The QuickEasy Planning Board gives you the simplicity of a manual production board boosted with the processing power of a computer. This frees your production staff from wasting valuable time attending to progress queries. In addition, it ensures that your jobs are delivered on time, while also reducing overtime costs by keeping your production centres loaded.

The Planning Board gives Production Managers, business owners, and others, visibility and insight into production activity. This means better management of production stations, and improves staff and machine efficiency.

Discover Planning Board

• Get Started
• Planning Board Setup
  • Stages
  • Settings
  • Cost Centres
  • Suppliers
  • Types
• Planning Board Interface

Get Started

• User Access must be set in order to access the Planning Board Setups. To set-up User Access for Planning Board Setups navigate to Main Menu > Setup > Settings > Users > Select User > Setup - Planning Board - Access Allowed.
• Complete the Planning Board Setups (see below) before attempting to use the Planning Board module.

Planning Board Setup

Complete the following setups before attempting to use the Planning Board module.

Navigation

Main Menu > Setup > Planning Board

1. Planning Board - This data grid shows all the available Planning Boards. This is where you will toggle between Planning Boards for editing.
2. Name - This is the name of the Planning Board. This field is greyed-out by default, to edit the name of an existing Planning Board you must first click on the Edit button (4).
3. Type - This indicates the Type of Planning Board. You are able to select from the following Planning Board Types:
   • Estimate Services - This populates the board with a task for each service on an estimate. Drilldown is provided to a Kanban board for each stage - a column is provided for each Status in the Stage.
   • Transaction - Items - This populates the board with a task for each Transaction Item based on the Assign field in the Item
   • Transaction - Assign - This populates the board with a task for each Transaction based on the Assign field in the Transaction header.
   • Transaction - Status - This populates the board with a task for each transaction based on the Transaction status. Stages must have the same name as the Transaction Status. The summary on the left side shows the number and total of Transactions by Category and is grouped by Rep.
   • Custom - This provides a simple Kanban board for managing custom tasks.
4. Edit - This allows you to edit the Planning Boards. Once editing is done make sure to click Save.
5. Menu - The Menu button provides the following additional functionality:
   • Delete Planning Board - This will delete the Planning Board selected in the data grid (1).
6. Hide/Show Planning Board - This will hide or show the Planning Board data grid.
7. Planning Board Setups - The Planning Board Setups consists of the following tabs:

a. Stages (more below)

b. Settings

c. Cost Centres

d. Suppliers

When Planning Board Type - Custom is selected an additional tab becomes available:

e. Types

a. Stages

This is where the Production Stages are set-up for the Planning Board.

Navigation

Main Menu > Setup > Planning Board > Select Planning Board > Stages

1. Name - This is the name of the Stage.
2. Active - The Stage will be active in the Planning Board when this check-box is ticked.
3. Ellipsis - This allows you to Copy, Edit or Delete a Stage, as well as to move the Stage up or down.
   • When Editing a Stage the data grid will change to the following interface, see image below:

a. Name - This shows the Production Stage's name.

b. Status - This is the various Status that are applicable to that Production Stage, such as New, Waiting, Ready, Busy, Complete, and its assign colours are listed. Click Add to add another Status for the Stage.

• When creating a new Stage, functionality is provided to automatically add a default Status / Stage list by clicking on the arrow in the Add button and selecting Add the standard Status list. The Statuses will be added depending on the type of Planning Board, as follows:
  • Estimate - Services - Default Statuses
  • Transaction - Items - Default Statuses
  • Transaction - Status - Add Transaction Status list as Stages
  • Workflow - Status - Add Workflow Status as Stages

c. Show Production Times - If the check box is selected, this setting enables the production times to be displayed in the Calendar.

d. Working Hours - These time parameters are the framework in which productive work takes place and are used to determine task start times as per the work load on the planning board. QuickEasy won't schedule tasks before 8am or after 5pm or on weekends by default.

b. Settings

Navigation

Main Menu > Setup > Planning Board > Select Planning Board > Settings

1. All > Description Format - This allows you to specify how the description will be formulated.
2. All > Module - This allows you to specify the Global Module that will be displayed in the selected Planning Board.
3. All > Set next Task to Ready on Complete - This is a Global setting that will ensure that when a Task is set to Complete the next task will automatically be set to Ready.
4. All > Use Date fields - This is a Global setting that specifies if Data fields will be used or not.
5. Role > Automatic Refresh - This specifies which Role will have automatic refresh functionality.
6. Role > Column width - Job List (Pixels) - This allows you to specify the Job List column width for the Role.
7. Role > Column width - Production Stage (Pixels) - This allows you to specify the Production Stage column width for the Role.
8. Role > Planning Board - Access Allowed - This is where User Access is set-up on a Role level. You are able to select; None, Read Only or Full Access.
9. Role > Use Date fields - This is a Role setting that specifies if Data fields will be used or not.
10. Role > Visible Production Stages - This allows you to specify the visible Production Stages for the Role. Click on the Edit text to add or remove Production Stages.

These Settings can also be found in Main Menu > Setup > Settings > Planning Board. See image below:

c. Cost Centres

Navigation

Main Menu > Setup > Planning Board > Select Planning Board > Cost Centres

This is where Cost Centres are linked to a specific Production Stage. This ensures that, should a Service be linked to said Cost Centre, it will appear in the appropriate Production Stage. The screenshot below is an example of Cost Centre settings.

d. Suppliers

Navigation

Main Menu > Setup > Planning Board > Select Planning Board > Suppliers

This is where you link Suppliers to a specific Production Stage. This ensures that, if you have outsource suppliers, you can see what work has been sent to the suppliers directly from the Planning Board, or what work needs to be sent, and so on.

e. Types

Navigation

Main Menu > Setup > Planning Board > Select Planning Board > Type

This allows you to create custom Statuses for a Custom Planning Board.

Planning Board Interface

The Planning Board provides instant insight and oversight over the Production cycle.

Navigation

Main Menu > Production (Customisable Module Title) > Planning Board (Title Customisable)

1. Order by Date Key - This key indicates which tasks are due Tomorrow, Today, 2 Hrs or Late in reference to the Due Date on the Work Order.
2. Search - Enter a description or number here you wish to find; and the Planning Board will automatically filter the records shown to match your search.
3. Rep - This allows you to filter the records shown in the Planning Board by Representative.
4. Stages - The Stages button allows you to filter the Stages shown in the Planning Board.
5. Layout Width - This allows you to set the width of the Queue Layout (11).
6. Refresh - Click the Refresh button to refresh the Planning Board.
7. Actions -
8. Menu - The Menu button provides the following additional functionality:
   • View WiP - This will change the Summary panel to show Work in Progress. See image below:

• View Summary - This will change the WiP panel to show the Planning Board Summary (10). See image below:

• Condensed View - This will show a condensed view of the Planning Board Stages. See image below:

• Show Preview - This will show additional information about the Stages and WiP panel. See image below:

9. Show/Hide WiP/Summary panel - Click on this button to Hide or Show the Planning Board WiP/Summary panel.

10. Summary / WiP panel - This panel shows a Planning Board Summary or Work in Progress. To toggle between Summary and WiP click on the Menu button (8)

11. Stages - This panel shows the production Stages which are arranged as columns in a logical order from left to right. All the Tasks are queued in the Stage column.

• When you right-click on a Task in the Stages columns the following additional functionality becomes available:
  • Drilldown to Kanban Board - This apllies to Estimate - Services and Transaction - Items type Planning Boards. The Kanban Board displays all the Tasks for the selected Stage in separate columns for each Status. See image below:

Drag-and-drop can then be used to move tasks between Statuses and to re-order them. This will in turn update the order on the main Planning Board. See image below:

• Highlight - This will highlight the selected Work Order number throughout all the production Stages. See image below:

• Open Transaction - This will open the selected Transaction.
• Open Job Summary - This will open the Job Summary side-panel.
• Open Customer Summary - This will open the Customer Summary side-panel.
• Next Status - This will drive the Task to the next Status.
• Previous Status - This will return the Task to the previous Stage.
• Set task Complete - This will change the Status of the Task to Complete. When a Task is set to Complete, a trigger will automatically set the next Task, with the same Work Order number, to Ready.

• Edit Task - This will open a pop-up window allowing you to edit the Task. See image below:

• Copy Task - This will open the Edit Task pop-up window that allows you to edit the task; and once you've clicked Save and Close the copied Task will appear underneath the Task that you've selected to copy.
• View Status Key - This will open a Status Key pop-up window displaying all the available Statuses for the Stage. See image below: