Registering Engineering Changes

When an "Engineering Change Request" is approved (or simply Released if Approvals are not Enabled) the proposed changes can be Registered using the Register menu option, as shown below, which will then perform updates to the manufacturing master data within Business Central.

"Items", "Stockkeeping Units", "Bill of Materials" (BOMs), "Routings" and "Production By-Products" can all be affected by a single change request and new Versions of BOMs, Routings and Production By-Products may be created depending on changes proposed within the "Engineering Change Request" with specific conditions detailed below. 

If creating a change for a specific Production Order, then only that Production Order will be updated.

Note: The engineering change control functionality is designed so that it never updates an existing manufacturing design documents (BOM, Routing or Production By-Product) which ensures that a full history is kept within Business Central.

Based on the changes you are making, if creating New Versions of BOMs, Routings or Production By-Products, and where the the Version Nos. are setup (as detailed in the Setup section) for manual assignment, then  you will need to specify the Version Codes in the General FastTab, as shown here for reference. The fields are not shown where not relevant, such as when creating a BOM or Routing for the first time.

Item and Stockkeeping Unit Updates

An Item or Stockkeeping Unit will only be modified in the following circumstances.

  • Component Item is included within the change request and the Item does not already have a Production BOM No. assigned
  • Work/Machine Centre is included within the change request and the Item does not already have a Routing No. assigned
  • By-Product Item is included within the change request and the Item does not already have a Production By-Product No. assigned

BOM Version Creation

As stated above, existing BOMs and BOM Versions will never be changed by the engineering change control process. New BOM Versions will be created according to the following rules.

  • Component Item is included within the change request, with a Change Type of Add or Remove - as either constitutes the need for a new set of components to be defined

Routing Version Creation

New Routing Versions will be created according to the following rules.

  • Operation line for a Machine or Work Centre is included within the change request, with a Change Type of Add or Remove

Production By-Product Version Creation

A new Production By-Product Version will be created according to the following rule.

  • By-Product line for a Item is included within the change request, with a Change Type of Add or Remove

Production Order Updates

If the Source Type of the "Engineering Change Request" is Production Order then changes made within the change request will only apply to the specified Production Order.

Engineering Change Order

To keep a track of changes that have been implemented, as part of Clever Manufacturing Plus the "Engineering Change Order" document is introduced into Business Central. The "Engineering Change Order" is a non-editable document that stores the details of a registered "Engineering Change Request" and allows traceability of the affects of implementing the change.

The information shown on the "Engineering Change Order" is a direct copy from the "Engineering Change Request" for the General, Lines and Justification FastTabs and the menu options available on the screen are also shared with the "Engineering Change Request" allowing you to view Approvals and Statistics for the change that has been implemented.

The Changes FastTab is unique to the "Engineering Change Order" and shows what manufacturing information has been affected by implementation of the changes requested by the user. 

Using the above screenshot as an example, the following changes were made within Business Central.

  • A New Production BOM was created
  • A New Routing was created
  • The Item (that was the Source Type for the change request) was modified