ECOs / ECRs
Cetec ERP’s Engineering Change module is a tool designed to help you track engineering changes to production items. ECOs provide justification and traceability to why and how a Bill of Materials for a product changed from one revision to another, as well as tracking potential ramifications of a revision update, such as customer and open order implications.
Before creating an ECO you can create various ECO to group and categorize them. To do so navigate to either ADMIN » Maintenance » Data Maintenance » ECOType or click on Add or Edit ECO Types link on the PRODUCTION » Orders » ECO/ECR list interface.
Navigate to PRODUCTION » ORDERS » ECO/ECR. Type in the part number for which you want to create the ECO, set the ECO type, and click Create.
Once you create an ECO, one of the main fields you will see are the From Rev and To Rev fields. You can choose which revision of the part the ECO is for by specifying a revision, or you can tell the system to modify whatever the current revision of the part is.
The same applies to the To Rev field. Specify what the resulting revision should be, or leave it blank to have Cetec ERP update the current revision.
If the To Rev is not the current revision, then the To Rev will be set as the current revision at the completion of ECO. While we do not require entering a To Rev field, we strongly recommend that you create a new revision for greater traceability whenever you are making changes through the ECO process.
Press the Update button inside the ECO header when you are done to save your changes.
Depending on your From Rev and To Rev selections, you will see the BOM Changes section automatically populated with the corresponding BOM revision components. On the left side of the interface, Cetec ERP displays the Current Revision BOM list of components, and on the right side the New Revision BOM list of components.
To make modifications to the New Revision BOM, click on Edit above the New Revision BOM field. This will take you to the standard Edit BOM Revision screen. Any change you make here will register back to the ECO screen (make sure to refresh the ECO page in your web browser!). Any new component or a component with a changed quantity per top will be highlighted in red, and any component with quantity per top intact will be highlighted in green. The main purpose of this section is to track the exact changes made between the From Rev and the To Rev for traceability purposes.
Every quote and order that contains the part on ECO will be displayed under the Open Quotes For This Part and Open Orders For This Part sections.
Underneath the Open Orders For This Part section you will see an option to Tie To ECO/ECR? to the ECO. By checking this box and updating the ECO you can prevent orders tied to the ECO from being released, or moving through the labor path.
Cetec ERP intentionally does not give users the ability to automatically replace the BOM components on open orders of the part on ECO. In order to change the temp BOM of open orders, you would have to go into the orders’ BOM management screen and manually adjust the temp BOM there.
These orders will be free to move through the labor path once its tie to the ECO is severed, or once the ECO is complete.
Outside of the ECO, the parts on ECO will be marked by special alerts. These alerts are shown on the part profile screen, quotes, and orders to notify the users.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND REQUIREMENTS
The list of possible responsibilities and requirements are maintained in ADMIN » Maintenance » Data Maintenance » ECORequirementType. The list set here will show underneath the Responsibilities And Requirements section.
Specify which responsibilities and requirements to enforce by checking Required? checkbox, and update. As your company routes the ECO through various workflow states, users can sign off on responsibilities and requirements before passing them around.
To edit a Responsibility or Requirement section, a user must meet at least one of the following criteria:
1- You have the ECO assigned to you explicitly via the workflow feature
2- You are the ECO’s owner/creator, i.e. you initiated the ECO
3- You are an ‘Admin’ user, or
Also, users with the ECO Role can “require” certain responsibilities and processes to be checked off before an ECO may be registered as Complete.
Users who do not meet the aforementioned criteria will be able to view responsibilities and requirements and whether and who has signed off on them but will not be able to edit this section in any way. Also, Cetec ERP forces these responsibilities and requirements to be signed off before it can be completed.
*For help documentation on Cetec ERP’s workflow and collaboration feature, please refer to the guide here.
To set up ECO workflow states, navigate to ADMIN » Maintenance » Workflow Maintenance » ECO or click on the Edit Workflow Assignment Options link inside ECO’s workflow tab. Once the ECO workflow states are set, you can redirect and collaborate on the ECO.
Corresponding comments section will open up and display as the ECO moves to successive workflow states. Also, the assigned user in each workflow state can give the ECO a stamp of approval by navigating to the Approvals section, checking the Approve? checkbox, and updating the ECO.