Summary
Specifications are essential documents for defining your raw materials and finished goods. They help you work up and down the supply chain, determining exactly what you are buying from suppliers, selling to customers, or having co-manufacturers produce on your behalf. Ensuring that each Item is precisely defined and agreed upon by all parties is essential to finally deliver a polished, consistent product. Specification Management (SpM) automates much of this for you.
Features
- Specifications are turned into digital records that are easy to update.
- Zoom in on a Specification to edit a Section or an Attribute.
- When you make changes on your Primary Spec, instantly signal your Suppliers with an eNotification to keep them up-to-date.
- Changes are tracked for automated Version Control. Version IDs and date stamps create a complete, annotated history of changes.
- You can set up a Workflow so that after a change is made, the system will notify all stakeholders.
- Make changes to your Spec Template from within the TraceStation created from it.
- Rich formatting capabilities in Sections and Attributes allow for inclusion of complex information such as:
- Label images
- Packaging and palletizing guidelines
- Preparation instructions
- In/out of spec tolerance images
- Measurement Attributes
- Part 11 Compliance signatures
General Outline of Specification Management Activities
Steps
Step 1: Connections - Make sure your Supplier and the Items they provide you are Connected to your system in TraceGains Network, This will give you instant access to their data and documentation, and you can use it to auto-populate configurable Spec Templates.
Step 2: Primary Specification Template - Develop your Primary Spec Template for the Item Group in question, Any Primary Spec will ONLY be visible to you, NOT your Suppliers. It should include ALL the Attributes defining your intended product. You will apply this Template to each of the products in your Item Group to create Item Primaries for every one.
Step 3: Shared Specifications & Notification - Create Shared Specs, versions of your Item Primary Specs limited to info you want to disclose to your Suppliers. Request data, edits, and suggestions from each Connected Supplier through their Supplier Group, and from Non-Connected Suppliers by emails carrying a Shared Spec PDF.
Step 4: Supplier Collaboration - Either through their TG Network Supplier Group or through email and PDFs, the Supplier can edit the Shared Spec. They can add comments, attach documentation, or simply Submit or Decline the Specification. There may be several of these refinement cycles to settle all the details.
Step 5: More Spec Management Features - Other aspects of Specification Management, such as Measurement Attributes and Versioning.
Step 6: Final Review, Activation, & After - You can review the latest version of the Shared Spec against your Item Primary, along with any other responses the Supplier has made, and when you’re ready to sign off on it you can Lock down the Primary Spec and Publish it.
Terminology for Specification Management:
Approving a Shared spec – Saying the data values listed on a Shared Specification are acceptable and agreed-to.
Active – A special state of a Specification where the data is locked, and can no longer be updated. This is usually done when a Specification has all the data that is needed for it’s production.
Add Supplier – The ability to add a Supplier to a specification. That is, saying I am getting this Specification from this Supplier.
Attribute – A single data point for a Specification, Supplier, etc. Usually will become part of a TraceStation.
Changes Made or Differences From Primary – A listing of how/where you (or your Supplier, if permitted) have edited your Spec, and what is now different from the previous version of the Spec. "Changes..." involve your Primary Spec; "Differences..." involve a Shared
Collaboration – The act of Sharing a Specification and working with a Supplier to get data values approved by both.
Comments – A dialog that can be used to communicate with a Supplier during the collaboration process.
Copy Values – The ability to bring in data values that match your Specification from the Item Supplied instance.
Declining a Shared spec – Supplier says they cannot make, or do not want to make, an Item with the data parameters listed in the Spec.
Enterprise Spec - Alternate term for Primary Spec, created and managed by Customer.
Export – Creating a PDF snapshot of a Specification.
Internal Sharing - Exporting a Spec Section (or entire Spec) to be reviewed by your company's internal stakeholders.
Item Primary Specification – The Enterprise-only view of the Item's data in a Specification. This should be the version of the data that a company uses for production.
Locking - Makes the data and Spec Template unchangeable, for security.
Primary Specification Template - The generalized TraceStation framework created for use with a particular class of Items.
Required Attribute – An Attribute that must have data for a specification to be shared or saved.
Required for Supplier – An Attribute that is required for a Supplier to fill out in order to Save or Approve the Specification.
Share – The ability to create a Shared Specification for a Supplier, from a Primary Specification.
Share Sections – The ability to Share a PDF snapshot of a Specification with Team Members, even if they are not in the TraceGains system, via email.
Shared Specification – A Shared view between a Supplier and an Enterprise user. Used for collaboration to make sure everyone knows what is on a Primary Specification, and helps define a Primary Specification.
Specification Version – A version-number for a particular snapshot of what is either planned or in production for a Specification. For instance, once a Specification is Approved, any changes that need to be made to it should result in a new Version of the Specification.
Supplier Spec - Alternate term for Shared Spec, limited Spec provided to Suppliers.
TraceStation – A collection of TraceStation sections - see next term..
TraceStation Section – A grouping of Attributes arranged in a "frame" for placement in a TraceStation.