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Reference · PCN operations

PCN governance: roles and RACI

A product change notice rarely belongs to one person. It needs a technical review, a sourcing decision, sometimes a qualification or customer step, and a clear owner who drives it to closure. When those responsibilities are vague, notices stall between inboxes. This reference defines the roles in a PCN program and offers a RACI matrix — who is responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed — across the PCN lifecycle.

RACI is a general responsibility-assignment technique; the assignments below are a reasonable starting point, not a standard. Ownership varies by company, product, quality system, and regulatory environment — adapt the matrix to yours.

§ The roles

Who is involved in a PCN response

Most PCN programs involve some combination of these functions. Titles differ between companies; what matters is that each responsibility has an owner.

Component engineering
Verifies the affected parts, assesses form-fit-function and technical impact, and leads qualification or alternate-part review.
Supply chain / sourcing
Tracks supplier deadlines, inventory, and demand; makes last-time-buy decisions; and coordinates with suppliers and distributors.
Quality / reliability
Reviews qualification and reliability evidence and any customer or regulatory requirements, and maintains the evidence record.
Program / product management
Prioritizes affected products, weighs schedule and cost risk, and drives the response to closure.
PLM / configuration / change management
Owns the formal, controlled engineering change once a notice requires one — the change request, BOM update, approvals, and release.
PCN coordinator (optional)
A single point of contact that logs incoming notices, runs triage, and tracks the backlog to closure. Often a component-engineering or supply-chain function rather than a separate role.
§ RACI matrix

Responsibility across the PCN lifecycle

A starting-point RACI for the activities from notice receipt to closure. Each activity has exactly one accountable owner (A); responsibility (R), consultation (C), and information (I) are shared. Adapt to your organization.

Receive and log the notice
  • CComponent Eng
  • ASupply Chain
  • IQuality
  • IProgram
Triage and confirm relevance
  • AComponent Eng
  • CSupply Chain
  • IQuality
  • IProgram
Match to BOMs / determine exposure
  • AComponent Eng
  • CSupply Chain
  • IQuality
  • IProgram
Technical and form-fit-function review
  • AComponent Eng
  • ISupply Chain
  • CQuality
  • IProgram
Qualification / reliability review
  • CComponent Eng
  • ISupply Chain
  • AQuality
  • IProgram
Last-time-buy / inventory decision
  • CComponent Eng
  • ASupply Chain
  • IQuality
  • CProgram
Determine the disposition
  • AComponent Eng
  • CSupply Chain
  • CQuality
  • CProgram
Approve the disposition
  • RComponent Eng
  • CSupply Chain
  • CQuality
  • AProgram
Initiate the formal change (if needed)
  • CComponent Eng
  • ISupply Chain
  • CQuality
  • IProgram
  • APLM / Change
Communicate to the customer (if needed)
  • CComponent Eng
  • CSupply Chain
  • RQuality
  • AProgram
Close and archive the record
  • RComponent Eng
  • ISupply Chain
  • CQuality
  • AProgram
§ RACI codes

What R, A, C, and I mean

The four RACI responsibility codes, applied above.

R — Responsible
Does the work for the activity. A row can have more than one.
A — Accountable
Owns the outcome and the final decision for the activity. Exactly one per row.
C — Consulted
Gives input before the activity is completed — a two-way exchange.
I — Informed
Kept up to date on progress or the outcome — one-way.

Putting ownership into practice

A matrix only helps if every notice actually gets an owner and a status. Whatever you use — a spreadsheet, a PLM or QMS workflow, or dedicated PCN software such as PCNshark — the goal is that each affected part has an assigned owner, a required action, and a tracked disposition. See the PCN fields & status codes reference and the PCN management guide, or browse more references in Learn.

Last reviewed 2026-06-29