User guide

Understanding What a PCN Is
PCN Process User Guide (301945-A)
Generating PCNs and Uploading BOMs: 6-3
Component Engineering
When you issue a PCN, the information goes to many groups, but CE is very
much in the middle of issues between vendors and those groups. For example, NPI
and Manufacturing might read your PCN and then contact CE regarding
component availability. Or, someone in CE reading your PCN might update the
Approved Vendor List (AVL), involve a commodity manager, or get back to you,
depending on the vendor source(s) you have specified.
Frequency of PCNs
Remember that the “N” in PCN stands for
Notification
. Depending on where you
are in the development cycle, you may not be ready to issue a PCN. However, you
should consider the following:
• Don’t wait until a week or two before you think you’ll be finished with the
project.
• Early in development, as soon as you have started the project and obtained a
project number, is a good time to issue a PCN so that (a) you have identified
the upper-level assemblies; (b) the team members can make sure they’re on
the mailing list; and (c) you are assured that you know how to create and
upload BOMs for your project.
• When you have made definite changes to a product, you should issue a PCN.
• Even two to three PCNs a week might be just fine.
• Definitely after releasing art work.
• When major quantity changes are involved, especially for items whose
lead-time puts them on the critical path for the project.
• Finally, how often to release a PCN might be determined specifically for your
project team.
Pre-Upload Checklist
Before you run
bom_upload
, check the items listed below.
❑
If you’ve already run
bom_upload
but you’re getting email every day that the
/dra/2brel
directories still have your files in them, something is wrong with
your working directory and/or the files in the
/2brel
directories—perhaps
permissions, ownership, or file contents.