Sounds pretty straight-forward, except for how you plan to display the data in Excel...but I'll leave that to you.

With the information you provided, and some assumptions, I believe you need at least 4 tables (which can all be within 1 Database if you wish). Each table will be related to the next with a one-to-many relationship.

Picture an outline, where the first topic is the first table, then each subsequent table is a subtopic of the previous one.

I would create the highest level table as EQUIPMENT.DBF, with a field "equip_id" to identify each item in the table (primary key). Also, include a field "config_id" for relating to the next table, which I would call CONFIGURATION.DBF. Within this table, have a primary key called "config_id". Also, include a key for relating to the next table, which I would call ASSEMBLY.DBF - and name the field "assmbly_id". In the ASSEMBLY table, have a primary key called "assmbly_id" and another field relating it to the last table, which I would call "detail_id". The fourth table would be ASSEMBLY_DETAIL.DBF. This table would have a primary key called "detail_id".

After the tables are set up, you can open them, starting with the fourth through the first, using the primary key as the index tag. Then, set a relationship from the 3rd to 4th, then 2nd to 3rd, then 1st to 2nd. Now the tables can be used in forms with grids showing the one-to-many relationships, etc.

Good luck - Victor