I am aware that I can split a part into multiple parts and quickly make an assembly from them, which is a very useful tool. Plus like this we have a derived part from the original here.

If the the part is bent though, there is no "flat-pattern" within the derived part, except I convert it to sheet-metal again. Is there a best practice how to handle those situations?

I would love to use the split feature, because designing can be done with a full part, but to nest it I can easily split it and have multiple child-parts. I can easily name them and build a split assembly from them in a blink of an eye - but if there is not option to have a flat pattern for those parts - I cannot use it in the shop.

So what we need is a split part with a parent/child relationship, a bill of materials that shows the part numbers only and a flat pattern for each part. Is there a good solution to this problem?