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Release Notes

Release Notes

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Changes Release 4.0 (18-May-2006)

MDS Request:

This concept is allowing IMDS to move gradually from a "Push"-process to a "Pull"-process. The idea is that the customer has the possibility to enter (through IMDS Web application, A2-Advanced Accelerator and AI-Advanced Interface) a list of parts that is expected to be reported from his suppliers. The list shows which part numbers are expected from which supplier (thus "pulling" the information from them). The supplier can then easily see in IMDS what needs to be done and what the customer expectations are. 

By adding the expected deadlines for reporting as well as internal project designations (commonly known by the suppliers) you can use IMDS to monitor both project and supplier progress. From a supplier perspective assessing the reporting needs will be simplified as well as planning. Issues such as incorrect part numbers and sending data to the wrong recipients will also be removed (common errors today). A request consists of the following information::

  1. Project name
  2. Type of MDS
  3. Company ID / OrgUnit ID of MDS supplier
  4. Org-Unit ID of MDS recipient
  5. Deadline date
  6. All chapter 4 fields (Part/Item No., Description, Drawing number etc.)
  7. Assigned MDS
  8. Request Status

The only mandatory fields are "part/item number" and the org-unit ID of the recipient who is expected to provide the MDS. All other fields are optional, meaning if they are filled, the MDS provider will have them automatically in his MDS and he cannot overwrite them. But if they are empty in the MDS request, the MDS provider can enter his own values. 

The project name is used to group requests and to track the progress of it. Requests can be created for all types of MDSs (Component, SemiComponent, Material). To address the receiver, its company ID is necessary. The supplier code is not sufficient, since IMDS doesn't know a relation between them. The company ID might be an organizational unit. The rights for the user to see the requests will be derived from the existing sent/received MDS functionality. When creating an MDS request, it can be specified to which own org-unit the MDS shall be sent. The deadline date is the date until the requestor expects to receive the MDS. All chapter 4 fields from the request will be copied into the chapter 4 entry of the MDS created for this request or assigned to it (= assigned MDS). The request status is set automatically. The user cannot change it.. The supplier can view a list of all customer requests that he is expected to fulfill until the specified date. Then he creates the requested MDS and sends it to his customer. The request is considered to be completed when the MDS is accepted. It is also be possible to assign an already sent MDS to a request, or to reject a request. The system will provide functionality to handle both incoming (Received requests) and outgoing requests (Own requests). The requests will be listed and a search functionality is provided. There will be a statistics page, where the user can see the number of requests for every possible state, the sum of requests and requests that are overdue.

The request status describes, if ...

  • this is a new request (status "new") and cannot be seen by the request recipient (IMPORTANT: if requests are deleted which were not yet sent, these requests are PHYSICALLY deleted),
  • the request was sent (status "sent") and can not be edited anymore,
  • the MDS supplier has created an MDS for this request but not sent it yet (status "working"),
  • the MDS belonging to this request was sent/proposed (status "waiting for acceptance"),
  • the MDS belonging to this request has been accepted (status "completed"),
  • the request receiver rejected the request (status "rejected") or
  • the request was cancelled (status "deleted").
MDS Request

The requestor can derive from the status "working", that the MDS supplier is already working on an MDS. This means he has created an MDS but not sent yet. The requestor is not able to see the MDS until he received it. 

If an MDS is deleted, which is already attached to a request and sent, the deleted MDS remains connected to the request for documentation purposes. This MDS Request gets the status WORKING and can be deleted by the user. 

If attached but not yet sent MDSs are deleted, the deleted MDS will be disconnected from the request automatically and the request will get back to the status SENT (for the requestor) / RECEIVED (for the MDS supplier). 

MDS requests shall only be sent to IMDS partners who agree with the usage of this new function.

IMDS AI (Advanced Interface)-relevance? YES

Upload users will have the possibility to upload an XML file with multiple MDS requests to the IMDS server. Therefore the existing upload interface will be extended so that the same GUIs and tools can be used. In addition the MDS upload interface will allow to create/assign MDSs to received requests. In the download interface there will be an additional file containing the MDS requests (own and received including reject reasons if any). New files will be introduced containing the requests related to the MDSs. Users without access to the IMDS upload/download interface have to use the GUI (menu "Request") to create their requests and the export function in the search criteria screen to download them.

MDS Search:
Double entries in the material search result list (multi-lingual names causing the double entries)
Depending on search options entered when searching for materials IMDS presents the result like two MDSs, one line reflects the German names ("name" and trade-name) of a material MDS, the other the English version. Therefore, with Release 4.0, the search will be language dependent in any case. Compared with the actual behavior there will be a result if and only if the material MDS matches the search criteria AND a given language. For example: A search for "Stahl" will have no results, even if there is a matching material having the matching German name or German trade name "Stahl" as long as the chosen language or the default language is English. If the users sets the language to German there will be a result list not containing double entries.

IMDS AI (Advanced Interface)-relevance? NO

MDS Chapter 1 - Ingredients: Changes in wording
Because of several requests from IMDS users, in chapter 1 "Ingredients" the wording will be changed as follows: Marking substances as confidential and then sending the MDS to users who are not allowed to see these confidential substances leads to a display of " ****** Secret substances". This will be changed to " ****** Confidential substances".

User Guidance for elastomer MDS creation (like for thermoplastics)
The implementation will support users to enter better data in order to improve MDS Data quality. If the classification Elastomers / Elastomeric compounds is chosen, the same behaviour as for filled and unfilled thermoplastics will be implemented. This feature will allow to automatically create the material symbol by selecting different substances from drop-down menus.
The basic elastomers are available according to ISO 1629. (e.g. ABR, ACM, AEM, AFMU, ANM, AU, BIIR, BR, BR-E, CIIR, CM, CO, CR, CSM, ECO, etc.). The field "material number" won't be editable for this classification.

IMDS AI (Advanced Interface)-relevance? NO

Internal material number and standard material number
The material number handling in IMDS has been improved. Usually, the material number only applies to specific materials (metals), but in IMDS, it is present for all material classifications. If a material is sent to a supplier, the material number is replaced by the recipient specific material number. So the recipient doesn't see the common material number originally entered in MDS chapter 1 – ingredients. The current field "Material Number" (in ingredients section) is mainly used for internal (own) identification number and is overwritten by the recipient specific number. Creators of relevant materials need to use this field for the common material number which is supplier independent. The name of the field "Material Number" will be changed to "Internal Material Number" to reflect the common usage of the field. A new field with the common meaning of material number is added, which is supplier independent. The content of the new field will be copied from the old field, but only for materials provided by the IMDS Steering Committee (i.e. ILI, Steel and Iron List and SC Committee).

IMDS AI (Advanced Interface)-relevance? YES

Upload users: A new field in DTD: StdMatNr.
Download: New field for a material: Standard Material Number.

Recycling info for additional material classifications (metals)
The IMDS Steering Committee decided to apply the new recyclate handling to the classifications 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, including their sub classifications:

  1. Steel and iron materials
  2. Light alloys, cast and wrought alloys
  3. Heavy metals, cast and wrought alloys
  4. Special metals
  5. Polymer materials

For the other classifications (6, 7, 8 and 9), recyclate information cannot be entered. The default value for recyclate shall be "No" for all classifications. That means there will be no error or warning for new references to materials, because the default "No" is a sufficient answer to the question "Does the material contain recyclate?". If there is recyclate inside this material, the user shall select "Yes" and enter the from-to values for post industrial and/or post consumer recyclate.
Since IMDS release 3.0, a check warning appears for old references to materials with missing recyclate information if the material weight is greater than 25 grams. By extending the new recyclate handling to the classifications 1 to 5 this warning would appear very often, especially in big MDSs. To avoid this the warning is turned off completely, including the 5.x classifications.

IMDS AI (Advanced Interface)-relevance? NO

Changes in polymeric marking
Yes  Parts marked as required on drawing
No Parts not marked as required
N/A Parts do not require marking due to specifications of weight, geometric restriction, or surface requirements.


When choosing "No" under mandatory conditions (i.e. > 100 g for classification 5.1.x and > 200 g for classification 5.3), the user will receive a warning message instead of an error message (since IMDS Rel. 3.0). In case he has not ticked the check-box at all, the error message will stay as before.

IMDS AI (Advanced Interface)-relevance? NO

MDS Chapter 4 -Recipient Data:
DUNS-No. as supplier identification number
Created in 1962 by Dun&Bradstreet(D&B), the Data Universal Numbering System or DUNS® Number is used to uniquely identify business entities on a location-specific basis. Assigned and maintained solely by D&B, this unique nine-digit identification code has become the standard for keeping track of the world's businesses. In IMDS a unique syntax for the DUNS number will be used. The syntax published by Dun&Bradstreet(D&B) is XX-XXX-XXXX. The field Supplier Code in Chapter 4 will be initialized with the appropriate Manufacturing DUNS number in case GM, Volkswagen or another company using the DUNS number is added as recipient company. Prerequisite is, the Manufacturing DUNS number is available in IMDS. The recommended format will be 99-999-9999. The field "Supplier Code" in Chapter 4 will be initialized with the appropriate Manufacturing DUNS number if the Manufacturing DUNS number is available in IMDS. If the DUNS number is not available, the field will be left blank. In any event the Supplier Code can be overwritten, in case another supplier codes than DUNS number is necessary to be entered. For your own company the client manager can insert the DUNS number in the company administration screen.

IMDS AI (Advanced Interface)-relevance? YES

Download: additional field DUNS-No. in Company Download File.

IMDS Check procedure:
Formal checks extended, e.g. checks for > 10% unspecified substances
The IMDS Steering Committee defines recommendations concerning the rules that should be applicable to a material data sheet. This change concerns rules to be checked by IMDS automatically, the process of performing the checks and the processes of data input into IMDS.

1. Maximum range of a portion of materials and semi-components
If the material or semi-component is not a part of a MDS, that was published by the Steering Committee the following values apply:

Range: Lower limit (LL)% to Upper Limit (UL)% Maximum M = UL% - LL%
0 < LL ≤ 100 M ≤ 20


2. Maximum range of a portion of basic substances
If the node is a substance and the material to which it is attached is not a part of an MDS, that was published by the Steering Committee or ILI and it is attached to a material of the following classifications:

  • 5.1.x Thermoplastics
  • 5.2 Thermoplastic elastomers
  • 5.3 Elastomers / elastomeric compounds
  • 5.4 / 5.4.x Duromers
  • 5.5.1 Plastics (in polymeric compounds)
  • 6.2 Adhesives, sealants

the following table applies:

Range: Lower limit (LL)% to Upper Limit (UL)% Maximum M = UL% - LL%
0 ≤ LL ≤ 7.5 M ≤ 3
7.5 < LL ≤ 20 M ≤ 5
20 < LL ≤ 100 M ≤ 10


For lubricants (classification 9.2), an alternative table applies:

Range: Lower limit (LL)% to Upper Limit (UL)% Maximum M = UL% - LL%
0 ≤ LL ≤ 5 M ≤ 4
5 < LL ≤ 20 M ≤ 6
20 < LL ≤ 100 M ≤ 10


In case of the other material classifications, there is a special table used for basic substances:

Range: Lower limit (LL)% to Upper Limit (UL)% Maximum M = UL% - LL%
0 ≤ LL ≤ 10 M ≤ 2
10 < LL ≤ 20 M ≤ 4
20 < LL ≤ 50 M ≤ 6
50 < LL ≤ 100 M ≤ 10


3. Not specified substances
No material may contain more than 10% of not specified substances. "Not specified" is a substance, which is a joker ("wild card") substance in IMDS or a substance declared confidential. If the portion of a substance is declared as range, the upper range is used. The sum of the portions may not exceed 10% for each material in an MDS, unless the MDS has been published by ILI or Steering Committee.

4. Material and substance on the same level
A basic substance must not be on the same level as a material and will lead to an error.

5. Different MDS types at the same level
There is a warning, if different types of nodes are used at the same level of an MDS.

IMDS AI (Advanced Interface)-relevance? YES

Upload users: Percentage-Range (WARNING), More than 10% not spedified (WARNING), Material and substance at the same level (ERROR), Different types of nodes (types = Component, Semicomponent, Material) at the same level (WARNING)

IMDS Substances:
Substance Groups, History of basic substances, Substance classification visible in the MDS composition (Declarable = blue, Prohibited = red), grouping of substances in order to facilitate search (e.g. group periodic elements)
Currently, IMDS contains more than 7,200 active and more than 250 deactivated basic substances. Besides the common information, the basic substance contains the GADSL-flags "duty-to-declare" and "prohibited". All substances with either of the flags form the GADSL basic substance list. Other groups of substances can be defined with the basic substance list.
In Release 4.0 it will be distinguished between declarable and prohibited substances with the following color differences in the MDS chapter 1 - ingredients:

  • substances which are marked declarable (D) will appear in blue in the product structure tree,
  • substances which are declarable (D) and prohibited (P) or only prohibited (P) will continue to appear in red.

Currently a basic substance can be active or deactivated. A deactivated substance leads to a warning message in the check procedure when used in an MDS. In a copy of a material the deactivated substances are removed. It is not possible to hide a substance, so it can't be used (inserted in a MDS) any more, but without the warning message and the removal. Since the meaning of a substance can't be changed, a new substance has to be created and the old one should be hidden. Another problem of deactivated substances is, that they can't be maintained any more. It is not possible to update them, although there might be reasons to do this (for old references). The proposed solution is to keep the possibility to deactivate substances for those that truly should be removed, e.g. incorrect entries. In other cases, when the usage of the substance is valid but it should not be used in future, the substance would get the new status "hidden". The only concept to group basic substances in the current IMDS is to create a basic substance list, which belongs to a specific company. The content cannot be directly viewed by a normal user. In fact, there would be several groups of substances that could be created in IMDS.
Additionally, the user could use the substance groups to specify a more precise search for basic substances. A new search screen will replace the BSC document. In this screen the user can search for hidden, deleted or active basic substances. Up to now this has only been possible in the certificate of expenditure screen.

A time period that can be specified could deliver same information as in the change document and therefore, replace it. The result list would contain information on the changes, categorized like the following:

  • Details (name, synonym, CAS no., etc.)
  • GADSL
  • status (active, hidden, deleted)

The detailed description by clicking on any of the listed substances does show a history for this basic substance. However, there has to be a remark that the history only goes back to when it was introduced, i.e. Release 2.2 (December 2004).

IMDS AI (Advanced Interface)-relevance? YES

Upload Users: As in case of deactivated substances you must not use hidden substances.
Download: New substance characteristics (hidden). A new data download file containing substance groups and the substances attached to a group.

Renault-specific enhancements:
If a company delivers to Renault, a note appears in chapter 4 on top of the company data screen, telling the user that his MDS will automatically be converted into an Excel Sheet (MCV file) and will be sent to a Renault designer. The converting job will processed every morning once a day.

Additionally following checks for this recipient is carried out in the form.

  • The supplier must at least fill out the Part/Item No. and Supplier Code of this screen as these fields are mandatory. The Part/Item No. must have 10 alphanumeric characters and the Supplier Code 6 digits. Behind the blue colored links you can find help.

After clicking the "Next" button an additional screen appears for Renault suppliers. This is an enhanced Renault company data screen, with fields only needed by Renault.

In the enhanced company data screen following fields are mandatory:

  1. Recipient
  2. Company/Org-ID
  3. Reference part
  4. Index Renault part
  5. Concerned project (except if the MDS is a Material)
  6. e-mail address
  7. Confirmation of the e-mail address
  8. Index of the standard

Only if all mandatory information for Renault was put in, the check will be successful. 

A summary of the check results and their meanings can be found in the IMDS user manual on the Public pages: http://www.mdsystem.com/html/data/training_en.pdf

MDS delete:
It will not be possible anymore for the sender to delete an MDS accepted by the customer. This includes entries in chapter 4 if the MDS was proposed to different companies. If one of these recipients has accepted the MDS this recipient cannot be deleted from the recipient list. Other recipients on the list in chapter 4 (who have not accepted the MDS) can be deleted.

IMDS AI (Advanced Interface)-relevance? YES

Upload Users: If a deletion of an MDS or a ch4 entry is tried to be uploaded to IMDS this leads to an error message.

IMDS AI - further extensions:

  • "MDS Specific Complete" (CMS) file now also contains the received rejected MDSs (applicable for "AI with/without status upload" and "Complete DataDownload for OEMs")
  • All download files will optionally be available in .zip format (in this case a new batch client is available). The default setting for download files will remain in unzipped format.

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