Summary
When you are fully satisfied with every detail of your Item Primary Spec, change the status from "In Process" to "Approved". This will lock the Item Primary, indicating that no further changes will be made. However, if you wish, you can leave some attributes editable by setting them to "Editable When Locked" in your Primary Spec Template TraceStation. Remember, this means that those attributes will remain editable on EVERY Item Primary you create from this template. For tightest security, BEFORE Activation, uncheck ALL the 'Editable When Locked' boxes in the Primary Spec Template TraceStation.
Activate/Lock
Do NOT activate the Item Primary prematurely. If the Primary is set to 'Approved' while collaborating with a supplier, you may not be able to 'Apply' the shared spec values coming from them.
Step 1: Navigate to the 'Version Status' drop-down at upper-left and select 'Approved.'
Step 2: Enter your TraceGains login password and click 'Submit' n the sign-off box.
Once the Spec is set to Approved, with the exception of Attributes that are set to "Editable When Locked" in your Primary Spec Template TraceStation, no further edits will be permitted. The "In Process" option will no longer appear in the Version Status drop-down list.
This is the stage at which you should be able to consider your Specification "Ready for Production". All discussion and expectation of changes should be complete.
Step 3 (OPTIONAL): You may want to archive any previous versions of this Item Primary (this is another option in the Version Status drop-down). You can re-Activate any Archived Item Primary should you need to.
Activation Details
- Unless your supplier "Approves" one of your Shared Specs, you can still Create Shared Specs for them from an Active Item Primary.
- If your Specifications Manager finds they cannot set an Item Primary to 'Approved', check the Role Permissions for that User in your Configuration > Roles page. These permissions include Create, Read, Update, Delete, and Email (sometimes called CRUDE Permissions, all together). All five should be checked, indicating 'Permitted'.
- A Supplier can set a Shared Spec to 'Approved' by submitting it, thereby Locking it. The lock will apply to both the supplier users and yourself. If you need to collaborate further with them, create a new version of your Item Primary and generate a new shared spec from it for that supplier.
- You can export a Primary Spec as a PDF, and you can print either a Primary or Shared Spec. Both commands are in the hamburger menu at far upper-right.
Further On
Circumstances and business needs change, and you may need to update your Approved/Locked Item Primary Spec at some point. Since an approved Item Primary has a considerable amount of product created against it, you won't want to simply delete the current one. It will function as a certification of how that product was made. Instead, create a new version. You can copy the current Item Primary's data into the new version, adjust it as needed, then create a new set of shared specs - and continue on!