Configuration Control Workbench
Use
The configuration control workbench is designed for daily use by technicians and technical planners who work with objects that are characterized by extremely complex product structures (such as aircraft, engines, and turbines).
The inspection of the actual configuration is very important during the maintenance process to ensure that the technical object has a valid configuration when it is released for operation.
For example, the aircraft manufacturer supplies all the technical documentation that is required for the update and maintenance of an aircraft. One of these documents is the illustrated parts catalog, in which all the valid parts of a technical object are specified. The aircraft must then be maintained in accordance with the illustrated parts catalog, that is, only those parts that are defined in the illustrated parts catalog may be installed.
You can use the configuration control workbench to compare a particular actual configuration with the corresponding allowed configuration. The allowed configuration could, for example, contain all the possible part variants from the illustrated parts catalog.
Integration
You use the product variant structure (PVS) within the integrated Product and Process Engineering (iPPE) to maintain the master parts list (MPL) of a technical object. It can contain structure information as well as all the alternative parts at a certain location as they are defined in the illustrated parts catalog.
The part of the master parts list, against which a particular actual configuration of the object is checked, is called the allowed configuration in the SAP system. This configuration is used as a reference structure for a configuration check within the configuration control workbench.
For more information, see Product Variant Structure (PVS).
Prerequisites
● You have maintained the actual configuration of the respective object in the form of an equipment hierarchy or a mixed hierarchy of equipment and functional locations.
● You have maintained the master parts list of the respective object.
● You have linked the actual configuration with the master parts list.
For more information, see Preparatory Activities for the Configuration Check.
Features
The configuration control workbench is easy to use. The following functions are available:
● Display of the actual configuration of a technical object either as a whole or in part as a tree structure.
● Display of information for the iPPE access for pieces of equipment that are part of the actual configuration
● Manual creation and deletion of structure gaps that act as placeholders to indicate missing parts in the actual configuration of the respective object
● Display or change of the function identifier (FID) of a reference field, which manufactures a direct link of the actual configuration to the master parts list. The FID specifies the function of the corresponding technical object or iPPE structure node.
● Running of an overall check for the actual configuration of a technical object: The actual configuration can be checked against either the completely or partially exploded allowed configuration.
● Display of the configuration check result in a log.
● Display of the allowed configuration as a tree structure for the technical object that is subject to a configuration check
● Display of valid parts for iPPE nodes of the master parts list and the allowed configuration
● Display of non-serialized parts by exploding equipment BOMs (to be set in Customizing)