What Is a Step Override in Quote Scenarios?

A step override is a per-scenario change to one routing step's setup time, run time, or work center, applied inside a quote scenario so a what-if option can be priced without altering the base routing or the live schedule. It is how a single quote carries several priced plans built from small, targeted routing changes.

This entry defines the step override and shows how it reads inside EDGEBIC by User Solutions. For the wider index of terms, see the manufacturing glossary; for the container it lives in, see what is a quote scenario; and for the simulation that prices it, see EDGEBIC quote simulation explained.

How it works

A quote scenario is a what-if variant stored inside a quote, and a step override is the tool a scenario uses to express its differences at the level of a single routing step. Rather than editing the product's master routing, the scenario holds overrides that apply only when it simulates.

A step override can change a step's setup time, its run time per unit, or its routing, which typically means retiming the step or reassigning it to a different work center such as an outside vendor. Several overrides across different steps combine into a coherent alternative plan: a shorter setup on one step, an outside process on another, a reordered sequence.

When the scenario runs, the engine simulates with the overrides applied and returns that scenario's own lead time and cost. The base quote and the live schedule are never touched during this, because the whole thing runs in simulation. Only if the quote is accepted does the winning scenario's configuration, overrides included, carry forward into a real order.

A concrete example

Think of a contractor quoting a kitchen two ways. The standard bid uses in-house cabinetry over six weeks. The rush bid swaps just one line, cabinets, to a supplier who delivers in two weeks at a premium, while every other line stays the same. The contractor did not redraw the whole plan; they overrode one item and re-priced. A step override is that single-line swap inside a quote.

Take a 200-bracket quote whose standard routing simulates to 12 days. You add an expedited scenario with a step override that sends the heat-treat step to an outside vendor. Re-simulated, the scenario returns 9 days at a higher cost, because the outside vendor removes the constraint but adds expense. The heat-treat step in your master routing is unchanged; only the scenario carries the override.

How EDGEBIC uses it

In EDGEBIC, a step override is a record on a quote scenario that changes one step's setup, run time, or work center for that scenario alone. Each scenario re-runs the scheduling engine in simulation with its overrides applied, so its lead time and cost come from the same finite-capacity logic that plans real work, then are discarded until the quote is decided.

The isolation is what makes overrides safe and useful. You can test skipping a step, retiming it, or routing it to an outside vendor without any risk to the master routing, the live plan, or other quotes. And because every scenario prices through the same engine, the options in a quote are directly comparable side by side. When a quote is approved, the accepted scenario's overrides convert forward with the new order, so the promise you made is the plan you run.

To see the scenario that holds overrides, read what is a quote scenario; to see how the numbers are produced, read EDGEBIC quote simulation explained. For the cost side of a priced option, continue with what is a cost rollup in manufacturing.