Engineering change management (ECM)
Also called change management (engineering)
Engineering change management (ECM) is the controlled process for proposing, reviewing, approving and releasing a change to a product's design and data, so every affected team knows what changed, why, and from when.
In Windchill the process usually runs through three objects: a problem report (something’s wrong), a change request (here’s what we propose and what it affects) and a change notice (do it), with change tasks for the work.
The common mistake is copying a paper process into the system step by step. Every approval that existed on paper gets a workflow node, and the change cycle gets slower, not faster. (Don’t confuse this with organizational change management, which is about people.)
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Last reviewed November 2026 by Element Consulting
