Production Planning - Board Tutorial

How to Understand the Planning Board

ℹ️ Schedule, Duration and Progress information is collapsed by default. Click the arrows next to the titles to expand the views.

ℹ️ Schedule, Duration, and Progress information are not displayed in Compact View. 

1. Navigate to Production Planning > Menu (button) > Board.

2. The top row, below the buttons displays the following information:

   • Name of the Stage.

   • How many Items must be produced.

   • How long it will take to produce those items.

3. Each job is summarised in a block and displays the following information:

   • Header (colour-coded according to the status):

     1. Job Number.

     2. Rep (if the job is not Internal).

     3. Customer Name or Internal.

   • Schedule:

     1. Heading displays TTS (Time to Start)  or NOW if it is due to start now.

     2. A red banner if the job is late with the number of hours.

     3. Start (Est): The estimated start date and time.

     4. Start (Act): The actual start date and time.

   • Duration:

     1. Estimated: The estimated duration.

     2. Actual: The actual duration.

   • Progress:

     1. Required Qty: The quantity that is required.

     2. Complete Qty: The quantity that is completed.

4. The sequence of the blocks depends on the order selected but generally works like this:

   • The  Jobs below a Stage are sorted by the jobs that must be done next.

   • The Stages are sorted based on their hierarchy, i.e. which Stage must first be completed.

How to Change the Column Sizes

1. Navigate to the Board.

2. Click the arrows on the side of the block that shows 300 to increase or decrease the width of the columns.

How to Filter by Stages

1. Navigate to the Board.

2. Click Stages (button) and check/uncheck the stages you want to display.

   • You can also use the options on the list to show All the stages or All (Not Empty).

   • You can also select Groups if they are set up.

How to Filter by Rep

1. Navigate to the Board.

2. Click Rep (button) and check/uncheck the reps you want to display.

How to Reset the Planning Board

1. From the Board, click Actions (button) > Reset Planning Board.

2. Confirm that the following actions will be taken:

   1. Job Due Dates will be set to Required Dates: The internal due dates will be changed to match the dates by which Customers want 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 Dates will be set from Job Due Dates: 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: 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: The start dates are adjusted to match the completion date of prior stages that affect the task.

How to Adjust the Dates Based on Time

ℹ️ When a job has finished ahead of schedule, this process will change the start date of the next job so that it is immediately started and adjust all the start and end dates in that Stage to reflect this change.

1. Navigate to the Board.

2. Click Actions (button) > Set Start / Finish from Now (Stages).

3. Confirm the change on the popup.

How to Adjust the Dates Based on Dependencies

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

3. Navigate to the Board.

4. Click Actions (button) > Set Start/Finish by Dependency (Stages). 

5. Confirm the change on the popup.

How to Order all Stages by Start Date

ℹ️ The jobs are ordered by their start dates, regardless of their statuses.

1. Navigate to the Board.

2. Click Actions (button) > Order All Stages by Start Date. 

3. Confirm the change on the popup.

How to Order all Stages by Status and Start Date

ℹ️ The jobs are first ordered by their statuses and then by their start dates.

1. Navigate to the Board.

2. Click Actions (button) > Order All Stages by Status and Start Date. 

3. Confirm the change on the popup.

How to Edit Job Statuses

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

1. Navigate to the Board.

2. Right-click an entry you want to change and select one of these options from the context menu:

   • Next Status: Changes the status to the next stage in the hierarchy.

   • Previous Status: Changes the status to the previous stage in the hierarchy.

   • Set to Ready: Changes the status to ready (all the materials are there, the task can begin).

   • Set to Complete: Everything has been made. The job is complete.

How to View/Edit Jobs

1. Navigate to the Board.

2. Right-click an entry and select View/Edit Job  from the context menu.

3. See Jobs Tutorial for more information on this feature.

How to View/Edit Notes

1. Navigate to the Board.

2. Right-click an entry and select View/Edit Note from the context menu.

3. A note editor will open. If a note exists, it will be displayed, otherwise, the interface will be blank, and you can type a note.

How to Highlight a Job

1. Navigate to the Board.

2. Right-click an entry and select Highlight from the context menu. 

3. The job will be highlighted in black across all the stages.

Viewing Detailed Information

How to View a Kanban Board

ℹ️ The Kanban Board shows only the selected stage with columns for each of the statuses. Tasks can be dragged from one Status column to the next.

1. Navigate to the Board.

2. Right-click an entry and select Open Kanban Board from the context menu. 

How to View Linked Transactions

1. Navigate to the Board.

2. Right-click an entry and select Open Transaction from the context menu. The source transaction (e.g. Work Order) will be opened.

How to View the Job's Variances (Cost of Sales)

1. Navigate to the Board.

2. Right-click an entry and select Open Cost of Sales from the context menu.

3. You will be switched to Cost of Sales with a filter applied that only shows materials for the job you clicked on.

1. • Note: The columns Variance and Var % will show any variances.

How to View A Customer Summary

1. Navigate to the Board.

2. Right-click an entry and select Open Customer Summary from the context menu. 

3. The summary will be opened on the right.

Related Topics

• Reference: Dashboard

• Reference: Jobs

• Reference: Tasks

• Reference: Materials

• Reference: Outwork

• Reference: Board

• Reference: Gantt

• Reference: Timekeeping

• Reference: Planning Stages

• Reference: Production Planning and Tracker Settings

• Reference: Kanban Board

• Tutorial: Dashboard

• Tutorial: Jobs

• Tutorial: Tasks

• Tutorial: Materials

• Tutorial: Outwork

• Tutorial: Gantt

• Tutorial: Timekeeping

• Tutorial: Edit Stages

• Setup Tutorial: Production and Tracking