Product status and change

Product status is important information that indicates whether a product can be used in production, as part of other products, or for sale.

The Change of product state is evaluated in AyMINE with respect to the effects on other objects.

Product states

The system supports the following product states:

Product status In preparation

Products in preparation are entered into the system but are not yet ready for their target use. Typically:

• They are being developed, but development is not complete.
• The product is to be purchased from a supplier, is being counted on, but their approval is pending
• They are planned in the business plan but not yet available

Product status Ready

Product development or approval has run its course, its documentation is complete, and it is eligible to be actively used. However, it has not yet been actively used.

The status is sometimes called Listing because the product (typically from an external vendor) is listed in an internal catalog.

A product that is ready is not in stock. It is typically not physically available except for test samples.

Product is Currently in use (shortly Active)

Product is being manufactured or purchased and physical copies are actually or generally available. This is the stage when no development is underway on the product. (However, there might be new version of the product under the development.)

Status Invalid

The product cannot be used for some reason. The status does not express whether or not the product has been active before, but cannot be used at the moment.

If a previously active product reaches the In Disorder state, the effects on other products that depend on it must be addressed (see below).

A product in In Disarray is assumed to be able to return to staging or active use once the deficiencies have been addressed.

Examples of reasons for temporary status:

• Certification or approval has expired, renewal is anticipated but has not yet taken place.
• The product has been temporarily discontinued by the supplier so that it cannot be used in further production
• The product has developed defects which are being investigated. The product has been withdrawn pending resolution, but is expected to be returned to production or sale

Status Withdrawn

The product is withdrawn if it is not expected to ever be available again in active use.

It is not necessary that the withdrawn product be in active use prior to withdrawal; it may have been withdrawn during development or through testing, typically based on unsatisfactory test results.

Status Undetermined

There may be products in the inventory whose status is not tracked. These have a status of undetermined.

Change of status within the product hierarchy

Products support hierarchical record keeping. If the status of a product that has specific variants is changed, the status of all specific variants is changed. If you want to change the status of only one specific variant, you must change the status for that variant.

If you only want to track the status of specific variants, set the general product to Undefined. This status will remain set only for the general variant, it will not carry over to the specific ones. You can continue to manage the statuses of specific product variants independently.

Products with an Undefined state should not be part of other products, as there is no active control over the effects of changing the state.

Change of state impact control

The system requires that for a product state change, attention is paid to all the impacts that the change will cause. If the product is used in other products, the responsible persons are notified by an alert sent in AyMINE that they must pay attention to the change of state of the product.

Warning: If a product used in other products becomes unusable, the responsible personnel for each individual product will be notified, but the status of those products will not themselves be actively changed. Staff must assess the impacts and decide what the actual impacts are on other products.

The change is not automatic immediately, as often the impact of invalidation is not immediate. For example, a product may be withdrawn but production from stock is still in progress.