Do BOD's Need ION?

Hi - I'm trying to get to grips with BOD's as a way to import data into LN10.4.
I'm not clear about the relationship between BOD's and ION.
Do we have to use ION in order to be able to use BOD's to do things like create new Bill Of Material records or is there a way to process a BOD into LN without ION?
Many thanks