The functions for setting and controlling statuses within Integrated Product and Process Engineering (iPPE) enable you to define states or life cycle phases that your products, or parts of these products, must achieve within specific periods of time. The user or person responsible for a product sets a status and thereby documents that a development phase has been completed or a certain state has been reached.

This means that you can document even small changes that are made in individual phases of the product’s life cycle and that have to be provided for reasons of product liability and quality assurance. In addition to the change itself, you must also record the reasons for the change. The functions available in Engineering Change Management now include iPPE status management. They enable you to keep detailed records of changes made to your products.

You can use status management functions for assembly items and component variants only. Information about the status of these iPPE objects is displayed on the Status tab page. The status functions cannot be used to manage life cycle phases for any other iPPE objects.

iPPE status management is connected to Engineering Change Management by the assembly items and component variants.

• Customizing for controlling the interaction between the status of assembly items or component variants and Engineering Change Management is under Production ® Basic Data ® Integrated Product and Process Engineering ® iPPE Product Structure Administration ® Maintenance of Object-Dependent Statuses. You can make the following settings:

• If you set the Lock indicator for a status, the change status of the component variant or assembly item is automatically locked against further processing using the same change number once it has reached this status.
• If you set the Completed indicator for a status and you work with the change request/order in Engineering Change Management, the change order for the edited object is automatically set to ‘completed’ when it reaches this status. The object is locked against further processing with reference to this change order.

You work with the iPPE workbench and wish to keep detailed records of the development situation and life cycle phases of variants and assembly items.

You have defined one or more statuses in iPPE Customizing under Settings for Status Management. The statuses can follow on from one another and may have preconditions.

A status must have the values ‘initial’ and ‘successful’. Additional values are also permissible.

For more information about the settings for status management, see the SAP Reference IMG.

• The statuses defined for the object (such as ‘released for production’ or ‘released for costing’).
• The current values for the statuses, such as ‘start work’ (initial) or ‘released’ (successful).
• The date by which they should be released (target date).
• Which person or organization (for example, department) is responsible for setting the status.