3 Managing Project Items

This chapter provides information about managing items in a sourcing project.

3.1 About Project Items

You add items to a project so you can get information about terms and prices from your suppliers based on the quantities required. You can add items that exist in the Item Master, and you can create items within the project. The items created in the project are not updated to the Item Master automatically. You must manually publish the item information to the Item Master.

When you add an item to a project, all the sub-components and manufacturer parts are added to the project by default. An assembly item is any item that has a BOM.

Unlike the Item Master, sourcing projects hold only one revision of an item. When you import items into a project, any existing items are replaced with the source data even if it is for a previous revision.

The information you require about an item can be sent as a request for quotes (RFQ) to suppliers. Updated prices that you receive from suppliers can be published to the Item Master.

3.2 Managing Project Items

You can add, create, import, view, and delete items in a project. You can also set the critical quote and cost attributes of items for a response.

This section contains the following topics:

• Adding Existing Items to a Project

• Creating New Items in a Project

• Importing Items into a Project

• Editing Item Information

• Exporting Items from a Project

• Modifying Item Quantities

• Updating Project Item Information

• Calculating Item Quantities

• Viewing Item Information

• Deleting Items from a Project

3.2.1 Adding Existing Items to a Project

You can add items to a project when you create the project, or you can add them later. See "Adding Items to a Project" for more details.

3.2.2 Creating New Items in a Project

You can create items to add to a project either during or after project creation. When you create an item, it is not automatically added to the Item Master. However, you can publish the item to the Item Master. For more information, see "Creating New Items in a Project."

To create new items to add to a project:

1. Open a sourcing project and click the Items tab.

2. Click Add > Create Items.

3. Select the Subclass of the item you want to create from the drop-down list.

4. If needed, change or enter the Number for the item. The system may automatically fill in this field.

5. Enter relevant text for the Description field.

6. Click the Search button to search for the Commodity lines, if any, that pertain to the item.

7. Click the list icon to select the related Product Lines.

8. Enter a value for the Standard Cost and select the currency from the drop-down list.

   
   

   Note: At this point, you can click Finish to create the item. To add AML information for the item, continue with this procedure.

   
   

9. Click the Add AML button.

10. Click the Search button to search for and select the Manufacturer Name, if needed, or begin to type in the name of the manufacturer and the system attempts to auto-complete your entry.

11. Enter the Manufacturer Part Number.

12. Enter details in the Manufacturer Part Description field.

13. Select the status of the manufacturer item from the drop-down list.

14. Click the Add to Table button.

    
    

    Note: You can add more parts to the AML by repeating steps 10-14 or you can add another item by clicking the Add Another Item button.

    
    

15. Click Finish when you are done.

3.2.3 Importing Items into a Project

You can import items into a project either during project creation or afterward. Items imported into a project are not automatically added to the Item Master. However, you can publish items to the Item Master. For more information, see "Publishing Items and Manufacturer Parts."

You cannot add duplicate top-level assembly items to a project. An assembly is any item that has a BOM. Each project can have multiple top-level assemblies, assuming each one is unique. The item number alone determines an item's uniqueness.

For complete information about how to import items into a project, see Agile Import/Export Guide.

Note: You must have the appropriate privileges to import objects.

3.2.4 Exporting Items from a Project

After you add items to a project, you may want to edit the item fields. Rather than editing each item individually, you may find it easier and more efficient to export project items and edit the exported document. BOM and AML data are not included in the export.

After you edit the file, you can import the revised items back into the project. See "Importing Items into a Project."

Note: Some exported item fields, such as State and Is Validated, are not useful. Do not map such fields when you import the data into a project.

To export project items:

1. Open a project and select the Items tab.

2. Choose More > Export(csv) orExport(xls).

   
   

   Note: CSV is Comma Separated Values format, where a comma is used as an identifier of table columns. This ensures that when you export a CSV file, Agile PLM will place the data into its appropriate columns.

   
   

3. Save the file to your computer.

4. Click Close in the download dialog to return to project.

3.2.5 Editing Item Information

You can edit item information, such as the commodity, description, unit of measure, buyer, and planner, at any time.

To edit item information:

1. Open a project and select the Items tab.

2. Click the Number of the item you want to edit. The Project Item Information page appears.

3. Click Edit.

4. Edit the information in the fields as necessary.

5. Click Save.

Note: The item information edited on the Project Item Information page does not affect the Item Master. You can view the Item Master details by clicking View in Item Master.

3.2.6 Modifying Item Quantities

You can edit item quantities, or quantity breaks, on the Items tab or Analysis tab. Only root-level items can be modified.

To modify quantity breaks:

1. Open a project and select the Items or Analysis tab.

2. Select the row(s) of item(s) or click the All Rows Selection cell to select all the rows.

   
   

   Note: The Top Level Parts view on the Analysis tab displays only root-level items, which enables you to easily see which items you can edit.

   
   

3. Choose Edit > Quantities. The Edit Item Quantities dialog appears.

4. Double-click in the field for each Quantity Break in each Effectivity Period that you want to modify and enter the new quantity.

   
   

   Note: You can click the Fill Up or Fill Down buttons to copy the value of a Quantity Break to several selected cells in the column.

   
   

5. Click Save to update the quantities in the project.

Note: Once your changes are saved, the quantities are automatically updated through sub-assemblies and components in the project.

3.2.7 Editing Quantity Per Assembly (QPA)

You can edit an item's Quantity Per Assembly (QPA) on the Item tab of a sourcing project. Only child level QPA's can be edited. A top level, parent item's QPA cannot be edited. QPA is only editable when the sourcing project is in Draft or Open status.

To edit an item's QPA:

1. Open a project and select the Items tab.

2. Double-click the QPA field to make it editable.

3. Enter in the new value.

4. Click Save.

To avoid overwriting the updated QPA, when updating the sourcing project's content from the Item Master, you can choose to not have QPAs updated by un-selecting the QPA check box. By default, the QPA check box is selected, when either the All Content or BOM and AML options are selected. For more information, see "Updating Project Content from the Item Master."

Additionally, you can publish the items in a sourcing project, including the QPA, to the Item Master. To publish the QPA, you must select the Bill of Materials option when selecting content to publish. For more information, see "Publishing Items and Manufacturer Parts."

3.2.8 Updating Project Item Information

Sometimes item information changes due to an Engineering Change Order (ECO). You can update the items in a project with the information available in the Item Master.

To update project item information:

1. Open a project and select the Items tab.

2. Choose Edit > Update From Item Master. For more information, see "Updating Project Content from the Item Master."

3.2.9 Calculating Item Quantities

When an item is added to a project, regardless of whether it is entered manually or imported, its BOM and the associated manufacturer parts are also added. An item may contain many sub-components. Any item that has a BOM is called an assembly. Each assembly has a specified quantity. When an assembly is quoted for a specific quantity, the quote includes quantities for all its sub-components.

Within a sourcing project, you specify quantities only for top-level assemblies, not for BOM components. However, you can calculate component level quantities based on the assembly quantities and the Quantity Per Assembly (QPA) specified for each component. The project aggregates the quantities across assemblies for common items.

Note: If partner splits have been specified, the project also applies the splits to the calculated quantities. See "Calculating Quantities for Partner Splits" for more information.

At the top of the Items tab, the date and time when quantities were last calculated is displayed. When the calculated date and time is red, you need to click the Recalculate button to recalculate quantities.

Note: If you choose Edit > Quantities to change quantities, you can check the Calculate quantities through sub-assemblies and components box to calculate quantities. Calculated quantities affect items in the project, and not the items in other projects or in the Item Master.

The following table shows a portion of a BOM. Assembly A1 has a Quantity of 1000.

Number	QPA	Quantity
A1	1	1000
P2	1	NA
P3	2	NA
P4	3	NA

The calculation to determine the quantities for sub-components P2, P3, and P4 is simple. For example, the following formula is used to calculate the quantity of P4:

[Quantity of P4] = [QPA of P4] * [QPA of A1] * [Quantity of A1]

[Quantity of P4] = 3 * 1 * 1000 = 3000

To view sub-component quantities:

1. Open a project and select the Items tab.

2. Click the Recalculate button to calculate quantities for all BOM components.

Note: You can choose to execute the action as a background process.

3.2.10 Viewing Item Information

You can view item information from the Item Master or the project. Any change to an item at the project level will not be reflected in the Item Master, whereas changes in the Item Master affect the project items when you update the item content in the project.

For example, if you set a target price for an item by editing the item at the project level, it differs from the target price information stored in the Item Master.

Note: You can also view item information using the search function in the navigation pane or using an item bookmark. For details, see Getting Started with Agile PLM.

To view item information from a project:

1. Open a project and select the Items tab. A list of items appears.

2. Click an item number to view the details of the item.

   
   

   Note: You can view the item information in the Item Master by clicking View in Item Master. The View in Item Master link appears when you mouse over the item number.

   
   

To view item information from an RFQ:

1. Open an RFQ and select the Responses tab. The RFQ's line items appear.

2. Click an item number to view the details of the item.

3.2.11 Deleting Items from a Project

You delete items from a project to eliminate items that were added or imported by mistake or are now obsolete. You can delete an item from a project at any time, if it is not a sub-item within a BOM structure. You cannot change the BOM structure within Agile PCM. When you delete an item from a project, it is removed from all RFQs in the project.

Deleting an item from a project does not affect the Item Master. Published items exist in the Item Master even after deletion.

To delete items from a project:

1. Open a project and select the Items tab.

2. Select the item you want to delete.

3. Click Remove. A message appears to confirm the removal.

3.3 Quote As and Cost Attributes

When you send RFQs, you can seek Quotes of an item as an assembly, component, or custom component. These are the Quote As options available in the sourcing project for items. The price information for the items depends on the Quote As and Cost attributes.

• Cost defines whether the specified item will have a price in the quote project.

  • Yes: If you select Yes, a response line will be created for the item.

  • No: If you select No, no response line is created for the item or its associated manufacturer parts, and so the supplier cannot quote a price. If the Cost is No for an assembly, the response lines are not created for its children, as well.

• Quote As defines the response line in the RFQ. material price and non-material price of the items in the response lines.

  • Assembly: If an item is quoted as an assembly, the supplier specifies only the non-material price for the item in the response line. The non-material price is the price that includes the labor rate, sales tax, and other overhead costs.

  • Component: If an item is quoted as a component, the supplier specifies only the material prices in the response line.

  • Custom Component: If an item is quoted as a custom component, the supplier specifies both the material and the non-material price in the response line.

The Quote As and Cost attributes are not site-specific within a sourcing project. In PC, if you have the Sites tab enabled for the Items object, you can use Quote As and Cost in that tab and map the attributes into the sourcing project. Alternatively, you can map the attributes from Item-P2 into the project.

To change the Quote As and Cost attribute information of an item in the project:

Note: Once an RFQ is created for an item, the Quote As and Cost attributes cannot be edited or changed.

1. Open a project and select the AML tab.

2. Select the row(s) of the item(s) for which you want to change the Quote As and Cost attribute information.

3. Choose Edit > Bulk Edit Items. The Bulk Edit dialog appears.

4. Change the attributes as necessary.

5. Click OK.

Note: You can change these attribute values from Items and Analysis tabs, as well.

Alternatively, you can change the Quote As and Cost attributes by clicking on the item number and changing them for that particular item.

3.4 Expanding an Assembly

Assemblies and parts comprise a bill of material (BOM). An assembly can contain items and subassemblies.

To expand an assembly:

1. Open a project and select the Items or Analysis tab. The content of the project appears.

2. Note Select the row of the assembly and choose More > Expanded Display. A window pops up with the assembly and its subassemblies expanded.

Note: If you select another assembly and then click More > Expanded Display, a separate pop-up window appears.

On the Items tab, you can also expand an assembly, one level at a time, by clicking arrow next to the assembly icon.

Manufacturer part information is not displayed when you expand a BOM.

3.5 Managing Partner Information for Items

You can assign partners to assemblies, which enables you to compare costs provided by multiple partners. Partners are really Supplier objects in PLM and there is no separate configuration that is required to make a Supplier as a Partner. Although a partner is fundamentally a supplier, if a partner is assigned to an assembly, the partner, unlike a supplier, can quote on all the parts in that assembly, assuming the parts are set to be costed.

If multiple partners are selected, you can split the quantity among the partners by specifying what percentage of the items you want to receive from each supplier. For example, if you require 100 ship anchors, and two partners supply ship anchors to you, you can add both partners to the list and assign 50% to each.

You can select the Content BOM View check box in the Data to Share With Suppliers dialog to make the project BOM visible to the partner (on the General Information tab of a project, click the button next to the Data to Share field). If you want the partner to have access to the costed BOM analysis before they submit responses, for example, you can select the Content BOM View check box.

Note: If you have not added partners to your project, no partners appear on the Select Suppliers page of the RFQ creation wizard.

3.5.1 Adding Partners to Project Items

You can add partners to items in the project. You can assign the partners to all the items in the RFQ, if desired.

To add partners to projects:

1. Open a project and go to the Items or Analysis tab.

2. Select the row(s) of the item(s) to which you want to add partners.

3. Choose Edit > Partners. The Assign Partners dialog appears.

4. Click Add.

5. Search for and select the suppliers that you want to add. You can drag and drop them into the Partners table on the Assign Partners dialog.

6. Enter the Quantity Split percentage for each partner by editing the Splits % field. For more information about partner splits, see "Calculating Quantities for Partner Splits".

7. Click Next Record to continue to edit partners for remaining items.

8. Optional: Select the Apply to all Remaining Selected Items check box to assign the partner and split percentage information to all the selected items in the project.

9. Click Finish. The partners appear in the Partner/Supplier list.

Note: You can also add partners and specify their AML splits from a project's AML tab. However, to display the partner splits on the AML tab, you must configure the tab's display properly. For more information, see "Configuring Project Tabs"

3.5.2 Removing Partners from Project Items

You can remove partners from selected items in a project.

Note: When you delete the partners for an open RFQ, all the partner names are listed on the RFQ's Responses tab because the RFQs were sent to the suppliers when the state of the RFQ was changed from Draft to Open.

To remove partners:

1. Open a project and go to the Items or Analysis tab.

2. Select the row(s) of the item(s) to which you want to add partners.

3. Choose Edit > Partners. The Assign Partners dialog appears.

4. Select the row of the partner you want to remove.

5. Click Remove.

6. Modify the split percentage for the remaining suppliers (if applicable).

7. Optional: Select the Apply to remaining records check box to assign the partner and split percentage information to all the selected items in the project.

8. Click Finish.