An eco-footprint regulation contains a list of regulated substances with
defined threshold w/w values,
It is possible to work with revisions of a regulation. Many parts may have a very long lifecycle, which often requires creating revisions of the regulation for different revisions of the part. The characteristics of the part can also be changed during its lifecycle, and/or government regulations may also be changed or updated. To handle these kinds of changes over time and to be able to follow up, it is recommended to create and work with revisions of a specific regulation.
The analysis is performed based on regulated substances and their defined threshold values, composed of the selection of parts. If a top part, with a tree structure, is included in the analysis, then the entire tree structure will be analyzed. Parts with a calculated w/w exceeding the defined threshold w/w for a regulated substance are defined as non-conforming.
Note that it is possible to use substances defined as substance families for threshold purposes. A substance family is used to set a threshold for a group of substances when the regulation sets the total limit, e.g., there may be a limitation for the total amount of Cadmium compounds. You can then define a substance family containing Cadmium Oxide, Cadmium Sulfide and Cadmium Chloride and set an aggregated threshold.
After performing the analysis, the result can be evaluated. It is possible to distinguish which parts in the tree structure exceed any of the defined threshold w/w for the regulated substances. The distribution of the different material declaration qualities for the top part and its sub-assemblies can also be evaluated to form an opinion of whether the result can be considered as accurate.
The Regulation for Eco-footprint header is where the Regulation ID, Revision, and Status are identified.
The state of the regulation indicates how the analysis information can be used. The ability to change the regulation depends upon the state of the regulation id, as defined in the header. Possible states are:
| State | Description |
| Planned | A regulation is created in the Planned state, this is the default value. This state indicates that the regulation is not yet usable, and the regulation data should not be used as a foundation for decisions making. The regulation may be changed/updated in this state. |
| Active | A regulation promoted to Active state can be used to perform reliable analysis, and it can be used for decisions making as well as for input when creating environmental reports. The regulation may be changed/updated in this state. |
| Obsolete | The regulation has been obsolete and will not be available for use when generating reliable analysis information. You can change to this state at any time; however, once done, only the state may be changed. |
For each regulation, an unlimited number of exemptions can be registered. These exemptions can then be used to indicate that a component is restricted under a specific regulation but it has an exemption (usually time framed) that still makes it possible to use.
Parts can be connected to regulations and defined to be compliant (or non-compliant) even without the use of substances and analysis of their thresholds. For each regulation/part combination, it is possible to register one or many exemptions. One of the exemptions for each regulation can be defined as primary. It is possible to do analysis of all included components in a product structure to find out if there are non-compliant components for a certain regulation.
Regulated substances are those that need to be tracked due to existing or future regulations, whether internal and/or government. This is done by listing the substances together with their threshold w/w values. The threshold w/w value is defined as the acceptable level of a substance in a part, as stated by the regulation, measured as a percentage of the product's weight. Substances can also be entered with threshold w/w values of zero. This is because the material declaration quality could be blank and hence the weight of the substance is probably unknown or very unreliable, yet it is still important to know if the substance exists in the part to any extent.
For a substance to be added, it's Environmental Properties Validity must be set to Active. Note though that substances previously added and then changed to hidden or blocked ,will still be included in the regulation calculations.
The list of regulated substances can also be generated based on criteria when the knowledge about the substances is limited. This gives a certain level of flexibility since it is possible to start the analysis based on just some specific criteria instead of substance. If the analysis is started based on criteria, the recorded substances will then receive a threshold W/W value of zero. All substances matching the selected criteria will be listed and it is possible to review and/or updated the related information before executing the analysis.
After the analysis is performed, the result can be evaluated. Parts with a calculated w/w value exceeding the defined threshold w/w (%) are classified as non-conforming parts. Parts with a tree structure are also classified as non-conforming top parts. The reliability of the analysis result can also be evaluated in relation to the material declaration quality of the parts constituting the analyzed non-conforming top part. Depending on the analysis result, the material declaration quality and the nature of the regulation may require a different type of proactive activities.
All events executed in the past for a regulation revision are possible to follow up. A Journal exists to log all actions taken. By studying the journal it is easy to determine what has been done, when it was done, who did it and what is different. The Journal can be turned on or off as needed, and it is also possible to clear a journal.