Transaction Processing Using an ECR 
An engineering change request (ECR) is a change master record with a change type. The change type represents general business transactions in logistics that need to be carried out to effect the change.
In Customizing for Logistics General, you can define change types, which control the process flow of changes, by choosing Engineering Change Management → Define change types for change master records or Engineering Change Management → Define change types for objects.
You define these change transactions in the form of a status network.
- The System status, which controls the process flow of the change master record and the change objects, is already defined in the standard R/3 System, and is assigned automatically to each change type.
- You can define an approval procedure to determine which users are authorized to perform the individual steps in the process.
- In Customizing for Logistics General, you can also define a User status, which divides up and checks the process flow in more detail, by choosing Engineering Change Management → Define status profile.
- In the Workflow Workbench, you can define a Workflow task, which is triggered as soon as a specific status is reached.
For each processing status of the change master record, the system checks which change transaction is defined for both the change master record and the change objects (for example, BOM or document).
The change objects, such as BOMs, cannot be processed with an ECR until it has been converted to an engineering change order (ECO).
For more information on ECRs, see the R/3 Library, under LO Engineering Change Management.