Configurations

Objective: To explain how Duro handles self-configurable and Duro-configurable features.

Difficulty: Complex

In this article:

1. Overview
2. What can be configured in Duro?
   • Mandatory Approver Templates and Comments
   • Documentation Change Orders (DCOs)
   • Default Change Order Approval Type
   • Change Order ERP Options Dropdown: Set Item Type
   • Two-factor Authentication (2FA)
   • Single Sign On (SSO)
   • Customer Part Numbers (CPNs)
   • Categories
   • Revisions
   • Configuration Expansion Requests

This overview explains how the built-in configuration features of Duro—ranging from simple toggles to more complex adjustments requiring developer input—are crafted to provide robust functionality while being customizable to fit the unique requirements of different organizations. Duro configurations are built to enhance efficiency, security, and adaptability across your operations.

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Overview

Configurations are built-in features of the Duro platform. They are designed to be powerful out of the box but adaptable and aligned with each customer's unique requirements. You can configure them by fine-tuning existing settings within your company’s account.

Some of the simpler configurations can be easily toggled on by one of your company’s administrators (e.g., Mandatory Change Order Approver Templates, Mandatory Change Order Comments, 2FA). Conversely, some configurations are more complex and require input from Duro developers (e.g., custom CPNs, revisions, and categories). Because the latter requires more detailed input and specialized development, they need to be outlined in a Statement of Work (SOW).

What can be configured in Duro?

Mandatory Approver Templates and Comments

Implementing mandatory approver templates and comments on Change Orders streamlines the approval process, ensuring accountability and transparency. Mandatory approver templates provide consistency by automatically assigning the right approvers based on Change Order type and status. Mandatory comments promote richer communication, helping approvers understand the reasoning behind changes and establishing a record of design intent approvals, rejections, or requests for additional information. This enhanced visibility and collaboration reduce errors, delays, and miscommunications, especially within growing teams operating in complex environments.

The Configuration tab provides administrators streamlined control over two features: Mandatory Approvers Templates and Mandatory Comments. It offers a simple way to manage specific features.

To access the Configuration tab and embedded features, follow the steps below:

1. Log into your Duro account and click on your avatar in the top-right corner.
2. Select Account Settings.
3. In the left navigation, click Configurations.

Although the Configuration tab under Account Settings can be enabled during the onboarding process, existing clients can open a support ticket to have it enabled. Once enabled by a Duro administrator, your company’s administrators can easily toggle comments and approvers on or off as needed.

Documentation Change Orders (DCOs)

DCOs facilitate minor corrections and updates to existing documentation, such as fixing typos, adding missing documents, clarifying text, or updating references. Users might submit a DCO to correct an inaccurate Bill of Materials (BOM), update outdated work instructions, clarify safety procedures, address regulatory changes, or reflect updated supplier specifications. They maintain accuracy without impacting the product's revision value or lifecycle status. 

To enable DCOs, open a support ticket. Duro administrators activate and manage this toggle only. 

Default Change Order Approval Type

Default change order approval types can tailor the workflow to company-specific business needs. The approval types Duro offers include "first in," "majority," or "unanimous.” The use case for each depends on factors such as the criticality of the changes, the company culture, and the desired balance between speed and thoroughness.

For more information on the different approval types, please refer to our article on Approval Type Features.

Customizing Change Order Approval Settings

Administrators can configure the default behavior of how change order approvals are handled within the system, offering two levels of control:

Option 1: Flexible Default

When a user creates a new change order, a default approval type (unanimous, majority, or first-in) is preselected. If needed, users can modify the approval type on a per-change-order basis. This approach provides guidance while allowing case-by-case adjustments.

Option 2: Limited Options

With the limited options setting, your team may remove one or two change order approval types (unanimous, majority, or first-in). This will become the company's default setting, and users will not be able to select the removed approval options.

To customize change order approval settings, open a support ticket. Duro administrators manage this configuration.

Change Order ERP Options Dropdown: Set Item Type

The ERP dropdown within Duro Change Orders includes two subsections: “Set Effectivity” and “Set Item Type.” “Set Effectivity” is always available and does not need to be activated, but “Set Item Type” does. To use the “Set Item Type” feature within the ERP Options Dropdown, open a support ticket to discuss your options with our integrations team.

The industry standard for the “Set Item Type” feature options are Standard, Serialized, Lot Tracked, and non-Inventory. 

Here's a breakdown of the four standard options:

• Standard: This is the most basic option for items primarily tracked by quantity. Examples include common fasteners, bulk components, or generic hardware in which individual unit identification may not be required.
• Serialized: This option is used for items requiring unique identification through serial numbers. Choose this for critical components, high-value items, or products where warranty tracking or individual unit history is important.
• Lot Tracked: This option designates items to be grouped and managed by their production batch or lot. It is commonly used for items with expiration dates, quality control, or potential recall scenarios.
• Non-Inventory: Select this option for items not considered part of your physical inventory. This could include labor costs, engineering services, custom-made components, or other intangible items related to the change.

Enabling the “Set Item Type" feature lets users define when new parts or revisions go live and when old ones are phased out, improving communication between engineering, manufacturing, and procurement teams. This visibility allows for better supply chain coordination, minimizing disruptions and empowering teams to quickly adapt to supply chain issues or design changes by easily adjusting effectivity dates and supplier information. 

For more information on the ERP options dropdown and how to use it, please refer to our Effectivity article.

Two-factor Authentication (2FA)

Enabling 2FA in Duro significantly boosts your account security. With 2FA, even if someone can get your password, they won't be able to access your designs without a unique code sent directly to your phone. This feature provides stronger data protection and safeguards your team’s designs.

To toggle this feature on for your account, please visit the Activating 2FA section of our Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) article.

Single Sign On (SSO)

SSO is a technology that allows users to access multiple applications and websites with just one set of login credentials. By setting up Single Sign-On (SSO) for your company's Duro account, you can streamline user account management and enhance security. 

This not only simplifies the login process but also reduces the risk of unauthorized access due to lost or forgotten passwords. Additionally, SSO allows your company's administrators to easily manage user access and permissions, ensuring that only authorized personnel can access sensitive data within Duro.

To enable SSO, open a support ticket. Once access to the feature has been granted, follow the steps in our SSO (SAML) article to activate it within your company’s account.

Customer Part Numbers (CPNs)

The CPN value is a unique identifier for each product and component in a PLM library. Using a simple ruleset, the PLM application automatically generates the CPN value for each new product or component. There are a few different industry-standard CPN schemas that have their own benefits and restrictions. Each is comprised of one or more of the following fields:

• Category Prefix
• Counter
• Variant Suffix

These three fields can combine numerics, letters, or both. The range of CPN schemes can be categorized on a spectrum of “Intelligent” to “Non-Intelligent” in which:

• Intelligent: Each field or character in the CPN value has a specific meaning or cross-referenced lookup value.
• Semi-Intelligent: When one field has a specific meaning, such as a category code, and a separate non-intelligent counter field, which increments for each instance of a given category code.
• Non-Intelligent: Characters do not have any significant meaning or lookup value. This is arbitrarily assigned as the next available CPN value for the selected category.

The following CPN schemes are available to choose from for any Duro account subscription:

Semi-Intelligent (Default)

Each Duro account has a default CPN scheme following an industry-tried-and-true semi-intelligent CPN scheme. This scheme has a 3-digit category-specific prefix code followed by a 5-digit numeric counter. It provides the best option for simplicity and extendability.

With a 3-digit prefix range between 100 and 999, customers can create up to 900 unique categories. Duro comes preset with about 200 of the most common category codes. With plenty of room for expansion, customers are not locked in during their onboarding period and can extend their category list at a later point.

The 5-digit counter range from 00001 to 99999 allows for 99,999 unique components per category code.

Format: xxx-yyyyy

• Prefix
  • xxx
  • 3-digit numeric (100 - 999)
  • Defined based on category
• Counter
  • yyyyy
  • 5-digit numeric (00001 - 99999)
  • Each category prefix has its own unique 5-digit counter.

Semi-Intelligent with variant suffix

This is a derivative of the default scheme used when two or more components must be associated as direct variants of each other using the same base CPN value. Using the same prefix and counter values but unique variant values helps associate components quickly.

Format: xxx-yyyyy-vv

• Prefix
  • xxx
  • 3-digit numeric (100 - 999)
• Counter
  • yyyyy
  • 5-digit numeric (00001 - 99999)
• Variant
  • vv
  • 2-digit numeric (01 - 99)

Non-Intelligent CPN

This is the most extendable CPN scheme, as no logic is required to generate a new CPN value. Regardless of the category of product or component, the new item gets the next incremental value for the CPN counter.

Format: yyyyy

Counter

• yyyyy
• 5-digit numeric (10000 - 99999)

Non-Intelligent CPN with Variant Suffix

This is a derivative of the non-intelligent scheme, where there is no distinction between product or component categories. However, variants must still be grouped with the same base counter value but unique variant suffix codes.

Format: yyyyy-vv

• Counter
  • yyyyy
  • 5-digit numeric (10000 - 99999)
• Variant
  • vv
  • 2-digit numeric (01 - 99)

What Can be Configured?

Using the above-listed CPN schemes as the basic building blocks, there are simple derivatives that can be configured.

Prefix Codes

The default prefix code is a three-digit numeric ranging from 100 - 999 (900 total unique categories). This allows a wide range of extensibility. The prefix code length can be adjusted between 2 to 4 digits, allowing for finer tuning of the desired range.

As an alternative to integers, some users prefer a prefix code using letters to represent the category (i.e., DWG for Drawings, RES for resistors, etc). This approach is more intuitive. However, it can lead to ambiguity when category names don't condense well to a short code or when multiple category names share the same abbreviation.

Counter Codes

The default counter length of five numeric digits allows a range from 00001 - 99999 (99,999 total) unique components for each category prefix code. This is usually sufficient to last for years of growth while compact enough to minimize character count and excessive leading 0s. However, users can reduce or extend the number of digits for brevity or range, selecting a length between 4 and 7 digits.

Variant Codes

Variant countercodes can be tuned between 1 and 3 digits long. Further, Duro can auto-generate variant code values and set them to read-only or manually editable by a user to allow specific variant values to be selected.

Categories

Duro uses category labels matched to each CPN prefix for more readability. The default list of Category labels can be found in this help article. 

What Can be Configured?

Customers can use the default list of categories and associated prefix codes or configure them to match their needs better. These specifications can also be configured on a per-category basis. The configuration options include:

1. Adding, removing, or renaming category labels and prefix codes
2. Adding, removing, or renaming category group labels

Revisions

Each product or component has a revision value to track discrete changes as the item evolves over its lifetime. Revision values are incremented for each milestone change to a product or component and can have intelligence to add more context to the lifecycle or magnitude of the change. For example, revision values can have different range values for each lifecycle status (Design, Prototype, Production) and magnitude of a change (Major, Minor, Documentation).

The following revision schemes are available to choose from for any Duro account subscription:

• Single value (Default)
• Major, Minor value
• Major, Minor, Documentation value

Single value (Default)

The default revision scheme is simple and easy to decipher, with no room for ambiguity. Each lifecycle status has its own range of revision values (numeric or letters). This makes it simple to quickly determine if an item is in a Prototype or Production state and thus can be processed accordingly. Further, there is only one level of change. This removes the risk of subjectivity across users regarding what constitutes a Major vs. Minor change. 

Format: xxx,yy

• Design
  • xxx,yy
  • 3-digit numeric (1 - 999) or 2-digit letter (A-ZZ)
• Prototype
  • xxx
  • 3-digit numeric (1 - 999)
• Production
  • yy
  • 2-digit letter (A - ZZ)

Major, Minor Value

For some engineering teams, it is important to distinguish a Major versus a Minor change to a product or component. This indicates compatibility across revisions within a full assembly or other components. It can also convey the effort an operations or manufacturing team requires to process a change. 

This revision scheme is successful when there is a well-understood and published set of guidelines for what constitutes a Major vs. Minor change. All team members can implement the policy consistently. The scheme is risky when potential ambiguity results in subjectivity and inconsistency; for example, when two people interpret the same change to an item differently, where one identifies it as a Major change while the other person identifies it as a Minor change.

An alphanumeric label represents this revision scheme. The first element is a letter indicating the Major revision, A to ZZ. Minor revisions are captured by a numeric value, commonly limited to two digits ranging from 0 to 999.

Format: yxx

• Major
  • y
  • 1-digit letter (A - ZZ)
• Minor
  • xx
  • 2-digit numeric (1-999)

Major, Minor, Documentation Values

This revision scheme is reserved for teams that require finer granularity of change types. It’s powerful but exposes a greater risk of inconsistencies, further relying on a well-documented and followed policy on what specific changes lead to which specific revision value change.

This revision scheme differs from Major and Minor in that a suffix is added to identify documentation-level changes. This is useful when an item does not change in form, fit, or function and only updates to the associated documentation are made (type-o corrections, images, datasheets, sourcing, etc.).

Format: yxx.zz

• Major
  • y
  • 1-digit letter (A - ZZ)
• Minor
  • xx
  • 2-digit numeric (1-999)
• Documentation
  • zz
  • 2-digit numeric (1-999)

What Can be Configured?

Customers can further configure their revision scheme using any of the 3 default schemes as a baseline.

No Status Delineation

While having different revision formats per each lifecycle status option allows for a highly efficient workflow between design and manufacturing teams, some customers prefer the same format across all lifecycle levels. 

Reversed Major Minor

While most Major and Minor revision schemes choose letters (A-ZZ) for the Major value and numerics (1-999) for the Minor value (e.g., A1), some customers prefer to reverse the order to use numerics for Major and letters for Minor (e.g., 1A).

Configuration Expansion Requests

Don’t see what you want? If there's a configuration option that you're looking for that isn't on this list, post a feature request on our community board. Include both a title and a detailed description of the desired feature for consideration. 

Duro reviews every feature request to ensure it aligns with our product vision. While we are committed to accommodating our customer's needs, we want to ensure our efforts remain focused on improving our product.

Pro Tips

1. Avoid Leading Zeros in CPN:
   • Why? Leading zeros can create ambiguity and lead to errors in data entry and system compatibility.
   • Solution: Initiate your CPN with a digit from 1-9 to ensure a clear and consistent identifier.
2. Keep Revision Values Separate:
   • Why? Incorporating revision values directly into the part number complicates tracking changes and increases the likelihood of confusion.
   • Solution: Maintain a separate attribute or field to manage revision values, allowing the part number to focus solely on identifying the unique item.