Manage Temporary Engineering changes (Deviations) through Parameter Effectivity

This blog post is about managing deviations in SAP ECC. S/4 Hana has a better way of managing workflows and approvals, which I will deal with in another blog. This blog post focuses more on the process than the actual technical setup end-to-end. The purpose of the blog post is to make you aware of the temporary deviation process and touch on technical details at a high level.

What are Engineering deviations? : The scope of deviation is a big topic. Hence we will limit engineering deviation to temporary changes characterized by fixed Start and End dates.  Deviations by nature are exceptions, not day-to-day business activities, and should be kept to a minimum.

Typical Deviation steps 

Step	Process step description	ECC Transaction	Role	Picture
1	Analyze deviation Impact, Scope, and Type of deviation. Create ECM number with Description, Valid from date, specify the duration, Reason for change and assign Object to the ECM. Workflow Notification is sent for Pre-Check Deviation.	CC01	Whoever is authorized to create a deviation (Say, Design engineer)
2	Check for any other open ECM against this object, collaborate with those ECM owners and consolidate open Deviations if needed. Workflow notification is sent for Approval.	CC02/ Workflow	ECM coordinator
3	Approve Deviation ECM. Approver reviews and approves the Change. Workflow notification is sent for object changes.	CC02 via workflow	ECM approver
4	Put start and end date of the deviation	CC02
5	Change Objects like BOM and Documents	CC23, CS02, CV02N, Workflow	Master data specialist	Standard changes
6	Release Deviation ECM. Changes are effective automatically on the valid from date of ECM and are effective till the completion of duration.	CC02	ECM coordinators
7	Verify and confirm changes with Plants.
8	If deviation duration has to be extended, get special approval, create an ECN by copying the original ECM, but validity dates would now be Different	CC01 and workflow
9	Report on Engineering changes	cc07

Configuration requirement for Date effectivity

Thus, using the Engineering Change Parameter effectivity Date, we can manage temporary deviations in any industry. In the process described above, workflow is heavily customized. It is shown to ensure that you can understand the deviation requirement end-to-end.

S/4 Hana has a very flexible way of handling workflow and engineering record to manage this scenario better.

Your feedback would be much appreciated to improve this blog post and plan more blogs on different PLM subjects.