Production Planning - Board Tutorial

Overview

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

These tutorials explain how the Planning Board works and how to use the related functions.

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

Table of Contents

How to Understand the Planning Board

ℹ️ Schedules, Durations, and Progress information are collapsed by default and not displayed in Compact View.

Click the arrows next to the titles to expand the views.

  1. Navigate to Production Planning > Menu (button) > Board.
  2. Click Refresh (button).
  3. The top row, before the colour-coded blocks displays the following information:
    • Name of the Stage.
    • How many jobs must be produced.
    • How long it should take to produce those jobs.
  4. 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 applicable).
      3. Customer Name or Internal (in this example Internal is the name of a customer account we created for internal jobs).
    • Schedule:
      1. The heading displays one of these options:
        • TTS (Time to Start): If the job is due to start soon (blue text).
        • NOW: If the job has to start now (white text on a blue background).
        • BUSY: If the job is currently in production (white text on a green background).
        • LATE and the number of hours: If the job is overdue (white text on a red background).
      2. Start (Est): The estimated start date and time.
      3. Start (Act): The actual start date and time.
    • Duration:
      1. Estimated: The estimated duration.
      2. Actual: The actual duration or zero if the job is still pending.
    • Progress:
      1. Required Qty: The quantity that is required.
      2. Complete Qty: The quantity that is completed or zero if the job is still pending.
  5. The sequence of the information blocks depends on the order selected. For example:
    • The Jobs below a Stage are sorted by the jobs that must be done next.
    • The Stages are sorted based on which stage must first be completed before the next stage can start.

Filters and Adjustments

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 the stages you want to display and uncheck the stages you want to hide.
    • 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 created.

How to Filter by Rep

ℹ️ This filter is only displayed if the Rep field is enabled for the linked transaction type (e.g. Work Orders).

  1. Navigate to the Board.
  2. Click Rep (button) and check the reps you want to display and uncheck the reps you want to hide.

Dates

How to Adjust the Dates Based on Time

  1. Navigate to the Board.
  2. Right click the entry you want to schedule from and click Reschedule from Selected Stage.
  3. 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.

- This action is also available from the context (right-click) menu.

  1. Navigate to the Board.
  2. Click Actions (button) > Order All Stages by Task Start Date.
  3. Confirm the change on the popup.

How to Order all Stages by Status and Task Start Date

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

- This action is also available from the context (right-click) menu.

  1. Navigate to the Board.
  2. Click Actions (button) > Order All Stages by Status and Task Start Date. 
  3. Confirm the change on the popup.

Viewing Detailed Information

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 the 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. Any existing note is displayed and can be edited, otherwise enter a note in the block provided.

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 is highlighted in black across all the stages.
    • Note: Repeat the process to remove the highlight.

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.
  3. The source transaction (e.g. Work Order) is 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 are 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 % show any variances.
    • Note: The columns Variance and Var % 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 is opened on the right panel.

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