Items are rubbish. They're a necessary evil for linking to ERP but in general they're a hindrence.
I could write a Harry Potter sized novel on how to overhaul items, but primarily the main issue I'd like to see improved right now is:
Item version visibility.
Basically, there isn't any. I could create an Item right now, spend an hour building a BOM structure, save and close it. Someone else could then open then Item, trash my BOM completely, save and close the Item. I could then open the Item, do something else in there, and anything that has happened previous to me doing something is completely lost in time. There is no traceability as to what happened prior to me just saving the Item.
I'm annoyed because this has just happened. One of my users swears blind he included a part in an Item BOM a few weeks back, this was then released and auto-flung out to ERP world. The shop orders have been raised, and there is no mention of this part, and it's quite an important part. So I look at the Item, the part isn't there. Is this user error? Did he just not include it in the first place? Did someone else delete it? Was it there for a few days but then someone removed it? Who knows!
What's that someone within Autodesk once famously said and has plastered all over their blog site? The Vault knows all? Well then feel free to share this knowledge because when something like this happens it's a frustrating mystery.
Oh, wait, there's a calendar on the BOM tab! Ahhh that must show me what the BOM state was like on a specific date! Nope. Doesn't work.
Please fix all of the above, make Items more workable.