ECM Frequently Asked Questions

ECM Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is ECM?
2. How Does ECM Uniquely Identify Line Items?
3. How Many Estimates Does ECM Store?
4. How Is Cost Data Stored?
5. Does ECM Use Rate and Factors?
6. Does ECM Allow Multiple Rate Tables?
7. Does ECM Support Multiple Cost/Pricing Levels?
8. Does ECM Handle Risk?
9. How Are NRE Costs Handled?
10. Does ECM Handle Fixed Costs?
11. How Does ECM Interface With Other Cost Tools?
12. Can ECM Import Existing Cost Data?
13. Can ECM Import an Existing BOM?
14. What Are Initiatives?
15. How Do Initiatives Get Incorporated?
16. What Data Does ECM Store With Initiatives?
17. How Do I Get Information Out of a Scenario?
18. Does ECM Have a Macro Language?
19. How Is ECM Licensed?
20. What Training and Support Is Available For ECM?
21. How Many Updates Does ECM Have Each Year?
22. Can Users Access ECM Remotely?
23. How Many Users Can Access ECM Simultaneously?
24. Can ECM Be Accessed Using a Web Browser?
25. How Much Disk Space Does ECM Use?
26. Can ECM Handle Part Weights and Weight Rollup?
27. Do ECM Initiatives Support Cost and Weight Impact?
28. What Database Does ECM Use?

1. What is ECM?

ECM is a cost and weight management tool for use in engineering proposals, product design, and post production engineering and cost management. ECM is typically used for products with a few hundred to tens of thousands of line items with development times over a period of months or years. ECM is also used for products where component sourcing requires the analysis of multiple possible product configurations with multiple sourcing and capital outlaw possibilities. In its basic description, ECM takes a product or contract structure, assigns a cost and/or weight to each line item, and rolls up to total. ECM then studies the comparison of this total cost and/or weight to a target costs and/or weights and manages the Initiatives the company undertakes to achieve the desired targets.

1. How Does ECM Uniquely Identify Line Items?

ECM uses the line item’s part number as its unique identifier. Since a line item is anything that might have a cost in a project, not all line items have part numbers controlled under ECO control or in a PDM. In this case, the part numbers exist only in ECM as a placeholder to capture cost. ECM saves prior part number references when an unofficial part number that may have been used during proposal or early engineering phases is converted to a controlled part number.

1. How Many Estimates Does ECM Store?

ECM stores an unlimited number of estimates for each part number. In each Scenario, one of the estimates is selected to be used to calculate cost for that specific cost rollup (or weight for a weight rollup). ECM stores the estimate history for the part number. Estimates are stored by date, by source, and by type (confidence level).

1. How Is Cost Data Stored?

Each Estimate is made up of an unlimited number of cost contributors. These contributors are broken down into Labor, Material, and ODC (Other Direct Costs). The basic inputs for all costs are labor hours for Labor costs, purchase cost for Material Costs, and ODC cost for ODC Costs. Rates and factors then convert these basic inputs to the total cost for each contributor. The Estimate then sums these contributors and may apply its own complexity or other factors to get a total cost for the Estimate. ECM may also calculate minimum purchase penalties based on minimum purchase value or quantity.

1. Does ECM Use Rate and Factors?

ECM stores rates and factors in rate tables that are available to the user to calculate costs and weights using the stored rates. Administrative and Level 3 Users are allowed to modify the rates, either manually or importing the rates from Excel spreadsheets. Rates are used to convert labor hours into cost, weights into cost, and to control various levels of cost (standard cost, burdened cost, sell price, etc.). Rates are also used to convert currency, apply escalation and learning curve factors, and spread costs over time periods.

1. Does ECM Allow Multiple Rate Tables?

ECM allows users to store an unlimited number of rate tables. In ECM, a user always has a Current Project. Each Project has two default rate tables, a Rate Table and a Factor Table. The Rate Table normally stores rates that change infrequently and the Factor Table normally holds rates that are specific to the Project, but there is no restriction on how the two rate tables associated with each Project are used. In addition, when importing data that will use rate tables, the user can specify which rates tables to use. The specified tables do not have to be the default rate tables of the current Project. In addition, there is a Curve Code table that stores the definition of curve codes that define how costs are spread across time periods.

1. Does ECM Support Multiple Cost/Pricing Levels?

ECM supports four levels of cost. The basic level, Product Cost Level, is cost calculated using the basic inputs of purchase cost and labor hours with labor rates, burden rates, and efficiency factors. In addition, Burdened Cost Level includes an optional level of additional overhead, Total Cost Level includes G&A, and Total Price Level includes Fee and Cost of Money (if applicable).

1. Does ECM Handle Risk?

The risk that a cost or weight estimate will not be achieved is stored with the estimate type/confidence level. The number of estimate risk levels stored is controlled by the ECM Administrator and can vary by ECM domain. By default, estimate types are defined as target, preliminary, design, detailed, and production. The total cost of a Scenario can be rated for risk assessment by looking at the total cost split by estimate type. In addition, estimates also store their source and their status. These additional indicators of risk are also used in determining the confidence a user has in a total cost. Estimate dates (last modified) are an additional indication of the currency of the cost estimate.

1. How Are NRE Costs Handled?

ECM Estimates are made up of multiple cost contributors. Any of these contributors may be indicated to be a Non-Recurring Cost by setting its Type to “N” (or any non-recurring variant). ECM then calculates the total instances of the part number in the Scenario and allocates the non-recurring cost to all of the instances by extended quantity so that the total Scenario cost includes the non-recurring cost once. If two instances of a part number have estimates with different non-recurring cost, then the total non-recurring cost is the sum of these different estimates. The non-recurring costs are not impacted by quantity, after having been allocated across instances. Non-recurring costs are included in the total Scenario cost, but can be reported separately. ECM also supports Lot costs in a similar fashion, using cost types like “L” as the indication of Lot Costs.

1. Does ECM Handle Fixed Costs?

ECM Estimates are made up of multiple cost contributors. Any of these contributors may be indicated to be a Fixed Cost by setting its Type to “F” (or any fixed cost variant). ECM then calculates the total instances of the part number in the Scenario and allocates the fixed cost to all of the instances by extended quantity so that the total Scenario cost includes the fixed cost once. If two instances of a part number have estimates with different fixed cost, then the total fixed cost is the sum of these different estimates. Fixed costs are not impacted by quantity, after having been allocated across instances. Fixed costs are not included in the total Scenario cost and are reported separately.

1. How Does ECM Interface With Other Cost Tools?

ECM supports various interfaces with other cost tools. Cost tools can optionally be accessed directly when estimating costs I ECM. When the command “Estimate Cost” is issued on an ECM Element or Scenario line item, the user is given a list of available cost tools to access to create the cost estimate. For any available cost tool, ECM will start the cost tool, allow the user to operate the cost tool, and will then pick up the results of that cost tool and create an Estimate based on the output of the cost tool. Depending on the cost tool, ECM will then store the based used by the cost tool to create the cost estimate or store the entire output of the tool in ECM. For example, if the cost tool is a spreadsheet, then resulting spreadsheet can be stored in ECM for later retrieval or audit.

1. Can ECM Import Existing Cost Data?

Generally, any existing cost data can be imported into ECM. ECM supports a variety of import formats for cost data, including import formats that assign rates through departments or import the conversion rates directly. ECM supports the ability to update existing cost estimates with new purchasing data, using the rates and factors already assigned in ECM to the new purchase prices. If costs will be routinely imported from a specific data source, a specialized command is developed to read this specific data format. ECM can also access other databases and routinely update ECM data with changes, either automatically or with a user specified pull.

1. Can ECM Import an Existing BOM?

ECM structures (Bills of Material or Work Breakdown Structures) are the basis for creating cost rollups. In ECM, a costed structure is called a Scenario. The structures are definitions of an assembly’s children. Once an assembly’s children are defined, any grandchildren or great grandchildren (etc.) are automatically included in the Scenario. These structures may be entered by hand in ECM, created in ECM through drag and drop, or imported from existing sources. ECM supports two basic types of structure import: direct assignment where a child line item directly specifies its parent and quantity and indent where the indenture level of each line item is indicated and ECM determines its parent from the last indenture of one less. Indent format imports rely on the order in the file to make the parent-child assignments. In addition, when a user has a specific source to import from, that specific import format can be handled with minor specialization,

1. What Are Initiatives?

Initiatives (Cost Reduction Opportunities, Cost Studies, or Risks) are future cost and/or weight impacts, usually weighted with a confidence factor (confidence that the cost savings will actually materialize). The normal sequence is that a target cost is established, a current ATD (Achieved To Date) estimate is created, and a resulting variance is calculated. If the variance is unfavorable, ideas are generated and some are funded. The funded ideas become Initiatives, which hold the potential future cost and/or weight impact, the timing of the impact in the future, and the risk/confidence associated with the potential savings. Since Initiatives are booked to the side of the Scenario, their impacts can be studied separately from the ATD cost.

1. How Do Initiatives Get Incorporated?

When the actual savings generated by the activities of an Initiative are finalized and the impact of the Initiative has been incorporated in the product or manufacturing process, a new cost estimate is generated for each of the line items affected by the Initiative (one or more). ECM provides an automated function to incorporate the cost/weight change of an Initiative directly into the existing Estimates, but usually a number of Initiatives are realized at the same time and a new estimate is generated for the newly designed part. This new Estimate is then used in the Scenario and the Initiatives are removed from the Scenario’s bookkeeping.

1. What Data Does ECM Store With Initiatives?

The main data stored with an Initiative is the cost and/or weight changed expected as a result of the Initiative’s activities, the date the changes will be incorporated into the product, the risk/confidence level associated with the Initiative, the part numbers affected by the Initiative, and the person responsible for the Initiative. In addition, different users store a wide variety of information with Initiatives including various dates of the Initiative approval process, the funding required, who’s providing the funding, the expected IRR or NPV, and what groups are associated with the Initiative. The Initiative allows users to store virtually any custom data on the Initiative, including dates, text or numbers, as well as associating computer files with the Initiative.

1. How Do I Get Information Out of a Scenario?

ECM Scenarios have a variety of reports and exports that allow you to view and analyze the cost and weight data stored in a Scenario. The most basic output is to transfer whatever appears on the screen to a spreadsheet. ECM has a number of standard reports including an analysis of costs by cost department, an output of percentage costs by part number, and cost trend charts mapping the impacts of Initiatives. Custom reports are developed for each user as needed. Exports of data to other systems allow cost, structure, and weight data to be imported into other system. ECM’s Report From Query output allows users to build and store their own spreadsheet report using the attributes and methods defined in ECM. Finally, ECM offers the ASE scripting language so that users can develop their own custom outputs.

1. Does ECM Have a Macro Language?

ECM supports Cognition’s ASE scripting language. This macro programming language allows users to create commands, reports, and displays utilizing all of the capabilities of the ECM database and application. All ECM attributes and methods are available to ASE. The custom commands that are developed are then displayed in the Custom Commands section of each menu.

1. How Is ECM Licensed?

ECM is licensed based on the number of simultaneous users. Typically, five licenses would support a group of 25 users with mixed access requirements. As each user logs out, their license is returned to the pool of available licenses. Licenses can also be “checked out” for users with laptops who need to disconnect from the network. ECM licenses are either purchased as perpetual licenses or rented one year at a time. Site licenses for unlimited customer use are available based on the size of the organization covered by the site license.

1. What Training and Support Is Available For ECM?

Typically, new customers receive two days of general ECM training, one day of additional ECM administrator training, and a few days of application customization. This training is normally done on site. Training is also done over the web. Specific course in ASE programming are offered as required. Hot-line support is available during normal working hours over the phone or via email. Follow-on training is usually done 3 to 6 months after the initial training to review techniques and improve user efficiency.

1. How Many Updates Does ECM Have Each Year?

There are generally two ECM updates per year incorporating new features, enhancements requested by customers, and new underlying tool revisions. Additional, interim releases are done to meet specific user requests or critical bug fixes.

1. Can Users Access ECM Remotely?

ECM operates in a true client/server mode. The client can operate anywhere in the world with network access to the server. This can be done using a client installed on the user’s computer, access to the client installed on a server through Terminal Server® or a similar product, or via a web browser when Cognition’s Web Server is installed. Web Browser access does not have the full capabilities of the other two methods, but is very effective for interrogating ECM data.

1. How Many Users Can Access ECM Simultaneously?

There is no limit to the number of simultaneous users that can access ECM. ECM is a transaction based system. Data that is accessed is collected in a transaction and checked out to the requesting user. Other users have to wait while this data is processed. Since most ECM transactions are on the order of microseconds, this is normally not a limitation. There are some large transactions, like data imports, which grab large amounts of data. These commands have been broken down into smaller transaction to accommodate better multi-user access. Should a user time-out waiting for data, the user will get a message to try again later. This rarely occurs unless two users are working on exactly the same data.