# Item Management

## Key Features

| The basic Item Management functions include all functionalities required for creating, editing and managing items. Standard PLM functions like history, reservation, revision management, etc. are also available. In general, it is important to differentiate between the Item and the Item master. The item is under revision control while the item master collects the item information independent of the item revision. The item master always references to an item and is created automatically when creating the item.
| For additional information on the standard PLM functions, refer to the Getting Started manual.
| ### Item Master
| General Information
| An item master is automatically created when saving a new item. It cannot be copied and it is deleted when the last item version referencing to the item master is deleted. The allocation of an item to an item master can be changed in the Item Revision tab of the Item Master mask with the function Change Item Master. The tab Item Revision shows all item revisions assigned to the item master. The assignment between item revision and item master can also be changed from the item (revision) mask. Besides changing the item / item master reference, it is also possible to update the item master information by changing the item number, adding persons and companies and defining units / unit conversions.
| When copying an item to a new revision, the new item revision references the same item master - also if the item number is changed.
| To display the item master, you can either select Start > Item Master and search for the respective Item Number or click on the hyperlink in the Item Number field in the Item mask.
| Units of Measurement
| The item master is used to define the units of measurements which are available for the item. When creating an item the unit of the item becomes the default unit of the item master. Additional units can be added under the Units tab. Based on these units, a conversion factor can be defined.
| Unit Conversion
| Units used in the unit conversion are at first defined under the Units tab of the item master and are then available for selection in the units conversion.
| The item master allows the definition of unit conversions, e.g. conversion of pieces to kilogram. To fill in the unit conversion, the target unit, the source unit and the conversion factor are defined under the Unit Conversions tab. The unit conversion is used to create BOM specific quantity units. BOM Management
| The definition of the units and their derived units can only be changed with manager privileges!
| The unit conversion factor can also be defined for an item in the BOM tab of the Item mask. When changing from one unit to another, a special window is opened to define the qunatity for the new unit. According to the entered value, the unit conversion factor will be calculated automatically and entered into the Unit Conversions tab of the respective item master.
| After defining a conversion factor, a message is displayed in the message window.

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| ### Item
| General Item Information Additional Item Information References to other Modules
| General Item Information
| When creating an item a "neutral" item master without revision management is created as an information pool for comprising all the information assigned to the item independent of the item version.
| Deleting the last revision of an item (no other revision is available), also deletes the respective item master. When restoring the item from the trash with the rollback button, the item master is not restored automatically. The item master has to be restored separately, otherwise an item with no item master exists!
| An item consists of a unique item number, a revision number defined by the revision management of Agile e6, and an item name. Being under lifecycle control, a lifecycle is assigned to the item when saving it.
| Unit An item can have a special unit (e.g. pcs, m, kg, ...) assigned to it. This offers the advantage, that the correct quantity specifications for all items can be seen during order creation. See also Units of Measurement / Unit Conversion for the Item Master.
| Material Every item can have a material (e.g. PVC) assigned to it. This is the material, the item consists of. Further materials can be assigned by specifying additional materials. This is required if an item consists of more than one material.
| Category An item can have a certain category like assembly, part, product etc. assigned to it. A select menu is available in the Category field. Classification
| Lifecycle Revision number (Revision management) The item revision indicates the revision state of a certain item. It is possible to display predecessor/successor relations and to create new revisions by copying the existing item to a new revision. The item number remains unchanged, but a higher value is entered into the revision field. The status of the new revision is automatically changed to In Work. With the revision management, it is even possible to copy complete structures and relations to other objects when creating a new revision. When creating a new item revision, it is possible to change the item number - this does not influence the availability of the predecessor. Lifecycle Every item is subject to lifecycle management and thus has a defined release process. Any item has a certain "state" which can have different privileges to perform certain tasks assigned. For example, the developer can set an item to the In review status, but the item can only be released by the project manager. The following picture shows the different states and the possible successor states of the standard review process. The review processes can be customized. Change Management / Workflow
| See Getting Started Manual on Revision Management.
| See Getting Started Manual on how to change the item status and the Lifecycle Management manual.
| In addition, several other characteristics like e.g. material, unit etc. are used to describe the item with the so-called meta data. In general, the entries for these fields can be selected from selection menus at the respective fields.
| The default values for these mask can only be changed by users with manager privileges!
| Bills of Materials / Item structure Because an item can either reflect an individual part, an assembly, or a complete product, it is necessary to structure individual items hierarchically to reflect the product structure. This hierarchical structure is a so-called Bill of Material (BOM) which comprises all products, assemblies and parts which make up a product. The following figure shows the simplified BOM for a ballpen (product, its assemblies and parts):
| When creating the BOM, two different position types can be assigned to a BOM position. Item or Text. Item is the default setting and is used when adding items to the BOM. Text can be assigned to any type of BOM position. It references a text instance.
| For additional information about text, refer to the Text Management manual.
| For additional information on the Bill of Materials refer to the Bill of Materials manual.
| Additional Item Information
| General Properties Properties are based on attributes and describe an item without specifying a classification list. Every available attribute can be specified as a property and can be assigned to a item. Context (DDID) In Item Management contexts are used for STEP-specific identification of items. An item can be assigned to different contexts. These are e.g. offer, design, production, etc. The context is also assigned with a DDID (Design Discipline Item Definition). It is required to make your record STEP-compatible if a STEP data exchange is used. BOM Management Contexts can only be defined with manager privileges! External item -> Internal item The option Allocating external items / internal items can be used to create a nonhierarchical relation to an external item (as in case of the Bill of Material). For example, you have an item of a supplier with external numbering system (external item) and the same item with internal number (internal item). This relation is used in order to create a relation between these documents. Geometric components (Higher/Lower) Here it is possible to create a relation between two items (DDID objects), which differ geometrically but have the same shape. There is e.g. only one drawing, which can be reversed or rotated. Example: The right and left splash guards on a car`s door are virtually equal. The only difference is the inversion. This function is required to make the STEP record compatible. Manufactured item/raw material relation It is possible to create a manufactured item/raw material relation. This means that one of both items is the raw material which is used to produce the other item. It is possible to assign several raw materials to a manufactured item. On the other hand it is also possible to assign several manufactured items to a raw material. Examples for manufactured item/raw material relations:
Raw material: | Raw material(s):
Item Spring | Item Wire
Item Bumper | Item Sheet steel
Item Bonnet | Item Sheet steel
Substitute It is possible to assign one or several other items as substitutes. If an item is not available, the substitute can be used. The substitute information is entered in the Replaces item/Replaced by/ Derive items/Derived from tabs.
| #### References to other Modules
| As the Item Management is the central object in a PLM system, it is possible to assign several other objects to the item to collect all information related to a product/item.
| For additional information on the individual modules, refer to the respective online manual.
| Alias ID An Alias ID can be referenced to objects and Work Requests/Work Orders in order to manage additional product information. Manufacturers and suppliers assign Alias IDs to their products or components in order to clearly identify the cooperation partner the product/component is delivered to and to manage all the external product information. Alias ID Since cooperation partners address specific needs in terms of requirements to the product/component they purchase, such information needs to be stored in the internal system of the manufacturer. The Requirements and Traceability module provides the means to effectively manage all requirements addressed to a product. Requirements Management and Traceability Documents Documents can be assigned to an item by means of cooperation with the Document Management; e.g. the corresponding CAD drawing can be assigned to a component. This enables the display of an item as a drawing or model (in the appropriate viewers) directly form the system. Projects In combination with the Project Management items can be assigned to a project. Items can be assigned to a project either in the Projects mask or in the Item mask. Classes In combination with the Classification module, items can be assigned to classes. The purpose of classification is to find equal or similar parts and components in order to prevent new constructions and to support the further usage with or without adaptive constructions. Every class defines a record. Generally speaking, geometrical and physical characteristics are defined (e.g. length and thread diameter are the defining classification attributes of a bolt). Classes can be structured and inherited by sub-classes. Items are assigned to a class in the classification list and their attributes are defined. Any class assigned to an item can be displayed with the context menu References > Class Info or in the Classattributes tab. Companies and Persons In combination with the Companies and Persons module it is possible to assign companies and/or persons to an item. These companies or persons must have a relation type assigned to it, showing the type of relation companies or persons have to an item (e.g. owner, manufacturer, etc.). In addition, it is possible to send a mail to all or only some of the persons which are assigned to an item. For this purpose, the mail program installed on your computer is used. Work Requests/Work Orders In order to display these two tabs in the Item mask, the Change Management has to be de-activated. If changes are made to already released items or an item is involved in a change, it is necessary to create a work request. An authorized person decides whether the change is to be performed or not. If Yes, the work request is transformed into a work order. The item is set to status In change, and a new version of the item is generated. The assignment of the item to the work request or work order is performed in the folder, which is created automatically upon generating a work request. Process Planning Process planning has been introduced in conjunction with STEP (Standard for the Exchange of Product Data). This standard is used to simulate the processing/production chain of a product. Both individual processing states and operations required for the progress from one state to another are simulated. The dependence between process, operation, item, and resources are described in documents, which can be assigned to methods, operations, and processes. The required items for a method are assigned to the methods. Items used as tools or auxiliary materials are assigned to operations as resources. Applications An application describes how the item that you deliver (your product) will be used. Therefore, the application collects all information that is characteristic for the product's usage. The relation between an item and an application can be released and may have effectivity information. Product Usage
| Additional functions are available in the context menu: Folders Folders can store different objects (items, documents, projects) which belong to a certain process. The context menu of the Item mask either allows to add the item to a new folder or to view the folder(s) the item is already assigned to. Workflow Notes It is possible to maintain notes for every item in order to provide additional information. If necessary, this information can be changed, deleted, or extended at any time. Variant Management Items variants might be used for one product. Instead of creating a new BOM for each product, variants (items) can be assigned to an item. Variant Management