Working with Configuration Management 

Purpose

This process gives a general overview of working with Configuration Management.

The sequence of work steps in this process can be used as an example. All work steps, with the exception of step 1 can be repeated as often as you like in each Life cycle phase.

Prerequisites

You have made the settings in Customizing for Configuration Management.

If you create Baselines, you must first set the status Relevant for Configuration Management in the material master records and document info records whose processing status you later want to reproduce.

Process Flow

You have an idea for a new product.

  1. You create a Configuration definition.

At this point in time, it is not necessary for you to have already created material master records or other data for the new product.

If you create a configuration definition, the system asks you to select a Life cycle profile. A life cycle profile is defined in Customizing, and determines which life cycle phases the product goes through.

The system automatically creates the first Configuration folder in the first life cycle phase.

First Configuration Folder in the First Life Cycle Phase

  1. You enter the controlled object in the configuration folder.

For example, this could be a material master record. If you have not yet created the material master record you can first create a Dummy for controlled object.

The system displays the controlled object at the head of the structure of the configuration folder (bottom left screen area – see Navigation in the CM Workbench).

See: Entering controlled objects
  1. In the structure of the configuration folder you cumulate the objects that describe a product in more detail. These could be documents and BOMs. For this, you have two possibilities:
  1. If your product or project skips over into a new life cycle phase, create a new configuration folder ( creating a successor folder) in this phase.

Successor Folder in a New Life Cycle Phase

In each configuration folder, you enter the objects that describe the product in the relevant phase or version.

In various life cycle phases, a product or project is often described by different objects. Consequently, the configuration folders in various life cycle phases often contain objects of different types.

It is, for example, possible that a configuration folder in the specification phase only contains documents. In the design phase, materials and BOMs are often added. However, in the maintenance phase, a configuration folder principally contains equipment.
  1. You can also create successor folders in the same life cycle phase to represent different versions of a product.

Successor Folders in the Same Life Cycle Phase
  1. When the design reaches a specific milestone, you create a Baseline.

In a Baseline, you freeze the processing status of the product on a specific key date.

You can then reproduce the processing status of the product on the key date of the Baseline at any time.

Baselines from Various Life Cycle Phases

See: Creating a Baseline