5 Collaborating on Pricing and Contract Information

This chapter provides information about collaborating on pricing and contract information.

5.1 About Prices

The Agile PLM system can store information about different prices for different items. Users in departments throughout the buyer organization can access this information to use in finalizing the prices for an item or manufacturer part.

The process of managing prices involves three entities:

• Price - This is where you record the prices for items or manufacturer parts. A price object can have multiple price lines. You can add it to any PCO without having to create a new PCO.

• Price Line - Price lines contain the core price information about an item or manufacturer part, which is unique by quantity, ship-to location, and effectivity period. You can create any number of price lines within a price object, but they should be uniquely identified. Price lines have the general information of the price object. A Price object may have multiple Price Lines, because several of the price and terms attributes are dependent on the context (for example, Ship-To Location).

• Price Change Order (PCO) - A price change order is the route for revising or deleting the price information about an object. A price change order follows a workflow from the Preliminary through the Signoff phase. A PCO can have multiple price objects, and a price can be added to any existing PCO.

If you have the (Restricted) Price Collaborator role, you can participate in the price management process, including creating price objects, creating and submitting PCOs, modifying price lines, and approving PCOs

An item can have many revisions due to content change, manufacturing change orders, engineering change orders, and so on. Each change is called a revision. All the price lines associated with the price object are for the specified revision of the item only.

Note: You can personalize the view on some Price object tabs. To learn more about the personalization features, see "Personalizing PCM Object Tabs.".

5.2 Creating Prices

Agile users with the appropriate privileges can create or modify a price object. You can create a price in the following ways:

• From the Create New menu.

As a supplier user, this is the method you will use to create price objects. This is the method discussed in this manual.

• Using the Import command.

For more information about using the Import command, see Getting Started with Agile PLM.

• Using the Actions menu in an item or manufacturer part.

You must have Read privilege for the Item object or Manufacturer Part object to create a price from the Actions menu.

To create a price from the Create New menu:

1. Choose Create New > Prices > Published Price. The Create Published Prices dialog appears.

2. Select a price type from the Type dropdown list. Once you select a price type, additional fields appear on the dialog page.

3. A unique, system generated number may be automatically filled in the Number field on the basis of Price Type you selected. Based on the settings defined by your Agile administrator, you may be able to modify this number, give one of your own, or click the AutoNumber button to generate a new number.

4. Select the Part Type (Item or Manufacturer Part) from the dropdown list.

5. Click the Search to Add button to search and select an item or manufacturer part from Search Object palette. It fills up the field with corresponding part number.

   If you selected Item from Item/Manufacturer Part list, a Rev dropdown list appears for you to select its Revision, for example, Introductory.

   If you selected Manufacturer Part in Item/Manufacturer Part list, the Rev dropdown list does not appear as its revision is not in your control.

6. Select the Manufacturing Site from the dropdown list.

   If a manufacturing site is selected, the item price information applies to the items or manufacturer parts manufactured only at that site. If the field is left blank, the price information applies to the item or manufacturer part regardless of their manufacturing site.

7. Click the Search to Add button to search and select Suppliers through Identify Suppliers palettes.

   
   

   Note: Only your supplier organization will be listed in the search results.

   
   

8. Optional: Select a Program from its dropdown list.

   If a program is selected, the item price information applies only to that program. If All is selected, then the item price information applies to all programs.

9. Optional: Select a Customer from its dropdown list.

   If a customer is selected, the item price information applies only to that customer. If All is selected, the item price information applies to all the customers.

10. Click Save. The new price's cover page appears.

11. To add a new price line, go to the Price Lines tab. For more information about adding price lines, see "Adding Price Lines."

12. To add a new attachment, go to the Attachments tab.

5.2.1 General Information Tab

The General Information tab has fields that contain the general information about the price. It includes the following fields:

Field	Editable?	Description
Mfr. Part Number (or Item Number)	No	The unique identification number of the manufacturer part (or item) for which the price is intended.
Mfr. Name	No	The name of the manufacturer.
Mfr. Part Number (or Item Rev)	No	The unique identification number of the manufacturer part or revision number of the item for which the price is intended.
Mfr. Name	No	The name of the manufacturer.
Supplier	No	The supplier of the item.
Price Type	No	The type (subclass) of the price object. The default types are Contract, Published Price, and Quote History. The Agile administrator can rename the price types or create additional price types.
Number	No	The unique identification number of the price object.
Description	Yes	The description of the price object.
Lifecycle Phase	No	The lifecycle phase of the price.
Version	No	The version of the price.
Allow Qty Breaks	Yes	A flag indicating whether the price information applies to quantity breaks or not.
Owner	Yes	The user responsible for the price information.
Customer	No	The customer to which the price information applies. If customer is not specified, the price information applies to all customers.
Program	No	The program for which the price information applies. If program is not specified, the price information applies to all programs.
Manufacturing Site	No	The site where the item is being manufactured. The price information applies only to the item manufactured at that site.
Authorized Suppliers	Yes	The suppliers that are authorized to view/read this price.
Part EOL Date	Yes	The end of life date of the item.
Min	Yes	The minimum quantity for which the price information applies.
Mult	Yes	Indicates that the packaging delivers the item in multiple units; this value states how many are in each package.
NCNR	Yes	The Non Cancelable Non Returnable flag for the item.
Inventory	Yes	The available inventory.
Version Release Date	No	The date the price was released.
Effectivity Date	No	The date the price information comes into effect.
Contract Number	No	The number of the associated contract.
Flex fields	Yes/No	The other flex fields that are visible only if defined by your system administrator.

To edit the information, click the Edit button.

5.2.2 Changes Tab

The Changes tab displays pending and historical changes that affect the price. Agile automatically fills in the information on this tab. The changes listed are those that apply to the revision specified in the Rev field at the top of the page.

• Pending Changes Table

  The Pending Changes table displays any unreleased PCOs in which the given price is listed on the Affected Prices tab. You can click the link to a pending change to see what it proposes.

• Changes History Table

  The Change History table displays any released PCOs where the price is listed on the Affected Prices tab. You can click the link to a released PCO to see what it contains and what price changes were made.

To open a change listed on the Changes tab, click its number. The change opens with the Cover Page tab on top.

Note: Although its name is similar, the History tab shows actions taken on a price, while the tables on the Changes tab list released and pending changes for the price.

5.2.3 Price Lines Tab

A Price is an object where you record the price and terms conditions of items and manufacturer parts with relation to the supplier, customer, program, and manufacturing site. A price line is a unique combination of ship-to location, ship-from location, effective-from date, effective-to date, and quantity that applies to a price. A price can have multiple price lines, based on specific contexts.

The Price Lines tab includes the following fields:

Required Fields	Description
Price Effective From Date	The date the price takes effect.
Currency Code	The unique identification code for the currency.
Ship From	The place the item/manufacturer part is shipped from.

Optional Fields	Description
Ship To	The place the item/manufacturer part will be shipped to.
Price Effective To Date	The date the price no longer applies.
Qty	The quantity (in its own unit of measure) for which the price applies. This field must be filled if the price is set to allow quantity breaks.
Conversion Date	The currency conversion date.
Conversion Rate	The rate at which the currency will be normalized to the project currency.
Material Price	The per unit material cost of the item/manufacturer part.
Non Recurring Cost	The one time cost which shall be applicable when the buyer first buys the item.
Lead Time	The number of days required to supply the item/manufacturer part.
Transportation Terms	The terms and conditions for transporting the item/manufacturer parts.
Country of Origin	The country where the item/manufacturer part is manufactured.
PriceLine Notes	Any specific information about the price line.
Total Price	The total price is the sum of Total Material Price and Total Non Material Price. Note: The total prices are calculated prices and are not user-editable.
Total Material Price	The total material price of the item/manufacturer part.
Total Non Material Price	The cost of the item/manufacturer part not associated with materials, for example, labor rate, sales tax, and other over heads.
Project Number	The unique identification number of the project, if the price line is associated with the project. This field gets automatically populated if the price was published from a sourcing project.

Overlapping price lines can occur when all or some of the effectivity periods of one price line fall within the effectivity periods of a second price line, and all other attributes are the same.

The Agile administrator can configure the Agile system to disallow overlapping price lines. You can contact the sourcing manager or the Agile administrator to determine if overlapping price lines are allowed.

Consider the following example:

A buyer tries to create and save the following price lines. Note that the price lines have overlapping effectivity periods.

Field	Price Line 1	Price Line 2
Ship To	Mumbai	Mumbai
Price Effective From Date	1st April 2009	5th April 2009
Price Effective To Date	30th April 2009	25th April 2009
Currency	INR	INR
Qty	2	2
Material Price	10	9

In the previous scenario, the system allows the user to save the price lines only if the Smart Rule, Overlap Price Line Effectivity Periods, is set to allow or warning.

Additionally, it is important to remember that duplicate price lines are not allowed. For example, if a buyer tries to create and save the following price lines, the save will fail.

Field	Price Line 1	Price Line 2
Ship To	Mumbai	Mumbai
Price Effective From Date	5th April 2009	5th April 2009
Price Effective To Date	30th April 2009	30th April 2009
Currency	INR	INR
Qty	2	2
Material Price	10	9

In this case, since all of the required fields are the duplicated in both price lines, the save does not succeed even though the values for Material Price differ.

5.2.3.1 Adding Price Lines

You can add a price line if the price object is in the Preliminary lifecycle phase. If the price is associated with a PCO, you can add price lines through redline mode (if the PCO has not been released) or through a new PCO (if the PCO has been released).

To add a price line, click Add on the Price Lines tab to display the Add Price Line dialog. Enter the price and terms information as required in the dialog. Note that although Ship-To, Price Effective From Date, and Currency Code are the only fields indicated as required, other fields such as Material Price and Qty (Quantity) are crucial to price lines, as well. Quantity, for example, must be filled if the price is set to allow quantity breaks. Once you are done filling in the price line information, click Finish to save the price line.

5.2.3.2 Removing Price Lines

You can remove a price line if the price object is in the Preliminary lifecycle phase. If the price is associated with a PCO, you can remove price lines through redline mode (if the PCO has not been released) or through a new PCO (if the PCO has been released).

To remove a price line, select the row(s) of the price line(s) and click Remove.

5.2.3.3 Editing Price Lines

You can edit a price line if the price object is in the Preliminary lifecycle phase. If the price is associated with a PCO, you can modify price lines through redline mode (if the PCO has not been released) or through a new PCO (if the PCO has been released).

To edit a price line, click in field you want to edit and make changes, as needed. Some fields may not be editable.

Note: For the first field you attempt to edit, you will have to double-click in it to make it editable. Any subsequent fields will only require a single-click to enable editing.

While editing, you can edit multiple lines simultaneously by using the Fill-up and Fill-down options via the More button. For example, if you changed the Effective Date field for one price line, but wanted the same date for a few price lines below it, you can select the Effective Date cell for the price line that should be copied and the Effective Date cells of the price lines to which you want the value copied. When you click More > Fill-down (selected cells) the value that was in the first price line that you selected is copied to the selected cells below it. You could also use the Copy and Paste options via the More menu. Note that there are also keyboard shortcuts available for these editing options.

5.2.4 Price Lifecycle Phases

By default, price objects have the following lifecycle phases. The Agile administrator can rename lifecycle phases or create new lifecycle phases.

• Preliminary

• Active

• Inactive

• Obsolete

5.3 About Price Change Orders

You control any changes that need to be made to prices through a price change order (PCO). PCOs are routed through workflows, from the Pending phase through the Released phase. Through a PCO, you can release a price, redline the price information, and track the history of the price information.

You create PCOs for price objects only. A PCO can include on its Affected Prices tab multiple prices that can be associated with different items, but a price object cannot be included on the Affected Prices tab of more than one pending PCO.

The following table shows the tabs and the default fields for changes. The Agile administrator may have added additional tabs, called Page Two and Page Three by default. These tabs contain custom fields defined by the administrator. The Relationships tab appears only if the Agile administrator has enabled them.

Tab name	Tab information includes
Cover Page	General information about the PCO plus any unique fields defined by the Agile administrator. See "Cover Page Tab."
Affected Prices	Which prices are affected by the PCO. PCOs include redlined price lines, and file folders (attachments). See "Affected Prices Tab."
Workflow	Approvers, observers, and acknowledgers of the PCO and the results of their reviewing the PCO. For more information about working with routable objects and workflows, see the chapter about routing objects with workflows in Getting Started with Agile PLM.
Relationships	Lists objects that affect the status of the PCO and lists objects whose status is affected by the PCO. For more information about relationships, see the section about relationships and references between objects in Getting Started with Agile PLM.
Attachments	Lists the references to attached files and URLs contained in file folder objects. For more information about file folders and attachments, see the chapter about working with file folder objects and attachment files in Getting Started with Agile PLM.
History	All actions taken on the change.

Note: You can personalize the view on some Price Change Order object tabs. To learn more about the personalization features, see "Personalizing PCM Object Tabs."

5.4 Creating PCOs

If you have the appropriate privileges, you can create or modify a PCO. This section describes two ways you can create a PCO:

• From the Create New menu on the main menu bar

• From the Actions menu on the Price page

You can create PCOs from prices or from the Create menu on the main menu bar. When you create a PCO from a price (Actions > Add to Change), the price is associated with the PCO by default. When you create the PCO from the Create New menu, you must associate the price with the PCO manually.

To create a PCO from the Create New menu:

1. Click Create New > Changes > Price Change Orders. The Create New Price Change Orders dialog appears.

2. Select PCO Type from its dropdown list.

3. Depending on how the Agile administrator has set up PCO numbering, a unique number may automatically be generated and inserted in the Number field. You may also be able to click the Autonumber icon to get another system-generated number or you can enter your own number.

4. Click Save. The cover page of the newly created PCO appears.

   
   

   Note: Fields are visible and/or editable based on how the buyer set up privileges for the supplier.

   
   

5. Select a category from the Change Category dropdown list.

6. Enter the Description of Change and the Reason for Change in the corresponding fields.

7. Select a Reason Code, Workflow, and Price Admin from the corresponding dropdown lists.

8. Click the Address Book icon next to the Originator. It opens a search palette to find and select an originator from the list of users. By default, the originator is the user who creates the PCO.

9. Change the Date Originated from the calendar to stamp the date of origination of the PCO, if it is different from today's date.

10. Click the list icon next to the Product Lines to select the affected product lines.

11. Click Save. The updated cover page appears.

    Add affected prices or attachments to the PCO by clicking on the corresponding tabs.

To create a new PCO from a Price object:

1. Open a Price object.

2. Choose Actions > Add to Change > Create New. The Create Changes dialog appears.

3. Select a PCO from the Change Type dropdown list.

4. Depending on how the Agile administrator has set up PCO numbering, a unique number may automatically be generated and inserted in the Number field. You may also be able to click the AutoNumber icon to get another system-generated number or you can enter your own number.

5. Click Save.

6. To add details to the newly created PCO, follow steps 4 through 11 from the procedure To create a PCO from the Create Newmenu.

After you create a PCO, the Cover Page tab appears with general information about the PCO.

On the Attachments tab you can add references to files related to the PCO. For more information about attachments and file folders, see the chapter about working with file folder objects and attachment files in Getting Started with Agile PLM.

You can view the log of actions that were taken on the PCO since it was created on the History tab. For more information, see Getting Started with Agile PLM.

5.4.1 Adding the Current Price Object to an Existing PCO

To add the current price object to the Affected Prices tab of an existing PCO:

1. Open a price.

2. Click Actions > Add to Change > Search. The search palette appears.

3. Search for and select the PCO, to which you want to add the price, by double-clicking its row.

If the price was successfully added, the PCO page appears. The price object is listed in Affected Prices tab of the PCO. If the price was not successfully added to the PCO, however, an error message appears in the information bar.

Note: You can also add prices to a PCO directly from within the Affected Prices tab of the PCO. For more information, see "Adding Prices."

5.4.2 Cover Page Tab

The Cover Page tab shows the information traditionally shown on a paper PCO form. Agile completes some of the fields; you complete the rest.

5.4.2.1 Buttons on the Cover Page Tab

The Cover Page tab has the following buttons:

• Edit - appears when the Cover Page is not in edit mode. To edit the Cover Page, click Edit.

• Save - appears when the Cover Page is in edit mode. To save the changes that you made to the tab while it was in edit mode, click Save.

• Cancel - appears when the Cover Page is in edit mode. To undo the changes that you made to the tab while it was in edit mode, click Cancel.

• Validate Items - appears when the Cover Page is in edit mode. After you enter field values on the Cover Page, click this button to update the list of matching workflows available in the Workflow field.

Sometimes you cannot edit a field. A field may be uneditable for two reasons:

• The change has been released.

• You do not have sufficient privileges or the appropriate license to modify that field.

5.4.2.2 Fields on the Cover Page Tab

The following table summarizes the Cover Page fields of the Price Change Order, how each field is completed, and what each field contains.

The Cover Page can contain two additional sections, called Page Two and Page Three by default; the Agile administrator determines whether these sections are enabled, and what they are called.

Field	How completed	Contents
Number	Automatically, when created.	The number assigned to the change when you create it.
Status	Automatically, when created; updated as the change moves through the assigned workflow.	Change status, described in the section "Status on the Cover Page Tab"; if no workflow has been selected, this field is Unassigned.
Change Type	Automatically, when created.	The type (subclass) of change selected when you create the change.
Change Category	Usually manually; can contain a default.	Drop-down list of categories defined by the Agile administrator.
Description Of Change	Usually manually; can contain a default.	A meaningful description of the PCO.
Reason For Change	Usually manually; can contain a default.	The reason you are changing the price objects.
Reason Code	Usually automatically, when created (with the default set by the Agile administrator).	Drop-down list of categories defined by the Agile administrator.
Workflow	Automatically (if only one workflow applies to the change), when the change is moved to the next status from the Unassigned status. If more than one workflow applies to the change, the workflow is selected manually; the workflow selection can be changed as long as the change is in the Pending status type. Selecting the blank field in the Workflow drop-down list switches the change to the Unassigned status.	The name of the workflow being used to move this change through the change control process.
Price Admin	May be provided automatically by the workflow; otherwise selected manually from a drop-down list. User groups appear first in the list, followed by individual usernames.	Default routing manager. If the workflow is defined to notify the default price administrator, the user group or user in this field receives notifications about the PCO. If this field is left blank, then the notifications are sent to every price administrator on the list. If the notification definition in the workflow is blank, no notifications are sent.
Originator	Usually automatically, when created (with the default set by the Agile administrator).	The user who created the change (can be selected from a drop-down list).
Date Originated	Usually automatically, when created.	The date the change was created.
Date Released	Automatically, when released.	The date the change was released.
Final Complete Date	Automatically, when the change enters the Complete status type.	The date the change moved into the Complete status type.
Product Line(s)	Usually manually; can contain a default.	Drop-down list of categories defined by the Agile administrator.

5.4.2.3 Status on the Cover Page Tab

A "stamp" in the top right corner of a change indicates the status of the change. The Agile administrator defines the name of each status in each workflow. The workflow status is also listed in the Status field on the Cover Page tab.

Note: The Agile administrator may have created customized workflows and status stamps for your company. The table below lists only the Agile default workflow statuses for PCOs.

Status stamp name	Status definition
Unassigned (no status type)	No workflow has been assigned to this change. The originator may still be developing the change. No statuses are displayed on the Workflow tab.
Pending (Pending status type)	The originator may still be developing the change. It has not yet been submitted to the price administrator.
Submitted (Submit status type)	The change has been routed to the price administrator for review and analysis.
CCB (Review status type)	The change has been routed to the members of the Change Control Board (CCB) for approval.
Released (Released status type)	The change has been signed off by the CCB members and released.
Implemented (Complete status type)	The PCO has been implemented or incorporated into new drawings.
Hold (Hold status type)	The change has been placed on hold while information is being gathered by the price administrator.
Canceled (Cancel status type)	The change has been cancelled due to a fundamental flaw or rejection by several people.

The Workflow tab shows all the statuses the change has been through and the statuses remaining to complete the change control process. (See "Workflow Tab.")

5.4.3 Affected Prices Tab

Although the Agile administrator may have modified the Affected Prices table for PCOs, by default the table has the following columns:

• Price Number - the number assigned to the price.

• Price Description - the description of the price.

• Item Number - the number assigned to the item associated with the price.

• Item Rev - the revision of the item associated with the price.

• Manufacturer Part Number - the number assigned to the part by the manufacturer. The manufacturer name and manufacturer part number comprise the unique identifier for the manufacturer part associated with the price.

• Mfr Name - the name of the manufacturer of the part associated with the price.

• Old Lifecycle Phase - the lifecycle phase of the price before the change was released.

• New Version - the revision (of the affected price) that will be created when the change is released. This field is automatically populated.

• Effective Date - the date on which the change takes effect.

• Lifecycle Phase - the lifecycle phase that the price will be in after the change is released.

• Change Function - provides these choices: Interchangeable (new revision of a price that is compatible with the old revision), Non Functional (no change to a price, only to price documentation), and Release (new price).

• Has been Redlined - indicates that there are redlines on the price line for that item.

These additional columns are present for PCOs by default. These fields are filled in automatically.

• Customer - the customer to whom this price applies. If there is a customer assigned to the price, the price is available only for that customer and not for other customers.

• Program - the program associated with this price object. "All" is a valid entry. A program, for example, could be a group of BOMs that are managed together. The Agile administrator defines programs.

• Supplier - the supplier of the item affected by the price object. In this case, it is your supplier organization.

• Inventory - the number of units currently in inventory.

• Min - the minimum number of units that can be purchased at one time.

• Mult - if the units must be purchased as a package of multiple parts, the number of units in each package, for example a dozen, 50, or 100.

• EOL Date - end of life date of the part.

• Manufacturing Site - the manufacturing site (as defined by the sourcing organization) where the part will be used.

5.4.3.1 Adding Prices

To add a price to the Affected Prices tab:

1. In the Affected Prices tab, click Add. A new row in the Affected Prices table appears.

2. If known, type in the price number, otherwise you can click the Search to Add icon to search for an existing price. The search palette appears.

   
   

   Note: Alternatively, you can click the Create New button to create a new price.

   
   

3. From the search results, select the PCO you want to add by double-clicking the row.

   If the price can not be added, an error message appears.

4. Close the search palette. The newly added price appears in the Affected Prices table.

5.4.3.2 Auto-populating Effective Date

A price change order is used to modify the price of an item or manufacturer part. The affected price, however, does not come into effect until an Effective Date is defined. You can set this date either by editing prices selectively or by populating a common date to a number of price objects.

To Auto Populate an Effective Date:

1. In the Affected Prices tab, select the row(s) of price(s) that you wish to make effective from a desired date.

2. Click Auto Populate Effective Date button. The Auto Populate Effective Date dialog appears.

3. Click the calendar button next to Enter a Date field and select a date.

4. Click Set Date.

5. Select Apply to All Items checkbox if you wish to set the date to all the prices in Affected Prices tab.

5.4.3.3 Removing Prices

To remove a price from the Affected Prices table:

1. On the Affected Prices tab, select the row(s) of the price(s) you want to remove.

2. Click Remove. (Alternatively, you can press the Delete button on your keyboard.)

5.4.3.4 Editing Prices

You can edit a price on the Affected Prices tab of a PCO. To edit a price, click directly in an editable field to make necessary changes. Not all fields are editable.

Note: For the first field you attempt to edit, you will have to double-click in it to make it editable. Any subsequent fields will only require a single-click to enable editing.

5.4.4 Creating and Editing Price Redlines

On the Price List Redline sub-tab on the Affected Prices tab, you can redline the price list of an affected price listed on a PCO.

To open the Price List Redline tab:

1. On the Affected Prices tab, click the row of the price that you want to redline. The Price List Redline sub-tab showing existing redlines for the selected price appears below.

2. To add price lines to the price, click Add. The Add Price Line dialog appears. For details, see "Adding Prices."

3. To edit an existing price line, click directly in the editable field and make changes, as necessary.

   Editing, deleting, and undoing redlines affects only the selected rows of prices on the Price Lines tab.

Note: You must have the required privileges to redline prices.

The Price List Redline tab has the following buttons:

• Add - lets you redline-add price line to the price.

• Remove - redline-remove the selected price line from the price.

• Undo Redlines - clears the redlines from the selected rows.

• More - allows you more edit options, including copy/paste and fill-up/fill-down.

5.5 Workflow Tab

The Workflow tab shows all the statuses the PCO has passed through, and which statuses remain to be completed. It also shows all the approvals and rejections made during each approval cycle.

Note: For detailed information about working with the Workflow tab of routable objects, see the chapter about routing objects with workflows in Getting Started with Agile PLM.

For example, if a PCO is returned to the originator, reworked, and then resubmitted for a second approval cycle. The Workflow tab shows the approvals and rejections of the PCO made during the first approval cycle and during the second approval cycle.

The Workflow tab can have the following two sections:

• Summary Section

• Workflow Table

5.5.1 Summary Section

The Summary section, the top section in the Workflow tab (visible for all changes that have been assigned a workflow), displays the name of the assigned workflow and a flow chart of the workflow, highlighting the current status of the change.

Some of the statuses in the flow chart are links, which are identifiable by their underline. You can switch the change to one of these statuses by clicking the link and filling in the Notify field. You need sufficient privileges to do this.

The status with an orange background is the current status.

5.5.2 Workflow Table

The Workflow table on the Workflow tab lists past workflow(s) and signoff information for the change. Although the Agile administrator may have modified the table, it has the following columns by default:

• Status Code - an image that indicates the status or the action that was taken, e.g. current, forward, backward, etc.

• Workflow - the name of the workflow that the change is following.

• Workflow Status - the name of the status.

• Reviewer - the user who reviewed the change. This can be an approver, observer or acknowledger, and it can be a single user or a user group.

• Req'd - whether the reviewer is a required reviewer (approver) or not (observer).

• Action - the action taken by the reviewer.

• Signoff User - the name of the user who actually approved or rejected the change.

• Status Changed By - the name of the user who switched the status.

• Local Client Time - the date and time of the action.

• Signoff Comments - any comments made by the reviewers (approvers, observers, and acknowledgers) during signoff.

• Signoff Duration - the time taken to get the signoff.

The ability to use the Add Reviewers and Remove Reviewers buttons is controlled by the settings in each workflow. In addition, you must have the appropriate privileges to add or remove approvers, observers, or acknowledgers. If you do not have the appropriate privileges, the buttons are disabled.

5.6 User Action Timestamp

Agile provides two ways to record the date and time of any action taken against the change:

• Local Client Time - this is the date and time as shown on the local client computer of the user who is viewing the timestamp. Local client time is the default method of viewing timestamps.

  For example, if Mary approves a change at 12 noon in New York (Eastern Time), when John looks at the Workflow tab of the change in California, he sees the time Mary approved the change as 9 o'clock in the morning (Pacific Time).

• User Action Time - this is the date and time on the computer where the action was performed. User action time is optional.

  If Mary approves a change at 12 noon in New York, when John in California looks at the Workflow tab of the change, he sees the following:

  • In the Local Client Time column, the time Mary approved the change is 9 o'clock in the morning (Pacific Time).

  • In the User Action Time column, the time Mary approved the change is 12 noon (Eastern Time).

  When Mary looks at the Workflow tab of the change, she sees the following:

  • In the Local Client Time column, the time she approved the change is 12 noon (Eastern Time).

  • In the User Action Time column, the time she approved the change is 12 noon (Eastern Time).

Local Client Time always appears on the Workflow tab and the History tab. User Action Time is optional, and is displayed on the Workflow tab of changes and the History tab of any Agile object only if the Agile administrator specifies this.