Production Planning

Production Planning assists organisations in managing all their production tasks. The Board, also known as the Planning Board, displays a summary of all the jobs that are currently in production or queued to enter production.

These tutorials explain the Board's features and related functions.

Navigation: Main Menu > Production > Planning Board > Menu (button) > Board

How to Understand the Board

The Board is made up of columns.
Each column is headed by the name of the Stage.
Each job is summarised in a colour-coded block according to its planning Status. The layout of these blocks is determined by the selected Filters (E.g. Stages, layout, column width). They include some or all of the following information:
1. Line 1:
  1. Work Order Number.
  2. Description of the job.
  3. Estimated Hours the job will take.
2. Line 2 (Not shown in Compact Mode):
  1. Name of the Rep.
  2. Name of the Customer.
  3. The Actual Hours spent on the job.
3. Line 3 (Not shown in Compact Mode):
  1. The scheduled Start Date.
  2. The scheduled Start Time.
  3. The cumulative Outstanding Hours for the stage up to the end of that job.
4. Line 4 (Only shown in Extended Mode):
  1. Lists the tasks that must be completed in detail.
The sequence of the blocks depends on the order selected but generally works like this:
1. The Jobs below a Stage are sorted by the jobs that must be done next.
2. The Stages are sorted based on their hierarchy (i.e. which Stage must be completed first).

How to Customise the Board

How to Change the Column Sizes

From the Board.
Click the arrows on the side of the block that shows a number (usually 250) to increase or decrease the width of the columns.

How to Show or Hide Certain Stages

Navigate to the Board.
Click Stages (button) and check/uncheck the stages you want to display.
- Note: You can also use the options on the list to show All the stages or All (Not Empty).

Working with the Board

How to Reset the Board

From the Board, click Actions (button) > Reset Planning Board.
Confirm that the following actions will be taken:
1. Job Due Dates will be set to Required Dates (Set Due Date = Req Date): The internal due dates will be changed to match the dates by which Customers require the goods. However, due to production constraints, some due dates will be adjusted and may be later than the required dates. Those dates will be marked in red.
2. Task Start and Finish Dates will be set from the Work Order Due Dates (Set Start/Finish from WO Due Date): The start dates will be adjusted in accordance with the new due dates.
3. Task Start Dates will be aligned from now in each Stage (Set Start/Finish from Now (Stages)): Tasks that are first in the queue will be set to start now. Other tasks will be adjusted accordingly.
4. Task Start Dates will be adjusted to avoid task dependency conflicts (Set Start/Finish by Dependency (Stages)): The start dates are adjusted to match the completion date of prior stages that affect the task.

How to Adjust the Jobs Based on Time

Sets the start time for the next job in the queue to now.

Adjusts the other times accordingly.

Useful when a job has finished ahead of schedule, and you want to adjust the schedule, so the machine and operators are not idle.

Navigate to the Board.
Click Actions (button) > Set Start / Finish from Now (Stages).
Confirm the change on the popup.

How to Adjust the Jobs Based on Dependencies

This process adjusts the dates based on the tasks that must first be completed (i.e. the dependency).

Navigate to the Board.
Click Actions (button) > Set Start/Finish by Dependency (Stages).
Confirm the change on the popup.

How to Order All Stages by Start Date

The jobs are ordered by their Start Dates, regardless of their Statuses.

Navigate to the Board.
Click Actions (button) > Order by Start Date.
Confirm the change on the popup.

How to Order all Stages by Status and Start Date

The jobs are first ordered by their Statuses and then by their Start Dates.

Navigate to the Board.
Click Actions (button) > Order by Status > Start Date.
Confirm the change on the popup.

How to Edit Job Statuses

From the Board, right-click an entry and select View Status Key from the context menu to see the hierarchy of Statuses.

Navigate to the Board.
Right click an entry you want to change and select one of these options from the context menu:
1. Next Status: Changes the status to the next stage in the hierarchy.
2. Previous Status: Changes the status to the previous stage in the hierarchy.
3. Complete: Everything has been made. The job is complete.

How to Start or Stop Timekeeping for a Job via the Board

Navigate to the Board.
Right click an entry and select one of the following from the context menu under the Timekeeping heading:
1. Start:
  1. Starts a Timekeeping record.
  2. Sets the task's Status to Busy.
  3. Changes the background colour of the entry accordingly.
2. Stop (Complete):
  1. Stops the Timekeeping record.
  2. Sets the job's Status to Complete.
  3. Changes the background colour of the entry accordingly.
3. Stop (Part Complete):
  1. Stops the Timekeeping record.
  2. Sets the job's Status to Partially Complete.
  3. Changes the background colour of the entry accordingly.

How to Highlight a Job

Navigate to the Board.
Right click an entry and select Highlight from the context menu.
The job will be highlighted in black across all the stages.
- Note: Repeat Step 2 (i.e. uncheck Highlight) to remove the highlight.

Viewing Linked Transactions and Features

How to View/Edit Jobs

Navigate to the Board.
Right click an entry and select View/Edit Job from the context menu.
See Jobs Tutorial for more information on this feature.

How to View a Kanban Board

The Kanban Board shows only the selected Stage with columns for each of the production Statuses.

Tasks can be dragged from one Status column to the next.

Navigate to the Board.
Right click an entry and select Open Kanban Board from the context menu.

How to View the Linked Work Order

Navigate to the Board.
Right click an entry and select Open Work Order from the context menu.