Flows

Flow	Description
Set up engineering attributes	You can use attributes to further describe a product and its characteristics with user-defined fields. You can also set up engineering attributes and assign them to product versions or variants separately. You set up engineering attributes to: Define additional properties for a version. Before you can set up engineering attributes, you must set up the relevant attribute types and engineering attribute grouping. Use this grouping to subdivide engineering attributes into logical and meaningful groups. At least one group is required to be able to set up engineering attributes. Enable attribute-based product naming. You can use the engineering attributes to configure the product number, product name, and product description. If you do so, on creation of the product, you must set the engineering attribute values. As a result, the product number, product name, and product description are set automatically, based on these attribute values. Enable searching products based on engineering attributes. If you create products with engineering attributes and attribute-based naming, you can use those attributes also for searching purposes
Set up engineering change management	To manage engineering changes with engineering change requests and engineering change orders, set up: Change categories Change priorities Change reasons Material dispositions Received customer approval Environment, health, and safety Change severities and severity rule sets
Set up engineering change parameters	To be able to work with engineering change management, this setup is required: Change categories Change priorities Severity rule Re-release impacted products BOM level restriction
Set up engineering change severities	An engineering change has an impact on operations and products. For each engineering change order, you can define the severity of the impact. You can use severities to determine how severe the impact of a change is or can be based on the type of changes. So, appropriate measures can be taken to implement the changes as smoothly as possible. In the Product engineering parameters, you define how the severity of an engineering change order is determined: Manually: Set the severity of an engineering change order manually. You can choose from a list of self-defined severities. Calculate: You can click Calculate to determine the severity of an engineering change order. Severity rule sets, with predefined checks on changes, are applied to determine the severity. Calculate automatically: When you submit an engineering change order to the workflow, the severity rule sets, with predefined checks on changes, are applied automatically to determine the severity.
Set up engineering product categories	You can set up categories and have these automatically assigned to engineering products, product versions or variants on release.
Set up engineering product type	An engineering product type is a template. You need an engineering product type to create or release an engineering product. Usually, the number of engineering product types is defined by your range of products. The engineering product type is comparable with product categories but has many additional features. The engineering product type is designed to have common setup ready when a new product, product version, or variant is released to save time and effort in the creation process. Prerequisites to set up an engineering product type are: Engineering company Product version number rule Product statuses Product dimension groups Elements of the engineering product type are: Engineering product categories Grouping Engineering attributes Release control Readiness control
Set up product engineering parameters	Before you start using Product engineering, set up the Product engineering parameters. You can define the behavior of these product engineering functions: Engineering version control Release control Attribute search Engineering change Number sequences
Set up product owners	Set up the product owners who are allowed to release products and approve changes made to products. You can set up a product owner that is linked to a user or a team of users.
Set up product version number rule	Set up product version number rules to define the ways in which version numbers can be defined. To apply a version number rule to a product, you must first select the applicable rule for the engineering product type. This version number rule defines how the version numbers for the related products are defined. The Number rule type defines the initial version number and a new version number on adding a product to an engineering change order for which the Impact is set to Version update. You can use these number rule types: Manual You must manually enter the new version number when you release a new version of a product. Auto The new version number is automatically defined based on a format that can have constants and variables. Example: Your format is V-XX. As a result, on the first release, the product gets version number V-01. List The new version number is defined based on the order of a predefined list. Example: Your list is A, B, C, D, E. On first release, the product gets version number A. If version E is released, further version releases are blocked.
Set up readiness control	You can use readiness control to confirm that a product, version, or variant is ready to be used in transactions before it is activated.
Set up user workflows	Usually, specific engineering product changes require the approval of several roles in a company. Use a user workflow if several users are involved in the approval process. A user workflow can reduce risks and ensure quality. For more information on how to set up workflows, refer to Create workflows.