Change notices

A change notice is a written, tracked change to one or more parts. It says what is changing, why, who owns it, and when the old part stops being bought or used. For a propane company the common case is a supplier discontinuing a regulator or valve model: the change notice introduces the replacement part, links the old part to it, and sets the dates after which purchasing and stock switch over, so nobody keeps ordering the old model by habit.

What you see

Items → Change Notices lists every change notice with its Change Notice number, Status, Category, Items, Priority, Owner and Open Date. Each line expands to show the parts it changes and, for a revision or a replacement, the old part number pointing to the new one. Opening a change notice shows its reason and description, the affected parts, a Changes summary, an Impact panel, and a list of action tasks.

Two setup lists sit beside it in the Items menu, for employees: Change Notice Types (the categories you file change notices under) and Change Notice Actions (reusable task templates, such as "Notify drivers" or "Update the price list").

How to start a change notice when a part is changing

1. Choose Add Change Notice from the list, or open the part and choose Create Change Notice from its More options menu (tools have the same menu item, and the parts list offers it on each part).
2. Enter a Name, choose a Category, Priority (Low, Medium, High or Critical) and Owner, and set the Open Date and Due Date.
3. Write the Reason for Change (for example "Supplier discontinued the model we stock") and the Description of Change.
4. Choose Save. The change notice starts in Draft.

How to choose what happens to each part when you add it

Choose Add Affected Item, pick the Part, and choose its Change type:

Only parts can be affected items. For a Revision you can leave the revision blank to use the next one automatically; for a Replacement Part or New Part you give the new Part Number (type ... for the next number), its Name, Replenishment System and Tracking Type. Changing a part's change type later resets that part's draft edits.

Bill of material and bill of process editing also appear for parts made in-house. AimRack has no production screens, so a propane company uses the Properties, Files and Part Supersession sections of each affected part.

How to phase the old part out when the replacement is ready

On each affected part, under Part Supersession:

1. Choose the Supersession Mode:
   • Consume First uses the remaining stock before switching to the successor.
   • Prefer New plans with the successor and picks the old part only while the successor is out of stock.
   • Stock Only holds a minimum reserve of the old part for service and nothing more.
   • No Stock marks the old part fully obsolete.
2. Set the Discontinuation date, after which no more purchase orders are raised for the old part.
3. Set the Successor effectivity date, when planning starts using the successor for new demand.

How to move a change notice through its stages when work progresses

The stages run forward one at a time: Draft, Start, Engineering Complete, Implementation, Done.

• Moving to Start, Implementation and Done notifies the owner and everyone assigned an action task; Draft and Engineering Complete are silent.
• At Implementation the change itself freezes: affected parts, change types, drafts, supersession dates and the reason and description can no longer be edited, and a late edit is refused with "This change notice is being implemented, so its changes are locked. Reopen it to make changes." Action tasks, owner, due date, priority and category stay editable.
• Reopen at Implementation sends it back to Engineering Complete.
• Release at Implementation shows every affected part's changes for a last review; Confirm & release applies them and moves the change notice to Done, where it becomes a read-only record. There is no reopening a Done change notice; raise a new one instead.
• Cancel Change Notice closes it from any open stage without releasing anything; Reopen on a cancelled notice returns it to Draft.
• Delete Change Notice discards it together with its drafts and any new parts it created.

How to see what a change touches when you are about to release

The Impact panel lists where each affected part is used: purchase orders, receipts, shipments, sales orders, quotes, supplier quotes, issues, maintenance and older records such as jobs and method materials. It is information only: "Where the affected items are used across the system. Informational — nothing here blocks releasing."

Where this fits

Change notices change parts and tools; their supersession dates steer purchase orders and inventory. A quality issue can lead to a change notice. The shared item settings are explained in Items.