you wish to add the material to. The right-click menu will display a command which reads Add/Del alternative material to recipe.
Click it to open a new dialog and then click the Add altern. material button.
The alternative material that you defined in Master Data will display automatically, at which point you can close the window. The original list of ingredients will show the alternative material that you have just added to the component. You will find it directly below the associated component.
You may also choose to use the Add material button. Click this button to access a list of Master Data components from which you can choose to add. You can scroll through the general main page of components, or adjust your search for more focused results.
1.Filter your search by placing check marks in their relevant boxes, and/or by selecting various aspects in the selection lists.
2.Search your desired component by typing in its name or keyword.
3.Filter the results by their Control Status.
4.Once you have found your desired component, click Apply to add it to the original ingredient in the recipe.
Upon closing the dialog, you will see the added component appear in the same manner as the Add altrn. material function.
If you want to delete the material, you must take similar steps. Right-click on the original component and select Add/Del alternative material to recipe. The same dialog will appear, but this time you must click the Delete material button.
Once the button is clicked and the dialog is closed, the alternative material will no longer display in the original list of ingredients.
3. Reporting
In the Reporting module, users can also choose to display a recipe's alternative material so that it is different from the other ingredients in the recipe. The alternative material, which will be marked in the Recipe module by its italic font, will also print in this same font to create the distinction between original and alternative ingredients.
