Baseline release of BOM

[djo727]

Hi!

I am new to Configuration Management as well as this forum. I'm hoping you can help me with a basic question.

I have had several instances in my company where people want to change revisions on a part/drawing without changing the BOM it reports to. I now have a PM who is asking me to Baseline Release a top level BOM without releasing any of the reporting parts/documents/software/etc. He says we'll catch up with that later. Ugh!! I know this is not right however, he wants me to point him to a specification that says I can't do this. I've looked around but I don't have time to read books/standards. Can anyone point me to a specification (preferably a military spec) that says he needs to release "bottom up" as opposed to "top down"? Thanks in advance!

 

[swertel]

Nope. Nothing states you can't. Just a lot of best practices and lessons learned say you shouldn't release top down.

I recommend that you have a release status in your BOM. That way, as you look through the top level BOM, you can quickly determine the components that are not yet released. Without this flag, it will be too easy to assume everything below it is released since that is, after all, best practice.

The best thing you can do is write your company's Configuration Management Plan and in it prevent releasing higher level components with unreleased constituents. Then you'll have something to point this PM to.

--Scott
www.aerornd.com

 

[3DDave]

On a program of any size there will be turbulence during development where one releases BOMs ahead of any drawings being created in order to create a manageable product structure. Even when you know the product structure cannot be correct, it's better to have it under control. Typical systems have reports that can be run against the CM database to verify the status all the way down. It's nice to do full bottom up, but it's not always possible and there will always be cases where lower levels will become unstable even if everything was released; for example a critical part cannot be obtained or a new method of fabrication is chosen. If the form/fit/function of the part isn't changed, the part number won't change and the BOM(s) it's called out on should not change.

The main problem would be if the PM is trying to hide the status of the job. In which case you wouldn't have a CM problem, you could have a politics problem.