[PayneTrain]

A pipe dream is a construction tracker where CAD drawings of parts and assemblies are uploaded to a system and the uploader attaches a bill of materials to the part (ie what raw material or COTS component is needed to complete something). If the materials for the part are not available in the team's inventory, it sends an email to a purchasing agent of the team to add it to a purchase. When a team's usual inventory is low on something, a purchaser also receives an email to add it to a future purchase.

When a builder selects the part or assembly, the bill of materials takes the materials necessary out of the team's inventory, the system marks the part or assembly as in progress with the builder's ID attached to it, and prints the file if it's to be manually machined or assists you in handing the part over to a CNC.

The part is approved by one or two build leads and then marked as complete in the system.