Product Configuration Lifecycle

Preliminary

In the Preliminary state, a Product Manager, System Engineer, Customer, or Sales or Design Engineer creates a product configuration, which specifies the configuration product and revision, the options ordered and quantities.

Valid Configuration

In the Valid Configuration state, a Product Manager or System Engineer checks the configuration against the rules defined for the product. In this state, the Validate Configuration action determines if the product configuration is valid or invalid.

If a customer creates a product configuration using the wizard, the validation occurs as the configuration is created. The application promotes the product configuration to the Generate Precise BOM state, skipping the Valid Configuration state.

If the validation is successful, the validate program changes the validate status attribute to "Validation Passed." The Order Entry Clerk or Product Manager promotes the configuration to the Generate Precise BOM state.

Generate Precise BOM

When a product configuration enters the Generate Precise BOM state, an Order Entry Clerk creates a Precise BOM by running the Generate Precise BOM action. A Precise BOM is a list all of the top-level parts needed to build the configuration. The action checks the part inclusion rules defined for the product to see which GBOM parts should be included given the ordered options. The Precise BOM can then be transferred to the company's manufacturing floor (MRP) system and the Order Entry Clerk promotes the product configuration to the Active state.

Sales or customers can select configurations and place orders once the Product Configuration is in the Generate Precise BOM state and Active states.

Active

In the Active state, a Product Manager activates the use of the product configuration, making it available for placing orders against. The configuration is valid and a Precise BOM exists for it. Customers or sales can create sales orders against active product configurations.

When the companies decide not to sell the product configuration, the product manager promotes the configuration to the Inactive state.

Inactive

In the Inactive state, a Product Manager inactivates the use of the product configuration. The Inactive state means customers or sales cannot order the product configurations. If an Inactive product configuration is offered for sale again, the Product Manager can demote the configuration back to the Active state.