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Glossary

What is engineering change management?

The process a company uses to propose, review, approve and roll out a change to a product, so that every part, drawing and document moves to the same revision.

The three records of an engineering change

Engineering change request

Should we change it?

The problem, the proposed change, the reason and its urgency.

ECRAnyone can raise one

Engineering change order

What changes, from when?

The affected items, their old and new revisions, and the effectivity.

ECOApproved by the change board

Engineering change notice

Who needs to know?

The announcement of the approved change to everyone it affects.

ECNProduction, purchasing, service

From request to release. Seven steps.

Every engineering change follows the same path. Step six is where most of them leak.

The engineering change process

The engineering change process in seven steps: request, assess, approve, release, implement, update the documents, verify and close. The document update is highlighted as the step where changes are most often lost. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RequestECR AssessCost and risk ApproveChange board ReleaseECO and ECN ImplementPLM, ERP, shop DocumentsManuals, training VerifyClose the ECO Where changes leak
Step 6 sits outside the change record. The ECO lists the parts, drawings and bill-of-materials lines it changes. The manuals, work instructions and training that show those parts are usually owned by other teams.
More detail

Request: engineering, production, quality, service, a supplier or a customer raises an ECR. Assess: engineering weighs the cost, the risk and the impact on parts, tooling, stock, suppliers, certification and documentation. Approve: the change control board accepts the change, rejects it or sends it back. Release: the ECO is issued with its effectivity and the ECN goes out. Implement: PLM, ERP, production, purchasing and suppliers move to the new revision. Update the documents: manuals, work instructions, parts catalogs, training and translations follow. Verify and close: the change is checked in production and the ECO is closed.

Six terms you will meet.

  1. Engineering change request (ECR) The proposal: what is wrong, what should change and why.
  2. Engineering change order (ECO) The approved instruction: the affected items, their revisions and the effectivity.
  3. Engineering change notice (ECN) The announcement of an approved change to the teams and suppliers it affects.
  4. Change control board (CCB) The group that approves, rejects or returns each change, usually engineering, quality, production and purchasing.
  5. Effectivity The serial number, date, lot or configuration from which a change applies.
  6. Where-used The list of every assembly, and ideally every document, that uses a given part.

Read the full entry on the engineering change order.

One change. Seven places.

A conveyor’s idler rollers move from an open bearing to a sealed one. The ECO updates the drawing and the bill of materials. The manuals, the parts catalog and the training still show the old bearing.

One changed bearing at the centre, linked to seven places that show it: the drawing and the bill-of-materials line, listed on the ECO, and the maintenance manual, the work instruction, the parts catalog, the training module and a translated manual, often missed LISTED ON THE ECO OFTEN MISSED Drawing BOM line Bearing rev B → C Maintenance manual Work instruction Parts catalog Training module Translated manual
Illustrative example. A where-used that stops at the bill of materials finds two of the seven.

When a relevant part or source changes, TwinWorks reveals the documentation it reaches through established relationships. Your experts review each page and approve a new revision; nothing is corrected or republished by itself.

Change, configuration and document control.

Three disciplines that are often confused. Each answers a different question.

Engineering change management, configuration management and document control compared
Criterion Engineering change management Configuration management Document control
Question it answersHow is a change to the product proposed, approved and released?What exactly is built, in which version, for each unit?Which version of each controlled document is current, and who approved it?
What it controlsParts, assemblies, drawings and bill-of-materials revisionsBaselines, configurations and serial effectivityProcedures, manuals, forms and records
Usual ownerEngineering and the change boardConfiguration management or the program officeQuality
Usual toolsPLM and ERP change modulesPLM and configuration databasesDocument management and quality systems

Questions

What is engineering change management?

Engineering change management is the process a company uses to propose, assess, approve and roll out changes to a product. A change starts as an engineering change request (ECR), is approved by a change control board, is released as an engineering change order (ECO) with its effectivity, and is announced to everyone affected with an engineering change notice (ECN). Parts, drawings, the bill of materials and, finally, the documentation then move to the new revision.

What is the difference between an ECR, an ECO and an ECN?

The ECR proposes a change and asks whether to make it. The ECO is the approved instruction that says exactly what changes and from when. The ECN announces the approved change to production, purchasing, service, documentation and suppliers.

What is a change control board?

A change control board (CCB) is the group that reviews each engineering change request and approves, rejects or returns it. It usually brings together engineering, quality, production, purchasing and, for regulated products, certification.

What is effectivity in an engineering change?

Effectivity is the point from which a change applies: a serial number, a date, a production lot or a configuration. Units built before it keep the old revision, so their manuals and spare parts must stay available.

How do documents stay aligned with engineering changes?

Start from the released ECO, run a where-used for each changed part or source across manuals, work instructions, parts catalogs and training, give each affected document an owner, and approve a new revision of each one. Documentation software such as TwinWorks can identify affected content through established relationships; experts still review and approve every update.

GlossaryWhat is an engineering change order? GlossaryWhat is a bill of materials? SoftwareEngineering change impact on documentation

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