Define change types for change master records

In this step, you define how changes to the change master record are to be controlled.
To define a change type, you complete one or more of the following two steps, according to your requirements:

1. In the first step, you must enter an identifying numeric key for the change type (change type and description).

You need to choose a change type when you create an engineering change request. The system automatically creates a status object. The status network ( system status) for engineering change requests is already defined internally in the system and is allocated to this status object (change master record). The processing sequence is controlled by the system status and cannot be changed by the user.
If you do not enter any further data for the change type, the processing sequence is controlled uniquely by the system status.

2. In a second step, you can enter the data that you need to adapt the processing sequence to your specific requirements.

a) You can use business transactions from a workflow instance to complete the process. To do this, you must enter the data for the workflow task, which is allocated to a workflow definition ( object type and object ID).

For engineering change management, you can define workflow tasks in the workflow workbench. These tasks are carried out when certain events occur. Events are defined in the object repository and describe changes to object statuses.

You find the object type for the change master record (ECM) in the object repository under "Logistics - General".
You must define the workflow task for the task type "workflow task" (WF) and enter an object ID which you allocate to the change type in this step.

b) You can supplement the system status with the company-specific user statuses that you have defined as a status profile in an earlier step.

You must allocate the status profile for the change type (master record) to the object type "Engineering Change Management - Change Master Record".
You can allocate business transactions to the user status. You can define follow-up actions to determine how the status is affected when a specific business transaction is carried out. For example, the transaction can trigger the setting or deletion of a status.

In the Signature network for ECR/ECO field, you can define which approval process takes effect when you set the individual system statuses.

Preconditions

• If you want to define specific workflow tasks for a processing sequence, first define the tasks in the workflow workbench.

• If you want to use a status profile to control a processing sequence, first complete the step Define status profile.

Activities

Define change types for the change master record according to your requirements.

• If you want the processing flow to be controlled only by the system status, enter only a numeric key and a descriptive text.

• If you want the system to perform a workflow task, enter the data that identifies the workflow task. To do this, maintain the fields Object type and Object ID.

• If you want to supplement the system status with a user status, enter the key for the status profile.