A method and computer program product for securely uploading and downloading data from a client to a remote data storage location under control of a remote application program. The data is stored in encrypted form so that the data server has no access to the data. The data is associated with a bill of material (BOM) and may be accessed by users without providing access to the data space of the client. Also disclosed is a method and computer program so automatically assign access privileges to one or more users of data in a bill of material stored in a shared database such that the step of refining a role for the user for a data item automatically assigns access privileges for the user for the data and other related data items. Also described is linking BOMs to provide peer-to-peer access and views to different users. Also described is a method and software program that provides of propagation of data through the supply chain via one or more bills of materials.