Engineering change management (ECH) allows you to change various master data in a coordinated manner when they have to be changed together within a change process. Future procurement elements can thus be created directly with a changed product structure.

Order change management (change management for production orders), in short OCM, expands this function. It is possible to include existing procurement elements (production orders, planned orders, purchase orders) that are also affected by a change, in the change process. The change process begins when a sales order or master data is changed. You can also adapt production orders on which work has already been done to the changed product structure.

OCM does not need to be used in all cases. You should therefore check whether the following options are sufficient for changing production orders in your particular case:

You can carry out the full change process only for production orders. Fixed planned orders and purchase orders cannot be changed in the change process, but they can be identified as affected procurement elements when changes to sales orders occur.

The order change process does not support changes in

• Components for which a batch split has been executed
• Co-products
• Sequences

With master data changes, the order change process does not support changes in

• Materials for which discontinued parts have been defined
• Alternative Items
• Trigger points
• Headers of phantom assemblies
• Production resources/tools
• The network structure in collective orders
• The usage of alternative dates in change numbers

Multi-level make-to-order production without direct production is not supported for sales order changes. In this process, only the top order can be adjusted.