The QuickEasy Planning Board combines the simplicity of a manual production board with the processing power of a computer. This frees production staff from wasting valuable time attending to progress queries.

You can ensure that jobs are delivered on time while also reducing overtime costs by keeping production centres loaded.

For a brief overview of the Planning Board watch this video.

Planning Board Interface

Navigation

Main Menu > Production > Planning Board

Navigation Bar > Planning Board

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. Stages - The Stages button allows you to filter the Stages shown in the Planning Board.
3. Layout Width - This allows you to set the width of the Queue Layout (6).
4. Refresh - Click the Refresh button to refresh the Planning Board.
5. Summary View - Here all the production stages are listed. You can set the visible stages for each User in the Staff Settings. See image below:

6. Queue Standard Layout - 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. See below a Task Queue for the Pre-Press Stage:

For additional functionality within the Queue field right-click on a Task. See image below:

A. Drilldown to Kanban Board - This will open the Kanban Board, displaying each Status in columns with their allocated Tasks for the selected Stage. See image below:

Drag-and-drop can be used to move Tasks between Statuses. If changes are made on the Kanban Board, they are automatically updated on the Main Board where Tasks will then be ordered by Status first. See image below:

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

C. Next Status - This will drive the Task to the next Status.

D. Previous Status - This will return the Task to the previous Stage.

E. 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. For this to work new Planning Board Stage setting Ready Status needs to be set to Ready, click here for more on Planning Board Settings.

F. Order Column by Due Date - This will order the column by Due Date.

G. View Status Key - This will open the Status Key, displaying all the available Statuses for the Task.

7. Menu - The Menu button provides additional functionality. See image below:

A. Update Planning Board - This feature updates the Planning Board with the latest jobs. When a new Work Order is created, the Planning Board is automatically populated with the Tasks that require planning and when the Work Order is closed, the Tasks are again deleted to ensure the Planning Board remains up to date and only reflects active Work Orders.

B. View WiP - This will show the Work in Progress view, listing all the Work Orders in production. See image below:

Due Date - In View WiP mode, you can select Due Date, which opens the Job Summary panel. This iterates and sets the due date for each Task in a job based on the following assumptions and rules:

• It is important that the Working Hours for all of the Stages, including Outwork Stages, be set up correctly.
• The Task Due Date that is set by this function, is effectively the latest date/time that the Task should be started.
• The last Task, assumed to be Delivery, is set to the start of the last working day on or prior to the job due date.
• The Task Due Date is rounded down to the nearest hour - this also has the effect of adding a buffer.
• The Est. Hrs. need to be manually updated for Outwork Tasks prior to setting the Task Due Dates.

When the job Due Date is changed, you are prompted to reset all the Task Due Dates.

C. View Summary - This will show the Summary View, see point 5.

Custom Menu Items can be added to the Menu button, which will execute the SQL linked to the Setting. For more about Planning Board Settings, click here.