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New component: Configuration Management 

Use

Products and projects are represented in the SAP System, in various life cycle phases, by a multitude of objects of various different types (for example, by materials, documents, WBS elements and so on). Configuration Management enables you to cumulate all objects that describe a product or project in a specific life cycle phase, in a meta object, in order to generate consistent and reproducible configurations.

The scope of functions delivered in Release 4.6C support, first and foremost, the process of Collaborative Engineering and Project Management in relation to mySAP.com. These include the following functions:

Basic functions

All configurations of a product or project throughout all life cycle phases, can be grouped together with the help of a configuration definition. Consequently, the genesis of a product of project is made easily accesible.
All objects (for example, materials, documents, WBS elements and so on) that are relevant for a specific product or project in a specific life cycle phase, are cumulated in a configuration folder.
When you work with Collaborative Engineering, you cumulate all the objects that you want to publish, in a configuration folder.

Collaborative Engineering Functions

Object types

In Release 4.6C the following object types are supported in configuration folders:

Advantages of Configuration Management

Simple processing

The CM Workbench is the central navigation and processing tool for Configuration Management. You carry out all functions on one individual screen.

As a result of its hierarchically structured layout, the Worklist provides you with quick access to all configuration folders and Baselines. You can store the configuration folders and Baselines that you work with regularly, in your personal favorites list. You can access these immediately by calling up the CM Workbench. Using the efficient search function, you can extend your worklist to other objects and transfer them easily to your favorites using Drag & Drop.

The objects that describe a product or project are displayed in a hierarchical Object list , in which you can also easily get an overview of complex structures. The product structure browser and the project structure browser are integrated in the interface of the CM Workbench. If you compile the object list for a configuration folder, you enable a fast and efficient search of the relevant objects. You can then easily transfer the objects found, from the Product structure browser or Project structure browser,into the object list by Drag & Drop.

Reproducibility of Product Configuration

For the purpose of documentation of product configurations all relevant changes to product data can be frozen in Baselines. In a Baseline a complete, consistent product configuration for a specific point in time is frozen and can be reproduced at any time. In this way, you can, for example, document the development of a product throughout its life cycle.

Transfer of automatically generated installations

Configurations of produced assemblies ("As built" configurations) are generated from available production data and can be transferred into the object list of a configuration folder.

In a separate function (for example, the confirmation of a production order) you assign serialized components to serialized assemblies. By pressing a button, the system automatically generates an "as built" configuration from this data. You can add such an "as built" configuration to an object list in a configuration folder in order to document the configuration of a constructed single-unit (as-built).

Evaluations

In a graphical overview you get an overview of all configuration folders and Baselines throughout the entire life cycle phase of a product or project. The graphical display of the predecessor and successor relationships between configuration folders makes the development history of products or projects easy to understand.

You can compare the object lists of several configuration folders or Baselines with each other. During the comparison, both structures are displayed in the form of a hierarchical structure tree in a separate screen area. You can either compare individual objects or subhierarchies with each other, or you can compare both structures with each other. The results of the comparison are displayed in various categories:

Effects on Customizing

You can freely define the Life cycle phase for your company. For various products you can define different Life Cycle Profiles in Customizing.

The settings are made in the worksteps under the section Logistics - general -> Configuration Management.

See also

Detailed documentation about Configuration Management can be found in the SAP Library under Logistics -> Logistics - general (LO) -> LO - Configuration Management.

Additional information about Collaborative Engineering is available in Release note Collaborative Engineering & Project Management (CEP).