Item Batch Change Order Options

Use the item batch change order options to create change orders or add to existing change orders when importing items or structures.

Here are the options that appear for change orders in the Edit Item Batch Options dialog box:

• One per Item: create a single change order for each item.

  If a Needs Approval rule is configured for the item, the change type will be based on the rule. Otherwise, the change type is as based on the item class configuration.

• One per Item Class: create a single change order for all the items in the item class. You can choose to split the items across multiple change orders if you have many items in the same item class. For more information, see the section Limit the Number of Change Lines in a Change Order.
• One per Item Batch: create a single change order for each item batch.

  You can create a new change order or add to an existing one. You can choose to split the items across multiple change orders if you have many items in the same item class. For more information, see the section Limit the Number of Change Lines in a Change Order.

• One per Item Bundle: create a single change order for each item bundle.

  Affected items will be added to the bundle specified in the import map. You must specify a mapping ID for the bundle in the import map. The resulting change order will include only those items that are identified with the same bundle, which normally indicates a pack. Consequently, all items belonging to a pack will be included in a single change order.

• Add all items: select this to override any approval rules defined for creating items and add items to the item batch.

  For example, you already have a rule for items in class Radios to go through change orders of type Region. If you select this option, the application won't execute the rule.

• Create new: create new change orders to include items from the import.
• Add to existing: add items to an existing change order. You must enter the change order number in the Number field.

Note:

• If you select the Cross-References Only option when creating an item batch, then change order options are unavailable.
• If a Needs Approval rule is configured, see How You Route Item Changes Through Change Types Using Rules to understand how these options are interpreted.

Limit the Number of Change Lines (or Affected Objects) in a Change Order

If you're importing a large number of items to a single change order, you can split the items across multiple change orders. This feature is applicable when you select:

• One per Item Batch and Create New or

• One per Item Class and Create New.

You must then select Split automatically.

For example, if you set the limit to 50, and there are 70 items in total, the application automatically creates a new change order and moves 20 items onto it.

The change orders created by this split are automatically related to each other and can be accessed from the Relationships tab on the change order (in the Product Development work area). Here, Relationship Type is shown as Split by Import.

If you select One per item class, the change orders created for each item class are related only to each other, and not to change orders of a different item class.

If you don't split the change order and if you exceed the maximum limit, then an error message appears.

Set the Change Order Line Effective Date

The Effective Date option lets you set the effective date for the change order:

• Type default - Uses the effective date from the Change Order Type setting.

• Effective immediately - Change order lines using this setting are effective immediately.

• User-entered - Use this option for special cases in the item batch that uses the import map. For details, see Importing Item Data Using Import Maps.

  Note: Don't use this option in Batch Options for Manage Item Mass Changes > Edit Item Attributes in Spreadsheet process.

Merge Redlines Through Import

You can incorporate redlines coming in through import into existing change orders where applicable. This helps in reducing the number of outstanding changes, stuck changes, and overall change order cycle time. This is supported for engineering change orders and change orders without revision control.

You can import redlines and merge these with existing redlines on engineering items that are assigned to a change order. You can do this as long as the change is in draft or open status. The following modifications can be merged:

• Item general information
• Item structure components
• Reference designators
• Substitute components
• AML

To merge redlines, here’s what you can do in the Edit Item Batch dialog box:

• Change Order and Effective Date: Select One per Item Batch and Effective Immediately.

• Number: Specify the change order number in which you want to merge redlines of the existing affected item.

• Select Add to Existing and Add all items.

The table shows how the effective date specified in the existing affected items and the import file determines whether redlines are merged or not.

Effective Date in the Existing Affected Items	Effective Date in the Import File	Redlines Merged?
Effective on approval	No date. The item is considered as effective on approval.	Yes.
Effective on approval	Future effective date.	No.
Future effective	No date. The item is considered as effective on approval.	Yes. The effective date of existing affected item is applied for the newly imported changes.
Future effective	Future effective date.	If the effective dates match, then the redlines are merged. If not, redlines aren’t merged.

Modify Released Engineering Items Through Import

You can modify released engineering items through import only by using a change order. This is because the application enforces change control on such items that are past the open status.

Note that this feature isn't applicable for commercial items and commercialization change orders.

Here’s what you can modify:

• Item general information
• Structure components
• Reference designators
• Substitute components
• AML

To route the items through a change order, in the Edit Item Batch dialog box select the following for change order:

• One per Item, One per Item Class, or One per Item Batch.
• Add to existing or Create new.

Revision Updates During Import

The change order import process updates the new revision of affected items automatically on an engineering change order. The revision number isn’t incremented automatically on the affected item of an engineering change order if:

• The affected item is a part of another change order that is in scheduled status.
• The revision doesn't follow a standard pattern, or it's not obvious what the next revision should be. For example, the initial revision number is .001, or Z.