Product Changes

Vertex Flow offers two tools to manage product changes: ECR (engineering change request) and ECO (engineering change order). You can connect ECRs and ECOs to all Flow object types, like items, item structures, products, events or projects. ECR and ECO are part of Flow's basic delivery.

Usually everyone in the company is allowed to make a change suggestion. You can make suggestions with Viewer-license as well as Creator-license. Maybe the most important benefit in using ECRs and ECOs is that you can track the suggestions and go back to them. Even if the suggestion was discarded, it will still stay in Flow as a valuable document. If the suggestion proceeds to an order, it is easy to see why the suggestion was made and what changes were made on the way and who did them.

You can manage suggestions and orders by using workflow and assignees. The assignee will get a notification of the ECR or ECO on his Flow's front page. With workflow you define how the suggestion's or order's status is changed. You can define the workflow to best suite your company.

There forms connections between suggestions, orders and documents that are changed. With these connections it is easy to find causal connections.