ECR Standard Lifecycle

The ECR is processed by moving it through the states in its lifecycle. For example, in the first state, a new ECR is created and connected to the appropriate product line. The owner connects supporting documents and then promotes the ECR to the Submit state, where the ECR Coordinator assigns an ECR Evaluator and promotes the ECR to the Evaluate state, and so on. Only the owner of a ECR can change its state.

If the ECR is in a route, the route may be set up to prevent the ECR from being promoted until the route is complete.

The following describes the states included in the ECR (Standard) lifecycle:

Create

An ECR's name is automatically generated and it is connected to a Product Line object using a Create ECR page. The ECR Originator has the option to create Sketch objects and attach them to the ECR as Supporting Documentation. The Originator also has the option to connect parts and drawings to the ECR using the Build ECR page. Once the ECR Originator has completed building the ECR, s/he promotes it from the Create state to the Submit state.

Submit

As the ECR enters the Submit state, an action fires that automatically routes the ECR to the correct ECR Coordinator based on the product line that is connected. The correct ECR Coordinator is determined from an attribute on the product line called change board. This attribute will contain the name of a group that has exactly one user with the role ECR Coordinator. An IconMail is sent and the ECR is reassigned to this user when it enters the Submit state. The ECR Coordinator assigns an ECR Evaluator and promotes the ECR to the Evaluate state.

Evaluate

As the ECR enters the Evaluate state, an action fires that automatically routes the ECR to the user who is the assigned ECR Evaluator. The ECR Evaluator reviews the change description, the supporting documentation, and all attached parts and drawings. The Evaluator may add additional information to the ECR and attach more Supporting Documentation.

The Evaluator can also use the category list to attach additional parts and drawings or even change some of the existing connections based on her/his knowledge of how the change is actually likely to be done.

The Evaluator ensures that all part dispositions are set correctly. Based on the evaluation, the ECR may be returned to the ECR Originator for clarification or promoted to the Review state where a change board will review and approve the ECR.

Review

As the ECR enters the Review state, an action fires that automatically routes the ECR to the correct ECR Chairman based on the product line that is connected (in a similar fashion to what occurs when entering the Submit state). The ECR Chairman decides which users are required to approve the ECR and submits the ECR. The members of the change board are notified via IconMail.

The board members use the Review ECR page to review all supporting documentation and Part Dispositions to determine their impact.

The Chairman also assigns a Responsible Design Engineer and schedules a date when s/he expects the ECR approval to be completed.

Upon the last signature being approved, the ECR will auto-promote to the next state. If the ECR is not approved within the allotted time period, the ECR Chairman may reject the ECR, call a meeting to discuss why the change board has not approved the ECR, or approve the ECR without Board consent.

Plan ECO

As the ECR enters the Plan ECO state, an action fires that automatically routes the ECR to the user who is the assigned Responsible Design Engineer. An wizard automatically launches where you can associate the ECR with a new or existing ECO at this time. See "Associating an ECO with an ECR" in the Engineering Central User Guide.

A configurable trigger (the Business Administrator can make it inactive) attempts to automatically revise affected items connected to the ECR with the Request Part Revision relationship (if the affected item is a part) or the Request Specification Revision relationship (if the affected item is a drawing print, CAD model or CAD drawing).

First the trigger checks whether the ECR is connected to exactly one ECO. If this check fails, the following error message is shown:

Automatic revisioning is not possible because this ECR is connected to more than one ECO. 

If this check passes, the trigger evaluates each affected item to check if it satisfies the following conditions:

• The affected item has a revision sequence from which the 'next' revision can be determined.
• The current user has revise access on that affected item.

If both these checks pass, then the trigger revises the affected item and connects the new revision to the ECO with the New Part / Part Revision relationship (if the affected item is a Part) or the New Specification / Specification Revision relationship (if the affected item is a drawing print, CAD model or CAD drawing).

The current owner of the affected item is maintained as the owner of the revised object.

If either of the above two checks fail, then the trigger skips it and moves on to the next affected item. After all possible revisions have been made, a warning message is shown with the names of skipped items. For example:

The following affected items could not be automatically revised: PT-504, PT-630. 

Complete

As the ECR enters the Complete ECR state, as action fires that automatically changes the owner of the ECR to be a special user in the system "Corporate." This has the effect of locking down the ECR so no additional changes can be made and it removes the ECR from the engineer's desk.

Rejected

As the ECR enters the Rejected state, an action fires that notifies the ECR Originator that the ECR is not going to be done and routes the ECR back to the Originator. The policy is changed to ECR (Rejected). The Originator will have the opportunity to review the reason the ECR is not going to be done and can either remove (delete) the ECR from the system or re-submit it with a better explanation of why the change is required.