Chapter 5: Changes
Changes are
objects that drive the Lifecycle and revision of items. Changes are routed
through workflows for approval and only come into effect if they reach an
approved workflow status. There are several types of changes (note that your
administrator may have created new subclasses or changed the notation in your
4G:PLM installation):
5.1 Change Types
5.1.1 Engineering Change Order (ECO): It is used to create a new
revision of an item. Anything on the item can be modified.
5.1.2 Manufacturing
Change Order (MCO):
Does not create a new revision of an item. Can only modify the AML list or a
restricted set of attributes.
5.1.3 Engineering
Change Request (ECR):
An engineering change request (ECR) is used to describe a suggested
enhancement or problem with a product. The form initiates the change process —
it promotes discussions within the organization to help determine the impact of
a change and the best possible solution.
5.1.4 Deviation:
Does not change an item. It is used to record deviations from standard in
manufacturing.
5.1.5 Stop-ship: Does not change an item; it is used
to model the emergency situation where a manufactured item’s shipping should be
halted, pending further action.
5.2 Create ECO
An engineering
change order (ECO) is a documentation packet that outlines the proposed change,
lists the product or part(s) that would be affected and requests review and approval
from the individuals who would be impacted or charged with implementing the
change. ECOs are used to make modifications to components, assemblies,
associated documentation and other types of product information.
Let’s create an ECO and use it to release any part. Assume that we have
created a new part which is in Preliminary LifeCycle phase and has Revision
New. To create a new ECO, click on the Change link on the Part or click on New Object and select ECO
A new ECO form will
pop-up. Use the dropdown to select Change Type. Click on the Create button.
ECO number will automatically filled which can be over-written. Finally, click
on the Create button to create ECO.
Once the ECO is created, it is in unassigned
phase. The Affected Items is blank as 4G:PLM automatically doesn’t create
the reference with Part. We need to manually add the Affected Item to the ECO.
It can be done using the drag and drop functionality or through the Add button.
Let us add the newly created Part to the ECO. Once the Part is added to the
ECO, it would show-up in the Affected Item tab. The Affected Item automatically
shows the Prior LifeCycle Phase, Proposed Rev, Proposed LifeCycle Phase of the
added Part among other information.
The ECO is still in the unassigned phase, we need to assign workflow to the ECO
and fill required information in the ECO details tab. The workflow can be
configured the system administrator. The dropdown will list all the workflows
and based on the defined workflows, it would have different workflow phases.
Next, we need to assign a Change Analyst
to the ECO. Change Analyst is responsible for driving the whole process and
responsible to bring it to closure. The workflow and Change Analyst once
selected cannot be changed.
Change Analyst is responsible for monitoring the process of the change through
its workflow, tending to it if it becomes stuck (nobody approves or rejects) or
moving it to the next step in the workflow if auto-promote hasn’t been
activated by the administrator for the workflow. Clicking on the “Change”
button next to “Change Analyst” displays a list of people to choose from
(people who may act as change analyst is determined by membership in an
administrator-defined group):
Now, when we go to the Workflow tab, we can see ECO has workflow assigned to
it. The default workflow phase is in Pending
To move to the next workflow phase, click in the box. For example, to move the
ECO to the Submit workflow phase,
click on the Submit box
In this dialog, you need to select an authorized approver and optionally
additional observers, who should be informed of the ECO’s progress but cannot
influence it directly.
After doing this, you can see the small red triangle is now just before the
next step in the workflow, “Submit”. Note that you can always
double-click on the special “Cancel” state to end a workflow, or on “Hold”
to put it on hold, if the administrator has allowed these states. If you have
the appropriate permissions, you can double-click on any state to advance the
change to that state directly.
In this case, we have set ourselves as approver, so the “Approve” and
“Reject” buttons become active. If we approve, we see the workflow move to the
next step:
Note also that all actions are recorded in the activity log. Now, the ECO can
be moved step by step through the workflow by using a series of “Promote”
and “Approve” actions. The states in this sample workflow have the
following meanings:
· Pending: The change has been newly created
and added to a workflow, but nobody is actively working on the workflow.
· Submit: The
change has been submitted and people involved have been notified.
· Review / Approval: An initial review step to approve moving the change forward.
· CCB: Change
Control Board: stakeholders vote on whether to approve the change.
· Released: The change has been approved. The
new revision becomes the current revision.
· Implemented: The change has been carried
out in manufacturing.
We can
now go to the Affected Items tab and update the Revision of the Part and also
the LifeCyle phase
Once we have Save the changes, we can now release
the Change by going to the Workflow tab. Clicking on the Release button will
ask if you would like to Release the ECO.
Clicking on the Release button will ask if you would like to Release the ECO.
The Affected Item tab will show the Rev as 1.0 and LifeCycle Phase as
Prototype.
If we go to the Part, we can see the Rev as 1.0 and the Part LifeCycle now show
as Prototype.
If we go to the Changes tab, we can see all the Changes related to the Part.
Please note all the unreleased Changes would be shown within parenthesis
5.3 Create MCO
A manufacturing
change order (MCO) functions in the same way as an engineering change order
(ECO), but the revision of the affected item cannot be changed, nor can
the bill of materials (BOM) be altered in any way. Moreover, attributes subject
to change control (which normally includes most of them) cannot be
changed except with an ECO.
The MCO is used to do one of three things:
1. Change the lifecycle of an item.
2. Change attributes not subject to change control.
3. Modify approved manufacturer data
(AML data)
Note that although there is no red-lining of a BOM with an MCO, changes to the
AML data are tracked as red-lines, just as with an ECO.
The affected items tab of an MCO displays for information the item number, item
description and old lifecycle. There should be a field for the new lifecycle,
which is editable. No other fields are necessary for editing.
As with an ECO, an MCO applies always to the latest released revision of an
affected item.
5.4 Create Deviation
A deviation is used to indicate some
temporary change in the manufacturing of an item. Consequently, it requires two
fields on the cover page:
· “Effective from”
· “Effective to”
These are both date fields.
If a deviation is valid from 05.02.2014 to 28.02.2014, then the “Effective
from” field would be set to “05.02.2014” and the “Effective to” field to
“28.02.2014”. No deviation can be released unless both of these fields are set.
The workflow of a deviation must contain a status of type “Released”. When this
status is attained, the deviation is regarded as being in effect (if the
“Effective to” date has not been exceeded). Once the “Effective to” date is
exceeded, then the workflow should be advanced automatically to the next
workflow state, which should be one of type “Complete”, and may bear a name
such as “Expired”. It should also be possible to promote the deviation manually
to the next state (as with any normal change order).
The affected items tab of a deviation should show for information the item
number, description and lifecycle phase of the affected items. The revision
should be selectable, but default to the current revision.
By default, a deviation should apply to the most recently released revision of
an affected item, but the user should be able to choose a different revision.
5.5 Create Stop Ship
A stop-ship
indicates that the affected item should no longer be shipped. This usually
occurs due to some manufacturing quality problem that is discovered and must be
analyzed. No alterations of the affected items are possible with a stop-ship.
When a stop-ship enters a workflow state of type “Released”, this signifies
that the affected items should not be shipped. The final state in a workflow for
a stop-ship should be of type “Complete”. This signifies that it is safe to
ship the affected items again.
The affected items tab of a stop-ship cannot be used to change anything, so
informational (read-only) fields should be shown for the item number,
description and lifecycle. The revision field is selectable, but defaults to
the current released revision.
As with deviations, a stop-ship should apply by default to the current released
revision of an affected item, but the user should be able to specify an earlier
revision, if desired.
5.6 Engineering
Change Request
An engineering
change request (ECR) is not used to change any item information; rather, it is
a means for users to request that an engineering change, usually an ECO, be
issued. This is useful because often the number of people with permission to
create change orders is restricted, but a larger circle of people, e.g. from
manufacturing, may wish to request changes.
Although it cannot change any item data, it is very similar in structure to a
change order in that it goes through a workflow, must be assigned to a change
analyst and has affected items. The affected items tab, however, shows only
read-only fields for item number, description and lifecycle. The revision is
also shown and is selectable, but defaults to the current revision.
When an ECR is released, it is the responsibility of the releaser to create an
ECO manually. No automation is required for Release 1.0 of 4g:PLM.