10/31/2022

Engineering Change Management (LO-

ECH)
Generated on: 2022-10-31 04:21:13 GMT+0000

SAP ERP Support Package Versions | 6.0 EHP7 SP23

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Original content: https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_ERP_SPV/9d59d0a6bdd14004adc69f4367d36a50?locale=en-

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Engineering Change Management (LO-ECH)

De nition
Engineering Change Management is a central logistics function that can be used to change various aspects of production basic
data (for example, BOMs, task lists, materials, and documents ) with history (with date effectivity) or depending on speci c
conditions (with parameter effectivity).

A change with history has the following distinctive characteristics:

It takes effect under precisely de ned conditions (precise date or speci c effectivity parameter value).

The changed object is saved twice: in its state before and after the changes.

A change master record or ECR/ECO controls and documents the changes.

Selection Criteria
The selection is recommended if you frequently carry out complex master data changes and want to document the changes.

See also:

Maintaining a Change Master Record

Maintaining Objects with Reference to a Change Number

Displaying a Change Master Record

Automated Processing of Business Transactions Using Engineering Change Requests

Changes With and Without History

For technical and commercial reasons, it is necessary to change industrial products from time to time.

Technical reasons for changes include, for example, technical faults that have to be put right and the introduction of new
environmental or safety regulations. For commercial reasons, it may be necessary to start using cheaper materials or to change
a product to suit customer requirements.

In the SAP system, you can make changes to objects both with and without history.

Changes without history

These are changes that occur during the development phase of a product and that are not documented. The state of the object
(for example, bill of material or task list) before the change is not documented. When you change and save data, the old data is
overwritten. You can only recall the data that you saved last.

Changes with history

These are changes that may affect further activities in the procedure and should thus be documented. For example, changing a
material could incur a change in the bill of material (BOM) and likewise then the task list and inspection plan.

In the SAP system, you can document changes with Engineering Change Management . In the case of speci c change objects
(such as a material, document, or bill of material), Engineering Change Management can be used separately for each object.

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 Note
The following section describes how to make changes using Engineering Change Management .

Changes with history

You can carry out a change with history with reference to a change master. This means that you can:

Determine under which conditions the change becomes effective.

You enter an effectivity based on time (valid-from date) in the standard system. You can also make changes irrespective
of dates or time. These changes become effective under other conditions (for example, serial number effectivity).

Reproduce the processing status of a change object in different change statuses.

The changed object (for example: bill of material) is saved twice: in its state before and after the changes. The new data
records that are created when you make a change are saved by the system in the original object.

In the standard system, the state of the object before the change ends with the valid-to date. The state after the change
begins with the valid-from date.

Exceptions:

Material

The new data records that are created when you make a change are saved by the system in the change
document.

Document

The system saves the change number in the document info record. Changes to the document info record are
saved in change documents.

If you foresee making fundamental changes to the document info record, then you should create a new version
with reference to a different change number.

If you de ne the effectivity using parameters and not the valid-from date, the parameter values determine under
which conditions the change becomes effective.

You can document the changes.

You can identify particular processing statuses of a material or document by de ning revision levels.

With the help of SAP Business Work ow you can organize and automate related work steps in Engineering Change
Management .

In certain situations, you can use a digital signature to ensure that only authorized employees can make any changes.

The following graphic shows the information that you must maintain in the change master record:

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Authorization Objects
The authorization concept in engineering change management is derived from the general authorization concept of the SAP
system. The general authorization system is described in the System Administration document .

In addition to the authorization concept of the application (such as bills of material or document management), there is also an
authorization concept for engineering change management.

The authorization objects for engineering change management are assigned to the Production Planning object class
(transaction SU03 – Maintain Authorizations: Object Classes).

In the standard system, the following authorization objects are de ned for engineering change management:

CC Change Master – Authorization Group (C_AENR_BGR)

CC Engineering change mgmt - revision level for materials (C_AENR_RV1)

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CC Engineering Change Mgt – revision level for documents (C_AENR_RV2)

CC Eng. Chg. Mgmt. Enhanced Authorization Check (C_AENR_ERW)

The following tables show, for each of these authorization objects, which elds control the user authorizations for change
management.

Authorization Object for Authorization Group

This table shows authorization object C_AENR_BGR. This object controls, for example, whether a user can create, change, or
display change masters. However, there may be certain change masters that you want to make available only to particular
groups of users. For this purpose, you can de ne authorization groups.

Fields Possible Values Description

ACTVT(activity) 0102030622 CreateChangeDisplayDelete (change

master)Enter (change number in object)
7381
Digital signatureSchedule (change number)

BEGRU(authorization group) 0000 - ZZZZ Used to further restrict the authorizations

for the change master (change header).

Authorization Object for Revision Level (Material)

This table shows authorization object C_AENR_RV1. This object controls whether a user can create or change revision levels for
a material.

Fields Possible Values Description

ACTVT(activity) 0102 CreateChange

The authorization system is described in greater detail in the System Administration document.

Authorization Object for Revision Level (Document)

This table shows the authorization object C_AENR_RV2. This object controls whether a user can create or change revision levels
for documents.

Fields Possible Values Description

ACTVT(activity) 0102 CreateChange

Authorization Object for Enhanced Authorization Check

This table shows authorization object C_AENR_ERW. This object controls highly speci c processing of the change master record.

Fields Possible Values Description

ACTVT(activity) 0102030622 CreateChangeDisplayDelete

(change master)Enter (change
7381
number in object)

Digital signatureSchedule
(change number)

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Fields Possible Values Description

BEGRU(authorization group) 0000 - ZZZZ Used to further restrict the

authorizations for the change
master (change header).

AENST(Status of a change 00 - 99 Used to further restrict the authorizations for the change master
number) (change header).

RLKEY(Release key) 00-99 Used to further restrict the authorizations for the change master
(change header).

AEFUN(Function of change 00010203 Without release keyWith release keyChange packageLeading

number) change master record

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