About change notice workflows

A change notice (CN) is a form in Upchain whose purpose is to initiate the procurement of items contained in the CN. It is used to notify other departments and/or other systems connected to Upchain (such as an ERP system) that design changes have occurred, items have been released, and are now ready for procurement. The CN form also contains information on item quantities, roll-up costs, reasons for changes, and can redistribute items if they have changed location on the BOM since a previous release and were already ordered. Historically, CNs have been known as Requisitions.

A change notice workflow is used to take your selected items on a CN and send them to the appropriate system or people to begin procurement of items.

Before you start

Before you start modeling workflows in Upchain, we recommend that you already have a process in mind. Mapping this process out in a diagram application gives you a solid base from which to start.

Things to consider include, but are not limited to:

• Who might initiate a CN?
• When would you send a CN
• Who will be responsible for each step?
• Who will approve the CN?
• What department/person is it being sent to?
• What would be some reasons why an CN could not be completed or need to be restarted?
• Are there any additional actions that should occur at each step? (notifications, status updates, etc).

For example, you may want to ensure your CNs pass through several levels of approval before anything is sent to procurement, as outlined here:

1. A mechanical designer submits their released items to a CN.
2. It is submitted to the lead mechanical designer for approval.
3. Lead mechanical designer approves the CN.
4. It is submitted to the project manager for approval.
5. The project manager approves the CN.
6. The workflow proceeds to generate the mBOM and send the items in the CN to a connected ERP system.
7. The workflow prints a report of the CN.

Make sure to include all the steps in your ideal process (happy path) as well as any possible roadblocks (exception path) that may occur. In the preceding example, it might be the case that the project manager does not approve the requisition because the estimated costs are incorrect, and sends the CN back to the CN creator to either cancel or re-submit after changes have been made. You should ensure this process is built into your workflow.

To help you in your planning, read through the list of available primitives to get a sense of what is possible.