Engineering Change Order Process with ARENA PLM and SAP Integration

How do you create an engineering change order with ARENA PLM and see the changes with SAP integration?

An engineering change order (ECO) is vital to successful product lifecycle development.  Various systems implement may change orders differently (engineering change management), but the importance of the ECO remains high regardless of the implementation process.   An ECO outlines the changes and/or modifications necessary to improve your product design.

What’s your engineering change order process?

An ECO starts with a formal request for necessary changes, an engineering change request (ECR).  Before any adjustments are made, the ECR is submitted for approval. A designated approver will authorize the ECR, at which point the ECR becomes an engineering change order (ECO).  The ECO is sent to the person(s) responsible for executing the product changes, the changes are implemented, and the process is complete

But how does this engineering change request affect other systems within your product development process?

In the demo outlined, you’ll see how an ARENA PLM change order is integrated with SAP for complete, up-to-date information in both systems.

Watch the video below:

ARENA PLM and SAP ERP Integration Demo

Here is the Engineering Change Order with Arena PLM and Integration with SAP Workflow

• 00:00:05
  • Create an engineering change order with ARENA PLM.  Note that you have three materials in an unreleased state.
• 00:00:55
  • Verify that these materials are not located in SAP.
• 00:01:35
  • Create an engineering change order to move the materials into production.
  • ARENA PLM shows you the tab used to create the change.
  • The process to create a change includes adding a title and a description to the ECO.
  • After you create the change order, you will attach the materials to the change.
• 00:03:13
  • Materials are added to the change order – ECO-000044.
  • Your changes are submitted for approval.
• 00:03:45
  • The changes will need to be approved by your designated approver.
• 00:04:40
  • After the changes are made, your SAP should reflect the changes.
  • PROSTEP OpenPDM ARENA SAP integration connector makes this happen.
• 00:05:25
  • The green light on OpenPDM’s interface indicates the SAP integration connector is connected.
  • Create a new activity in OpenPDM to pull data from ARENA ERP Exchange and import the necessary information into SAP.
  • This is a manual trigger of import.  OpenPDM allows for scheduled import.
• 00:05:55
  • The export/import process begins.
  • OpenPDM pulls ARENA information and imports the materials into SAP.
• 00:06:24
  • After successful transfer into SAP, you notice the materials are created in SAP.
• 00:06:43
  • You can verify that these materials were successfully imported in SAP
• 00:07:43
  • Your change order ECO-000044 was released to SAP.
• 00:08:05
  • You can verify that the parts are in SAP
• 00:09:10
  • The changes are reflected in ARENA change master.
• 00:10:10
  • The changes are reflected in ARENA BOM.

About ARENA PLM SAP ERP Integration

PROSTEP’s OpenPDM connector for ARENA PLM and SAP integration uses ARENA ERP Exchange to automate the transfer of released product record information from Arena to SAP.  

The integration validates data changes before importing them to SAP.  An audit trail records success and failure for product data and change order transfers.  You can monitor changes and the success of the product record transfers through the Arena dashboard.