Who signs a change request's review board

Submitting a change request opens a review step per discipline, and each step is given its approver from Manufacturing, Change Board. Whoever raised the request never signs a step or decides it, whatever their role.

A change request is submitted from Manufacturing, Design, Change Control, Change Requests (Next step, Submit). Engineering, quality and manufacturing are always asked; safety and regulatory when the request says it affects them, and costing when it carries an estimated cost.

• Each step is given its approver when the request is submitted: anyone holding a role, whoever holds an HRMS position today, or one named person, as the Change Board screen says for that step.
• Shipped settings name the role that owns each area: Design Engineer for engineering, Quality Manager for quality, safety and regulatory, Plant Manager for manufacturing and management, Cost Accountant for costing, Sourcing for purchasing and Change Manager for customer.
• The person who raised the request is never given a step, even when they hold the step's role.
• Each approver is mailed that it is their turn and finds the step in My approvals (the account menu), where they can approve or reject it without opening Manufacturing.
• A step is signed by its approver only: the named person, somebody holding the named role, or whoever the named person has handed all their approvals to under an approval delegation.

One person, one discipline

Since 13 October 2026 each discipline of a change request is signed by a different person. A second signature by somebody who has already signed another discipline of the same request is refused. Since 22 October nobody is assigned to two disciplines of one board in the first place — another holder of the role is chosen, or the step says “Only holder already approves another discipline” — and the same holds on change orders.

• A plant too small to have a different signer for every discipline can switch on Let one person sign more than one discipline of a change request, with a reason (Platform → Configuration → Core Settings → Runtime Settings, Manufacturing). It is off unless switched on.
• With it on, the second signature is still refused until the signer writes why they are also signing that discipline. The reason is kept with the step and in its history.

A signed step is locked

• Edit Change Approval shows the Change Request or Change Order a step belongs to read-only. A step cannot be moved to another request or order; the system refuses it however it is asked.
• A step that has been signed (approved, rejected or abstained) or skipped cannot be edited or deleted — on Change Approvals and on a change order’s Approvals tab alike.
• Every change to a step is written to the audit history of the step and of its request or order. That history cannot be switched off.
• The Change request picker on Edit Change Approval names the request itself, not the item it is about.