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2 Manufacturing User Guide

Updated: May 2007 Copyright © 2005-2007 DBA Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Manufacturing User Guide 3

Table of Contents

1. Manufacturing Tasks.................................................... 11

Daily Tasks ............................................................................................11 As Needed Tasks ..................................................................................11 Period-End Task ....................................................................................11

2. Inventory........................................................................ 12

Inventory Overview ................................................................................12

2-1. Using Tracking Characteristics ......................................................... 14

Stock Items ............................................................................................15 Inventory Adjustments ...........................................................................16 Stock Transfer .......................................................................................16 Stock Counts .........................................................................................16 Characteristic Availability .......................................................................16 Order Picking .........................................................................................17 Job Issues & Receipts ...........................................................................17 Purchase Order Receipts.......................................................................17 Transaction Reports ..............................................................................18 Automatically generating serial numbers ...............................................19 Altering existing characteristic sets........................................................ 20

2-2. Inventory Adjustments .......................................................................21

Inventory Adjustments ...........................................................................21 Adjusting inventory for items with characteristics................................... 22 Batch Inventory Adjustments .................................................................23

2-3. Location Transfers..............................................................................24

Stock Transfer .......................................................................................24

2-4. Stock Counts .......................................................................................25

Creating a stock count ...........................................................................25 Printing the Stock Count Sheet.............................................................. 25 Entering count quantities .......................................................................26 Updating Inventory.................................................................................26 Items with tracking characteristics .........................................................26

2-5. Item Price & Cost Update ...................................................................28

Batch updating Base Prices...................................................................28 Batch updating Estimated Costs............................................................28 Manually updating prices & costs ..........................................................30


2-6. Changing Inventory Costs ..................................................................31

2-7. Reconciling Book Values....................................................................33

2-8. Product Catalogs.................................................................................34

3. Bills of Material .............................................................36

3-1. Cost Rollups ........................................................................................37

Purpose..................................................................................................37 Cost Elements........................................................................................37 Routing and Lower Level Costs .............................................................38 Cost Sources..........................................................................................38 Cost Rollup Screen ................................................................................39 Running the Cost Rollup ........................................................................40 Cost Rollup – Multiple Methods..............................................................40 Costed BOM Report ...............................................................................41

4. Sales Orders ..................................................................42

Overview ................................................................................................42

4-1. Sales Order Creation...........................................................................43

Header Screen .......................................................................................44 Details Screen........................................................................................49 Using Speed Entry .................................................................................52 Linking to the Order Picking screen........................................................53 Sending Order Acknowledgements........................................................53

4-2. Sales Quotes........................................................................................54

Quote Setup ...........................................................................................54 Sales Quote Entry ..................................................................................56 Sending Quotes .....................................................................................56 Converting Sales Quotes to Sales Orders..............................................56

4-3. Sales Order Templates........................................................................58

4-4. Picking Line Items for Shipment ........................................................59

Order Picking Tab ..................................................................................59 Characteristics Tab ................................................................................60 Linking to the Sales Orders screen ........................................................61

4-5. Shipping & Invoicing Overview..........................................................62

Sequence of Events ...............................................................................62

4-6. Shipping ...............................................................................................63

Selecting Items for Shipment .................................................................63 Creating Shipments................................................................................63 Printing Packing Lists and Labels ..........................................................66


Deleting Shipments................................................................................66

4-7. Invoicing ..............................................................................................67

Generating invoices ...............................................................................67 Previewing invoices ...............................................................................68 Deleting non-printed invoices.................................................................69 Printing invoices.....................................................................................69 Batch printing invoices ...........................................................................69 Reversing printed invoices.....................................................................70 Printing credit memos ............................................................................70

4-8. Sales Order Workflow.........................................................................71

Phase 1 – Quoting (Optional) ................................................................71 Phase 2 – Order Entry ...........................................................................71 Phase 3 – Order Picking ........................................................................71 Phase 4 – Shipping................................................................................71 Phase 5 – Invoicing ...............................................................................71 Phase 6 – Order Closing........................................................................71

5. MRP................................................................................ 72

Overview................................................................................................72 Screens and Reports .............................................................................73

5-1. MRP Setup Overview ..........................................................................75

5-2. MRP Defaults .......................................................................................76

5-3. Shop Calendar.....................................................................................78

5-4. MRP Settings.......................................................................................79

Usage History Inquiry.............................................................................82 Production History Inquiry......................................................................82 Delivery History Inquiry ..........................................................................82

5-5. Work Center Settings..........................................................................83

Queue Days...........................................................................................83 Total Hours / Day...................................................................................84 Job Hours / Day .....................................................................................84 Buffer Days ............................................................................................85

5-6. Running MRP.......................................................................................86

Running MRP is a 4-step process .........................................................86 How often should MRP be run? ............................................................. 86

5-7. Step 1 – Generate Jobs for Make-to-Order Items............................. 87

Make-to-Order Items..............................................................................87 Generating planned jobs from sales order lines..................................... 87 Scheduling and converting planned jobs ............................................... 88


5-8. Step 2 – Generate Jobs for Net Demand ...........................................90

Generating planned jobs ........................................................................90 How the MRP generation works.............................................................92 Scheduling and converting planned jobs................................................93

5-9. Step 3 – Generate PO’s for Purchase-to-Order Items ......................94

Buy-for-Job Screen ................................................................................94

5-10. Step 4 – Generate PO’s for Net Demand..........................................96

Generating planned PO’s .......................................................................96 How the MRP generation works.............................................................98 Planned PO’s Screen.............................................................................99 Drill-Down Tab .....................................................................................101 Adjusting item MRP settings ................................................................102 Creating new planned PO’s from scratch .............................................102 Converting planned PO’s into actual PO’s ...........................................103

5-11. Scheduling & Converting Planned Jobs .......................................104

5-12. Planned Jobs Screen ......................................................................105

5-13. Scheduling Planned Jobs...............................................................110

How job scheduling works....................................................................110 Job Days – Manual Entry .....................................................................111 Job Days Calculator .............................................................................111 Drill-Down Tab .....................................................................................113 Adjusting item MRP settings ................................................................114 Creating new planned jobs from scratch ..............................................115

5-14. Converting Planned Jobs into Actual Jobs...................................116

Multi-Level Generation .........................................................................117

5-15. Scheduling Work Centers & Machines ..........................................119 WC scheduling is the key to meeting job schedules ............................119 Timely job tracking is a requirement.....................................................119 Work Center Scheduling Screen ..........................................................120 Schedule Tab – Upper Panel ...............................................................120 Scheduling Grid....................................................................................122 Linking to the Job Scheduling screen...................................................125 Printing the Work Center Dispatch List.................................................125

5-16. Rescheduling Existing Jobs...........................................................126

Upper Panel .........................................................................................126 Jobs Tab ..............................................................................................127 Linked Jobs Tab...................................................................................129 Net Demand Tab..................................................................................129

5-17. Rescheduling Existing PO’s ...........................................................130


Upper Panel.........................................................................................130 PO’s Tab..............................................................................................131 Net Demand Tab .................................................................................132

5-18. Estimating Delivery Dates .............................................................. 133

Delivery Date Estimator .......................................................................133

5-19. Using Planning Worksheets........................................................... 135

Planning Worksheet - Items................................................................. 135 Planning Worksheet - BOMs................................................................135

5-20. Job Scheduling Reports.................................................................136

Master Job Schedule ...........................................................................136 Job Outputs Schedule..........................................................................136 Work Center Schedule.........................................................................136 Machine Schedule ...............................................................................136 Work Center Dispatch List ................................................................... 136 Subcontract WC Schedule...................................................................137

5-21. The 7 Principles of Successful Scheduling .................................. 138

6. Make Jobs ................................................................... 144

Overview..............................................................................................144 Make Job Elements .............................................................................144 The Role of Sales Orders ....................................................................144

6-1. Job Creation ......................................................................................145

Job Creation Sequence of Events ....................................................... 145 Generating jobs from the MRP screen................................................. 145 Creating a new job from the Make Jobs screen................................... 146 Header Screen.....................................................................................148 Routing Screen ....................................................................................153 Details Screen .....................................................................................157 Printing Job Travelers ..........................................................................163

6-2. Custom Manufacturing ..................................................................... 164

How It Works .......................................................................................164 Make Job Defaults ...............................................................................165 Custom Item Generator ....................................................................... 166 Generating a Make Job........................................................................167 Make Job Details ................................................................................. 168 How the job cost flows to COGS..........................................................169

6-3. Job Processing ................................................................................. 170

Linking to job processing screens........................................................ 170

6-4. Using the Job Control Panel ............................................................171


Release Jobs Screen ...........................................................................172 Process Jobs Screen ...........................................................................173 Close Jobs Screen ...............................................................................175

6-5. Job Issues..........................................................................................177

Batch Update Tab ................................................................................177 Characteristics Tab ..............................................................................179 Linking to other job-related screens .....................................................180

6-6. Purchasing Items & Services for Jobs ............................................181

Job Line Purchasing Fields ..................................................................181 Purchase-to-Order Items......................................................................181 Subcontract Service Processing ..........................................................182 Buy-for-Job Screen ..............................................................................183

6-7. Job Tracking & Labor Entry..............................................................185

Overview ..............................................................................................185 Default Settings....................................................................................186 Transactions Tab .................................................................................188 Backflush Sub-Tab...............................................................................189 Labor Hours Entry Sub-Tab .................................................................193 Subcontract Scrap Sub-Tab .................................................................197 Status Tab............................................................................................198 Job History Tab ....................................................................................199 Employee History Tab ..........................................................................200 Linking to other job-related screens .....................................................200

6-8. Job Receipts ......................................................................................201

Costing Method ....................................................................................201 Job Issues & Receipts Screen .............................................................201 Batch Update Tab ................................................................................202 Partial Receipt ......................................................................................203 Final Receipt ........................................................................................204 Characteristics Tab ..............................................................................207 Automatic Serial Number Generation...................................................208 Linking to other job-related screens .....................................................209

6-9. Closing and Reopening Jobs ...........................................................210

6-10. Job Costing......................................................................................211

Job Costing Reports.............................................................................211 Job Cost Sources – Estimated Costs ...................................................211 Job Cost Sources – Actual Costs.........................................................212

6-11. Make Job Workflow .........................................................................215

Phase 1 – Job Creation........................................................................215 Phase 2 – Job Release ........................................................................215 Phase 3 – Job Processing....................................................................215


Phase 4 – Job Close............................................................................ 215

7. Purchasing .................................................................. 216

Purchasing System Elements ..............................................................216 How are PO’s created?........................................................................216 Buy-for Job Screen ..............................................................................216 MRP Screen ........................................................................................216

7-1. Purchase Order Entry .......................................................................217

Header Screen.....................................................................................217 Details Screen .....................................................................................219

7-2. Receiving Purchase Orders .............................................................225

Batch Receipts Tab .............................................................................225 Characteristics Tab..............................................................................227 Automatic Serial Number Generation ..................................................228

7-3. Entering PO-Related Invoices.......................................................... 229

PO Invoices .........................................................................................229

7-4. PO Closing.........................................................................................234

7-5. Purchase Order Workflow ................................................................235

Phase 1 – PO Creation ........................................................................235 Phase 2 – PO Receiving......................................................................235 Phase 3 – PO Matching ....................................................................... 235

8. Activity Notes.............................................................. 236

Activity Notes Setup.............................................................................236 Entering a new activity note .................................................................237 Accessing and creating notes from other screens ............................... 239 Activity Notes Action Report ................................................................ 239 My Action List ......................................................................................240

9. Documents Directory ................................................. 241

Overview..............................................................................................241 Document Group Setup .......................................................................241 Documents Directory Entry ..................................................................242 Documents Directory Screen ............................................................... 243

10. Knowledge Base....................................................... 244

Knowledge Types ................................................................................244 Knowledge Categories.........................................................................245 Knowledge Base..................................................................................245


11. Spreadsheet Generators...........................................248

Selection Screen ..................................................................................248 Analysis Screen ...................................................................................249 Column filtering & grouping ..................................................................249 Output Options .....................................................................................250

12. Backup Manager........................................................251

1. Manufacturing Tasks


1. Manufacturing Tasks This is a companion guide to the Manufacturing Startup Guide, which focuses on system setup and startup procedures. This guide covers the actual use of the manufacturing portion of the system. The following is a listing of manufacturing tasks to be performed, broken out into Daily, As-Needed, and Period-End classifications. Also listed is the chapter where you will find operational details.

Daily Tasks • Enter customer orders (chapter 4-1)

• Generate jobs from sales order lines (chapter 5-7)

• Generate planned jobs for stock (chapter 5-8)

• Issue items to jobs (chapter 6-5)

• Purchase and receive items or services for jobs (chapter 6-6)

• Track jobs and report labor (chapter 6-7)

• Enter job receipts (chapter 6-8)

• Close finished jobs (chapter 6-9)

• Purchase and receive items to stock (chapters 7-1, 7-2)

• Enter PO invoices (chapter 7-3)

• Pick and ship customer orders (chapters 4-4, 4-6)

• Generate invoices (chapter 4-7)

• Perform a backup of your data (chapter 12)

As Needed Tasks • Maintain item MRP settings (chapter 5-4)

• Make inventory adjustments (chapter 2-2)

• Enter stock counts (chapter 2-4)

• Update item estimated costs (chapter 2-5)

• Roll up BOM costs (chapter 3-1)

Period-End Task • Reconcile inventory book values (chapter 2-7)

2. Inventory


2. Inventory

Inventory Overview The inventory system consists of the following major elements. Stock Items Stock items are the foundation of the inventory system and are represented by an up to 30-character Item ID. Stock Locations Stock locations can be set up to represent warehouses, service trucks, or areas within the factory or warehouse. If you want to restrict a location to certain classes of stock, you can do so. For example, you wouldn't allow food items to be stored next to toxic materials. Inventory templates enable you to establish stocking levels for various sets of inventory items. Each location can be assigned an inventory template and can have its stock replenished via a location transfer. Not only is this ideal for replenishing warehouses, but it's also useful for maintaining parts inventories on service trucks. Item Characteristics User-defined ‘item characteristics’ include ‘fixed’ and ‘tracking’ characteristics. Fixed characteristics are used for fields such as tool number, gauge, classification, key date, etc. There is no limit to the number of fixed characteristics you can set up. Tracking characteristics are used for tracking lot numbers, serial numbers, bin numbers, expiration dates, multiple sizes, multiple packing units, and more. Tracking characteristics are completely user-defined and are only assigned to stock items to which they apply. Whenever you pick stock for a job or a shipment or an adjustment, the available on-hand stock by characteristic is displayed. You select the appropriate value and indicate the corresponding quantity. The same thing applies when you receive stock. At that time you assign the item the appropriate characteristic value and quantity. Inventory Adjustments You can make stock adjustments through the Inventory Adjustments screen. You can add or subtract inventory, give it a cost, and you can categorize the transaction through user-defined transaction types. Location Transfers Through the Stock Transfer screen you can transfer any item from one location to another.

2. Inventory


Stock Counts Physical inventories, or what are sometimes called ‘stock takes’, are done in the Stock Counts screen. You can create a stock count for all or selected sets of items. Once you've determined what items are going to be included in the count, you can print the Stock Count Sheet, make your counts, enter them in the screen, and then update inventory. Cost Adjustments You can change the unit Inventory Cost of one or more items through the Change Inventory Cost screen. Supplier Catalogs You can create catalogs, assign stock items to catalogs, and then print them out or make web pages, complete with graphical images.

2-1. Using Tracking Characteristics


2-1. Using Tracking Characteristics If you are using item tracking characteristics (lot control, serial control, bin control, etc.), you will interact with them throughout the system whenever inventory is allocated or stock balances are affected. In this chapter we will review how tracking characteristics interact with the following screens and reports:

• Stock Items • Inventory Adjustments • Stock Transfer • Batch Stock Transfer • Stock Counts • Characteristic Availability • Order Picking • Job Issues & Receipts • Purchase Receipts • Transaction Reports



Stock Items (Inventory – Stock Items) Qty by Characteristic Inquiry If you wish to view the quantity on-hand by characteristic for any item, go to the Stock Items screen, highlight the item in the opening list and click the Qty by Char button.

Characteristics Tab Tracking characteristics are assigned to items via the Characteristics tab within the Stock Items screen.

See Manufacturing Startup Guide See chapter 4-4, Stock Items, in the Manufacturing Startup Guide for details on setting up tracking characteristics and assigning them to stock items.



Inventory Adjustments (Inventory – Inventory Adjustments) You can increase or decrease stock against any combination of characteristics via the Inventory Adjustments screen. You can also split an existing set of characteristic by reassigning all or portions to another set of characteristics. See chapter 2-2, Inventory Adjustments, for details.

Stock Transfer (Inventory – Stock Transfer) You can transfer a quantity of an item with tracking characteristics from one stock location to another via the Stock Transfer screen. See chapter 2-3, Location Transfers, for details.

Stock Counts (Inventory – Stock Counts) To enter a stock count for an item with tracking characteristics, you click the Make Adjustments using Characteristics button to enter the count for each set of characteristics. See chapter 2-4, Stock Counts, for details.

Characteristic Availability (Inventory – Characteristic Availability)

If you wish to view which items are assigned to a particular characteristic, go to the Characteristic Availability screen and select a characteristic. You will then see a display of all the items assigned to that characteristic. You can click on any column heading and the grid will re-sort the lines by that column. You can click on the down arrow to the right of each column heading and select specific values or click the Custom option to enter a selection range.



If you wish to look at the stock on-hand for any item listed on the screen, highlight it and then click the Qty by Char button on the right hand panel.

Order Picking (Sales – Order Picking) Item with tracking characteristics are picked from stock for shipment via the Characteristics tab of the Order Picking screen. See chapter 4-4, Picking Items for Shipment, for details.

Job Issues & Receipts (Make – Job Issues & Receipts) Job input items with tracking characteristics are issued from stock to jobs via the Issues side-tab within the Characteristics tab of the Job Issues & Receipts screen. See chapter 6-6, Job Issues, for details. Job output items with tracking characteristics are received into stock from jobs via the Outputs side-tab within the Characteristics tab of the Job Issues & Receipts screen. See chapter 6-9, Job Receipts, for details.

Purchase Order Receipts (Purch – Purchase Order Receipts) PO items with tracking characteristics are received into stock via the Characteristics tab of the Purchase Order Receipts screen. See chapter 7-2, Receiving Purchase Orders, for details.



Transaction Reports (Inventory – Reports – Trxns – Item/Characteristic) (Inventory – Reports – Trxns – Characteristic/Item) (Inventory – Reports – Trxns – Serial Number) These three transaction reports enable you to track the history of any characteristic – including its origin and use. You can look at characteristics three ways. When you use the Trxns – Item/Characteristic report, you are starting with the stock item and you are then listing what characteristics were used or shipped. When you use the Trxns – Characteristic/Item report, you are starting with a particular characteristic and you are then listing what items used or were shipped with that characteristic. In both reports, you can limit your search by a date range, one or more items, one or more characteristics, and one or more transaction types. The Trxns – Serial Number report is similar to the other two reports, except it is optimized for listing serial numbers. You can, for example, enter a specific serial number and then list the usage and shipment history pertaining to that serial number.



Automatically generating serial numbers Serial numbers are special type of tracking characteristic. When you adjust inventory upward by receiving items into stock (from any of the characteristic processing screens) that have serial number characteristics, you must make an individual entry for each serial number. This is no problem if you are receiving a small quantity of items, but if you are entering a large quantity, it is time-consuming to enter a succession of serial numbers, especially if the serial numbers themselves are lengthy.

If your serial numbers are sequentially numbered, the program can automatically assign them in succession for you. Select the Automatically fill using previous values checkbox just above the Transaction Detail entry grid. To its right will be displayed another checkbox, Increment Serial Controlled fields sequentially, that also should be selected. You still must enter a line for each item and serial number being received, but once you enter the first line’s serial number, each succeeding line’s serial number will be automatically generated by the program.



Altering existing characteristic sets You may find that existing characteristics need to be adjusted, perhaps because the quantity is wrong or a characteristic was assigned in error and needs correction. Or, you may alter a characteristic, such as cutting a 20 foot length of an item into two 10 foot piece, in which case you need to split the one characteristic into two new characteristics. To alter an existing characteristic set, go to the Inventory Adjustments screen, Transactions tab, and click the Issue Inventory button. In the upper grid, highlight the line (characteristic set) you wish to adjust and click the Alter/Split button. You are presented with an Alter/Split Line window where you can enter an Alter/Split Qty. For example, if 2 out of a stock quantity of 10 within a characteristic set are to be altered, enter ‘2’.

Next, the Alter/Split Characteristics screen is displayed. The characteristic set you are altering is listed in the upper grid for reference purposes. Enter an optional Reference note. You must select a Transaction Type. The characteristic set listed in the upper grid is presented in the lower grid where you can enter any changes. You can change the Char Qty, the Avg Cost, and any of the characteristic values. To split a characteristic into more than one characteristic sets, reduce the Char Qty on the first line and click the New button. You can then enter a new characteristic set from scratch in the new line. You can click New multiple times and enter one or more additional sets of characteristics – as long as the total in the Stock Qty column does not exceed the total Stock Qty in the upper grid. Until the total Stock Qty in the lower grid equals the Stock Qty in the upper grid, the Update button will be inactive. Once the Stock Qty in both grids are equal, you can then click Update to process the transaction.

2-2. Inventory Adjustments


2-2. Inventory Adjustments Inventory Adjustments (Inventory – Inventory Adjustments)

Use this screen to make incremental adjustments to your inventory stock balances. By incremental adjustments, we mean the addition or subtraction of units from current on-hand stock. If you wish to record physical stock counts, which replace rather than add or subtract from on-hand stock, use the Stock Counts screen instead, which is covered in chapter 2-4. Entering an inventory adjustment To enter an inventory transaction, first highlight a stock item on the opening List screen and then click the Transactions tab. On the Transactions screen you will see previous transactions displayed as well as the Current Stock Level. The current stock level represents the total for all stock locations. To make a transaction, click the Adjust Inventory button. On the Inventory Transaction screen, select a Location, if applicable, which is where stock is being deducted or added. You may enter an optional Reference, which is a reference note that accompanies the transaction. The item’s Est Cost is displayed in the Cost field. You can use this cost or change it, if you wish. Select a Transaction Type, which categorizes the transaction for reference purposes. The Transaction Date defaults to today’s date, but you may change it to some other date, if applicable. If you are deducting stock, enter a negative quantity in the Transaction Qty field by inserting a minus sign in front of the number. If you are adding to stock, enter a positive number without a minus sign. When your entries are correct, click the Update button.



Adjusting inventory for items with characteristics Entering an inventory adjustment for an item with tracking characteristics is different because you must record the various characteristics associated with the item. If you click on the Transactions tab for an item that has tracking characteristics, you will be presented with a Receive Inventory and an Issue Inventory button at the top of the screen.

Receive Inventory Screen The Location field displays your Default Stock Location. You may select a different location, if you wish. You can optionally enter a Reference note, if you wish. The Cost field displays the item’s Est Cost, but you can change it to any cost you wish. To receive the item, click the New button, which highlights the Qty field in the Transaction Detail entry grid. Enter the receipt Qty. To the right of the Qty field, make entries or selections in whatever characteristic columns are displayed. Each column heading displays the characteristic name. Enter as many lines as are needed to record the different characteristics that apply to this transaction. After your entries are completed, click the Update button and they will be processed.

Issue Inventory Screen Current on-hand stock by characteristic (or a combination of characteristics) is displayed in the upper grid of the Issue Inventory screen.

NOTE: Each characteristic or combination of characteristics gets a separate line for each inventory Location associated with each Stock Qty.

Highlight the line you wish to issue from, then click the Pick Line button, which presents the Pick Line window. Enter the quantity you wish to issue, then click OK and you will see your transaction listed in the lower grid.

NOTE: If an entry is made in error, click Close without updating your entries and re-enter your transaction once again.

Continue selecting and issuing characteristic lines until your transaction is completed. Click the Update button and your entries will be processed.



Batch Inventory Adjustments (Inventory – Batch Inventory Adjustments)

This screen enables you to make a series of inventory adjustments within one screen rather than one at a time as with the Inventory Adjustments screen.

NOTE: This screen cannot be used for stock items with tracking characteristics (such as lot or serial control). Inventory adjustments for any such items must be done through the Inventory – Inventory Adjustments screen.

To use the screen, you first create a Batch ID and then click the Detail tab within which you enter your stock quantity adjustments.

NOTE: To deduct from stock, enter a minus sign (-) in front of the Qty. Updating the Batch Once you entries are completed, you must return to the List screen. Click the Update button and the adjustments to on-hand stock quantities will be made in a single transaction.

7-3. Location Transfers


2-3. Location Transfers Two screens are available for making stock transfers. The Stock Transfer screen is used to transfer a quantity of one item from one location to another. The Batch Stock Transfer screen is used to transfer sets of stock items from one location to another using Inventory Templates.

Stock Transfer (Inventory – Stock Transfer)

To transfer a stock item from one location to another, select a stock item in the Item ID field, then press the Enter key. Upon doing so, you will see several additional fields display on the screen. Enter the Quantity to be transferred. In the From Location field, select the location from which the quantity is being deducted. In the To Location field, select the location to which the quantity is being added. Select a Transaction Type, which categorizes the transaction, and optionally enter a Reference note that accompanies the transaction. When your entries are completed, click the Update button. The fields will clear except for the Item ID, in the event that you wish to make another transfer for the same item. When you are done making entries, click the Close button to close the screen. Transferring stock with tracking characteristics If you enter an item for transfer that has tracking characteristics, you will be presented with a screen that lists the available stock by location and characteristic. Click the Alter/Split button and ‘alter’ the stock from one location to another. For details on altering existing characteristic sets, see chapter 2-1, Using Item Characteristics.

2-4. Stock Counts


2-4. Stock Counts (Inventory – Stock Counts) Use this screen to enter physical inventories, also referred to as ‘stock takes.’ Unlike the Inventory Adjustments screen, which is used to incrementally add or subtract from on-hand stock, this screen replaces the current on-hand quantity with a new on-hand quantity.

Creating a stock count A stock count consists of a pre-determined list of items to be counted. On the opening List screen is displayed a list of any stock counts that are in progress.

To create a stock count, click the New button while you are on the opening List screen. Enter a Stock Count Description. You can now limit the stock count to a range of stock items, categories, and locations. If you want to count all your items, leave these fields blank. After completing your entries, click the Ok button. The screen will close and you will see the new stock count added to the opening List with a Status of ‘New.’ You can now click the Detail tab to see the items that have been selected for counting. You can click on the Location or Item ID column headings to further filter the list using the standard filtering controls, if you wish.

Printing the Stock Count Sheet Once the stock count list contains the items you wish to count, click the Print button to print the Stock Count Sheet. This can be used as a worksheet to record the actual counts. When the Stock Count Sheet gets printed, the stock count’s Status changes from ‘New’ to ‘Printed.’

2-4. Stock Counts


Entering count quantities To enter the count quantities, highlight the stock count on the opening List screen, then click the Detail tab. Enter the count quantities in the Count column. As you make each entry, any difference between the Qty O/H (which is the on-hand quantity at the time the stock count was created) and the Count quantity is reflected in the Variance column.

Entering extra items outside the count list During the counting process you may encounter stock items that were not included in the list of items to count. You can enter stock counts for such items by clicking the Extra side-tab and selecting the Location and Item ID and entering the Count. The only difference between this screen and the Standard screen is that there is no Qty O/H comparison or a Variance field. It is not necessary to enter counts for all items You are not obligated to enter counts for all items on the stock count list. Only items with a Variance amount will be adjusted, so any items without a Count entered cannot get a Variance and will therefore be left unchanged when the stock count gets updated.

Updating Inventory When all the counts are entered, you can update inventory by returning to the opening List and clicking the Update button. You are presented with an Updated Stock Count report and adjusting entries are made for all items with count variances.

Items with tracking characteristics When you have an item with tracking characteristics, you will not be allowed to enter a count quantity. When such an item is highlighted, two buttons become active at the bottom of the screen: Make Adjustments using Characteristics and Subtract Inventory.

2-4. Stock Counts


NOTE: With tracking characteristics you adjust inventory rather than replace the count.

To view existing quantities by characteristic set, click the Subtract Inventory button. You will see the system-wide standard screen for issuing/picking characteristics, which displays the current quantity for each characteristic set. Subtracting stock To reduce stock on any of the characteristic sets for this line’s Location, from the Detail screen click the Subtract Inventory button. On the next screen, the list of characteristic sets is confined to the current Location being counted. Highlight the line you wish to subtract from, then click the Pick Line button, which presents the Pick Line window. Enter the quantity you wish to subtract, then click OK and you will see your transaction listed in the lower grid.


Continue selecting and subtracting from characteristic lines until your transaction is completed. Click the Update button and your adjustment entries will be processed. Adding stock To add a quantity to a characteristic set, from the Detail screen, click the Enter Adjustments Using Characteristics button. In the next screen, the Location field displays the current location being counted. You can optionally enter a Reference note, if you wish. The Cost field displays the item’s Est Cost, but you can change it to any cost you wish. To receive the item, click the New button, which highlights the Qty field in the Transaction Detail entry grid. Enter the Qty to be added to this location. To the right of the Qty field, make entries or selections in whatever characteristic columns are displayed. Each column heading displays the characteristic name. Enter as many lines as are needed to record the different characteristics that apply to this transaction. After your entries are completed, click the Update button and your stock adjustments will be processed.

2-5. Item Price & Cost Update


2-5. Item Price & Cost Update (Inventory – Item Price & Cost Update) Use this screen to mass update item Base Prices and Estimated Costs.

Batch updating Base Prices To mass update Base Prices, first limit the stock items to be included by entering from/through ranges of Item ID’s and Item Categories.

NOTE: If you leave these fields blank, no items will be selected. You must enter an actual range.

Select the Batch radio button and click the Batch Update sub-tab. In the Price or Est Cost Selection panel, select the Price radio button. In the New Price Based On panel you can select whether the price change will be based on a percentage of Current Price or a percentage of the current Inv Cost, Last Cost, or Est Cost. You would use one of the last three if you base prices on a markup over cost. Finally, enter the Percentage(%) Change. You can enter a negative or positive value. As an example, if you wish to raise prices 10%, enter ‘10.’ If you wish to reduce prices by 5%, enter a ‘-5.’ When your entries are complete, click the Update button and processing will occur. The program automatically prints an Item Cost Update report that shows the before and after values.

Batch updating Estimated Costs The Estimated Costs for purchased items change all the time. It makes sense to periodically make the Last or Inventory Cost become the new Estimated Cost rather than update them on a one-by-one basis.



To mass update Estimated Costs, first limit the stock items to be included by entering from/through ranges of Item ID’s and Item Categories.

NOTE: If you leave these fields blank, no items will be selected. You must enter an actual range.

Select the Batch radio button and click the Batch Update sub-tab. In the Price or Est Cost Selection panel, select the Est Cost radio button. You can now choose whether the Est Cost is to be updated by the Last Cost or the Inv Cost. You can also enter a Percentage(%) Change if you wish to pad the cost by a small amount to make your Est Costs ‘conservative’, meaning slightly higher than they are in actuality. As an example, if you wish to pad your costs by 5%, enter ‘5.’ When your entries are complete, click the Update button and processing will occur. The program automatically prints an Item Cost Update report that shows the before and after values.

NOTE: Manufactured item Est Costs are also updated by this process. The next time you run a Cost Rollup, your manufactured item Est Costs will be changed once again and will accurately incorporate and reflect the new costs for all lower-level purchased items.



Manually updating prices & costs To manually update items and prices in a grid, first select your range of items. Select the By Item button and click the Individual Update sub-tab.

The items selected are presented in an entry grid. You can select the Cost Change Basis (Est Cost, Last Cost, or Inv Cost) and apply a percentage calculation to it. The same basis selection and percentage calculation can be applied to Base Price changes, against which a Markup % is displayed. If the markup of Base Price over Est Cost falls below the Warning % established in the Main Setup screen, the Markup % is displayed in red. When your entries are completed, click the Update button.

2-6. Changing Inventory Costs


2-6. Changing Inventory Costs (Inventory – Change Inventory Cost)

Use this screen to change the unit Inventory Cost of one or more stock items. Items Selection This screen is designed so that you can create a list of items to update in the lower portion of the screen. Basically, you make entries to the Item ID, Description, and Item Category checkboxes, and then you click the Crate List button to generate the list. You can enter an Item ID, a portion of an Item ID, or you can leave the field blank. If you are looking for a specific item or small set of items and don’t know the Item ID, you can enter a description n or a portion of the description in the Description field. If you wish to limit the list to specific item categories, clear the Select All Categories checkbox. You are then presented with a list of available item categories. Select those that pertain to your list. New Cost Entry Your list is now displayed in the lower portion of the screen. If you wish to make more room for the list, you can click the Hide Filter Panel button Once your list is created, enter the new inventory cost in the New Cost field. You are not obligated to make an entry for every item in the list; just those where a cost change is needed. The current Last Cost and Inv Cost is displayed for your reference. Continue making entries for as many items as you wish.



Update Button When your entries are completed, click the Update button and the new cost will take effect. This cost change is accomplished by a set of inventory transactions made in the background. All stock is deducted from all locations at the current Inventory Cost and is then added back in at the new Inventory Cost. The posting date is the current system date and the default Reference assigned to the inventory transaction is ‘Change Inventory Cost’.



2-7. Reconciling Book Values (Inventory – Reconcile Book Values)

In manufacturing environments, it is common for an item’s Stock Qty to temporarily go negative when items are received at a new cost after they have already been issued or shipped at an old cost. This causes a discrepancy between in item’s Book Value, which is the sum of all its GL debit and credit transactions, and its Stock Qty x Inv Cost calculation, which is its current actual value. The difference in value is often minor, but can be magnified at time of system startup if beginning unit Inventory Costs are not accurate. To correct each item’s Book Value so that it equals its current Stock Qty x Inv Cost, we recommend that you run the Reconcile Book Values procedure periodically, such as once per period. After doing so, when you run the Inventory Value Report, you will find that the Units x Inv Cost for all items will equal the GL Book Value.

2-8. Product Catalogs


2-8. Product Catalogs You can easily create printed catalogs of your products using ‘product catalogs.’ Each item can be designated for inclusion one or more product catalogs, and within each product catalog can be assigned to a ‘product catalog group’ that groups the item with similar products.

Product Catalog Groups (Inventory – Inventory Setup – Product Catalog Groups)

Within each product catalog, products can be assigned to a ‘product catalog group’ that groups the item with similar products.

Product Catalog Styles (Inventory – Inventory Setup – Product Catalog Styles)

Here is where you create and maintain the document styles you will use when printing product catalogs.



Product Catalog Names (Inventory – Inventory Setup – Product Catalog Names)

The names of your product catalogs are created here. You must specify a product catalog style with each product catalog name.



3. Bills of Material Bills of material are used to define the manufacturing specifications for your products or those you make on behalf of others. Any product that will be made more than once, that contains subassemblies, or that has the potential of being stocked in inventory, should be defined with a bill of material.

Manufacturing Startup Guide See the Manufacturing Startup Guide for details on the following:

• BOM Defaults • BOM Entry • Work Centers • Machines • Routings • Routing Stages & Tasks

What this Chapter Covers This chapter is devoted to the Cost Rollup, which is used to calculate the Estimated Cost for your manufactured items.

3-2. Using Phantom Assemblies


3-1. Cost Rollups (BOM – Cost Rollup)

This screen is used to automatically ‘roll up’ or calculate the Estimated Cost of your manufactured items (stock items with bills of material).

Purpose Cost rollups are used to calculate and update the Estimated Cost of single or multi-level manufactured items. This cost is your best estimate as to what it costs to manufacture the product. Once you get a handle on your manufacturing costs, you can price your products more accurately and you will learn which products are most profitable.

Cost Elements The Estimated Cost of a manufactured item is broken out into the following ‘cost element’ codes used on screens and reports:

Cost Element Description Cost Source Labor. Labor Work Center Rate Setup. Setup Work Center Rate Mat. Material Stock Item Est Cost Subcon. Subcontract Service BOM Routing FixOH. Fixed Overhead Work Center Rate VarOH. Variable Overhead Work Center Rate Ship. Shipping Descriptor Est Cost Misc. Miscellaneous Descriptor Est Cost



Routing and Lower Level Costs Two sets of cost elements are calculated for each manufactured item and are displayed in the lower panel of the Cost Rollup screen. Routing Costs The Routing costs are the routing-related costs -- labor, setup, overhead, and subcontract services – that are required to assemble the final product. These are “level zero” costs, which means they apply directly to the BOM parent. Lower Level Costs The Lower Level column displays all lower level costs, including materials as well as subassemblies and their routing-related costs. Estimated Cost The Estimated Cost for a manufactured item is the sum of its Routing costs and its Lower Level costs. This is the estimated cost of making one unit or one batch (if you are using batch sizes) of the finished item.

Cost Sources Cost Source – Purchased Items The cost that is used in the cost rollup calculation for all ‘P’ (purchased) items is each item’s Estimated Cost, maintained in the Stock Items screen. Purchase stock item costs all accumulate within the ‘Mat.’ cost element. You can either manually maintain the Estimated Cost item-by-item or, on a batch basis for multiple items, you can periodically make it equal to or a percentage of the Last Cost or Inventory Cost via the Inventory – Item Price & Cost Update screen. Cost Source – Labor & Overhead Labor and setup are entered in the Routing tab of the Bills of Material screen. Each routing sequence is assigned to a Work Center. The cost rollup takes the setup and labor time entered in the routing and applies the current work center rates for Labor, Setup, Fixed Overhead, and Variable Overhead to calculate the ‘Labor.’, ‘Setup.’, ‘FixOH.’ and ‘VarOH.’ cost elements. If you do not use routings, labor can be entered as a BOM component using a descriptor, in which case the descriptor’s Est Cost is used for the ‘Labor.’ cost element. Translating setup cost into a per unit cost Setup cost, along with the overhead applied to it, is a single cost that is the same amount regardless how many units of the item are made. The Cost Rollup translates this amount into a per unit cost two ways.



For discrete manufacturers that make multiple units of an item, total Setup Cost is divided by the item’s Est Cost Qty setting, which is maintained in the MRP Settings screen. The Est Cost Qty represents a typical or average production quantity for the item. For batch manufacturers that make items in batches, total Setup Cost is divided by the item’s default method’s Batch Size. Cost Source – Subcontract Services Subcontract services for plating, painting, heat-treating, etc., are entered in the Routing tab of the Bills of Material screen. The amount entered in the Cost field for each subcontract service routing sequence is used by the cost rollup calculation and accumulates in the ‘Subcon.’ cost element. If you do not use routings, subcontract service can be entered as a BOM component using a descriptor, in which case the descriptor’s Est Cost is used for the calculation of the ‘Subcon.’ cost element.

Cost Rollup Screen Upper Panel All your manufactured items can be listed in the upper panel in a tree view screen. If you select the Top Level Items checkbox in the middle panel, the list in the upper panel is confined to “level zero” items, which are items that do not go into other BOM’s. If you clear the Top Level Items checkbox, all manufactured items are listed. You can double click on any object in the tree to expand it, or you can right click on the object and do the same thing from the drop down menu. As you expand each object, you can see the components at each level of the product structure. On any given component, you can see its Usage Qty, its Scrap % (if applicable), its Total Qty, its unit Est Cost, and Total Cost. The Total Qty of a component can be different depending on where it is viewed. When it is viewed within a lower level of a product structure, its Total Qty conforms to the amount needed to make one unit of very top level parent product. When the component is viewed within its own parent assembly, in a flat view, its Total Qty conforms to the amount needed by its immediate parent product. “Key” Icon The objects in the tree are represented by different icons. To get a listing of what each icon represents, click the key icon in the lower right portion of the button panel. Routings Checkbox Another level of detail is available if you select the Routings checkbox. This makes a Routing object visible in the upper grid within any item that has a



routing. If you click on the object, you get a listing of the item’s routing sequences. Estimated Cost The rolled up Estimated Cost of any manufactured item can be seen in the upper panel, as well as in the Est Cost field in the middle panel. This rolled up cost, however, is comprised of multiple costs, which are broken out in the lower grid. Lower Grid As mentioned previously, manufacturing costs fall into eight possible cost categories – labor, setup, material, subcontract service, fixed overhead, variable overhead, shipping, and miscellaneous. The routing costs directly associating with fabricating or assembling this item are displayed in the Routing Cost column. These are considered “level zero” costs in the product structure because they are applied directly to the finished item. The materials that go directly into the parent item are defined as “level one” components, so they fall into the Lower Levels column. In the Lower Levels column are also found all the accumulated material and routing costs that go into the item’s lower level subassemblies. And in the Total Cost column, you can see the sum of the routing costs and lower level costs, which gives you the total costs for each cost category. Furthermore, within each of these cost elements, you can double click or right click to get a breakdown of the details that comprise each cost element. Links Button If you happen to see an odd-looking cost or quantity on the screen, you can click the Links button to link directly to the item’s bill of material, where you can make immediate changes to its routing or components.

Running the Cost Rollup You can run the cost rollup in two modes. If you just want to roll up one manufactured item, highlight it in the upper grid and click the Single Update button. The cost will be rolled up for this item and for all the subassemblies in its product structure. If you want to run a rollup on all your products in a single process, click the Batch Rollup button. How often should you run the cost rollup? As often and as many times as you wish. The rollup has no effect on inventory value or open jobs.

Cost Rollup – Multiple Methods This section only pertains to companies using multiple “methods” to define different revisions or batch sizes within a single BOM.



If you wish to roll up the cost on a method other than the default method, you must go to the Bills of Material screen and temporarily change the item’s Default Method (which is a setting on the opening List tab). You can then run the Cost Rollup to calculate the method’s Estimated Cost. You can then return to the Bills of Material screen and restore the Default Method to its original setting.

Costed BOM Report (Bills of Material – Reports – Costed BOM) Use this report to get a printout of the cost breakdown on your manufactured items. A variety of selection options are available, including the ability to include substitute items, suppliers, and component effective date ranges. NOTE: If you are using multiple methods and you run this report for a method other than the parent item’s Default Method, this does not have any effect on lower levels, where each subassembly’s Default Method is always the method listed.

4. Sales Orders


4. Sales Orders

Overview Sales Orders are suited for make-to-order and make-to-stock environments and are used for customer order entry, shipping, invoicing, and sales quotes. For make-to-order products, sales order line items can be converted directly into Make Jobs through the MRP screen.

Sales Order Elements The sales order function includes the following key elements. Header Screen The Header screen holds all the order header information, including the customer billing and shipping addresses, contact details, tax code, and summary prices. Details Screen All the order details, including stock items, non-stock descriptors, catalog items, freeform text, quantities, and prices are maintained in the Details screen. Shipping & Invoicing Screen On the Shipping & Invoicing screen you can create shipments, print packing slips, generate invoices, and optionally record customer payments. Sales Order Templates Sales order templates are a special form of sales order that stores a set of specifications that can be used to generate new sales orders. Sales order templates provide a way to store commonly ordered sets of line items. Order Picking Line items can be ‘picked’ for shipping via the Order Picking screen.

4-1. Sales Order Creation


4-1. Sales Order Creation (Sales – Sales Orders)

To create a sales order, click the New button on the opening List screen. You will then be presented with the New Order screen. Your default Sales Order Type is displayed, but you can select another type, if you wish. The order Status automatically displays the default Status for this Sales Order Type, but you can select another Status, if you wish. You are given the option of selecting a sales order template (see chapter 4-3, Sales Order Templates, for more information). If you are entering the sales order from scratch, leave the Template and Qty Factor fields blank. In the Required Date field, enter the date the overall delivery date that has been given to the customer. This serves as default date for the maintained against each line item, which can be overridden to accommodate multiple shipments on different dates.



Header Screen

Once the sales order has been created, you can go the Header tab screen to view the sales order setup and to change or add additional information. Field explanations are as follows.

Order No This was assigned by the system using the prefix ‘SO’ for ‘sales order’, followed by the next available number.

NOTE: Even though sales order types can each be identified with a unique prefix, a single counter is used for all sales orders and jobs for the numeric suffix.

Name This is an up to 50-character name that identifies the order and is the name that accompanies the order number on lookups and reports and that prints as a description in the invoice header.

Type This is a display field only and tells you if this is an ‘ORDER’ (the standard Sales Order Type) or some other Sales Order Type.

Status This field serves as a filter on the opening List screen so that you can view groups of orders by status code. Each Status code is described as follows.

• ORDERED: A new order is automatically set to ‘ORDERED’ status.

• INVOICED: When the first invoice gets printed, the order’s status changes to INVOICED’.



• FINISHED: When all lines are fully invoiced, the status automatically changes to ‘FINISHED’.

• CLOSED: When you change the order’s status to ‘CLOSED’, you are formally declaring that the sales order has been completed and no further activity is to take place.

Notes Sub-Tab Default Required Date This is the required date (due date) for the order, which represents the date the customer expects or has been promised that the order will be shipped. This is only a default date. Each line item has its own Required Date and you can freely schedule each line item independently from the others. This allows the sales order to accommodate multiple shipments and multiple invoices. Each line’s Required Date is used by MRP as the scheduled finish date for planned jobs.

Notes You can enter free-form notes that will print on the invoice.

Creation Sub-Tab Creation Date The program automatically generates this date when the sales order is created. It can be manually overridden, if desired.

Created by The program inserts the First Name and Last Name associated with the current logged on user, as defined in the User Setup screen.

Terms Tab Payment Terms This field automatically displays the default value maintained in the Customers screen, but it can be overridden with freeform text or another selection.

Days This is the number of days at which point the invoice becomes due for payment. It automatically displays the value maintained in the Customers screen, but it can be overridden.

From End of Month If the days due are calculated from the end of the month, a common practice in some countries, select this checkbox.



Additional Upper Screen Fields Tax Code This is the default tax code for this customer that is maintained in the Customers screen. If the customer does not have a tax code, the default Sales tax code from Admin - Main Setup is used. If the customer’s Non-Taxable checkbox in the Customers screen is selected, no sales tax will be calculated for this sales order.

Location If you leave this field blank, each stock item will be picked from its default Issue stock location. If you wish to force picking to occur from some other location (such as a secondary warehouse), select that Location in this field.

Sold to Sub-Tab Name Select a customer by clicking on the lookup button. You can also create a new customer on the fly by entering the customer name. The program will ask you if you want to create a new customer record or select a customer. If you indicate that you wish to create the customer, you will be switched to the Customers screen where you can enter the new customer’s relevant details. Once you close the screen, you will be returned to the job header screen.

Address, City, Stage, Code, Country This is the billing address for this customer for this sales order.

Bill to Sub-Tab This sub-tab is only visible if this customer is linked to a Billing Customer within the Customers screen. Invoices generated from this sales order will be billed to the customer and address on this sub-tab. The actual sale, for sales order tracking and sales analysis purposes, remains associated with the customer on the Sold to sub-tab.

Ship to Sub-Tab The delivery name and address for shipments associated with this sales order are displayed on this sub-tab. The default delivery address linked to this customer in the Customers screen is automatically displayed. If you wish to select another delivery address for this customer, click the lookup in the delivery Name field, which is the second field on the screen. Drop Shipments to another Customer If you wish to have this order drop-shipped to a completely different customer, you can select a different customer by clicking the lookup in the Cust field, which is the first line on the screen. Once you select the customer, you can use the



lookup on the Name field to select any of the delivery addresses associated with that customer. Multiple Shipments to Different Addresses The delivery name and address on this screen provides default information for the delivery name and address fields on the Shipping screen. On any given shipment, you can change the default delivery information.

Pricing Sub-Tab The values for the following fields come from the settings stored against the Ship to customer, but can be changed for this one sales order.

• Commission Code • Price Level • Discount Code • Sales Region • Lead Source

Contact Sub-Tab Sold to Contact This is the Main Contact Name stored against the Sold to customer. You can use the lookup button to select an alternate contact, if you wish, or you can manually enter a contact name.

Phone, Fax, Email The program first looks to see if the Contact record contains values for these fields and, if found, uses those values. If not found, the values stored against the Customer record are used. You also have the option of manual entry.

Email Documents This defaults to the setting maintained against the Sold to customer. If selected, you will be given the choice of sending invoices via e-mail at time of printing.

Ship to Contact This defaults to the Contact stored against the delivery address record in the Customers screen for the Cust specified on the Ship to sub-tab. You also have the option of manual entry.

Additional Header fields Contract ID This is a reference field that indicates that this sales order is part of an overall service contract with the customer. Multiple sales orders and jobs can be tied to a service contract (Service – Service & Maintenance Setup – Service Contracts).



PO Number This is the customer’s purchase order number, which prints on acknowledgments, packing lists and invoices.

Values Panel Total Price This is the sum of all the line item price totals from the order details.

Sales Tax This is the sum of all the line item sales tax totals from the order details.

Total This is the sum of the Total Price and Sales Tax.

Additional Info Side-Tab You can link documents to a sales order via the Additional Info side-tab. If you have added any user-defined fields to the job database, those fields will display on this tab as well.

Stages Side-Tab You can use the Stages side-tab to enter one or more “stages” against the sales order. A stage is normally a step or phase in the order process. For example, you might indicate that an order is in the “prep” stage, or has moved into the “production” phase, or is in the “inspection” stage. Against each stage you can manually select a Status. Values are ‘Open’, ‘Started’, ‘Next’, and ‘Closed’. Generally, stages are used with longer term orders where knowing the current status of the order is of value.



Details Screen

Line No This field is used by the program for sorting purposes. The line items normally sort in Line No. order unless you click on any of the column headings to change the sort order.

Line Type You must select a ‘line type’ when entering a new line. Your choices are described as follows:

• STOCK: This is a stockable item set up in the Stock Items screen.

• DESCRIPTOR: This is a non-stock descriptor set up in the Descriptors screen.

• CATALOG: This is an item from the supplier catalog table that was imported via File – Administrator – Catalog Import.

• FREEFORM: this is a free-form, non-stock line item that has not been pre-defined in any table. Use this for one-time items or services that are not likely to be quoted or purchased again.

Reference ID This field is the ID number that identifies this line item. Depending on the Line Type selected in the previous field column, this could be an item ID, descriptor ID, catalog item number, or an on-the-fly Item that is not set up in any pre-defined table. A lookup is available for selection from the appropriate table.

Cost Class The value in this field determines the GL posting for cost of goods sold and is also used for reporting.



• If the line item is a stock item, the value is automatically set to ‘Stock’.

• If the line item is a descriptor, the value defaults to the descriptor’s Descriptor Type.

• If the line item is a shipping charge generated from the Shipping screen, the value is automatically set to ‘SHIP’.

• If you enter a catalog or freeform line, the value defaults to ‘MISC’, but you can select another value from the lookup. You can select from the following list:

SUBCON Subcontract Services LABOR Labor SETUP Setup SHIP Shipping MISC Miscellaneous FIXOH Fixed Overhead VAROH Variable Overhead

Description This field is an up to 50-character description of the line item. Once copied from any of the database tables, it can be modified for this one job.

Qty This is the item’s order quantity.

Act Qty This field represents the quantity of this item picked to date.

UM This field denotes the line item’s unit of measure, such as ‘EA’, ‘LB’, etc.

Reference Price This field is normally visible. If a contract price exists for this customer, it will display in this field. If a contract price is not found and the line item is a stock item, this field defaults to the Base Price maintained in the Sales – Pricing & Discounts – Base Prices screen or it uses the Price Level price, which is a percentage of the base price. If this line item is a descriptor, this field defaults to the Base Price value maintained in the Descriptors screen.

Discount This field is normally visible. It works in conjunction with the Reference Price (see above) to calculate the net Price. The discount percentage normally comes from the value maintained in the Sales – Pricing & Discounts – Discounts screen.

Price This is the net price, which is calculated by applying the Discount to the Reference Price.



Total Price This field is normally visible and is the total price for this line item, which is calculated by multiplying the Qty value by the Price value.

Sales Tax Amount This field displays the sales tax total for this line item. The name of this field is the Screen Name entered on the Tax Defaults sub-tab in the Admin – Main Setup screen.

Tax Code This field is normally not visible. This is the tax code for the line item, if it differs from the Tax Code on the job header screen.

Required Date The Default Required Date on the header screen is only a default date. Each line item has its own Required Date and you can freely schedule each line item independently from the others. This allows the sales order to accommodate multiple shipments and multiple invoices. Each line’s Required Date is used by MRP as the scheduled finish date for planned jobs.

Linked Job If MRP has generated a Make Job for this line item, that job number is displayed in this field for reference purposes.

Availability Button The Availability button is only visible when a stock item is highlighted. Click this button to view the stock status of the currently highlighted line item. Not only can you view how much stock is currently on hand, but you can also view all other demand and supply details for the item within its normal planning period.

Delivery Button This button is only visible on ‘M’ (manufactured) stock items. Clicking this button takes you to the Delivery Date Estimator screen, which is also accessed from the MRP menu. On this screen you can enter a Make Qty and use the Job Days Calculator to establish an estimated delivery date based on the quantity to make as well as current work center conditions. When you close the screen, the Make Qty is transferred to the line item’s order Qty field and the Est Delivery Date is transferred to the line item’s Required Date field.



Using Speed Entry

The Speed Entry function helps you enter order detail lines as rapidly as possible and is especially useful when entering large numbers of line items. To use Speed Entry, click the Speed Entry button while in the Details screen. A screen gets presented that contains an upper panel, a main selection grid, and a display grid at the bottom. In the upper panel, choose whether you want to select Stock Items or Descriptors. All your stock items or descriptors will display in the main selection grid. Selecting Items To select an item, start typing the Item ID or Descriptor ID. As you type each character, the cursor will progressively move to the item with the closest match. Once you find the item you are looking for, press Enter and the cursor will move to the Qty field where you can enter the order quantity. After entering the quantity, press Enter and you will see your entry displayed in the lower grid. The cursor moves to the left-hand column where you can immediately make another selection. Using the mouse is not necessary Speed Entry is designed so that you don’t have to use the mouse to make your selections, which slows down the process. You can press Enter to move back and forth from the Item ID or Descriptor ID field to the Quantity field and to make your selections. You can use your arrow keys to navigate up or down the columns. You can, of course, also use the mouse, if you wish. Other Search Techniques Progressive typing is not the only way to find items.



You can use the Description Search field (located below the main selection grid) to narrow the contents of the main selection grid only to items that contain the text you enter. Once you enter your text, click the lookup icon to the left and the main selection grid will display the items with matching text. Once you make a selection, the grid will repopulate itself with all your items. If you make a search and don’t select an item, click the ‘X’ button and the grid will repopulate with all items. You can also click any of the down arrows on the column headings to narrow your search using the system’s standard grid filtering options. This would enable you to narrow the list to a particular item Category or descriptor Type, for example. De-Selecting Items If you make a mistake and select an incorrect item and wish to de-select it, highlight the item in the lower display grid and click the Delete button in the upper right corner of the screen. Transfer Button Your item selections and quantities are displayed in the lower grid in the order that they were selected. When your selections and quantities are completed, click the Transfer button to the right and the items and quantities will be transferred to the sales order. During the transfer, each item’s price is automatically calculated using the system’s pricing rules. Once your items are transferred, they can be edited for any changes that may be required. Use Speed Entry as often as you wish You can use Speed Entry as often as you wish within an order. You can enter a few lines, transfer them, enter a few more, transfer them, and so forth.

Linking to the Order Picking screen You can link directly to the Order Picking screen by clicking the Links button and selecting Order Picking from the drop-down list. Doing so closes the Sales Orders screen and automatically selects this sales order for display in the Order Picking screen.

Sending Order Acknowledgements Once the sales order is created, you can print an order acknowledgement that can be e-mailed or printed out and sent to the customer or kept as an internal copy. The order acknowledgement contains the same information as an invoice and serves as a confirmation of the order. To print or e-mail the acknowledgement, highlight a sales order on the opening List tab screen and click the Acknowledg button.

4-2. Sales Quotes


4-2. Sales Quotes A sales order can be used to print or e-mail quotes to customers. In general, this type of sales quote is essentially a price quotation and is not derived from a markup on estimated costs.

Quote Setup (Admin – Main Setup – Quote Letter tab) In Main Setup you can create default settings for your printed quotes. On any given sales quote you can deviate from your default settings and adjust your preferences to suit that particular quote.

The following are field explanations for the Main Setup, Quote Letter tab screen.

Default Style You can select one of four quote styles, described as follows. This serves as the default style when creating new orders, but once the order is created you can change to any of these styles.

Formal This is a formal quote document, similar in style to that of an invoice.

Letter The quote will be in the form of a letter with the quoted price in the body of the letter.

Letter with Detail The quote will be in the form of a letter with the quoted price and quote details in the body of the letter.

4-2. Sales Order Quotes


Multi-Option This is the same as the Formal quote style, but there is no quote total. Use this style with sales order quotes when you want to list several independently quoted items on one document.

Header The Header text is the main body of the quote letter that precedes the quote details.

Summary The Summary text is a 50-character description that is used to label the quote total on the printed quote. It could be something like ‘We are pleased to quote a special price of’ or anything along those lines.

Footer The Footer text prints after the Summary text and is used for closing comments and a complimentary close type signature block.

4-2. Sales Quotes


Sales Quote Entry (Sales – Sales Quotes)

Sales Quote entry is identical to Sales Order entry A sales quote is a sales order with a Status of ‘QUOTED’. Orders with a Status of ‘QUOTED’ are ignored by MRP when calculating net demand for line items or converting sales order lines to planned jobs. Entering a sales quote is identical to entering a sales order, so refer to the previous chapter for order entry details. If the quote has multiple items If the quote has multiple items that are not to be totaled at the end of the quote, use the Multi-Option quote style (selected within the Quote Style tab), which prints a separate price for each item without a subtotal at the end.

Sending Quotes A sales quote can be printed at any time by clicking the Quote button. Before printing a quote, you should go to the Quote Style screen (side-tab off the header screen) and review your settings. You can, for example, change the header, summary, or footer text within your Letter Contents. You also can change the Report Style to any of the four options (Formal, Letter, Letter with Detail, Multi-Option).

Converting Sales Quotes to Sales Orders To convert a sales quote into a sales order, click the Convert button. The sales quote will be presented for printing. When you print or preview the quote, its Status changes to ‘ORDERED’, which means it will now be listed as a

4-2. Sales Order Quotes


sales order in the Sales Orders screen. After printing or previewing, you are asked if you wish to go directly to the Sales Orders screen, where you can further edit the sales order, if you wish.

4-3. Sales Order Templates


4-3. Sales Order Templates (Sales – Sales Orders)

If you have recurring types of sales order, you can set up sales order templates that can be used to quickly create new sales orders without having to set them up from scratch each time. Each time a recurring order is placed, the order details are copied from the sales order template into a new sales order. To create a sales order template, you create a sales order and go to the Header screen and change the Status field to ‘TEMPLATE.’ This will cause some non-relevant fields such as scheduling dates to disappear from the screens. You can now enter your job details. Each time you create a new sales order from a sales order template, you can enter a Qty Factor, which multiplies each sales order template line item by the number entered. Therefore, you can set up your sales order template details against a quantity of ‘1’ and use the Qty Factor to extend the line item quantities at time of order.

4-4. Picking Line Items for Shipment


4-4. Picking Line Items for Shipment (Sales – Order Picking)

Sales order items must be picked before you can create shipments or generate invoices. At time of picking, inventory is relieved for each item. Upper Panel To pick a sales order, select an Order No in the upper panel. The Order Name, Customer, and order Status are automatically displayed for reference purposes. Select a Transaction Date, which is the date when the picking took place. The Location field displays the stock location selected in the sales order header screen, which can be changed here if needed. If this field is left blank, each stock item will be picked from its default Issue location entered on the Stock Items screen. If a Location is selected, all stock items will be picked from that location. Two Entry Screens Two entry screens are available. The Order Picking tab is used to pick items that do not have tracking characteristics (such as lot and serial control). The Characteristics tab is used to pick items with tracking characteristics. The total number of line items available for processing within each screen is displayed in parenthesis to the right or each tab name.

Order Picking Tab All line items that do not have tracking characteristics are listed in the Order Picking tab screen.



Pick Qty Click the Pre-Fill All button and the Remaining quantity for each item will be inserted into the Pick Qty column. You are then free to edit any quantities, if needed.

Location The Location field for each item displays the item’s default Issue location (maintained in the Stock Items screen), unless a Location is designated in the upper panel of the screen, in which case all stock items will display that location. You can manually select another location n any given stock item, if you wish. Non-stock items can also be picked The Order Picking screen is not limited to stock items. All descriptors and freeform lines are listed with a Location value of ‘Non-Stock’.

Cost For stock items, the Cost field displays the item’s current Inventory Cost, which cannot be changed. For non-stock descriptors and freeform items, the cost used is the Est Cost from the sales order line, which can be changed in this screen. Update Button Once your entries are completed to your satisfaction, click the Update button and the transaction will be completed. The Pick Qty column will be cleared and the Remaining column now reflects the transaction that just took place.

Characteristics Tab

All items with tracking characteristics (such as lot or serial control) are listed on the Characteristics tab screen in the upper grid. Any previous transactions for any line highlighted in the upper grid are displayed in the lower grid.



To pick an item, highlight it in the upper grid and click the New button, which launches the Issue Characteristics screen used throughout the system whenever items with tracking characteristics are issued from stock. Issue Characteristics Screen Current on-hand stock by characteristic (or a combination of characteristics) is displayed in the upper grid of the Issue Characteristics screen.


Highlight the line you wish to pick from, then click the Pick Line button, which presents the Quantity Entry window. Enter the quantity you wish to pick, then click OK and you will see your transaction listed in the lower grid.


Continue selecting and picking characteristic lines until your transaction is completed. Click the Update button and your entries will be processed. While you are still on the screen, you can then make additional entries, if needed, or you can click the Close button to return to the Characteristics screen. There you will see your transaction reflected in the Remaining quantity in the upper grid and you will see your transaction listed in the lower grid.

Linking to the Sales Orders screen You can link directly to the Sales Orders screen by clicking the Links button and selecting Sales Orders from the drop-down list. Doing so closes the Order Picking screen and automatically selects this sales order in the opening List of the Sales Orders screen.

4-5. Shipping & Invoicing Overview


4-5. Shipping & Invoicing Overview ‘Shipping’ refers to the formal process of generating a shipment to a customer, which includes a packing list, shipping labels, and shipping charges.

Sequence of Events The shipping and invoicing process involves the following sequence of events:

1. Enter actual quantities for line items that are to print on the packing list and invoice, using the Order Picking screen.

2. Create a shipment within the sales order Shipping tab. 3. Print a packing list and shipping labels. 4. Enter shipping charges. 5. If errors are found on the packing list, delete the shipment(s), correct the

source of the problem (order picking, order entry, etc.) and create the shipment once again.

6. Generate an invoice via the sales order Invoicing tab. 7. Preview the invoice and verify its accuracy. 8. Click the Invoice button to print and post the invoice. 9. If after printing the invoice you find errors, click the Reverse button to

reverse the posting. Go back to the source of the error (order picking, order entry, etc.), delete and create new shipments, if necessary, then create the invoice once again.

4-6. Shipping


4-6. Shipping The shipping function involves the creation of shipments, in which you formally select sets of items for inclusion on a packing list. Once a shipment is created, it can be converted into an invoice.

Selecting Items for Shipment Order Picking With Sales Orders, line items are selected for shipment via the Sales – Order Picking screen.

Creating Shipments Once items have been selected for shipment (see previous section), the next step is to create a ‘shipment’, which is identified and tracked by a shipment number. Against the shipment you can specify a delivery address, the shipping method, enter or automatically calculate the weight and volume, enter shipping charges, and print a packing list and shipping labels.

Shipping & Invoicing Tab To create a new shipment, go to the sales order Shipping & Invoicing tab and click the Shipping sub-tab. Within the shipping tab are two side-tabs, Main and Details. Main Side-Tab In the upper window are displayed any previous shipments. The fields in the lower half of the screen display the details for whichever shipment is highlighted in the upper window. To create a shipment, while on the Main side-tab, click the New Shipment button. If items have not yet been picked or issued: If items have not yet been picked or issued for shipment, you will receive this message:

‘No Items have been picked for shipment. Do you wish to pick Items now?’

If yes, you will be swapped to the Order Picking screen, where you can pick the order or job, either line-by-line or using the Pre-Fill All option. After updating the transaction and closing the screen, the shipment is automatically generated for the items that were just picked. Which items are included? All line items that have received actual quantities through order picking since the last shipment will be included in the shipment.

4-6. Shipping


If you wish to suppress no charge sales order lines, select the Exclude zero value Items from Packing List checkbox.

Shipment Fields The Shipment No is assigned by the program, beginning with ‘1’. The Shipment Date defaults to today’s date, but can be overridden. When the shipment ultimately gets invoiced, the Invoiced checkbox is selected for your reference.

Ship Method & Ship Zone The Ship Method and Ship Zone automatically display the values stored against this customer in the Customers screen, but can be changed or selected if there is no default against the customer. Shipping Charges If there are freight charges stored against the Ship Method, the Ship Charge is automatically entered. You can override this amount or enter an amount from scratch. When you enter the Ship Charge and Ship Tax (if applicable), a detail line is automatically added at the end of your sales order or job Details screen. This is a freeform item with a Reference ID of ‘Shipping’. The line’s Description is whatever you enter in the Shipment Description field, which defaults to ‘Shipping Charges’ but can be changed to whatever description you wish. This detail line will ultimately print as the last line on the invoice. Packs, Total Weight, and Total Volume The values of these three fields are calculated automatically for the order as a whole based on the values of the same names stored against each item in the Stock Items screen (on the Dimensions sub-tab).

4-6. Shipping


Trace ID and Shipment Notes If your shipping supplier furnishes you with a tracking number, you can store it in the Trace ID field. You can enter unlimited notes for reference purposes in the Shipment Notes area of the screen. Packing List Print Controls If you do not wish no-charge line items to print on the packing list, select the Exclude zero value Items from Packing List checkbox. The other way to control packing list printing is to click the Details side tab and clear the Print checkbox from any items that are not to be printed. Delivery Address The Delivery Name & Address defaults to the Sold To name and Ship To address entered on the header screen. If you wish to select another delivery address for this customer, click the lookup button on the first line of the address and you will be presented with a list of this customer’s delivery addresses. You can also manually enter delivery address details. If you wish to make this shipment to another customer, such as with a drop shipment, select another customer using the lookup button in the delivery name field. You can also manually enter the delivery name. Details Side-Tab

You can click on the Details side-tab to get a listing of the items that are included in this shipment. This screen is primarily for display only. You can, however, clear the Print checkbox on any items that you want excluded from printing on the packing list. You might, for example, have items for labor charges that are

4-6. Shipping


not relevant to a packing list, which normally is confined to a listing of physical items.

Printing Packing Lists and Labels Once the shipment has been created and entered, you can print a packing list by clicking the Print button while on the Shipping screen. You will be presented with a drop-down list from which you can print packing lists, shipping labels, and line item labels.

Deleting Shipments If you notice errors on your packing list, you can freely delete the shipment, correct the source of the errors, and then generate a new shipment. You can delete a shipment up until it gets invoiced. The Invoiced checkbox tells you whether a shipment has been invoiced or not. To delete a shipment, click the Delete Shipment button. You can now go back to the source of the error (sales order picking, order entry, etc.), correct your entries, and then create a new shipment.

4-7. Invoicing


4-7. Invoicing The invoicing function is the same whether you are using Sales Orders or Service Jobs.

Generating invoices Which items are included? In the case of Sales Orders, each invoice is generated from the accumulated shipments that have been made since the last previously invoiced shipment. In the case of Service Jobs, all line items with a price that have received actual quantities through job issues since the last invoice will be included in the invoice. If you wish to include no charge items, select the Print Zero Value Lines on Quote & Invoices checkbox in the File – Administrator – Main Setup – Advanced Tab screen. Generating the Invoice To generate a new invoice, go to the sales order’ or job’s Shipping & Invoicing tab and click the Invoicing sub-tab. If any items are available for invoicing, you are asked ‘Do you wish to create an Invoice? Answer Yes and you are then presented with this question:

‘Do you wish to Invoice using the default customer name?’ Answer Yes if you wish the invoice to go to the Bill To customer entered on the header screen. If you answer No to the above question, you are presented with a screen that enables you to select a different customer for billing. The screen now lists the billing customer. Once you are satisfied with your billing customer selection, click the Create button. Invoicing Screen

4-7. Invoicing


The newly created invoice now displays in the upper window of the Invoicing screen. If you are using sales order or job type invoice numbering, the invoice is identified in the Suffix field where the invoice number consists of the sales order or job number followed by a dash and then a sequentially assigned number. If you are using sequential numbering, all invoices in the system derived from any sales order or job type are given a common prefix and sequential invoice number. You can select this invoice numbering style in Admin – Main Setup. The Status field is blank. This means that the invoice has been created, but it has not yet been printed and posted.

Previewing invoices Invoices are not posted until they are printed, which changes the invoice’s Status to ‘Printed’. Until then you can preview an invoice at any time to check for accuracy or to suppress the printing of any line items. To preview an invoice, click the lookup icon to the left of the invoice display window where it states Click for Preview of Selected Invoice. Line Item Print Options Screen A screen will display that shows the line item detail for the invoice. This allows you to review the invoice for accuracy. If you wish to suppress the printing of any particular item, select its Don’t Print checkbox.

NOTE: The total price on the invoice is unaffected by this setting and will still reflect the price of the suppressed item.

If you find an error on this screen, you can close the screen, delete the invoice (by highlighting the invoice and clicking the Delete button on the right-hand panel), correct the source of the problem (sales order picking, job issues, price entry, etc.), and create the invoice again.

4-7. Invoicing


When you close the screen, the invoice will print to the screen for your review and is marked by the word ‘PREVIEW’ in big letters so that if you print the preview invoice, it will not be mistaken for an actual invoice.

Deleting non-printed invoices If you preview an invoice that has a blank Status field (meaning it has not yet been marked as printed) and find an error, you can close the preview screen, and delete the invoice by highlighting the invoice and clicking the Delete button on the right-hand panel. You can then correct the source of the problem (sales order picking, price entry, job issues, etc.), and create the invoice again.

Printing invoices Invoices are posted when they get formally printed, which changes the invoice’s Status field to ‘Printed.’ To print an invoice, go to the Invoicing tab, highlight the invoice in the upper window to be posted, then click the Invoice Print button. Once again you will be presented with the line item detail screen for one last opportunity to review the invoice detail and suppress printing of any lines, if applicable. When you close the screen, you will be asked if you wish to print or e-mail the invoice. After printing or e-mailing the invoice, you are returned to the Invoicing screen where you will see the invoice’s Status field marked as ‘Printed’.

Batch printing invoices (Sales – Invoices)

As an alternative to printing invoices one at a time out of your sales order or job, you can go to the Invoices screen to print all invoices in batch mode that have not yet been given a Status of ‘Printed’. All pending invoices will display on this screen regardless whether they originated from sales orders or jobs. Select the Print checkbox for any invoice you wish to print. Once an invoice has been selected, you can click the Preview button to review it prior to printing.

4-7. Invoicing


When all your invoices are selected and ready for printing, click the Print button, which prints the invoices and changes their Status to ‘Printed’.

Reversing printed invoices If you find errors in an invoice after it has been printed and posted, you can reverse the invoice, delete any associated shipments, and correct the source of the problem (sales order picking, price entry, job issues, etc.). You can then create a new shipment and new invoice. To reverse an invoice, go to the Invoicing screen, highlight the invoice in the upper window to be reversed, then click the Reverse button. You will immediately see a new invoice added to the upper window with a negative Net Amount that reverses the amount of the original invoice. Both the original invoice and the negative invoice are now marked with a Status of ‘Credited.’ You can now make corrections to your sales order or job details and create a new shipment and invoice, if applicable. ‘Print on Statement’ Field In the upper invoice display window, there is a Print on Statement field. If you find mistakes and need to reverse an invoice, you may not want to show the original invoice that was in error and its reversal invoice on customer statements, since these are internal corrections that have no relevance to the customer. In this case, you can set the Print on Statement field for each of these two invoices to ‘No.’

Printing credit memos When you print an invoice with a negative Net Amount, the printed title on the invoice changes from ‘INVOICE’ to ‘CREDIT MEMO’. You can specify your own titles via the File – Administrator – Main Setup screen, where you can enter fields for Your Invoice Name and Your Credit Name. So, if you prefer ‘CREDIT NOTE’ or some other name, change the setting as desired.

4-7. Invoicing


4-8. Sales Order Workflow Phase 1 – Quoting (Optional) • Enter quote (Sales Quotes)

• Print/Email quote (Sales Quotes – Quote button)

• Convert quote to sales order (Sales Quotes – Convert button)

Phase 2 – Order Entry • Enter sales order (Sales Orders)

• Print/Email acknowledgment (Sales Orders – Acknowledge button)

Phase 3 – Order Picking • Review available stock (Available to Ship report)

• Print pick list (Pick Lists)

• Pick order for shipment (Order Picking)

Phase 4 – Shipping • Create shipment from picked stock (Sales Orders – Shipping sub-tab)

• Print packing list (Sales Orders – Shipping sub-tab – Print button)

• Print shipping labels (Sales Orders – Shipping sub-tab – Print button)

• Enter shipping charges (Sales Orders – Shipping tab)

Phase 5 – Invoicing • Convert shipment to invoice (Sales Orders – Invoicing sub-tab)

• Preview invoice (Sales Orders – Invoicing sub-tab – Preview button)

• Print/Email invoice (Sales Orders – Invoicing sub-tab – Invoice button)

• Optionally batch print invoices (Invoices)

Phase 6 – Order Closing • Close sales order (Sales Orders – Status field)

5. MRP


5. MRP

Overview ‘MRP’ (manufacturing requirements planning) is a process that involves the planning and scheduling of jobs and purchase orders and the management of inventory to fulfill customer orders. Scheduling not only occurs when planned jobs are created, but also when jobs need to be rescheduled to meet changing dates and conditions. At the work center and machine level, scheduling occurs daily when determining job assignments. Here are some of the key features of DBA’s MRP and scheduling system:

Push and Pull Planning You can use any combination of push and pull planning styles to manage your inventory. For ‘push’ style planning where inventory levels are set to anticipate demand, you can establish reorder levels, minimum order quantities, and enter forecasts. For ‘pull’ style planning where you only manufacture or purchase in response to actual demand, you can set reorder levels to zero and designate selected items to be made or ordered only in response to actual requirements. You can freely mix the two styles and use push planning for some items and pull planning for others.

Variable Planning Period by Item During MRP generation, each item is assigned its own planning period based on the sum of its Lead Days plus Job Days plus the interval days between MRP runs. Variable planning periods significantly reduce the number of items to be planned for and focuses attention on just those items that need it. With the efficient supply chains of today, many items can be replenished quickly and are therefore excluded from the MRP generation until shortly before they are actually needed.

Dynamic Job Scheduling within MRP The multi-level MRP generation of planned jobs pauses at each level so that jobs can be dynamically scheduled backward from required dates, when possible. This combines MRP and scheduling into one process and produces accurate job schedules down through all levels of your product structures.

5. MRP


Transparency of Numbers Within each item’s Drill-Down and Job Days Calculator screens, all the numbers that were used to generate the planned job and PO details are fully transparent and traceable.

Work Center Job Prioritization Daily Work Center Dispatch Lists are created and sent to the shop floor for work assignments. Jobs are prioritized using a Critical Ratio, which assures that jobs running behind schedule are given priority over jobs that are running ahead of schedule. When you schedule the entire factory in this manner, more jobs will get completed on time with fewer bottlenecks and less expediting.

Screens and Reports The MRP menu consists of the following screens and reports.

MRP Settings This screen is used to maintain MRP-related settings for your stock items, including reorder level, minimum order, lead days, and job days.

MRP This screen is used to generate planned jobs and PO’s and to schedule and convert them into actual jobs and purchase orders.

Buy-for-Job This screen is used to generate PO’s directly from jobs for ‘to-order’ items and for non-stock items such as subcontract services (painting, plating, heat-treating, etc.).

Work Center Scheduling This screen is used to prioritize jobs within work centers and machines and to generate a daily dispatch list that is used out on the shop floor for work assignments. You can also use this screen to maintain scheduling-related settings such as daily capacity, queue time, and safety buffer.

Job Scheduling This screen is used to reschedule jobs when required dates change or jobs are running early or late.

PO Scheduling This screen is used to reschedule purchase orders when required dates change.

Delivery Date Estimator Use this screen to calculate a projected delivery date for any stock item and quantity.

5. MRP


Planning Worksheets Planning worksheets provide a listing of items that need planned orders and enable you to do your planning on paper as an alternative to doing so on the screen. Each item’s MRP settings and existing and projected demand and supply are listed on the reports so that all the planning information you need is at your fingertips.

Scheduling Reports A set of scheduling reports are available, including a master job schedule, work center schedule, machine schedule, and subcontract service schedule.

2-1. Generating Jobs from Sales Order Lines


5-1. MRP Setup Overview Before you use MRP and scheduling, settings should be made within the following screens:

MRP Defaults On this screen you can activate or deactivate selected fields to tailor MRP and scheduling to your company’s preferences.

Shop Calendar The shop calendar is used to define weekends and holidays when the factory is not available for production. Non-working days are skipped over when job start and finish dates are scheduled.

MRP Settings This screen is used to maintain various settings against stock items that are used by MRP for planned job generation. These settings include reorder level, minimum order quantity, lead days, job days, and overlap days.

Work Centers (optional) If you are not using routings in your bills of material, work center setup is not required.

5-2. MRP Defaults


5-2. MRP Defaults (MRP – MRP Setup – MRP Defaults)

On this screen you can activate or deactivate selected fields to tailor MRP and scheduling to your company’s preferences. Field explanations are as follows:

Whole No Rounding This is an MRP setting that enables you to establish whether MRP suggested order quantities are to allow decimalized amounts or only whole number amounts (integers). You setting can be made at the stock item level. Two options are available:

• If all your items are subject to whole number rounding, choose the Auto-Select radio button. Whenever you create a new stock item, its Whole No Rounding checkbox will automatically be selected.

• If some of your items are subject to whole number rounding and some are to be decimalized, choose the Do Not Select radio button.

Finally, if all your items are to be treated with the same setting, you can select the Hide Field checkbox, which makes the following fields invisible:

• Stock Items - Whole No Rounding field • MRP Settings - Whole No field

Use Order Multiple The Order Multiple setting is used if you have some items that are always ordered or made in a multiple of a particular quantity. MRP will round suggested order quantities up to the nearest amount divisible by the Order Multiple. If the Order Multiple has no role to play in your planning process, clear this checkbox. Doing so makes the following fields invisible:

• Stock Items – Order Multiple field

• MRP Settings – Multiple field

• MRP – Drill-Down Inquiry – Projected tab – Order Multiple field

5-2. MRP Defaults


Use Overlap This setting enables you to schedule subassembly jobs to run partially in parallel with higher level jobs. When a job is scheduled for an item, the Overlap Days represent the number of days after the job’s start date when its subassemblies will be required. If Overlap Days has no role to play in your planning process, which would be the case if all your products have single-level BOM’s, then clear this checkbox. Doing so makes the following fields invisible:

• Stock Items – Overlap Days field • MRP Settings – Overlap field • MRP – Planned Jobs screen – Overlap field • Make Jobs – Scheduling tab – Overlap field • Job Scheduling – Jobs tab – Overlap field • Job Scheduling – Linked Jobs tab – Overlap field

Use Buffer Days This work center setting enables you to add a safety buffer to the job schedule to account for the unforeseen delays common to manufacturing environments – such as machinery repairs, worker or material unavailability, unexpected rework, etc. Buffer Days are commonly used to add “slack” to the schedule. If the Buffer Days setting has no role to play in your planning process, clear this checkbox. Doing so makes the following fields invisible:

• Work Centers – Buffer Days field • Job Days Calculator – Buffer Days field • Work Center Scheduling – Buffer Days field • Remaining Days Calculator – Buffer Days field

Use Queue Days Queue Days is a work center setting that represents the estimated number of days an item must wait in a work center before production can begin. This setting is used for the management of “bottleneck” work centers. When this checkbox is cleared, the following fields become invisible:

• Work Centers – Queue Days field • Job Days Calculator – Queue Days field • Work Center Scheduling – Calculated Queue Days field • Work Center Scheduling – Queue Days field • Remaining Days Calculator – Queue Days field

5-4. Shop Calendar


5-3. Shop Calendar (MRP – MRP Setup – Shop Calendar)

The shop calendar is used to establish which days of the week the factory is in operation and which days of the year it is closed due to holidays. When jobs are scheduled, the program skips over all non-operating days defined on the calendar. Weekly Pattern In the Weekly Pattern section, select the checkbox under each day that is available for production. Vacation Dates If the work centers assigned to this calendar are to be closed for vacation, enter the date range in the Vacation Dates grid.

5-4. MRP Settings


5-4. MRP Settings (MRP – MRP Settings)

Use this screen to maintain various MRP settings stored against each of your stock items. These settings determine reorder levels, minimum order quantities, lead-times, and other variables used by MRP to generate planned jobs and PO’s.

Upper Panel Fields Manufactured Items or Purchase Items These checkboxes determine which stock items will display in the grid list. You can confine the list to just manufactured items, just purchased items, or both.

Display Description Because the Description column takes up so much space on the grid, you have the option of clearing this checkbox to make the Description and UM fields invisible so that more of the entry fields will be visible.

Item Category With this setting you can further limit the list to one or selected Item Categories.

Entry Grid Fields Item ID, Description, UM These are read-only reference fields that help you identify each stock item.

M or P This is a read-only field that tells you if the item is normally manufactured (M) or purchased (P).

5-4. MRP Settings


Reorder Level MRP or the Planning Worksheets will suggest jobs or PO’s whenever current and projected supply and demand cause on-hand stock to fall below this level within the item’s planning period.

Min Order Whenever MRP or the Planning Worksheets suggest a job or purchase order for this item, this is the minimum quantity that will be suggested.

MTO This field is only visible when the Manufactured Items checkbox is selected and is an abbreviation for Make-to-Order. If this item is always made to order, select this checkbox. If the item is sometimes made to order, but other times is made to satisfy overall demand, clear this checkbox. When MRP generates planned jobs, you are given the option of including or excluding Make-to-Order items.

PTO This field is only visible when the Purchased Items checkbox is selected and is an abbreviation for Purchase-to-Order. If this item is always purchased to order, select this checkbox. If the item is sometimes purchased to order, but other times is purchased to satisfy overall demand, clear this checkbox. When you use the Buy-for-Job screen, you can optionally limit planned PO’s to Purchase-to-Order items only.

Lead Days For purchased items, this is the turnaround time in days between sending items out to your supplier and receiving them back. MRP uses this value to determine when suggested PO’s should be ordered so that they arrive by their required dates. For manufactured items, this is the number of days it normally takes before you can begin a job for the item. It is rare that a job can be started the day you receive an order for the item. You may need some time to order material or to complete subassemblies that are required, and there may be a typical waiting period at the job’s first work center. MRP and the Planning Worksheets use the Lead Days plus the item’s Job Days plus the interval between MRP runs to determine the planning period for each manufactured item.

NOTE: The Lead Days includes all calendar days and does not exclude non-workdays defined on the shop calendar. Therefore, if you want to the Lead-Days to represent one week, enter 7-days.

Job Days This field is only relevant to manufactured items and is invisible when the Manufactured Items checkbox is cleared. It represents the number of actual production days it takes to make this item, based on making the Est Cost Qty. When creating new jobs, this value is used to backward schedule the job from its finish date or to forward schedule the job from its start date. Two methods of entry are available:

5-4. MRP Settings


Manual Entry – No Routing If this item does not have a routing, the Job Days amount must be entered manually. Do not include weekends or other off-days in this amount.

Job Days Calculator If this item is defined with a routing, you can click the button in this field to display the Job Days Calculator. This screen calculates and assigns each routing sequence a Job Days amount, based on current work center and routing settings. These Job Days amounts are totaled to arrive at the Calculated Job Days for the item. You can accept the calculated amount or manually override it if you wish.

Job Days Calculator

Overlap This field is optional and is only visible when the Use Overlap checkbox is selected in the MRP & Scheduling Defaults screen. It is only relevant to manufactured items and is invisible when the Manufactured Items checkbox is cleared. When a job is scheduled for this item, the Overlap Days represent the number of days after the job’s start date when its subassemblies will be required. This setting is used by MRP for scheduling Make-to-Order subassembly jobs linked to higher level jobs.

Whole No This field is not visible when the Whole No Rounding – Hide Field checkbox is selected in the MRP & Scheduling Defaults screen. This field name is an abbreviation for Whole No Rounding. If you select this checkbox, MRP will suggest job or PO quantities rounded up to the nearest whole number. Select this checkbox for any items that are not purchased or manufactured in fractional decimal quantities.

Multiple This is an abbreviation of the Order Multiple setting. If you always order or make this item in a multiple of a particular quantity, you can enter that quantity in this field and MRP will round suggested order quantities up to the nearest amount

5-4. MRP Settings


divisible by the Order Multiple. For example, if you always order this item in multiples of 500, MRP will round up suggested order quantities to amounts such as ‘500’, ‘1000’, ‘1500’, ‘2000’, etc.

Est Cost Qty This field is only relevant to manufactured items and is invisible when the Manufactured Items checkbox is cleared. It represents the most typical job quantity for this item. This value is used by the Cost Rollup to amortize the item’s setup cost to a per-unit cost. (Each routing sequence Setup cost is divided by the Est Cost Qty). It is also used by the Job Days Calculator to calculate the typical Job Days required to manufacture this item.

Usage History Inquiry The Usage sub-tab is visible on M and P items and presents an inquiry screen that shows you the past 12-months usage of the item, broken out by month and averaged by quarter. “Usage” refers to total sales and job issues. This primary purpose of this inquiry is to help establish the item’s Reorder Level.

Production History Inquiry The Production sub-tab is visible on M items only. It displays job history beginning with your most recent finished job. Only jobs with an Actual Finish date are included in this list. This inquiry is used to help establish each item’s Lead Days and Job Days settings. A Lead Days value is calculated for each job in the list, which is the number of calendar days between the job’s Creation Date and its Released Date. A Job Days value is calculated for each job in the list, which is the number of valid workdays (as defined in the shop calendar) between its Released Date and its Actual Finish date.

Delivery History Inquiry The Delivery sub-tab is visible on P items only. It displays purchase receipts history beginning with your most recent receipt. The primary purpose of this inquiry is to help establish each item’s Lead Days. A Delivery Days amount is calculated for each receipt, which is the number of calendar days between the PO Creation Date and the actual Receipt Date for the item.

5-5. Work Center Settings


5-5. Work Center Settings (BOM – Bills of Material Setup - Work Centers) (MRP – Work Center Scheduling)

Work Centers Screen

A handful of scheduling-related settings are maintained against your in-house work centers and are described in this chapter.

NOTE: If you are not using routings in your bills of materials and jobs, you can skip this chapter.

Queue Days This work center setting is optional and is only visible when the Use Queue Days checkbox is selected in the MRP & Scheduling Defaults screen. Queue Days represents the estimated number of days an item must wait in this work center before production can begin. The Queue Days specified here will be added to the calculated Job Days for each routing sequence assigned to this work center. Use the Calculated Queue Days as a reference When you use the MRP - Work Center Scheduling screen to generate daily dispatch lists, the screen displays a Calculated Queue Days that you can use as a reference when entering the Queue Days setting. See 5-15, Scheduling Work Centers & Machines, for more details. Use Queue Days with “bottleneck” work centers only Only use the Queue Days setting with true “bottleneck” work centers where there is a finite capacity associated with a machine or some other physical constraint that limits production to a set amount each day. Every factory typically has one or a small handful of bottleneck work centers that directly affect a job’s ability to get through the factory.



For example, let’s say the majority of your products must go through a welding process that is done on a special machine that can only be run 16 hours per day. No matter how efficient the rest of your factory is, if that machine develops a backlog, every single job has to wait in line to get its turn on that machine. In effect, that one machine governs the schedule for the entire factory. So, only use the Queue Days setting for the one, two, or handful of work centers that truly clog up the schedule. Without seeing any statistics, you probably know exactly which work centers are frequently backlogged and fit the “bottleneck” description. Scheduling Implications MRP optionally uses the Job Days Calculator to backward schedule each job from its Required Date. For routing sequence’s assigned to a bottleneck work center, the Job Days Calculator will add the Queue Days amount to the sequence’s total calculated Job Days. So if a sequence has 2-days of production time, but has to wait in the queue for 4-days before it can get on the machine, that sequence will be allocated 6-days in the Job Days calculation. In effect, as your bottleneck Queue Days get longer, jobs require more time to get through the factory and MRP will assign longer job schedules. Conversely, as your bottleneck Queue Days get shorter, jobs will get through the factory more quickly and MRP will assign shorter job schedules.

Total Hours / Day This is the total number of hours available within the work center, including all machines or all workers. For example, if you have three machines, each operating 10 hours a day, the total hours capacity per day for the work center is ‘30’. Scheduling Implications This setting indirectly helps determine the Queue Days setting, which shortens or lengthens the time it takes jobs to get through bottleneck work centers. It is used as a variable when calculating the Calculated Queue Days field that displays on the Work Center Scheduling screen and is used as a reference for entering the Queue Days setting. Total work center queue hours are divided by this setting to translate queue hours into queue days. See chapter 5-15, Scheduling Work Centers & Machines, for more details.

Job Hours / Day This setting is relevant to all your work centers, not just bottleneck work centers. It represents the maximum number of hours that can be allocated to any given job per day. This is not exactly the same things as total work center capacity. For example, a work center may consist of three machines, each running 16 hours a day. The Total Hours / Day setting for the work center is 3 x 16 = 48 hours. However, any



given job is only likely to be run on one machine rather than all three at the same time; therefore, the maximum Job Hours / Day setting for this work center is 16 hours. MRP optionally uses the Job Days Calculator to backward schedule each job from its Required Date. Estimated setup and labor hours are divided by the Job Hours / Day to translate those hours into Job Days amounts. Some work centers have almost unlimited capacity Some work centers have, in a sense, almost unlimited capacity, especially assembly and packaging type work centers where there are no machines involved. With such work centers, sufficient labor can be quickly allocated to the work center on an as needed basis. Where this is the case, assign the work center a relatively high Job Hours / Day amount. For example, if you have the ability, when needed, to put as many as 10 people on a job for an 8-hour shift, give the work center a Job Hours / Day setting of ‘80’. Scheduling Implications When you increase the Job Hours / Day, jobs will get through the work center more quickly and MRP will shorten affected job schedules accordingly. Conversely, when you decrease the Job Hours / Day, jobs will take longer to get through the work center and MRP will lengthen affected job schedules accordingly.

Buffer Days This work center setting is optional and is only visible when the Use Buffer Days checkbox is selected in the MRP & Scheduling Defaults screen. This setting enables you to add a safety buffer to the job schedule to account for the unforeseen delays common to manufacturing environments – such as machinery repairs, worker or material unavailability, unexpected rework, etc. Scheduling Implication The Buffer Days specified here will be added to the calculated Job Days for each routing sequence assigned to this work center. Therefore, adding Buffer Days lengthens planned job schedules.

4. Running MRP


5-6. Running MRP Running MRP is a 4-step process Each time you run MRP, you will go through the following four steps.

Step 1 – Generate jobs for make-to-order items. You always start by generating jobs directly from sales order lines for items and related subassemblies designated as Make-to-Order items.

Step 2 – Generate jobs for net demand. The next step is to generate jobs for your manufactured items and subassemblies by replenishing stock according to projected supply and demand and desired stocking levels.

Step 3 – Generate PO’s for purchase-to-order items. After all your jobs are generated, you then purchase the items needed for those jobs, beginning with the items designated as Purchase-to-Order items.

Step 4 – Generate PO’s for net demand. The final step is to generate PO’s for your purchased items by replenishing stock according to projected supply and demand and desired stocking levels.

How often should MRP be run? The answer to this question depends on your volume of orders, but MRP is typically run on a daily basis or in some cases, every 2-3 days. Planning is a continuous process that never stops. The more frequently you run MRP, the more quickly you will be able to respond to new orders and associated requirements.

5-7. Step 1 – Generate Jobs for Make-to-Order Items


5-7. Step 1 – Generate Jobs for Make-to-Order Items The first step in the MRP process is to generate, schedule, and convert planned jobs for your Make-to-Order manufactured items.

Make-to-Order Items If you have items that are always made to each customer’s order via a separate job, select the item’s MTO checkbox setting in the MRP – MRP Settings screen or select its Make-to-Order checkbox in the Stock Items screen When you generate planned jobs directly from sales order lines, they can be limited to items identified as Make-to-Order items.

Generating planned jobs from sales order lines (MRP – MRP – Generate Button) To generate planned jobs from sales order lines, click the Generate button on the MRP screen, which displays the MRP Generation Options window. Select the Generate Planned Jobs from SO Lines radio button and click OK. You will now see the Generate Planned Jobs from SO Lines selection screen displayed.

On this screen, you can limit the generation to one, a range, or all sales orders. You can also limit the generation to sales orders of a particular Status. The default setting is to include sales orders with a Status of ‘ORDERED’ or ‘RELEASED’, but you can also include ‘NEW’ and ‘QUOTED’ orders, if you wish.



You also can limit the generation to one or a range of stock items. The final selection option enables you to limit the generation to just your Make-to-Order Items, or you can generate planned jobs for all manufactured items on open sales orders. Generate Button Once your selections are completed, click the Generate button. You will receive a message informing you when the generation is completed. After you click the Close button, you will see your planned jobs listed on the Planned Jobs sub-tab of the MRP screen.

Planned Jobs Screen

MTO Checkbox On the Planned Jobs screen, you will see the MTO (make-to-order) checkbox selected for all items generated from sales order lines, even for items that are not normally designated as Make-to-Order items in the MRP Settings screen. The MTO setting tells MRP to link each of these jobs to a specific sales order or job line item.

Scheduling and converting planned jobs After your planned jobs are generated, they must be scheduled and converted to actual jobs before you move on to step 3 in the MRP process. See chapter 5-11, Scheduling & Converting Planned Jobs, for complete details. Multi-level generation of make-to-order subassemblies After you convert planned jobs into actual jobs, MRP will check the newly created jobs for any subassemblies that are designated as Make-to-Order items. If any are found, MRP will automatically generate another round of planned jobs for the subassemblies, with dates offset from the first round of jobs.



This second round of jobs can then be scheduled and converted to planned jobs. If after doing so, MRP detects Make-to-Order subassemblies within this second round of jobs, it will again generate another round of planned jobs with dates offset from the previous round. This cycle is repeated down through all levels of the product structures. Thus, if you have a Make-to-Order product where all the subassemblies are also Make-to-Order items, you can generate a complete set of jobs for the entire product structure during this step of the MRP process.

5-8. Step 2 – Generate Jobs for Net Demand


5-8. Step 2 – Generate Jobs for Net Demand The second step in the MRP process is to generate, schedule, and convert planned jobs for your manufactured items that are not designated as Make-to-Order items. This second round of planned job generation responds to overall net demand for each item rather than to individual customer orders, and does so relative to stock on hand, planned stocking levels, and minimum order quantities.

Generating planned jobs (MRP – MRP – Generate Button) To generate planned jobs for items that are not Make-to-Order items, click the Generate button on the MRP screen, which displays the MRP Generation Options window. Select the Generate Planned Jobs radio button and click OK. You will now see the Generate Planned Jobs selection screen displayed, which contains the following selection options.

Planning Period The MRP generation assesses total current and projected demand and supply within a planning period. This planning period varies for each item and consists of the item’s Lead Days plus Job Days plus the number of extra Days specified in the Lead Days + _____ Days field.

NOTE: The program expands the Job Days amount by a percentage equal to a ratio of the number of workdays vs. non-workdays defined on the shop calendar to ensure that weekends are accounted for in the planning period calculation.

The Days entered in this field should be equal to or greater than the interval days between MRP runs. For example, if you run MRP once every three days, the



Days entry should be ‘3’ or greater so that this interval is included in the planning period. If you are a conservative planner and wish to have a safety factor, you could add a few more days to the planning period. So, in our example above, rather than set the Days to ‘3’ to cover the interval between MRP runs, you could set it to ‘5 days to cover the interval and add a little extra safety margin. The purpose of the planning period is to limit the MRP generation so that it only focuses on items that need attention now. Any demand for an item that falls outside of its planning period can safely be ignored and dealt with later. Items that can be manufactured or replenished quickly are automatically assigned short planning periods and don’t get included in the MRP generation until close to their required dates. This keeps inventory to a minimum and reduces the number of MRP items to be analyzed. On the other hand, items with longer lead-times, such as those with lengthy production cycles or that have to be imported from overseas, are automatically assigned longer planning periods.

Include QUOTED Status Orders Sales orders or service jobs with a status of ‘QUOTED’ are not considered firm orders. If you wish to include ‘QUOTED’ status orders for consideration in the program’s assessment of supply and demand, select this checkbox.

Item ID You can limit the generation one or a range of stock items, if you wish. You may have some Make-to-Order items that you wish to include in the general MRP generation rather than generate directly from sales order lines. If so, select the Include Make-to-Order Items checkbox.

Item Category You can limit the generation to selected item categories, if you wish.

Generate Button Once your selections are completed, click the Generate button. After you are informed that the generation was successfully completed, click the Close button and you will see your planned jobs listed on the Planned Jobs sub-tab of the MRP screen.



How the MRP generation works Each manufactured item within the selection range is processed one at a time and goes through the following four steps.

1. Establish the item’s planning period First, the program establishes the planning period for the item, which is the sum of the item’s Lead Days and Job Days settings (from the MRP Settings screen) plus the extra days specified in the Lead Days + Job Days + ____ Days field on the Generate Planned Jobs selection screen.

2. Calculate net demand within the planning period The total supply within the item’s planning period is comprised of:

• Stock on Hand • Job Outputs • Planned Jobs

The total demand within the item’s planning period is comprised of:

• Sales Orders • Forecasts (outside of Forecast Exclusion Days window) • Job Inputs

The difference between total supply and total demand is the Net Demand for the item.

3. Generate a planned job, if required • If Net Demand is zero or less, a planned job will not be generated. If Net Demand is greater than zero, it is then compared with the item’s Reorder Level (from the MRP Settings screen).

• If Net Demand is equal to or greater than the Reorder Level, a planned job will be generated with a Plan Qty equal to the Net Demand. If that amount is less than the item’s Min Order amount (from the MRP Settings screen), the Min Order amount will be used as the Plan Qty.

• If Net Demand is less than the Reorder Level, a planned job will be generated with a Plan Qty equal to the Net Demand plus the difference between Net Demand and the Reorder Level. If that amount is less than the item’s Min Order amount, the Min Order amount will be used as the Plan Qty.

4. Establish the Required Date and Pegged To settings • The planned job’s Required date will be set equal to the earliest demand

date within the item’s planning period when projected stock goes negative.

• The planned job’s Pegged To field will be populated with the job or sales order number associated with the Required date.



Scheduling and converting planned jobs After your planned jobs are generated, they must be scheduled and converted to actual jobs before you move on to step 4 in the MRP process. See chapter 5-11, Scheduling & Converting Planned Jobs, for complete details. Multi-Level Generation After you convert planned jobs into actual jobs, MRP will check the newly created jobs for any subassemblies. If any subassembly items are found that need ordering, MRP will automatically generate another round of planned jobs for those items, with dates offset from the first round of jobs. This second round of jobs can then be scheduled and converted to planned jobs. If after doing so, MRP detects subassemblies within this second round of jobs, it will again generate another round of planned jobs, when needed, with dates offset from the previous round (when possible). This cycle is repeated down through all levels of the product structures.

5-9. Generate PO’s for Purchase-to-Order Items


5-9. Step 3 – Generate PO’s for Purchase-to-Order Items In step three of the MRP process, you begin the purchasing phase of MRP. First, you will generate PO’s directly from jobs for items you have designated as Purchase-to-Order items. Purchase-to-Order Items You may have some purchased items that you never stock and only buy when you have an actual job requirement. You can identify an item as such by selecting its PTO checkbox in the MRP – MRP Settings or its Purchase-to-Order checkbox in the Stock Items screen. This enables you to distinguish between items that are purchased on a job-by-job basis versus those that are purchased in response to overall supply and demand relative to desired stocking levels.

Buy-for-Job Screen (MRP – Buy-for-Job)

Purchase-to-Order items and subcontract services are purchased via the Buy-for-Job screen. With this screen you items and services needed for any particular job in one transaction. Select the desired job in the Job/Order No field. The job description, Customer, and Status fields are automatically displayed for reference purposes. Purchase Order Settings The PO Due Date is the Due Date that will print on all the PO’s generated. If you need different dates for PO’s sent to different suppliers, enter a date and create the PO’s for that date, then return to the screen and generate additional PO’s with a different date, and so on.

5-9. Generate PO’s for Purchase-to-Order Items


If you want to send a confirmed PO, set the PO Status to ‘Opened’. If you want to send a quote request to your supplier, set the PO Status to ‘Quote’. Item Selection You are offered a radio button choice between limiting the list to Purch-to-Order items or including All Items. Normally you would restrict the list to your Purch-to-Order items, but there may be occasions where you wish to buy other items directly for the job as well. Be aware that even if the list contains all purchased items on the job, you are not obligated to purchase all of them via this screen. You can selectively purchase items that you want to buy for the job and then use the MRP screen to purchase the remaining items. Non-stock items are automatically listed Also be aware that all non-stock descriptor and freeform job detail lines are listed in this screen, including those that represent subcontract services such as plating, painting, and heat-treating. The MRP screen, on the other hand, is confined to the planning of stock items only. Convert & Ignore Checkboxes Within the selection grid in the main portion of the screen, you can change the Qty on any given item. Select the Convert checkbox for any item you wish to purchase. If you wish to select the entire list, click the Select All button. You can use this screen more than once if you wish to make multiple purchases for a job at different times. If you select the Ignore checkbox against an item, however, that item will not reappear on the list again. Converting PO’s When your entries are completed, you have two options for creating PO’s. Click the Convert button if you wish to generate the PO’s and print them later. Click the Convert & Print button if you wish to print or e-mail PO’s immediately. In either case, you will be prompted to select a PO Type prior to the creation of each PO. Your default PO Type will automatically be selected, but can be overridden. After PO’s are created, you are taken to the opening List of the Purchase Orders screen, should you wish to make further entries to the new purchase orders.

5-10. Step 4 – Generate PO’s for Net Demand


5-10. Step 4 – Generate PO’s for Net Demand The final step in the MRP process is to generate and convert PO’s for your purchased items that are not designated as Purchase-to-Order items. The MRP planned PO generation responds to overall net demand for each item rather than to individual jobs and orders, and does so relative to stock on hand, planned stocking levels, and minimum order quantities.

Generating planned PO’s (MRP – MRP – Generate Button) To generate planned PO’s for items that are not Make-to-Order items, click the Generate button on the MRP screen, which displays the MRP Generation Options window. Select the Generate Planned PO’s radio button and click OK. You will now see the Generate Planned PO’s selection screen displayed, which contains the following selection options.

Planning Period The MRP generation assesses total current and projected demand and supply within a planning period. This planning period varies for each item and consists of the item’s Lead Days plus the number of extra Days specified in the Lead Days + _____ Days field. The Days entered in this field should be equal to or greater than the interval days between MRP runs. For example, if you run MRP once every three days, the Days entry should be ‘3’ or greater so that this interval is included in the planning period. If you are a conservative planner and wish to have a safety factor, you could add a few more days to the planning period. So, in our example above, rather than set the Days to ‘3’ to cover the interval between MRP runs, you could set it to ‘6’ days to cover the interval and add a little extra safety margin.



The purpose of the planning period is to limit the MRP generation so that it only focuses on items that need attention now. Any demand for an item that falls outside of its planning period can safely be ignored and dealt with later. Items that can be manufactured or replenished quickly are automatically assigned short planning periods and don’t get included in the MRP generation until close to their required dates. This keeps inventory to a minimum and reduces the number of MRP items to be analyzed. On the other hand, items with longer lead-times, such as those that have to be imported from overseas, are automatically assigned longer planning periods.

Item ID You can limit the generation one or a range of stock items, if you wish. You may have some Purchase-to-Order items that you wish to include in the general MRP generation rather than generate directly from job lines. If so, select the Include Purchase-to-Order Items checkbox.

Item Category You can limit the generation to selected item categories, if you wish.

Generate Button Once your selections are completed, click the Generate button. After you are informed that the generation was successfully completed, click the Close button and you will see your planned PO’s listed on the Planned PO’s sub-tab of the MRP screen.



How the MRP generation works Each manufactured item within the selection range is processed one at a time and goes through the following four steps.

1. Establish the item’s planning period First, the program establishes the planning period for the item, which is the sum of the item’s Lead Days setting (from the MRP Settings screen) plus the extra days specified in the Lead Days + ____ Days field on the Generate Planned Jobs selection screen.

2. Calculate net demand within the planning period The total supply within the item’s planning period is comprised of:

• Stock on Hand • Purchase Orders • Planned PO’s

The total demand within the item’s planning period is comprised of:

• Sales Orders • Job Inputs

The difference between total supply and total demand is the Net Demand for the item.

3. Generate the planned PO, if required • If Net Demand is zero or less, a planned PO will not be generated. If Net Demand is greater than zero, it is then compared with the item’s Reorder Level (from the MRP Settings screen).

• If Net Demand is equal to or greater than the Reorder Level, a planned PO will be generated with a Plan Qty equal to the Net Demand. If that amount is less than the item’s Min Order amount (from the MRP Settings screen), the Min Order amount will be used as the Plan Qty.

• If Net Demand is less than the Reorder Level, a planned PO will be generated with a Plan Qty equal to the Net Demand plus the difference between Net Demand and the Reorder Level. If that amount is less than the item’s Min Order amount, the Min Order amount will be used as the Plan Qty.

4. Establish the Required Date • The planned PO’s Required date will be set equal to the earliest demand

date within the item’s planning period.



Planned PO’s Screen (MRP – MRP – Planned PO’s Tab)

Field Explanations Item ID This is the Item to be purchased. Only stock items are given planned PO’s in the MRP screen. Use the Buy-for-Job screen to generate PO’s from jobs for non-stock descriptors and freeform lines.

Convert This checkbox is selected after you have reviewed the planned PO. It indicates that the planned PO been accepted, edited (if needed), and is ready for conversion into an actual PO.

Description The item’s Description is displayed in this field, for reference purposes. The Description occupies a good deal of width on the screen that obscures some of the fields to the right. You can clear the Display Description checkbox in the upper panel to suppress the Description and make more fields visible.

UM The item’s unit of measure is displayed in this field, for reference purposes. If you clear the Display Description checkbox in the upper panel, this field becomes invisible.

Plan Qty The Plan Qty is equal to the amount required to satisfy net demand within the item’s planning period or the item’s Reorder Level, whichever is greater. If that quantity is less than the item’s Min Order quantity, the Plan Qty will be made equal to the Min Order quantity. This field is for reference only and cannot be modified.



Required This date is equal to the earliest demand date within the items’ planning period when projected stock goes negative. If projected stock does not go negative, this date is forward scheduled from today’s date by the number of Lead Days specified, rounding up to the nearest valid workday on the shop calendar. Normally, this date is left as is, but can be changed, if you wish.

PO Qty This is the quantity you wish to purchase for this item. The MRP generation automatically sets this amount equal to the Plan Qty, but you can change it, if you wish. You may, for example, wish to purchase an extra amount for stock.

Lead Days This is the number of days typically required to get this item from the supplier. This field automatically displays the item’s Lead Days setting maintained in the MRP – MRP Settings screen. It can be changed, if you wish.

Order Date The Order date is scheduled backward from the PO Due Date by the number of Lead Days specified. If this date falls on a non-workday defined on the shop calendar, the program will count continue scheduling backwards until it finds the first available workday.

NOTE: If backward scheduling causes this date to be earlier than today’s date, today’s date is used as the Order Date because it is not physically possible to place an order earlier than today.

PO Due Date When possible, the MRP generation automatically sets the PO Due Date equal to the Required Date, but it can be changed, if you wish. You may, for example, wish to receive the items a couple of days earlier than its Required Date, as a safety factor.

NOTE: If this date causes the Order Date to be earlier than today’s date, the planned PO will be forward scheduled from today’s date by the number of Lead Days specified, rounding up to the nearest valid workday on the shop calendar. This may cause the PO Due Date to be later than its Required date (see Days Late field).

Days Late If the Due Date is later than the Required date, the interval number of calendar days between the two dates is displayed in this field. This alerts you to the fact that you must move out the Required date of the Pegged to job or sales order or arrange to expedite this item fro your supplier.

Pegged to This field, which cannot be modified, displays the job or sales order number that has the earliest required date within the planning period when projected stock goes negative. If projected stock goes negative in association with a forecast, ‘Forecast’ displays in this field. If the planned PO is generated to replenish the



item’s Reorder Level and there are no demand items within the planning period, “To-Stock’ will display in this field.

PTO If this item is designated as a PTO (Purchase-to-Order) item in the MRP – MRP Settings screen, this checkbox is selected. This is for reference purposes only.

Supplier The Default Supplier from the Stock Items screen is automatically selected by the MRP generation, but you can select a different supplier, if you wish.

Drill-Down Tab To the right of the Planned PO’s sub-tab is the Drill-Down sub-tab. On the Drill-Down screen, you can view all the supply and demand detail that resulted in the planned PO generation.

To view the drill-down detail on any item, highlight its planned PO line and click the Drill-Down sub-tab. Alternatively, double-click on any planned PO line and it will launch the Drill-Down screen for the item. Projected Tab On the Projected sub-tab within the Drill-Down screen, you see item’s Current Stock on-hand in the upper panel, and in the rid you see all supply and demand for the item within the planning period, in date order. If you have not yet made any changes to the generated Plan Qty and/pr Order Date and PO Due Date settings, you will notice two aspects in the supply and demand listing.

• Because it is tied to the earliest demand date within the planning period when projected stock goes negative (when possible – see next), you will see your planned PO adjacent to the job or sales order associated with that demand date.



• If the planned PO could not be backward scheduled from that demand date because it would have to be ordered earlier than today’s date, which is not possible, the planned PO is forward scheduled from today’s date. When this happens, you will notice that projected stock goes negative prior to the planned PO’s due date.

• The Available Qty column shows you a projected stock on-hand quantity by date. On the last item in the list, the Available Qty is normally equal to or greater than the item’s Reorder Level. This is because MRP replenishes stock within the planning period at least up your desired stocking level. When this amount is greater than the item’s Reorder Level, it is because the item has a Min Order setting that pushed replenishment beyond your minimum stocking level.

Summary Tab On the Summary sub-tab within the Drill-Down screen, you see the item’s MRP settings and a summary of the amounts by transaction type that comprise the Available Qty as of the end of the item’s planning period. Reset Planning Period At the bottom of the Drill-Down screen is the Reset Planning Period button. If you wish to view additional supply and demand detail beyond the planning period that was used in the MRP generation, you can click this button and change the planning period that governs the contents of the Drill-Down screen. On a critical item, for example, you may want to look out a week or two beyond the MRP planning period to see if there are any unusual requirements on the horizon.

NOTE: Changing the Planning Period will display additional detail for reference purposes, but it has no effect on the planned jobs that have already been generated.

Adjusting item MRP settings While you are planning your PO’s, you may wish to adjust various item MRP settings such as Reorder Level and Min Order. You can do so without leaving the screen by clicking the MRP Setting button while you have a planned job highlighted. This automatically launches the MRP Settings screen and highlights the current item. Once you close the MRP Settings screen, you are returned to the Planned PO’s screen.

Creating new planned PO’s from scratch There may be times when you want to create a planned PO from scratch. To create a new planned PO, while in the Planned PO’s screen, click the New Line button. You can then select an Item ID, enter the Order Qty, Lead Days, and PO Due Date.



Converting planned PO’s into actual PO’s Convert Checkbox Once you have reviewed and finalized the Order Qty, Order Date, and PO Due Date settings for each planned PO, select its Convert checkbox. This lets you know that you have completed your planning for that PO. Convert Button After you have completed your planning and all your planned PO’s have their Convert checkbox selected, click the Convert button, which launches the Convert Planned PO’s screen.

Accept the default PO Type or make another selection. If you wish to group all items designated for a supplier on a single PO, select the One PO per Supplier radio button. If you want each item on its own separate PO, select the One PO for each item radio button. After your settings are completed, click OK and the actual PO’s will be created.

5. Scheduling & Converting Planned Jobs


5-11. Scheduling & Converting Planned Jobs Job scheduling occurs within steps 2 and 3 of the MRP process. Because job scheduling is so fundamentally important to the manufacturing process, we’ve given it its own chapter. In this chapter we cover the following topics:

• Using the Planned Jobs screen • How job scheduling works • Manual Job Days entry • Using the Job Days Calculator • Using the Drill-Down screen • Changing item MRP settings • Converting planned jobs into actual jobs • Multi-level generation of lower-level subassemblies • Job scheduling tips

5-12. Planned Jobs Screen


5-12. Planned Jobs Screen (MRP – MRP – Planned Jobs Tab)

The records listed on this screen were generated either in step 2 of the MRP process (generating planned jobs for Make-to-Order items) or in step 3 (generating planned jobs for manufactured items).

Field Explanations – Main Grid Item ID This is the Item to be manufactured. Only stock items with a setting of ‘M’ for Manufactured receive planned jobs. The item is not required to have a bill of material; however, when you convert a planned job for an item that does not a BOM, you will receive a warning that a BOM does not exist.

Convert This checkbox is selected after you have scheduled the job (see next section). It indicates that the planned job has been accepted, scheduled, and is ready for conversion into a live job.

Description The item’s Description is displayed in this field, for reference purposes. The Description occupies a good deal of width on the screen that obscures some of the fields to the right. You can clear the Display Description checkbox in the upper panel to suppress the Description and make more fields visible.

UM The item’s unit of measure is displayed in this field, for reference purposes. If you clear the Display Description checkbox in the upper panel, this field becomes invisible.



Plan Qty If the planned job is generated from a sales order line, this quantity is the sales order line item order Qty. If the item is a Make-to-Order item needed as a subassembly for another job, the Plan Qty is the amount needed just for that job. Otherwise, the Plan Qty is equal to the amount required to satisfy net demand within the item’s planning period or the item’s Reorder Level, whichever is greater. If that quantity is less than the item’s Min Order quantity, the Plan Qty will be made equal to the Min Order quantity. This field is for reference only and cannot be modified.

Required This is the planned job’s Required date, which flows through to the job header when the planned job is converted into a live job. The following are the possible sources for this date:

• If the planned job is generated from a sales order line, this date is equal to the Required Date maintained within the sales order line.

• If the planned job is generated for a Make-to-Order item that is a subassembly in a higher-level job, the higher-level job’s Start Date is used as its Required date. If the higher-level job has an Overlap setting, this job’s Required date is equal to the higher-level job’s Start Date plus the number of Overlap days forward, skipping over non-workdays defined on the shop calendar.

• If the planned job is generated against net demand, the Required date is the earliest demand date within the item’s planning period when projected stock goes negative. If projected stock does not go negative, which can happen when replenishing stock levels, the planned job is forward scheduled from today’s date and this date is set equal to the planned job’s Finish Date.

Date Type Once a planned job is converted to a live job, its Required may or may not be subject to change, depending on its Date Type. Three settings are used.

Linked If this job is formally linked to a sales order line item or a higher-level job, its Date Type is set to ‘Linked’. If the sales order or higher-level job’s required date changes, the Job Scheduling screen will change this job’s Required Date as well in order to keep dates aligned with one another.

Floating If this job was created in response to net demand, its Date Type is set to ‘Floating’. Each time the Job Scheduling screen is accessed, the program will recalculate this job’s Required Date based on the earliest date within the output item’s planning period when projected stock goes negative.



Fixed If you want the job’s Required Date to stay fixed, regardless of changing requirements elsewhere, you can manually set the Date Type to ‘Fixed’. When you do so, the Job Scheduling screen will not attempt to reschedule the job’s Required Date.

Job Qty This is the quantity you wish to manufacture for this item. The MRP generation automatically sets this amount equal to the Plan Qty, but you can change it, if you wish. You may, for example, wish to make an extra amount for stock.

Job Start The Job Start date is scheduled backward from the Job Finish date by the number of Job Days (located in the lower panel) plus any non-workdays such as weekends and holidays (as defined on the shop calendar). If backward scheduling causes the Job Start date less the items’ Lead Days to be earlier than today’s date, which is not physically possible, the planned job will be forward scheduled from today’s date. The Lead Days will be added to today’s date to establish the Job Start date, rounded up to the nearest valid workday on the shop calendar. The Job Days specified will be added to the Job Start date to establish the Job Finish date, rounded up to the nearest valid workday on the shop calendar.

Job Finish The MRP generation automatically sets the Job Finish date equal to the Required date (when possible), but it can be changed, if you wish. You may, for example, wish to complete the job a couple of days earlier than its Required date, as a safety factor. If setting the Job Finish date equal to the Required date causes the Job Start date less the items’ Lead Days to be earlier than today’s date, which is not physically possible, the planned job will be forward scheduled from today’s date. The Lead Days will be added to today’s date to establish the Job Start date, rounded up to the nearest valid workday on the shop calendar. The Job Days specified will be added to the Job Start date to establish the Job Finish date, rounded up to the nearest valid workday on the shop calendar.

Days Late If the Job Finish date is later than its Required date, the interval number of calendar days between the two dates is displayed in this field. This alerts you to the fact that you must either move the Required date out or expedite the job schedule (perhaps by working overtime) to meet the Required date.

Pegged to This field, which cannot be modified, displays the following information:

• If the planned job is generated directly from a sales order line, the sales order number is displayed in this field.



• If the planned job is generated for a Make-to-Order item that is a subassembly within a higher-level job, that higher-level job number is displayed in this field.

• If the planned job is generated from net demand, this is the number of the job or sales order with the earliest required date within the planning period when projected stock goes negative. If this demand date is associated with a forecast, ‘Forecast’ will display in this field.

• If the planned job is generated to replenish the item’s Reorder Level and there are no demand items within the planning period where projected stock goes negative, “To-Stock’ will display in this field.

MTO MTO is an abbreviation for Make-to-Order. If the planned job is generated from a sales order line or is a Make-to-Order item generated as a subassembly from a higher-level job, this checkbox is selected, for reference purposes only. It cannot be modified.

Field Explanations – Lower Panel Job Days This is the number of production days anticipated to complete the job from start to finish. It includes setup hours, labor hours, turnaround time for subcontract services, move time between work centers, waiting time at the work center, and safety buffers. The Job Days does not include non-working days such as weekends and holidays (as defined on the shop calendar). This field automatically displays the item’s Job Days setting maintained in the MRP – MRP Settings screen. It can be manually overridden or you can click the button in the field to bring up the Job Days Calculator, which will generate the Job Days for you (if your BOM has a routing). See chapter 5-13, Scheduling Planned Jobs, for more information.

Lead Days This setting is maintained in the MRP – MRP Settings screen and is the number of days it normally takes before you can begin a job for this item.

Overlap Days This field is only visible if the Use Overlap checkbox is selected in the MRP & Scheduling Defaults screen. If this is a Make-to-Order job linked to a higher level job and that job has an Overlap setting, its value is displayed in the field, which cannot be edited. This job’s Required Date is equal to the higher level job’s Start Date, plus Overlap Days forward, skipping over any non-valid workdays defined on the shop calendar.



Method The item’s default bill of material Method is automatically displayed in this field. If for some reason you wish to use a Method other than the default Method, you can select an alternate Method from the lookup.

5-13. Scheduling Planned Jobs


5-13. Scheduling Planned Jobs (MRP – MRP – Planned Jobs Tab)

How job scheduling works Planned jobs are dynamically scheduled before they are converted to actual jobs. In doing so, MRP and job scheduling are blended into a single function. Job scheduling is based around the Job Days setting, which can be manually entered or automatically calculated based on current work center settings. The Job Days is the number of production days anticipated to complete the job from start to finish. It includes setup hours, labor hours, turnaround time for subcontract services, move time between work centers, waiting time at the work center, and safety buffers. The Job Days does not include non-working days such as weekends and holidays (as defined on the shop calendar). Planned jobs are normally backward scheduled The program will then take the Job Finish date, which is normally equal to the Required Date (the promise date given to the customer or the start date of a higher-level job – less Overlap) and will count days backwards by the number of Job Days plus any non-workdays such as weekends and holidays (as defined on the shop calendar) to establish the Job Start date. Planned jobs are forward scheduled when necessary If setting the Job Finish date equal to the Required date causes the Job Start date less the items’ Lead Days to be earlier than today’s date, which is not physically possible, the planned job will be forward scheduled from today’s date. The Lead Days will be added to today’s date to establish the Job Start date, rounded up to the nearest valid workday on the shop calendar. The Job Days specified will be added to the Job Start date to establish the Job Finish date, rounded up to the nearest valid workday on the shop calendar. When this is the case, the job will not be completed in time to meet its Required date. You must therefore either move the Required date out or arrange to expedite the job schedule, perhaps by working overtime. Once the job is scheduled, select the Convert checkbox Once the Job Start and Job Finish dates are to your satisfaction, you select the planned job’s Convert checkbox and move on to schedule the next planned job. Job scheduling is a process that aligns your required dates with realistic production schedules. The key factor is achieving realistic production schedules is the Job Days amount, which can be manually entered or automatically generated by the Job Days Calculator.



Job Days – Manual Entry If you do not use routings in your bills of material or if your routings do not contain reasonably accurate setup hours and production rates, you must manually enter the Job Days amount. Enter the Job Days field based on your best guess as to how many days the job will require to get through the factory from start through completion. Do not include weekends or holidays in the Job Days amount. If your products have consistently predictable production times, you can assign each item a default Job Days amount in the MRP – MRP Settings screen, which will automatically flow into your planned jobs. You can then accept the default Job Days amount or override it for any exceptions.

Job Days Calculator If you use routings and they contain reasonably accurate setup hours and labor rates, you can use the Job Days Calculator to generate the planned job’s Job Days amount for you. To activate the Job Days Calculator, click the button in the Job Days field, which brings up the Job Days Calculator screen.

In the upper panel you will see the Calculated Job Days field, which is the grand total of the individual Job Days amounts calculated for each routing sequence. This amount is repeated in the Job Days entry field, which you can accept or override if you wish to round or change the calculated amount. When you click the Close button, the Job Days amount is inserted into the planned job’s Job Days field.

Field Explanations – Main Grid Seq-Stage This field identifies the routing sequence, also referred to as a “stage.”



Work Center This is the Work Center within which this Seq-Stage will be performed.

Job Days This represents the total estimated Job Days that will be required to complete this Seq-Stage. It is the sum of the following fields: Setup Days, Labor Days, Days Next, Queue, and Buffer.

Setup Days This is the estimated setup time for this Seq-Stage, translated from hours into job days, based on this work center’s daily capacity. The formula used is:

Setup Hours / Job Hours/Day

Labor Days This is the estimated labor time for this Seq-Stage, translated from hours into job days, based on this work center’s daily capacity. The formula used is:

(Make Qty x Time/Proc x Items/Proc) / Job Hrs/Day

Days Next This is the Days to Next setting from the item’s routing. It is the number of workdays that occurs between the completion of this routing sequence and the start of the next sequence, apart from and not including the setup and labor time involved in this routing sequence. For example, a painted part might require 3-days of drying time or a part might need a day or two to get from work center to the next. This can also be a negative number for situations where parts produced on one routing sequence can be started in the next sequence without having to wait for the entire run to be completed before doing so. In scheduling terms this is referred to as “overlap.” For subcontract services, Days to Next refers to the number of days it takes to get the parts sent out, completed, and received back from the supplier.

Queue This is the Queue Days setting maintained in this Work Center. It represents the estimated number of days an item must wait in this work center before production can begin. Typically, this field is only used with “bottleneck” work centers where there is a finite capacity associated with a machine or some other physical constraint that limits production to a set amount each day.

Buffer This is the Buffer Days setting maintained in this Work Center. It enables you to add in a safety buffer to the job schedule to account for the unforeseen delays common to manufacturing environments – such as machinery repairs, worker or material unavailability, unexpected rework, etc.



Field Explanations – Lower Panel Job Hrs/Day This is the Job Hours/Day setting maintained in this Work Center. It represents the maximum number of hours that can be allocated to any given job per day. Estimated setup and labor hours are divided by the Job Hours / Day to translate hours into job days as part of the overall Job Days calculation for the item.

Setup Hrs This is the Setup Hours value maintained in the item’s routing. It represents the total estimated setup time for this Seq-Stage, expressed in decimal hours.

Time/Proc This is the Time / Process value maintained in the item’s routing, translated into decimal hours. Production is expressed in terms of ‘processes’. A process can be an assembly operation, a hit from a punch press, a mold cycle, etc. A process can produce a single part or many parts at a time.

Items/Proc This is the Items/Process value maintained in the item’s routing. It represents the number of parts produced per process. The Time/Process is multiplied by the Items/Proc to determine how much time is required to make a single part.

Labor Hours This is the total estimated labor hours for this Seq-Stage, which is calculated using this formula: Make Qty x Time/Proc x Items/Proc

Drill-Down Tab To the right of the Planned Jobs sub-tab is the Drill-Down sub-tab. On the Drill-Down screen, you can view all the supply and demand detail that resulted in the planned job generation.



To view the drill-down detail on any item, highlight its planned job line and click the Drill-Down sub-tab. Alternatively, double-click on any planned job line and it will launch the Drill-Down screen for the item. Projected Tab On the Projected sub-tab within the Drill-Down screen, you see item’s Current Stock on-hand in the upper panel, and in the grid you see all supply and demand for the item within the planning period, in date order. If you have not yet made any changes to the generated Plan Qty and/pr Job Start and Job Finish settings, you will notice two aspects in the supply and demand listing.

• Because it is tied to the earliest demand date within the planning period, you will see your planned job at or near the top of the list.

• The Available Qty column shows you a projected stock on-hand quantity by date. On the last item in the list, the Available Qty is normally equal to or greater than the item’s Reorder Level. This is because MRP replenishes stock within the planning period at least up to your desired stocking level. When this amount is greater than the item’s Reorder Level, it is because the item has a Min Order setting that pushed replenishment beyond your minimum stocking level.

Summary Tab On the Summary sub-tab within the Drill-Down screen, you see the item’s MRP settings and a summary of the amounts by transaction type that comprise the Available Qty as of the end of the item’s planning period. Reset Planning Period At the bottom of the Drill-Down screen is the Reset Planning Period button. If you wish to see additional supply and demand detail beyond the planning period that was used in the MRP generation, you can click this button and change the planning period that governs the contents of the Drill-Down screen. On a critical item, for example, you may wish to look out a week or two beyond the MRP planning period to see if there are any unusual requirements on the horizon.

NOTE: Changing the Planning Period will display additional detail for reference purposes, but it has no effect on the planned jobs that have already been generated.

Adjusting item MRP settings While you are planning your jobs, you may wish to adjust various item MRP settings such as Reorder Level and Min Order. You can do so without leaving the screen by clicking the MRP Setting button while you have a planned job highlighted. This automatically launches the MRP



Settings screen and highlights the current item. Once you close the MRP Settings screen, you are returned to the Planned Jobs screen.

Creating new planned jobs from scratch There may be times when you wish to create a planned job from scratch. You may, for example, wish to split one planned job into two jobs. You could reduce the quantity on the original planned job, and then create a new planned job for the remaining quantity. To create a new planned job, while in the Planned Jobs screen, click the New Line button. You can then select an Item ID, enter the Job Qty and Required Date, then schedule the job back from its Job Finish date using the Job Days setting.

5-14. Converting Planned Jobs into Actual Jobs


5-14. Converting Planned Jobs into Actual Jobs (MRP – MRP – Planned Jobs Tab) Convert Checkbox Once you finalize the Job Qty, Job Start, and Job Finish settings for each planned job, select its Convert checkbox. This lets you know that you have completed your planning and scheduling for that job. Convert Button After you have completed your planning and all your planned jobs have their Convert checkbox selected, click the Convert button, which launches the Convert Planned Jobs screen.

IMPORTANT: Always complete the planning and scheduling process for all your planned jobs and then convert them in a single batch. If you convert jobs one at a time, planned jobs for lower-level subassemblies could end up fragmented rather than consolidate into single jobs.

In the Convert Planned Jobs screen are listed all the planned jobs marked for conversion. It gives you one last opportunity to review the list. If for any reason you do not wish to proceed with converting any particular job, you can clear its Convert checkbox. Once the list of jobs is to your satisfaction, click the Convert button and the jobs will be converted into actual Make Jobs.

NOTE: If any item does not have a bill of material, you will receive a warning and are asked if you wish to create the job anyway. If you proceed, a job will be created without any details.

When the conversion is completed, you will receive one of two messages.

• If the newly created jobs contain subassemblies for which there is already sufficient supply within each item’s planning period, you will be notified that the planned jobs were successfully converted.



• If the newly created jobs contain subassemblies that require planned jobs of their own, you will be notified that the program has automatically created additional planned jobs for lower-level subassemblies. In this case, you must schedule and convert another round of planned jobs. See the next section for details.

Multi-Level Generation When the program finishes converting planned jobs into actual jobs, it automatically generates additional planned jobs, when applicable, for subassemblies within the newly created jobs. The dates for this second round of planned jobs are scheduled back from the job start dates of the previous set of jobs. Planned job generation for lower-level subassemblies varies depending on the subassembly item’s Make-to-Order setting.

• If the subassembly is a Make-to-Order item, MRP will generate a planned job solely for the amount required on the originating job. Existing stock and other requirements are not taken into account. On the Planned Jobs screen, all planned jobs generated in this manner have their MTO checkbox selected.

• If the subassembly is not a Make-to-Order item, MRP will generate a planned job on an as-needed basis, based on net demand within the planning period in relation to the desired stocking level and minimum order quantity.

When you are converting sales order lines Planned job generation from sales order lines ignores net demand and always results on a one-to-one relationship between the required quantity and the job quantity. Net demand is not considered. The same applies for planned jobs that get generated for lower-level subassemblies. Planned jobs will only be generated for Make-to-Order subassembly items and will only be for the amount required. If you have multi-level products where the entire product structure is made to order, set up subassembly items as Make-to-Order items and use the Generate Planned Jobs for SO Lines function to generate jobs for the entire structure. On the other hand, if only the top level item is made to order, use the Generate Planned Jobs for SO Lines function solely for the generation and conversion of your top level jobs. Afterwards, run the Generate Planned Jobs function for your subassemblies, which will be planned in response to net demand. Continue the process through all levels After you convert the additional set of planned jobs for subassembly items, the program will repeat the process and generate another round of planned jobs, if required, for the next level of subassemblies within subassemblies. Each new set of jobs is scheduled back from the start dates of the previous set of jobs, when possible.



NOTE: If backward scheduling causes the planned job’s start date less lead days to be earlier than today’s date, which is not physically possible, the planned job will be forward scheduled from today’s date and will be late in regards to its required date. Your remedy is to move the higher level job’s schedule out or you must expedite this job, perhaps by working overtime, to meet its required date.

This cycle of planned jobs and conversions will continue down through all levels of the product structure until no further subassemblies are encountered. MRP and job scheduling are blended into a single process This level-by-level generation process enables you to dynamically schedule jobs at each level in coordination with their required dates. Thus, it blends MRP and job scheduling into a single process.

5-15. Scheduling Work Centers & Machines


5-15. Scheduling Work Centers & Machines WC scheduling is the key to meeting job schedules MRP generates and schedules jobs at the overall start and finish date level. The next phase of job scheduling occurs daily at the work center and machine level. At this level, scheduling is not about assigning start and finish dates, but about assigning the sort order in which jobs are run. When a job arrives at a work center, it must compete with other jobs that are also be waiting in the work center queue. Deciding which job to run next is they key factor in determining how successful you will be in meeting your overall job schedules. When work center scheduling is done properly, you will always give priority to jobs that are on the tightest schedule. Jobs that are running ahead of schedule have sufficient slack time to wait and be run later. When all your work centers are scheduled in correct priority sequence, they function in harmony. When one work center gets out of synch, however, it can adversely affect the entire factory – especially if it is a bottleneck work center with limited capacity. The old expression “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link” applies fittingly to work center scheduling. The Work Center Scheduling screen is used to prioritize each of your work centers and to produce a daily Work Center Dispatch List that can be used out on the factory floor for work assignments.

Timely job tracking is a requirement In order to use work center scheduling, you must enter items completed and scrapped at each routing sequence. This must be done daily – ideally out on the factory floor at the time sequences are completed, or no later than the end of the day or first thing the next morning. Entering routing sequence completions is done through the Jobs – Job Tracking & Labor screen. You do not have to collect and enter labor hours, which is optional and for job costing purposes. All that is needed for scheduling purposes is for you to enter the items completed and scrapped at each routing sequence. This requires minimal data entry and is well worth the effort.



Work Center Scheduling Screen (MRP – Work Center Scheduling)

The opening List tab displays all your in-house work centers. Subcontract work centers are not included in the list.

Last Printed Each time you print the Work Center Dispatch List, the Last Printed date field will be updated. This enables you to easily see which work centers have been scheduled or not, which is usually done on a daily basis. Highlight the work center you wish to schedule and than click the Schedule tab.

Schedule Tab – Upper Panel Use the upper panel to select and filter the jobs that will be listed in the scheduling grid. You can also change work center scheduling settings. Field explanations are as follows:

Work Center & Description The current Work Center and its Description are listed at the top of the screen for reference purposes.

Job Hours / Day This is the maximum number of hours that can be allocated to any given job per day. Even though a work center may have three machines each running 16 hours a day, for a total capacity of 48 hours, any given job will usually run on only one machine, in which case the maximum Job Hours / Day would be 16. The Setup Hrs and Labor Hrs are divided by this amount to translate them into Job Days for scheduling purposes.

NOTE: Some work centers have, in a sense, almost unlimited capacity, especially assembly and packaging type work centers where there are no



machines involved. With such work centers, sufficient labor can be quickly allocated to the work center on an as needed basis. Where this is the case, assign the work center a relatively high Job Hours / Day amount. For example, if you have the ability, when needed, to put as many as 10 people on a job for an 8-hour shift, give the work center a Job Hours / Day setting of ‘80’.

Total Hours / Day This is the total number of hours available within the work center, including all machines or all workers. For example, if you have three machines, each operating 16 hours a day, the Total Hours / Day is 48. The total Queue Hours are divided by this amount to translate them into Calculated Queue Days.

Buffer Days This is an optional setting that is visible if the Use Buffer Days checkbox is selected in the MRP & Scheduling Defaults screen. The Buffer Days setting enables you to add a safety buffer to the job schedule to account for the unforeseen delays common to manufacturing environments – such as machinery repairs, worker or material unavailability, unexpected rework, etc. The Buffer Days specified here will be added to the calculated Job Days for each routing sequence assigned to this work center.

Queue Hours This is the total remaining Setup Hrs and Labor Hrs for all routing Seq-Stages that have a Status of ‘Next’ or ‘Started’. This represents the approximate time a job arriving at the work center must wait before production on it can begin.

Calculated Queue Days This field is only visible when the Use Queue Days checkbox is selected in the MRP & Scheduling Defaults screen. This field is for reference only. The Queue Hours are divided by the Total Hours / Day to translate them into Calculated Queue Days. This represents the approximate number of days a job arriving at the work center must wait before production on it can begin.

Queue Days This is an optional setting that is visible if the Use Queue Days checkbox is selected in the MRP & Scheduling Defaults screen. The Queue Days represents the approximate number of days a job arriving at the work center must wait before production on it can begin. When the Job Days Calculator is used in MRP to schedule new jobs, this number of days is added to each routing sequence assigned to this work center. You can use the Calculated Queue Days as a reference to help establish this setting.

NOTE: Only use this setting with “bottleneck” work centers where there is a finite capacity associated with a machine or some other physical constraint that limits production to a set amount each day.



Machines This screen is also used to schedule specific Machines within the work center. If you select ‘All’, all job Seq-Stages are displayed, including those already assigned to machines and those that are still un-assigned. You can then finish making machine assignments or you can re-assign machines. If you select ‘None’, only routing Seq-Stages that do not have machine assignments are displayed.

Next, Started, Open You can filter the contents of the scheduling grid below by selecting or clearing these checkboxes, which pertain to the current Status of each routing Seq-Stage. Normally, ‘Open’ status seq-stages are excluded from the list because their jobs have not yet been started in the work center previous to this one and therefore have no direct scheduling relevance to this work center.

Display Job Name If you wish to see the Job Name displayed in the scheduling grid, select this checkbox.

Scheduling Grid In the scheduling grid are listed the job routing sequences that you have selected. Use this grid to assign the sort order of production. Once the sort order is determined, you print the Work Center Dispatch List, which is sent to the factory floor and is used for work assignments. Field explanations are as follows.

Sort No Each time this screen is launched, the jobs in the scheduling grid are sorted in Critical Ratio order (see next field) and are assigned a sequential Sort No in this field in ascending increments of 10. If you wish to change the sort order – such as to put a rush job at the top of the list, do so by changing the Sort No value.



For example, if you give a job a Sort No of ‘1’ and then re-sort the column by clicking the Sort No column heading, that job will be sorted at the top of the list.

C-Ratio This is an abbreviation for Critical Ratio. This ratio tells you whether a job is running ahead of or behind schedule, using the following formula.

Available workdays to job finish date / remaining job days A job with a critical ratio of ‘1’ is running exactly on time. Any job with a critical ratio less than ‘1’ is running late, and any with a critical ration greater than ‘1’ is running ahead of schedule.

Therefore, whenever possible, always run jobs in critical ratio order, from lowest to highest.

If you follow this guideline, you will avoid needlessly working on jobs that have plenty of time to be done later and you will be focusing on the jobs that need attention the most. Schedule the entire factory in this manner and more jobs will get completed on time with fewer bottlenecks and less expediting. Obviously there are exceptions to any rule – such as the unexpected rush order from a key customer that has to take priority – but whenever you can, use the critical ratio so that your work centers work in harmony rather than against each other.

FORMULA DETAIL: The number of workdays to the job finish date is calculated by taking the number of days from today’s date to the job’s scheduled Finish Date and subtracting any non-workdays within that interval (as defined in the shop calendar). The remaining job days for each Seq-Stage is calculated as follows: Job Days + Days to Next + Rem Job Days.

Job No The job number associated with this routing Seq-Stage.

Job Name This field is only visible if the Display Job Name checkbox in the upper panel is selected.

Seq-Stage This is the routing Seq-Stage assigned to this work center.

Status This is the current Status of this Seq-Stage. Values can be ‘Next’, ‘Started’, or ‘Open’. Seq-Stages with a Status of ‘Closed’ are excluded from the list.

Rem Qty This is the remaining quantity to be made within this Seq-Stage. It is calculated by this formula:

Start Qty – Completed Qty – Scrapped Qty = Remaining Qty



Setup Hrs This amount represents the remaining Setup Hours required for this Seq-Stage. If the Status is ‘Started’, this amount is zero. If the status is ‘Next’ or ‘Open’, this amount is calculated using this formula:

Planned Setup Hours – Actual Setup Hrs = remaining Setup Hrs If the result is negative, this amount will be set to zero.

Labor Hrs This amount represents the remaining Labor Hours required to complete this Seq-Stage and is calculated using this formula:

Rem Qty x Time/Proc x Items/Proc = remaining Labor Hrs

Print All lines that have this checkbox selected will be included on the Work Center Dispatch List. If you wish to exclude a job from the dispatch list, clear this checkbox.

Machine This is the Machine currently assigned to this Seq-Stage. If blank, a machine has not yet been assigned. You can assign a machine or change a machine assignment by selecting a machine from the lookup.

Queue Hrs This field is only populated if this Seq-Stage has a Status of ‘Next’ or ‘Started’ and uses this formula.

Setup Hrs + Job Hours = Queue Hrs

Lower Panel Seq Job Days This is the estimated number of Job Days required to complete the remaining setup and labor in this Seq-Stage. It is used as a variable in the Critical Ratio formula and is calculated as follows:

(Setup Hrs + Labor Hrs) / Job Hours/Day = Job Days

Days to Next This field display the Days to Next setting in this Seq-Stage. It is used as a variable in the Critical Ratio formula.

Rem Job Days This field displays the estimated Job Days required to complete all remaining Seq-Stages that follow this Seq-Stage. It is used as a variable in the Critical Ratio formula. This amount is determined using the Job Days Calculator, limited to remaining Seq-Stages. To view the Job Days Calculator screen, click the button in this field.



Job Finish Date The job’s current Finish Date, which is used as a variable in the Critical Ratio formula.

Linking to the Job Scheduling screen While you are in the Work Center Scheduling screen, you will occasionally wish to reschedule an existing, perhaps because its Critical Ratio is sufficiently below ‘1’ that you know the job cannot physically be finished on time. When this is the case, you can click the Schedule Job button to launch the Job Scheduling screen (see next chapter). When you do so, the current job will be selected. After you reschedule the job and perhaps also the sales order or higher-level job to which it is linked, you can close the screen and you will be returned to this screen.

Printing the Work Center Dispatch List The ultimate purpose for using the Work Center Scheduling screen is to produce the Work Center Dispatch List, which is sent daily to the shop floor and is used for work assignments. When the scheduling grid is sorted to your satisfaction and final Print checkbox selections are made, click the Dispatch List button to print the dispatch list. Each time you do so, the Last Printed field in the List tab will be updated with today’s date. The report provides a list by Work Center of the jobs to be run and their sort order. The Machine column displays each job’s machine assignment, if applicable.

5-16. Rescheduling Existing Jobs


5-16. Rescheduling Existing Jobs (MRP – Job Scheduling)

MRP generates and schedules jobs in response to customer orders and net demand. Once jobs are created, however, their schedules often change, for a variety of reasons:

• Rush jobs are inserted into the schedule for key customers • Equipment breaks down • Key employees are ill and you are short-handed • A supplier fails to deliver material on time • Items are made improperly and have to be reworked • A supplier delivers defective items or material • The factory suffers a power outage • Customers reschedule or cancel orders

The list is endless. The point being made is that the manufacturing environment is one of constant and unpredictable change. The Job Scheduling screen is designed to help you reschedule jobs in response to changes such as those listed above.

Upper Panel The settings in the upper panel are used to filter the list of jobs displayed in the grid below it.

Job Status - Released, New Use these checkboxes to filter the list on the Jobs tab to the job’s Status. By default, the ‘Released’ Status is selected.



Job Filter Job scheduling differs depending on whether a job is formally linked to sales order or other jobs or whether a job exists to fulfill net demand. Two checkbox settings are offered:

Linked Jobs Linked Jobs are jobs that are formally linked to sales order line items or to higher-level jobs. This screen reschedules linked job Required Dates so that all dates within the job “chain” remain synchronized.

Net Demand Jobs Net Demand Jobs are jobs that were created to fulfill overall demand. They are not formally linked to specific requirements. This screen reschedules Required Dates in accordance to changes in net demand.

Display Job Name The Job Name field occupies display space and may not be relevant to you, so normally it is not displayed in the grid. If you want the Job Name displayed, select this checkbox.

Limit to Days Early & Days Late This screen reschedules job Required Dates, but does not reschedule the actual job start and finish dates. Changes to job start and finish dates are always done manually. What the screen does is inform you when jobs are early or late in relation to their required dates. With that information, you can decide whether a job is to be moved up or back in the schedule. Using the Days Late and Days Early filters, you can limit the screen just to jobs that are ‘x’ number of days late or ‘x’ number of days early.

Jobs Tab After making your filtering selections in the upper panel, the list of jobs available for rescheduling displays in the main grid. You can click on any of the column headings to resort the screen in different views.

Job No This is the job number that identifies this job.

Status This is the job’s current Status, which can be ‘New’ or ‘Released’. This column is only visible when both the New and Released checkboxes are selected in the upper panel.

Job Name This field is only visible if the Display Job Name checkbox in the upper panel is selected.

Output ID This is the job’s primary output item. If the job has multiple outputs, the primary output is the one with the lowest Line No.



Overlap This field is only visible if the Use Overlap checkbox is selected in the MRP & Scheduling Defaults screen. If a lower-level job is linked to this job, this is the number of days past this job’s Start Date when the subassembly will be required. When there is no Overlap, the Start Date of this job is used as the Required Date for the lower-level job.

Job Start This is the job’s current Start Date. This date can only be changed if the job has not yet been started. If you change this date, the Required dates of all linked jobs in the “chain” are automatically rescheduled.

Job Finish This is the job’s current Finish Date, which can freely be changed as desired.

Required This is the job’s Required Date. This date gets rescheduled based on its Date Type (see next) each time you launch the Job Scheduling screen or each time you make a change to a linked job or sales order.

Date Type The job’s Required Date may or may not be subject to change, depending on its Date Type. Three settings are used, described as follows:

Linked If this job is formally linked to a sales order line item or a higher-level job, its Date Type is set to ‘Linked’. If the sales order or higher-level job’s required date changes, the Job Scheduling screen reschedules this job’s Required Date as well in order to keep dates aligned within the job “chain.”

Floating If this job was created in response to net demand, its Date Type is set to ‘Floating’. The Job Scheduling screen reschedules this job’s Required Date by pegging it to the earliest date within the output item’s planning period when projected stock goes negative.

Fixed If you want the job’s Required Date to stay fixed, regardless of changing requirements elsewhere, you can manually set the Date Type to ‘Fixed’. When you do so, the Job Scheduling screen will not reschedule the job’s Required Date.

Req by If this job is linked to a sales order, the sales order number is displayed in this field. If this job is a Make-to-Order subassembly linked to a higher-level job, the higher level job number id displayed in this field.

Days Late If the Job Finish date or today’s date (whichever is greater) is later than the job’s Required date, this is the difference between the two dates.



Days Early If the Job Finish date or today’s date (whichever is greater) is earlier than the job’s Required date, this is the difference between the two dates.

Lower Panel Output Description This field displays the output item’s Description, for reference purposes.

Method This field stores the bill of material Method that was used to create the job’s routing and line item details. It is only visible if the Methods checkbox is selected in the BOM Defaults screen.

Job Qty This is the original job quantity for the job’s primary output item.

Actual Qty This is the actual quantity of the job’s primary item receipted (finished) to date.

Linked Jobs Tab This sub-tab is visible when the highlighted job has a value in its Req by field. This inquiry screen displays the “chain” of linked jobs, including (where applicable) the sales order that originated the chain (displayed in the upper panel), the job linked to that sales order, and any Make-to-Order subassembly jobs that are formally linked to other jobs within the chain. If a scheduling change is required by any job in the chain, this inquiry shows you the impact that change has on linked jobs so that you can make appropriate changes to linked job schedules.

Net Demand Tab This is identical to the Drill-Down inquiry in the MRP screen and enables you to assess all supply and demand detail for any job output item.

5-17. Rescheduling Existing PO’s


5-17. Rescheduling Existing PO’s (MRP – PO Scheduling)

This screen is used to reschedule purchase order Due Dates in response to changing requirements. Some PO’s are formally linked to jobs whose start dates may have changed, and other PO’s exist to fulfill net demand, which is always subject to change.

Upper Panel The settings in the upper panel are used to filter the list of PO’s displayed in the grid below it.

PO Filter PO scheduling differs depending on whether a PO is formally linked to a jobs or whether a PO exists to fulfill net demand. Two checkbox settings are offered:

Buy-for-Job PO’s These are purchase orders that are formally linked to jobs through the Job No field within each PO line item. This screen reschedules each Buy-for-Job PO’s Required Date so that it is equal to the Start Date of the linked job.

Net Demand PO’s Net Demand PO’s are purchase orders that were created to fulfill overall demand. They are not formally linked to specific requirements. This screen reschedules Required Dates in accordance to changes in net demand.

Display Description The line item Description field occupies significant display space in the grid and can be hidden by clearing this checkbox.



Limit to Days Early & Days Late This screen reschedules purchase order Required Dates, but does not reschedule the actual Due Dates. Changes to purchase order Due Dates are always made manually. What the screen does is inform you when PO’s are early or late in relation to their required dates. With that information, you can decide whether a PO is to be moved up or back in the schedule. Using the Days Late and Days Early filters, you can limit the screen just to PO’s that are ‘x’ number of days late or ‘x’ number of days early.

PO’s Tab After making your filtering selections in the upper panel, the list of PO’s available for rescheduling displays in the main grid. You can click on any of the column headings to resort the screen in different views.

Reference ID This is the PO line item, which can be a stock item, descriptor, or freeform item.

Description This is the line item’s Description. If you clear the Display Description checkbox in the upper panel, this column becomes invisible.

PO No This is the number that identifies this purchase order.

Rem Qty This is the original order quantity less the quantity received to-date.

Required This date is automatically rescheduled each time this screen is launched. In the case of a Buy-for-Job PO, this is the Start Date of the job to which it is linked. In the case of a Net Demand PO, this is the earliest date within the item’s planning period when projected stock goes negative.

Due Date This is the line item’s current Due Date. The program does not reschedule this date. Any changes are made manually as required. If you need to reprint the PO to inform the supplier of date changes, you link to the PO Print/Reprint screen via the Links button.

Job/SO No If the PO line item is formally linked to a job or sales order through its Job No field, that job or sales order number displays in this field.

Days Late If the line item’s Due Date or today’s date (whichever is greater) is later than its Required date, this is the difference between the two dates.



Days Early If the line item’s Due Date or today’s date (whichever is greater) is earlier than its Required date, this is the difference between the two dates.

Net Demand Tab This is identical to the Drill-Down inquiry in the MRP screen and enables you to assess all supply and demand detail for any stock items.

NOTE: This tab will not be visible when descriptor or freeform line items are highlighted.

5-18. Estimating Delivery Dates


5-18. Estimating Delivery Dates An important element in successful job scheduling is to quote realistic delivery dates at the time customer orders are accepted. If you quote overly optimistic dates that can’t be met within the confines of available capacity and resources, all that will be accomplished is to put undue stress on the overall schedule and failure to deliver jobs on time. The Delivery Date Estimator screen is designed to help you quote accurate delivery dates to your customers. You can enter any quantity for any item with a bill of material and the program will calculate the estimated Job Days based on current work center settings and the quantity you wish to make. You can also manipulate the item’s Lead Days setting to determine when the job can be realistically started.

Delivery Date Estimator (MRP – Delivery Date Estimator)

Field explanations are as follows:

BOM Item ID Enter the Item ID of the product for which you wish to quote a delivery date. The product must be defined with a bill of material.

Description The item’s Description is displayed for reference purposes and cannot be edited.

Make Qty Enter the quantity to be made. This affects the Job Days calculation – the larger the quantity, the longer it will take to complete the job.

5-18. Estimating Delivery Dates


Lead Days This comes from the value maintained in the MRP Settings screen, but can be changed here, if desired. If changed here, it does not affect the value in the MRP Settings screen. The Job Start Date is determined by the adding the number of Lead Days to today’s date. If that date falls on a non-valid workday on the shop calendar, the date will be rounded forward to the first available date.

Job Start Date The Job Start Date is determined by the adding the number of Lead Days to today’s date. If that date falls on a non-valid workday on the shop calendar, the date will be rounded forward to the first available date. You can manually change this date, if you wish.

Job Days This is the value maintained in the MRP Settings screen. If you do not create a value in the Calc Job Days field, this value is used as the one displayed in the Est Job Days field (see below).

Calc Job Days If you click the button in this field, the Job Days Calculator screen will display and calculated the job days required based on the quantity being made and current work center and routing settings. When you close the screen, the calculated total displays in the Calc Job Days field. When the Calc Job Days field is given a value, it becomes the one used in the Est Job Days field (see below).

Est Job Days If there is a value in the Calc Job Days field, it is used as the Est Job Days value. If the Calc Job Days field is blank, the Job Days field value is used as the Est Job Days value. The Est Job Days is used to forward schedule the job from the Job Start Date. The program counts forward from the Job Start Date to establish the Est Delivery Date, skipping over any non-valid days on the shop calendar.

Est Delivery Date This is the estimated delivery date, based on the entries and calculations described above. Obviously you can use this date as the promise date to your customer or you can modify it as you see fit.

10. Using Planning Worksheets


5-19. Using Planning Worksheets Planning Worksheet - Items (MRP – Reports – Planning Worksheet – Items) This report provides an alternative to the MRP screen for planners who prefer to do their planning on paper. As with MRP, each item receives its own planning period based on its Lead Days and Job Days settings and any extra days you specify in the selection screen. As with the MRP Drill-Down screen, you can optionally see the supply and demand detail listed within each item’s planning period, and you can see each item’s MRP settings. You have the option of view all or selected sets of items or you can limit the report just to items that require planned jobs or planned PO’s. The advantage to the MRP screen is that you can conveniently convert planned jobs and PO’s into actual jobs and PO’s. When you use the planning worksheet, you must manually enter your planned jobs in the MRP Planned Jobs or Planned PO’s screen and then convert them to actual jobs and PO’s. The other advantage to the MRP screen is that it has a multi-level capability when generating planned jobs, whereas the planning worksheet is for single-level planning. If you are in a single-level environment and you are comfortable using reorder or replenishment style reports for planning, then will find the planning worksheet to be an ideal planning tool.

Planning Worksheet - BOMs (MRP – Reports – Planning Worksheet – BOMs) This planning worksheet provides a “what if” capability that enables you to specify a theoretical manufacturing quantity of any bill of material and see what components are on hand and which ones are short and need to be purchased or manufactured. The report format is identical to the Planning Worksheet – Items report in that you can optionally see the supply and demand detail listed within each item’s planning period, and you can see each item’s MRP settings. You can limit the report just to items that require planned jobs or planned PO’s, and the report can be confined to a single-level or multi-level analysis of the entire product structure.

5-20. Job Scheduling Reports


5-20. Job Scheduling Reports Master Job Schedule (MRP – Reports – Master Job Schedule) This report provides a listing of all your jobs, with the point of reference being the job number and job name. Within each job is listed its scheduled start date, finish date, required date, and customer. A variety of filtering, selection, and sorting options are included.

Job Outputs Schedule (MRP – Reports – Job Outputs Schedule) This report provides a listing of all your jobs, with the point of reference being the primary output item being made on each job. Within each job is listed its scheduled start date, finish date, required date, and customer. A variety of filtering, selection, and sorting options are included.

Work Center Schedule (MRP – Reports – Work Center Schedule) Use this report to get a listing of open routing sequences within each work center. This report gives you a broad overview of all open jobs that eventually will pass through each work center. For a listing of daily job assignments within each work center, we recommend the Work Center Dispatch List (see below).

Machine Schedule (MRP – Reports – Machine Schedule) Use this report to get a listing of open routing sequences scheduled for each machine within a work center. This report gives you a broad overview of all open jobs that eventually will run on the machine. For a listing of daily job assignments for each machine, we recommend the Work Center Dispatch List as the better alternative (see next).

Work Center Dispatch List (MRP – Work Center Scheduling – Dispatch List Button) After you select and prioritize jobs in the Work Center Scheduling screen, you can click the Dispatch List button to print the Work Center Dispatch List, which is sent out to the shop floor for daily job assignments. When applicable, machine assignments are also listed.

5-20. Job Scheduling Reports


Subcontract WC Schedule (MRP – Reports – Subcontract WC Schedule) This report provides a listing of open jobs scheduled for each subcontract work center. Subcontract work centers are used to represent outside processing services such as plating, painting, and heat-treating.

5-21. The 7 Principles of Successful Scheduling


5-21. The 7 Principles of Successful Scheduling Job scheduling is critical to your success Today, job scheduling is critical to your success. Most manufacturers are now part of a supply chain where the success of the chain depends on each link delivering its segment on time. Companies with product lines who can’t efficiently manufacture their own goods outsource their production to others who can. In the age of globalization, eventually all manufacturing will be left to the most efficient producers. If you want to survive as one of those efficient producers, you must learn and apply the principles of good job scheduling to your operation. The results will be well worth the effort. Why ERP scheduling system fail in small companies ERP systems that incorporate finite capacity shop loading and other such scheduling systems have a high failure rate among small manufacturers for two reasons. First, their complexity level – setup, rules, steps, and maintenance – are excessively complex in relation to the needs of a small company. Secondly, their designs are based on the premise that all the data used to generate the schedule are empirically precise, when, in fact, scheduling can never be more than a collection of best-guess estimates -- made within an environment of constant and unpredictable change. Simple is better And no matter how elaborate the scheduling algorithm is, it cannot make what is inherently imprecise – precise. Therefore, you can get equally good results using basic scheduling tools – and keep things simple in the process. The 7 Principles of Successful Scheduling Successful job scheduling fully achievable if you adhere to these seven basic principles:

1. Use routings and work centers 2. Focus on your bottlenecks 3. Assign new jobs realistic dates 4. Leave some slack in the schedule 5. Let each job wait its turn 6. Track completions on a daily basis 7. Run jobs in their correct sequence

DBA provides a set of simple settings and screens that enable you to apply these common sense scheduling principles to your shop. Let’s now discuss each of these principles in order.



1. Use routings and work centers If you have a relatively simple production process and accept the limitations of only scheduling jobs at the overall start and finish date level, you can use the DBA scheduling system without routings and work centers. But if there is any complexity to your production process, the real benefits of job scheduling are achieved when you use routings and work centers. With work center scheduling, you prioritize job assignments in a consistent manner so that your work centers function in coordination with one another instead of at cross-purposes. And by tracking routing completions daily, you always know here every job stands and you receive early detection signals when jobs are running behind schedule.

2. Focus on your bottlenecks A common scheduling mistake is to treat all work centers as if they have the same importance. The fact is that in most factories, only one or two or a small handful of work centers govern the schedule of the entire shop. These are your “bottleneck” work centers, where a critical machine or person has a finite daily capacity. Each job that arrives at the bottleneck must wait its turn. Typically, a great many jobs are either directly dependent on getting through the bottleneck or are indirectly affected because subassemblies must get through the bottleneck. The majority of your work centers are not bottlenecks, can often be flexibly staffed, and seldom have significant backlogs. Therefore, identify your bottleneck work centers and use the Work Center Scheduling screen, the Critical Ratio setting, and daily Work Center Dispatch List to schedule jobs in correct priority sequence. Keep track of the Queue Days setting so that new jobs are scheduled realistically in relation to current shop conditions. Focus on your bottlenecks and the rest of the factory will stay on schedule with little problem.

TIP: Do not use the Queue Days setting with work centers that are not true bottlenecks. If you overuse this setting, new jobs will receive unrealistically long Job Days calculations and you lose scheduling accuracy.

3. Assign new jobs realistic dates If you assign new jobs realistic start and finish dates in the first place, you have a high probability of completing them on time. An useful tool that will help you quote customers realistic delivery dates is the Delivery Date Estimator screen. You can enter any quantity for any item with a



bill of material and the program will calculate the estimated Job Days based on current work center settings and the quantity you wish to make. The Delivery Date Estimator and the Job Days Calculator used to schedule planned jobs within the MRP screen are only as good as the settings upon which they base their calculations. The first group of settings that help determine accurate dates are those in your routings. The more accurate your estimates are of the setup, labor, and supplier delivery time associated with each routing, the more accurate the Job Days calculation will be.

TIP: Do not worry about being super-accurate on every routing sequence. The ones that matter the most are those that go through a bottleneck work center (see previous section). Bottleneck sequences are worthy of time studies and other efforts. For non-bottleneck sequences, best-guess estimates are sufficient.

Another key setting that affects job dates is each manufactured item’s Lead Days setting. If subassemblies are made first, you must assign sufficient lead time to get them made before you can begin production on the final product. Also, some items may require materials or advance planning of some kind before production can begin. Finally, the Queue Days setting in your bottleneck work centers directly affects job dates. When a bottleneck work center gets backed up, its Queue Days setting lengthens and all new jobs that must get through the bottleneck or that are indirectly affected by the bottleneck (because of subassemblies) lengthen as well. Conversely, when the bottleneck’s backlog diminishes, the Queue Days setting shortens and all new jobs that are directly or indirectly affected by the bottleneck short as well. Therefore, the more accurate your routings, Lead Days, and Queue Days settings are at the bottleneck level, the more realistic your job start and finish dates will be. And with accurate job dates, you have a high probability of completing jobs on time.

4. Leave some slack in the schedule If you schedule jobs too tightly, there is no room left to accommodate the unexpected events that always happen:

• Rush jobs are inserted into the schedule for key customers • Equipment breaks down • Key employees get sick and you find yourself short-handed • A supplier fails to deliver material on time • Items are made improperly and have to be reworked • A supplier delivers defective components • The factory suffers a power outage



• Customers reschedule or cancel orders Two settings enable you to insert “slack” into the schedule so that when these things happen, you still can complete jobs on time. Each routing sequence has a Days to Next setting that enables you to add an interval between it and the next sequence, which will be reflected in the Job Days calculation. This setting has two primary purposes.

• For subcontract sequences where items are sent to a supplier for outside processing, the Days to Next is the turnaround time between sending the parts out and receiving them back.

• Few jobs go immediately from one work center to the next. The Days to Next can be used to represent the “move time” between routing sequences. In some cases, time must be allocated for paint to dry or inspection to occur.

If you want to add a safety factor between routing sequences, do not use the Days to Next setting. Instead, use each work center’s Buffer Days setting. The number of days entered here will automatically be added to the Job Days calculation for each routing sequence that goes through this work center. This setting can be adjusted at any time and immediately affects any new jobs that get scheduled. Therefore, use the Days to Next setting at the routing level to determine the interval between routing sequences, keeping it conservatively realistic, and use each work center’s Buffer Days setting as your primary tool for adding slack to the schedule.

5. Let each job wait its turn A common scheduling mistake is to start jobs as early as possible to give them “plenty of time” to get done by the required date. In fact, this adversely affects the entire shop and is exactly the wrong thing to do. It needlessly ties up capital by bringing in material too early, it clogs the aisles and staging areas with parts and materials, and it clogs up work centers with unnecessary backlogs. Instead, schedule each job realistically (see principle #3) backward from its required date. Keep the shop aisles clear and work center backlogs lean by letting each job wait its proper turn to get started. This is the same principle that is used to make traffic flow more smoothly onto freeways and motorways. Instead of allowing all vehicles enter the freeway in bunches, meters are used to stagger the pace at which vehicles can enter the flow. Each vehicle waits its turn. So should your jobs.

6. Track completions on a daily basis A scheduling system cannot be successful without timely data. The moment your employees perceive that the scheduling data on the computer screen is not current, they will circumvent the schedule and expedite jobs out of turn, hoard



material for favored jobs, waste time checking on job status, and then the whole system falls apart. Scheduling gets replaced by expediting. The DBA scheduling system requires relatively little information. It simply needs to know what has been completed at each routing sequence. The data entry required to keep up with routing sequence completions (via the Job Tracking & Labor screen) is so minimal, there is no good reason why it can’t be done, and done so in a timely manner. Rather than send tally sheets to the front office for data entry, why not have each work center foreman enter the completions at the same time workers are given their next assignments?

7. Run jobs in their correct sequence When jobs within a work center are run in their correct sequence, jobs that are running behind schedule will be worked on ahead of jobs that are running ahead of schedule. When you schedule all your work centers in this manner, they work in harmony rather than at cross-purposes and your overall on-time performance will improve dramatically. Use the Work Center Scheduling screen, the Critical Ratio, and the daily Work Center Dispatch List to help schedule jobs in their correct sequence. Do this with all your bottleneck work centers and any others where you feel it is needed.

The Software’s Role Many people mistakenly believe the notion that scheduling is about pushing a button and having a software program do all the thinking. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Successful scheduling is primarily about following the seven principles outlined above. If your software assists you in following the seven principles, then you will be even more successful. But if you ignore the seven principles and rely on the software to carry the load, you will not be successful. No software program can enter your routings for you, or determine the correct Lead-Days settings, or establish the appropriate Buffer Days settings, or fine tune your Queue Days settings. These are all “best guess” estimates that can only be established and maintained using your own common sense and good judgment. This is why complex shop-loading finite capacity scheduling packages fail so often -- because they assume that all these settings are empirically accurate, when in fact they are just a collection of best guess estimates that function within an environment of constant and unpredictable change. In the same way that the world’s biggest super-computers can’t accurately predict the weather a few days from now, the most complex scheduling program in the world won’t give you significantly better results than you can get from a simple system such as DBA. In fact, the more complex the software, the inverse is true and your probability of good results decreases proportionately.



DBA gives you a collection of tools that enable you to follow the seven principles of successful scheduling. We provide the essential information you need to make good common sense judgments, but no more. Because in a small company environment (and in larger companies as well), keeping things as simple as possible without sacrificing essential functionality provides the highest probability of success.

6. Make Jobs


6. Make Jobs

Overview Make Jobs are for manufactured products All products defined with a bill of material are manufactured using Make Jobs, whether destined for stock or for shipment to customers. The order entry, shipping, and invoicing functions are handled by separate sales orders. Make jobs produce ‘outputs’, which are finished goods that can be put in stock or shipped directly to customers. Outputs provide for the tracking of item characteristics such as lot and serial control, bin location, etc.

Make Job Elements Header Screen The Header screen holds all the job header information, including the job description, scheduling dates, and a listing of the job ‘outputs’ or finished items. Routing Screen The Routing screen is optional and holds the routing sequences and tasks that define the sequential steps in the production process. Details Screen All the job details, including BOM components and quantities, are maintained in the Details screen.

The Role of Sales Orders If you have made-to-order products (‘products’ meaning assemblies that are defined within bills of material), make jobs are used for production and sales orders are used for order entry, shipping, and invoicing. The sales order is used to enter customer orders. After the customer’s order is entered, a make job can be generated for each line item that needs to be manufactured. Once job ‘outputs’ (finished goods) are completed, they are temporarily placed in stock and are then immediately shipped to the customer from within the sales order. After shipment, an invoice can be created, also within the sales order. A single sales order can be used to ship and invoice multiple products, each made on a separate make job.

6-1. Job Creation


6-1. Job Creation Make Jobs can be created two ways:

• Generated from the MRP screen

• Entered within the Make Jobs screen

Job Creation Sequence of Events The following steps are involved in creating a Make Job:

1. Generate and schedule the job through the MRP screen or enter and schedule the job from the Make Jobs screen.

2. Change the job Status, if applicable (Header screen). 3. Enter any Notes, if desired (Header screen – Notes tab). 4. Enter any user-defined Additional Fields, if applicable (Header screen –

Additional Info side-tab).

Generating jobs from the MRP screen (MRP – MRP)

The MRP screen generates a list of planned jobs from sales order lines (in the case of to-order items) or in response to current and projected supply and demand for the item in relation to desired stocking levels. Planned jobs are backward scheduled from required dates. See the MRP & Scheduling user guide for more information. Once each planned job has been reviewed and scheduled, its Convert checkbox is selected. This let’s you know that you have completed your planning for that job.

6-1. Job Creation


Convert Button After you have completed your planning and all your planned jobs have their Convert checkbox selected, click the Convert button, which launches the Convert Planned Jobs screen. In this screen are listed all the planned jobs marked for conversion. It gives you one last opportunity to review the list. If for any reason you do not wish to proceed with converting any particular job, you can clear its Convert checkbox. Once the list of jobs is to your satisfaction, click the Convert button and the jobs will be converted into actual make jobs.

Creating a new job from the Make Jobs screen (Make – Make Jobs)

To create a new job from the Make Jobs screen, click the New Job button, which launches the New Make Job screen. Job Type In the upper panel, your default Job Type is automatically selected, but you can select another type, if you wish. The default job Status for this Job Type is displayed, but can be overridden, if required. BOM Parent & Method In the center panel, select the BOM parent item you wish to manufacture. If you are using multiple methods, a Method column is also displayed in the lookup, enabling you to select a particular method. If the Default Methods checkbox is selected, only each item’s Default Method will be listed. Clear the Default Methods checkbox if you wish to see all methods listed.

6-1. Job Creation


Scheduling In the bottom panel, you can choose between scheduling the job forward from the Start Date or backward from the Finish Date. The program counts calendar days forward or backward by the Lead Days plus the Job Days amount, while skipping over any non-workdays defined on the shop calendar. The Lead Days is the number of days it normally takes before you can begin a job. For example, you may need time to procure material or make subassemblies. The Job Days is your best estimate as to how many days the job will require to get through the factory, from start to finish. It does not include weekends or holidays when the factory is not in operation.

NOTE: If your BOM or sales order item has a routing, you can click the button in the Job Days field to launch the Job Days Calculator screen, which calculates the Job Days based on routing and current work center settings for capacity, waiting time, and safety buffer. For more information on how to use the Job Days Calculator, see the MRP & Scheduling user guide.

If you are creating the job from a BOM, the Required Date is normally set the same as the Finish Date. If you want this date to be different, clear the Same as Finish checkbox and select a different Required Date. If you are creating the job from a linked order, the Required Date is automatically made equal to the sales order line item’s Required Date. When your entries are completed, click the OK button. The window will close and you will be presented with the job Header screen (see next).

6-1. Job Creation


Header Screen

Once the job has been created, you can go the Header tab screen to view the job setup and to change or add additional information. Field explanations are as follows.

Job No This was assigned by the system using the prefix ‘M’ for the ‘MAKE’ job type, followed by the next available job number.

Name This is an up to 50-character name that identifies the job and is the name that accompanies the job number on lookups and reports. When jobs are created for an item with a BOM, the program automatically inserts the item ID followed by a dash and then the quantity to be manufactured. You can change this to any description you wish.

Type This is a display field only and tells you if this is a ‘MAKE’ or some other job type.

Status This field tracks where the job is in the production cycle and serves as a filter on the opening List screen so that you can view groups of jobs by status code(s). In some instances the program automatically updates this field as various activities occur, and it can be manually updated to mark jobs as finished or closed, or to create a job template.

NOTE: You can set up a Default Status setting in the Make – Make Jobs Setup – Make Job Types screen. For example, if all your jobs are started immediately, you would set the ‘MAKE’ job type’s Default Status to ‘RELEASED’.

6-1. Job Creation


Each Status code is described as follows.

• NEW: A job with status ‘NEW’ is a job that has not yet been released to the factor floor for production.

• RELEASED: When you change the job’s status to ‘RELEASED’, you are indicating that the job is ready for production to begin. The current date is saved in the Released Date field.

• FINISHED: When all job processing is completed, meaning all buy-for-job items and services have been received, all components have been issued, all routing sequence completions reported, and all outputs received to stock, then the program changes the job’s Status to ‘FINISHED’ and inserts the current date into the Actual Finish date field.

• CLOSED: When you change the job’s status to ‘CLOSED’, you are formally declaring that the job has been reviewed, signed off by the appropriate people, and that no further transactions are needed. You will be warned if any line items or routing sequences exist with uncompleted quantities. If there is a discrepancy between total incoming job costs and total output costs, an entry will be made to your WIP GL account to bring net WIP for the job down to zero, and the offsetting entry will be made to your Cost of Goods Sold account or a Job Variance account.

Outputs Sub-Tab On this tab are displayed the ‘outputs’ or finished items and quantities that will be produced by the job. Many jobs will only produce one output, but if you have multiple outputs (such as byproducts or co-products), they will all display on this tab for reference purposes.

Scheduling Sub-Tab Start Date This is the scheduled start date for the job, which was established at the time of job creation. It can be changed, if desired.

Finish Date This is the scheduled finish date for the job, which was established at the time of job creation. It can be changed, if desired.

Overlap If the job details include Make-to-Order subassemblies, this is the number of days after the job Start Date when the subassemblies are required. This setting shortens the overall planned production time of multi-level products by enabling levels to be made partially in parallel instead of totally n sequence.

Required This is the date that the job’s outputs are needed. It is determined three possible ways:

6-1. Job Creation


• If the job is required by a sales order line item, this is the line item’s Required Date.

• If this job is for a Make-to-Order subassembly item that is required by another job, this date is that job’s Start Date, plus that job’s Overlap days.

• If this job is not linked to a sales order or another job, this is the Required Date that was established during MRP generation, which is normally set equal to the earliest requirement date within the item’s planning period.

Req by It his job is linked to a sales order line item or to another job, that sales order number or job number is displayed in this field. If you click the button within the field, you will view the Linked Jobs inquiry, which displays the “chain” of jobs, including all their respective scheduling and required dates.

Released This is the date the job’s Status was changed from ‘NEW’ to ‘RELEASED’, which indicates that it has been released to the factory floor to begin production.

Actual Finish The date the job’s Status was changed to ‘FINISHED’, which indicates that all buy-for-job items and services have been received, all components have been issued, all routing sequence completions reported, and all outputs received to stock.

Creation Sub-Tab Creation Date The program automatically generates this date when the job is created. It can be manually overridden, if desired.

Created by The program inserts the First Name and Last Name associated with the current logged on user, as defined in the User Setup screen.

Notes Sub-Tab You can enter free-form notes, which print on the job traveler.

Required by Sub-Tab This sub-tab is only visible when the job is linked to a sales order line item.

SO No The sales order from which this job was generated.

Line No The sales order Line No containing the output item being made on this job.

6-1. Job Creation


Required The line item’s Required Date, which is the promise date that was given to the customer.

Customer The sales order Sold to customer.

Additional Header fields Location If you leave this field blank, each stock item will be issued from its default Issue stock location and each output item received to its default Receipt stock location (as maintained in the Stock Items screen). If you wish to force issues and receipts to occur at some other location (such as a secondary factory), select that Location in this field.

Additional Info Side-Tab

On this side-tab screen you can link documents to the job as well as make entries to user-defined fields.

Linking Documents There are two ways to link documents to this job. One, you can click the Retrieve Linked Customer / Item / Descriptor Documents button at the bottom of the screen and any documents linked to those records will be automatically inserted into the Document List area. Two, you can click the Link/Edit Document button at the bottom of the screen, after which you will be presented with a second screen where you enter an up to 40-character description, the location (file path) of the document (click the Browse button if you wish to search for the document) and whether you want the document automatically printed whenever you print job sheets or quotes.

6-1. Job Creation


NOTE: If documents are only used by yourself, they can be stored on your local computer and you can enter a location (path) to the document that references your local drive ‘C:’ or ‘D’ etc. Be aware, however, that other users will not be able to access these documents. If you want the documents available to all users, create a folder(s) on the server and store the documents in that folder.

Additional Fields You can add up to six user-defined fields to the job database via the Admin – Add Fields to Database screen. A user-defined field can be a date field, free-form text, or selection from a pre-defined list of choices.

NOTE: Most commonly these fields are added for the purpose of providing company or industry-specific information on the job sheet. To do so, you must add these fields to your job sheet format. These fields are stored in the ‘JobHeader’ table. The text fields are named ‘ADFIELD1’, ‘ADFIELD2’, etc. The date fields are named ‘ADDATE1’, ‘ADDATE2’, etc.

6-1. Job Creation


Routing Screen

The information on the Routing screen is copied into the job upon job creation from the bill of material. ‘Seq-Stages’ are used to break the job down into specific activities or operations. This provides a ‘routing’ that documents the manufacturing process through the factory as well as in conjunction with suppliers who provide outside processing services. Routing sequences can furthermore be broken down into specific ‘tasks’.

Upper Grid Seq-Stage and Description Each routing Seq-Stage represents a manufacturing operation such as shearing, forming, cutting, inspection, packaging, etc. To add a routing sequence, you can select pre-defined Routing Stages from a lookup or you can enter routing sequence details from scratch. When you copy in a routing stage, the program automatically assigns it a numeric prefix, beginning with ‘01-’, followed by ‘02-’, ‘03-’, etc. These numbers keep the seq-stages sorted in sequential order within the job and on the job traveler. You can edit these sequence numbers if you wish.

Work Center The Work Center defines the department or area of the shop where the particular routing sequence takes place. It can also be used to represent outside work centers for subcontract services such as plating, painting, heat-treating etc.

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Machine If applicable, enter the specific Machine within the Work Center upon which this routing sequence is to be run. If the work center contains interchangeable machines, this field is normally left blank and the routing sequences are assigned to machines at job time.

Status This field lets you know the status of this routing sequence, which can be ‘open’, ‘closed’, or a manually entered free-form reference.

Start Qty For the first routing sequence, this is the quantity to be made of the job’s primary output item, which is the parent item of the BOM. For each subsequent sequence, this is the previous sequence’s Start Qty, less any Scrap Qty.

Completed This is the quantity reported as completed to date within this routing sequence.

Scrapped This is the quantity reported as scrapped to date within this routing sequence.

% Completed This is the percentage of the Start Qty that has either been completed and/or scrapped to date.

Production Rates If the Work Center assigned to the routing sequence is an in-house work center, the following fields are visible and pertain to the routing sequence highlighted in the upper grid.

Setup Hours Enter the total setup time for this routing sequence, expressed in decimal hours.

Time / Process Production is expressed in terms of ‘processes’. A process can be an assembly operation, a hit from a punch press, a mold cycle, etc. A process can produce a single part or many parts at a time. The Time / Process is expressed in decimal hours. This field automatically calculates the Processes / Hour field and vice-versa.

Processes / Hour As an alternative to entering Time / Process, you can express the production rate in terms of Processes / Hour. Entry of either field automatically updates the other.

Items / Process If each process yields a single completed part, leave this field at the default setting of ‘1’. If each process yields multiple completed parts, enter that amount.

6-1. Job Creation


The program will multiply the Time / Item by the Items / Process to determine how much time is required to make a single part.

Days to Next This is the number of work days that occurs between this routing sequence and the next sequence, apart from and not including the setup and labor time involved in this routing sequence. For example, a painted part might require 3-days of drying time or a part might need a day or two to get from work center to the next. This can also be a negative number for situations where parts produced on one routing sequence can be started in the next sequence without having to wait for the entire run to be completed before doing so.

Trxn Type This field is only visible if the Transaction Type Option in the Make – Make Jobs Setup – Job Labor Defaults screen is set to Both Types (Backflush and Labor Hours Entry). The intent with the Both Types option is to collect actual setup and labor hours against this operation, in which case you would select the ‘Labor’ type, which is the default value. With some operations, however, such as when one operator runs several machines and jobs at the same time, it is not practical to collect and allocate the labor to each job. In such cases, you would select the ‘Backflush’ type, which means that only item completions, not hours, will be entered against this operation.

Subcontract Fields If the Work Center assigned to the routing sequence is an outside Subcontract work center, the following fields are visible and pertain to the routing sequence highlighted in the upper grid.

Linked Line No When a Make Job is created from a BOM, a job detail line is created for each subcontract routing sequence and is linked to it by the Linked Line No field. Subcontract service job detail lines are ‘freeform’ lines where the Reference ID is ‘Service – (the primary output’s Item ID)’, the Description is copied from the routing sequence’s Description, and the Supplier and Cost values come from the same fields in the BOM’s routing sequence. Each line’s Job/Quote/PO notes are copied from the BOM routing sequence’s PO Notes. Using the Buy-for-Job Planning screen, you can generate PO’s from the job detail lines for the subcontract services to be performed.

Days to Next For subcontract services, this is the number of lead-time days it takes to get the parts sent out, completed, and received back from the supplier.

6-1. Job Creation


Traveler Notes These notes will print on the job traveler and describe the manufacturing process to be performed.

Tasks Task Type and Description The ‘task’ type can be selected from a pre-defined table (BOM – Bills of Material Setup – Routing Tasks) or can be entered on the fly. The task is accompanied by an up to 50-character description.

Follow-up This field is not likely to be used for manufacturing, but if for any reason you want to enter a date for some sort of follow-up action on this task, you can do so and get a list of follow-ups via Make – Reports – Task Follow-ups.

Status This field lets you know the status of this task, which can be ‘Open’, ‘Closed’, or a manually entered free-form reference.

6-1. Job Creation


Details Screen

Job line items for materials, subassemblies, and subcontract services are maintained in the job Details tab screen.

Field Explanations Seq-Stage This field can be de-activated in the Make – Make Jobs Setup – Make Job Types screen if not desired. You can optionally assign any line item to a routing sequence. All items assigned to a routing sequence print within that Seq-Stage on the job traveler. Unassigned lines print in a No Sequence Allocated section at the end of the job traveler.

Line No This field can be de-activated in the Make – Make Jobs Setup – Make Job Types screen if not desired. It is used by the program for sorting purposes. The line items normally sort in Line No. order unless you click on any of the column headings to change the sort order.

Line Type You must select a ‘line type’ when entering a new line. When you click the New Line button, the default selection is ‘Stock’. Your choices are described as follows:

Stock This is a stockable item set up in the Stock Items screen.

Descriptor This is a non-stock descriptor set up in the Descriptors screen.

6-1. Job Creation


Catalog This is an item from the supplier catalog table that was imported via File –– Data Import.

Freeform This is a free-form, non-stock line item that has not been pre-defined in any table. Use this for one-time items or services that are not likely to be quoted or purchased again.

Reference ID This is the ID number that identifies this line item. Depending on the Line Type selected in the previous field column, this could be an item ID, descriptor ID, catalog item number, or an on-the-fly Item that is not set up in any pre-defined table. A lookup is available for selection from the appropriate table.

In/Out This field tells you whether the line item is an ‘input’, meaning that it goes into the job, or an ‘output’, which is a finished item that gets produced by the job.

Cost Class This field can be de-activated in the Make – Make Jobs Setup – Make Job Types screen if not desired. This field is normally visible and displays ‘Stock’ if the line is a stock item. If the line is a descriptor, its Descriptor Type will display. If this is a freeform line, the default is ‘MISC’, but you can select another cost class if needed. The Cost Class field is used to organize costs on the Job Cost & Profit report and also affects GL posting.

Description This is an up to 50-character description of the line item. Once copied from any of the database tables, it can be modified for this one job.

Qty This is the quantity required for this line item.

Act Qty This field is if for reference only and cannot be edited. It can be de-activated in the Make – Make Jobs Setup – Make Job Types screen if not desired. The Act Qty represents the quantity of this item issued, used, or received to date.

UM This field denotes the line item’s unit of measure, such as ‘EA’, ‘LB’, etc.

Supplier The Buy-for-Job screen uses this field to determine the supplier that will be used for a PO generated from this job line. This field is automatically populated with this item’s Default Supplier (maintained in the Stock Items screen or Descriptors screen). For subcontract service descriptors linked to a routing sequence, this value comes from the Supplier maintained against the sequence.

6-1. Job Creation


You can override the default supplier if you wish to designate another supplier for this particular job. Three lookup selection options are available. You can select from all suppliers, or from suppliers assigned to this item, or only from suppliers that carry the Manufacturer specified on this line.

PO No When a PO gets generated from this job line via the Buy-for-Job screen, the PO number is automatically inserted into this field. Job line items with a PO No are excluded from the list of items displayed in the Job Issues & Receipts screen because they will be received to the job rather than issued. If in the Buy-for-Job screen you click the Ignore checkbox on an item, ‘N/A’ will display in this field.

Completed If for any reason during the course of a job you wish to stop further planning or processing of a line item, even if it has not been fully issued, reported, or received, you can do so by selecting this checkbox. The MRP, Buy-for-Job, and Job Issues & Receipts screens will ignore this line item. You could accomplish the same thing by reducing the Qty of the line item, but then you would be changing the original quantity and it would lose its reference value.

Manufacturer If this is a purchased item, you can specify a Manufacturer, which will flow through to the Buy-for-Job screen and to the purchase order. If this item is assigned manufacturers within the bill of material Components screen, the Manufacturer designated as the Default manufacturer will automatically be selected when the job is created. If manufacturers are not designated at the BOM level, this item’s Default Manufacturer (as maintained in the Stock Items screen) will be automatically selected. If you select a manufacturer from the lookup, you can select from all manufacturers, from manufacturers carried by this job line’s Supplier, or from manufacturers assigned to this BOM component.

Phantom This checkbox field is if for reference only and cannot be edited. It can be de-activated in the Make – Make Jobs Setup – Make Job Types screen if not desired. If this line item is a phantom assembly parent item, this checkbox is selected.

Linked Job If this line item is designated as a Make-to-Order subassembly and MRP has generated a lower-level job to make this item, that job number is displayed in this field for reference purposes.

Method If this line item is the primary output item in the bill of material that originated this job, the BOM Method that was selected is displayed in this field, for reference purposes.

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Ref Date and Ref Code These fields are normally not visible. They can be de-activated in the Make – Make Jobs Setup – Make Job Types screen. They can be used to record a date and an up to 20-character user-defined reference code for any purpose.

Availability Button The Availability button is only visible when a stock item is highlighted. Click this button to view the stock status of the currently highlighted line item. Not only can you view how much stock is currently on hand, but you can also view all other demand and supply details for the item within its normal planning period.

6-1. Job Creation


Using Speed Entry

The Speed Entry function helps you enter job detail lines as rapidly as possible and is especially useful when entering large numbers of components. To use Speed Entry, click the Speed Entry button on the right-hand panel while in the Details screen. A screen gets presented that contains an upper panel, a main selection grid, and a display grid at the bottom. In the upper panel, choose whether you want to select Stock Items or Descriptors. All your stock items or descriptors will display in the main selection grid. If you want the items selected to all be assigned to a particular routing sequence, make a selection in the Stage field. Selecting Items To select an item, start typing the Item Code or Descriptor ID. As you type each character, the cursor will progressively move to the item with the closest match. Once you find the item you are looking for, press Enter and the cursor will move to the Quantity field where you can enter the order quantity. After entering the quantity, press Enter and you will see your entry displayed in the lower grid. The cursor moves to the left-hand column where you can immediately make another selection. Using the mouse is not necessary Speed Entry is designed so that you don’t have to use the mouse to make your selections, which slows down the process. You can press Enter to move back and forth from the Item Code or Descriptor ID field to the Quantity field and to make your selections. You can use your arrow keys to navigate up or down the columns. You can, of course, also use the mouse, if you wish.

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Other Search Techniques Progressive typing is not the only way to find items. You can use the Description Search field (located below the main selection grid) to narrow the contents of the main selection grid only to items that contain the text you enter. Once you enter your text, click the lookup icon to the left and the main selection grid will display the items with matching text. Once you make a selection, the grid will repopulate itself with all your items. If you make a search and don’t select an item, click the ‘X’ button and the grid will repopulate with all items. You can also click any of the down arrows on the column headings to narrow your search using the system’s standard grid filtering options. This would enable you to narrow the list to a particular item Category or descriptor Type, for example. De-Selecting Items If you make a mistake and select an incorrect item and wish to de-select it, highlight the item in the lower display grid and click the Delete button in the upper right corner of the screen. Transfer Button Your item selections and quantities are displayed in the lower grid in the order that they were selected. When your selections and quantities are completed, click the Transfer button to the right and the items and quantities will be transferred to the job. Once your items are transferred, they can be edited for any changes that may be required. Use Speed Entry as often as you wish You can use Speed Entry as often as you wish within a job. You can enter a few lines, transfer them, enter a few more, transfer them, and so forth. If you are assigning items to routing sequences, each sequence’s components would be entered as a separate batch.

6-1. Job Creation


Printing Job Travelers Once the job is created, you can print a job traveler that normally accompanies the job around the shop floor. Some companies print the job traveler immediately, while others prefer to wait until the job is ready to be released to the shop floor. To print the job traveler one job at a time, highlight a job on the opening List tab screen and click the Links button on the side panel. From the drop down list, select the Job Traveler option. To print job travelers for multiple jobs, use the Make – Job Travelers screen. Linked Documents You can link documents and files such as drawings, contracts, images, etc. directly to jobs or to customers, items, and descriptors. When you set up a linked document in any of these screens, you can insert a ‘Yes’ into the Copy to Job field, which enables you to link the document when setting up the job by clicking the Retrieve Linked Customer/Item/Descriptor button on the Additional Info tab screen. If you insert a ‘Yes’ into the Copy with field, the document will automatically print at the same time the job sheet gets printed.

NOTE: If documents are only used by yourself, they can be stored on your local computer and you can enter a location (path) to the document that references your local drive ‘C:’ or ‘D’ etc. Be aware, however, that other users will not be able to access these documents. If you want the documents available to all users, create a folder(s) on the server and store the documents in that folder.

6-2. Custom Manufacturing


6-2. Custom Manufacturing For reference purposes, we define “custom manufacturing” as follows:

• You are making the item primarily on a one-time basis • The item does not require a permanent Item ID • The item does not require a permanent bill of material

How It Works Custom manufacturing is accomplished using the Custom Item Generator. It works like this.

• When you enter a sales order, you can select a Line Type of ‘Custom’, in which case the program automatically assigns the next available custom item number. You then enter the Description, UM, and Price.

• When MRP generates planned jobs from sales orders, a planned job will be generated for your custom item. The planned job is then converted into a live make job.

• Once the make job exists, you can create the job details using any combination of the following:

• Enter routing sequences and line items from scratch • Copy a previous job • Copy a job template • Copy one or more phantom BOM’s

Let’s now review this sequence of events in more detail, beginning with yout setup options.



Make Job Defaults (Make – Make Jobs Setup – Make Job Defaults)

Several options on the Make Job Defaults screen pertain to custom manufacturing. Costing

Job Receipts Cost Basis If you plan to use custom manufacturing, make sure your Job Receipts Costing Basis is set to Actual Job Cost. Custom Item Generator

Item ID Prefix All custom items will be identified by this prefix, followed by a sequential number. The combination of the prefix and number constitutes the Reference ID number that is used in sales orders, MRP, and make jobs to identify the custom item. We recommend that you use the letter ‘Z’, which will keep all your custom items listed at the very end of lookups and reports. This keeps custom items from being intermingled with your permanent Item ID’s.

Next ID No This displays the number that will be assigned to the next custom item that gets generated. We recommend a beginning number of 100000.



NOTE: Do not start with a number such as ‘1’. If you do so, on reports and screen listings, ‘10’ will sort before ‘1’, ‘20’ before ‘2’, etc.

Item Category All custom items, when created, will be automatically assigned to this Item Category. We suggest you create a special Item Category solely for this purpose, perhaps also with an ID code beginning with ‘Z’ (such as Z-CUSTOM) to differentiate your custom items from permanent stock items.

UM All custom items, when created, will be automatically assigned this UM. At time of custom item generation, you can override this default.

Lead Days All custom items, when created, will be automatically assigned this Lead Days setting for MRP planning purposes. At time of custom item generation, you can override this default.

Job Days All custom items, when created, will be automatically assigned this Job Days setting for MRP planning purposes. At time of custom item generation, you can override this default.

Custom Item Generator (Sales – Sales Orders or Sales Quotes)

Custom items are generated during sales quote or sales order entry. When you enter a new line, select the ‘Custom’ option from the drop-down list in the Line Type field. You are then presented with the Custom Item Generator screen, which presents the following fields:

Custom Item ID This identification number is automatically generated by the program and will be used as the Reference ID in the sales order line. It cannot be modified.



Description Enter the Description of the custom item. This is a required field.

UM The default UM from the Make Job Setup screen is automatically inserted into this field, but can be overridden.

Customer Part No This is an optional field. If you are making the custom item on behalf of a customer who identifies the item with a part number, enter the Customer Part No in this field. This number will be stored against the custom item and can print on the customer invoice as a cross-reference.

Lead Days The default Lead Days setting from the Make Job Setup screen is automatically inserted into this field, but can be overridden.

Job Days The default Job Days setting from the Make Job Setup screen is automatically inserted into this field, but can be overridden.

Est Delivery This is an estimated delivery date, calculated forward from today’s date by adding the Lead Days to the Job Days, while skipping over any non-valid workdays within the Job Days time frame.

Use as Req Date When this checkbox is selected, the Est Delivery date will be used as the sales order line’s Required Date. Line item entry Once you close the Custom Item Generator window, the Custom Item ID is displayed in the line item Reference ID field, and following it you will see your custom Description and UM. Take note that the Line Type setting changes from ‘Custom’ to ‘Stock’. This is because the custom item has now been given a record in the Stock Items table and screen so that all the system functions that apply to stock items can be applied to your custom item. Enter an order Qty and a selling Price to finish the line item entry process.

Generating a Make Job (Sales – Sales Order – Links Button) (MRP – MRP) Planned Job Generation The process by which you generate a make job for your custom item is exactly the same as it is for any other sales order line item.



This is because your custom item was automatically set up as a Make-to-Order item in the stock item table when it was generated during sales order entry. You have two options for generating a planned job.

• To generate planned jobs one sales order at a time, from within the sales order you can click the Links button and select the Generate Planned Jobs option.

• To generate planned jobs across all sales orders, go to the MRP screen, click the Generate button, and select the Generate Planned Jobs from SO Lines option.

Planned Job Conversion Your planned job is converted to a make job in the normal fashion, which is to click the planned job’s Convert checkbox and then to click the Convert button.

Make Job Details (Make – Make Job) At this point, your make job has only one line item, which is an output line for your custom item. Job Detail Creation There are four ways to create your job details:

Copy Details Screen

Enter Details from Scratch You can enter routing sequences and line items from scratch, similar to entering a bill of material, but directly within the Make Jobs screen instead of through a BOM first.

Copy Previous Job If you’ve made something similar to this item before, from the Details screen you can click the Copy Details button and select the Previous Job option. Select the previous job in the lookup screen and click the Transfer button. That job’s routing sequences and line items will be transferred to the new job. The primary output item, however, will not be transferred because your custom item is the primary output for the new make job. Once job details are transferred, you can then modify them and additional details as required.

NOTE: You are only allowed to copy one previous job to a custom item make job. Copying multiple jobs is not permitted.



Copy Job Template If you’ve set up a job template that serves as a base set of details for this type of item, from the Details screen you can click the Copy Details button and select the Job Template option. Select the job template in the lookup screen and click the Transfer button. The job template’s routing sequences and line items will be transferred to the new job. The primary output item, however, will not be transferred because your custom item is the primary output for the new make job. Once job template details are transferred, you can then modify them and additional details as required.

NOTE: You are only allowed to copy one job template to a custom item make job. Copying multiple job templates is not permitted.

Copy Phantom BOM’s A phantom BOM is a cluster of items represented by a parent item ID, similar to a subassembly, but one that is never stocked or sold on its own. Combinations of phantom BOM’s can be used to rapidly configure custom products that are modular in nature. From the Details screen you can click the Copy Details button and select the Phantom BOM option. Select the phantom BOM in the lookup screen and click the Transfer button. The phantom BOM’s line items will be transferred to the new job.

How the job cost flows to COGS As you enter finished item receipts in the Job Issues & Receipts screen, the custom item is received into inventory at the job’s actual cost. When you pick the custom item for shipment in the Order Picking screen, its Inventory Cost is captured. When the shipment is converted to an invoice, the Inventory Cost flows through to the Cost of Goods Sold GL account associated with your custom item.

6-3. Job Processing


6-3. Job Processing By ‘job processing’ we mean the entry of all job-related transactions that take place during the production process, including the following:

• Releasing jobs • Issuing items to jobs • Purchasing items and services directly for jobs • Tracking jobs by entering routing sequence completions • Entry of labor and setup hours • Reporting completions of finished items • Closing jobs

Linking to job processing screens From the Make Jobs or the Job Control Panel (see next chapter) screens, you can link directly to the following screens by clicking the Links button and selecting an option from the drop-down list. Doing so automatically selects this job for display in the selected screen.

• Job Planning Worksheet • Job Traveler • Job Pick List • Job Control Panel • Buy-for-Job • Job Issues & Receipts • Job Cost & Profit • Job Transactions

6-4. Using the Job Control Panel


6-4. Using the Job Control Panel (Make – Job Control Panel)

The Job Control Panel provides you with a master screen from which you can link to all job processing functions. From this one screen, you do the following:

• Mass change job Status from ‘NEW’ to ‘RELEASED’

• Link to job processing screens and reports: o Make Jobs o Job Planning Worksheet o Job Issues & Receipts o Job Tracking & Labor o Job Scheduling o Job Inquiry o Job Cost & Profit o Job Transactions o Purchase Order Receipts

• Receipt finished items and backflush issues in one step

• Mass change job Status from ‘FINISHED’ to ‘CLOSED’



Release Jobs Screen

The Job Control Panel can be used to mass release jobs to the shop floor, which is done from the Release Jobs screen, accessed by clicking the Release Jobs radio button in the upper panel.

Field Explanations Req by If the job is linked to a higher-level sales order or job, that sales order or job number is displayed in this field.

Start Date This is the job’s scheduled start date. If you click this column heading, jobs will be sorted in start date order, making it easier to select jobs by date range.

Release Select this checkbox for each job to be released. You can click the Select All button to select all jobs listed. Once your selections are completed, click the Update button. Once released, each job is cleared from this screen and is now listed on the Process Jobs screen. When a job is released, its Status changes ‘NEW’ to ‘RELEASED’ and its Released Date is updated, which is considered to be the job’s actual start date for analysis purposes.



Process Jobs Screen

All jobs with a Status of ‘RELEASED’ are listed on the Process Jobs screen, which is accessed by clicking the Process Jobs radio button in the upper panel.


Finish Date The job’s scheduled finish date. This field is for reference only. If you wish to change this date, click the Links button and navigate to the Job Scheduling screen.

Issues If the job has one or more line items with a Remaining Qty, ‘OPEN’ is displayed in this field. If ‘--‘ is displayed, it means that all line items have been fully issued. Line items with tracking characteristics are tracked separately in the next field.

w/Char If the job has one or more line items with tracking characteristics that has a Remaining Qty, ‘OPEN’ is displayed in this field. If ‘--‘ is displayed, it means that all such line items have been fully issued.

Labor Hrs This column pertains to routing Seq-Stages with a Trxn Type of ‘Labor’, which means that actual labor hours are to be collected. If the job has one or more routing Seq-Stages with a Remaining Qty (which means the Seq-Stage Status is ‘Open’, ‘Next’, or ‘Started’), ‘OPEN’ is displayed in this field. If ‘--‘ is displayed, it means that all Seq-Stages have been completed.



BF Hrs This column pertains to routing Seq-Stages with a Trxn Type of ‘Backflush’, which means that estimated labor hours are to be backflushed as items are completed. If the job has one or more routing Seq-Stages with a Remaining Qty (which means the Seq-Stage Status is ‘Open’, ‘Next’, or ‘Started’), ‘OPEN’ is displayed in this field. If ‘--‘ is displayed, it means that all Seq-Stages have been completed.

PO’s If the job has one or more PO lines linked to that are not fully received, ‘OPEN’ is displayed in this field. If ‘--‘ is displayed, it means that all Seq-Stages have been completed.

Receipts If the job has one or more outputs (finished items) with a Remaining Qty, ‘OPEN’ is displayed in this field. If ‘--‘ is displayed, it means that all outputs have been fully receipted. Outputs with tracking characteristics are tracked separately in the next field.

w/Char If the job has one or more outputs (finished items) with tracking characteristics that has a Remaining Qty, ‘OPEN’ is displayed in this field. If ‘--‘ is displayed, it means that all such outputs have been fully issued.

Rdy-to-BF This is an abbreviation for Ready to Backflush. “Backflushing” the job means that all remaining job outputs will be receipted and all associated line items issued and backflush labor hours completed in one single transaction. You cannot select the Backflush checkbox in the next field until ‘YES’ is displayed in this field. ‘YES’ will only display when ‘--‘ is displayed in the following columns:

• w/Char • Labor Hrs • PO’s • w/Char

Backflush This checkbox can be selected when ‘YES’ is displayed in the Rdy-to-BF field to its left. “Backflushing” the job means that all remaining job outputs will be receipted and all associated line items issued and backflush labor hours completed in one single transaction. Select this checkbox against each job you wish to backflush. When your selections are completed, click the Update button and the backflushing will take place. Once the job is backflushed, its Status changes to ‘FINISHED’ and it is cleared from this screen. Once a job is ‘FINISHED’ it is listed on the Close Jobs screen.



Links Button The Job Control Panel provides a single screen from which you can perform all job processing functions. Click the Links button and from the drop-down list you can link to any of the following screens and reports:

• Make Jobs • Job Planning Worksheet • Job Issues & Receipts • Job Tracking & Labor • Job Scheduling • Job Inquiry • Job Cost & Profit • Job Transactions • Purchase Order Receipts

When you close any of the above screens, you are returned to the Job Control Panel.

Close Jobs Screen

All jobs with a Status of ‘FINISHED’ are listed on the Close Jobs screen, which is accessed by clicking the Close Jobs radio button in the upper panel. ‘FINISHED’ means that all job processing transactions are fully completed and the job is ready to be formally “closed.”




Actual Finish This is the date when the final job processing transaction was completed, at which time the job’s Status changed from ‘RELEASED’ to ‘FINISHED’.

Variance If there is a difference between total incoming job costs (labor, material, overhead, subcontract services) and total output receipt costs (finished items), that difference is displayed in this field. When the job is closed, this amount is posted to your Closed Job Variance GL account and brings net WIP for the job down to zero. If incoming costs exceed output costs, this amount is a positive number. If output costs exceed incoming costs, this amount is a negative number. If your Costing Method for job receipts is set to ‘ACTUAL’ in the Main Setup screen, you would normally not expect any closed job variance because the final output transaction balances incoming and outgoing costs. If your Costing Method is set to ‘EST’, a closed job variance is common.

Close Select this checkbox for each job you wish to close. You can also click the Select All button to select all jobs listed. Once your jobs are selected, click the Update button. Each job’s Status will change from ‘FINISHED’ to ‘CLOSED’ and the job will be cleared from the screen. Any job Variance will be posted to your Closed Job Variance GL account.

6-5. Job Issues


6-5. Job Issues (Make – Job Issues & Receipts)

Items are issued from stock to jobs via the Job Issues & Receipts screen.

Upper Panel To issue items to a job, select a Job No in the upper panel. The Job Name, Status, and Customer are automatically displayed for reference purposes. Select a Transaction Date, which is the date when the issues took place. Two Entry Screens Two entry screens are available. The Batch Update tab is used to issue items that do not have tracking characteristics (such as lot and serial control). The Characteristics tab is used to issue items with tracking characteristics. The total number of line items available for processing within each screen is displayed in parenthesis to the right or each tab name.

Batch Update Tab All job line items that do not have tracking characteristics are listed in the Batch Update screen.

NOTE: Any line item that has been assigned a PO No in its job line is excluded from being listed in this screen. The job will be updated when that items or service is received and therefore it is not processed through this screen.

Issue Lines In the Issue or Output Lines panel, click the Issue Lines radio button.

6-5. Job Issues


Include PTO Items Stock items designated as Purchase-to-Order items are normally excluded from this screen. If you wish to issue these items instead of purchasing them for the job, select this checkbox.

Location The Location field displays the stock location selected in the job header screen, which can be changed here if needed. If this field is left blank, each stock item will be issued from its default Issue location entered on the Stock Items screen. If a Location is selected, all stock items will be issued from that location. Pre-Fill Options In the entry grid, the Issue Qty is the amount being issued to the job for each item. You can enter this quantity manually, or you can use the Pre-Fill All button to pre-fill the quantity. Three pre-fill options are available:

Remaining If you select this option, when you click the Pre-Fill All button, the Remaining quantity for each item will be inserted into the Issue Qty column. You are then free to edit any quantities, if needed. This issuing method is most often done at the beginning of the job, but can be done at any time.

Output Qty (Backflushing) If you select this option, items will be issued in proportion to the job’s Output quantity, which is the quantity of finished product that has been completed to date. This method of issuing is referred to as “backflushing” because it takes place after the job is completed when issues are made after-the-fact.

Seq-Stage Qty (Progressive Backflushing) This issuing method is a progressive form of backflushing where items are issues as each routing sequence gets completed. To use this method, your BOM components must be assigned to routing sequences. When you select this radio button, a field appears to the right from which you can select a specific Seq-Stage for backflushing. This issuing method is only appropriate for long, project type jobs with relatively few stages.

Pre-Fill All Button When you click the Pre-Fill All button, you will see the Issue Qty and Location fields populated, based on whichever pre-fill option and location source you specified. You can then manually edit the amounts or locations as desired. Non-stock job items can also be issued The Job Issues & Receipts screen is not limited to stock items. All descriptors and freeform lines are listed with a Location value of ‘Non-Stock’.

NOTE: Freeform lines for subcontract services are not listed in this screen because they are handled through the Buy-for-Job screen.

6-5. Job Issues


Cost For stock items, the Cost field displays the item’s current Avg Cost, which cannot be changed. For non-stock descriptors and freeform items, the cost used is the Est Cost from the job line, which can be changed in this screen. Updating Once the Issue Qty amounts and Location designations are to your satisfaction, click the Update button and the transaction will be completed. The Issue Qty column is cleared and the Remaining column reflects the transaction that just took place.

Characteristics Tab

All items with tracking characteristics (such as lot or serial control) are listed on the Characteristics screen in the upper grid. Any previous transactions for any line highlighted in the upper grid are displayed in the lower grid. To issue an item, highlight it in the upper grid and click the New button, which launches the Issue Characteristics screen used throughout the system whenever items with tracking characteristics are issued from stock. Issue Characteristics Screen Current on-hand stock by characteristic (or a combination of characteristics) is displayed in the upper grid of the Issue Characteristics screen.


Highlight the line you wish to issue, then click the Pick Line button, which presents the Quantity Entry window. Enter the quantity you wish to issue, then click OK and you will see your transaction listed in the lower grid.


6-5. Job Issues


Continue selecting and issuing characteristic lines until your transaction is completed. Click the Update button and your entries will be processed. While you are still on the screen, you can then make additional entries, if needed, or you can click the Close button to return to the Characteristics screen. There you will see your transaction reflected in the Remaining quantity in the upper grid and you will see your transaction listed in the lower grid.

Linking to other job-related screens You can link directly to other job-related screens (such as the Make Jobs and Job Tracking & Labor screens) by clicking the Links button and selecting the screen name from the drop-down list. Doing so closes the Job Issues & Receipts screen and automatically selects this job for display in the newly launched screen.

6-6. Purchasing Items & Services for Jobs


6-6. Purchasing Items & Services for Jobs Purchase orders can be generated directly from job lines via the Buy-for-Job screen. Those purchase order line items are linked to the job line. When the item or service is received, they are automatically issued to the job and the job is costed at the PO cost.

Job Line Purchasing Fields The following fields in each job detail line interact with purchasing.

Supplier The Buy-for-Job screen uses this field to determine the supplier that will be used for a PO generated from this job line. This field is automatically populated with this item’s Default Supplier (maintained in the Stock Items screen or Descriptors screen). For subcontract service descriptors linked to a routing sequence, this value comes from the Supplier maintained against the sequence. You can override the default supplier if you want to designate another supplier for this particular job. Three lookup selection options are available. You can select from all suppliers, or from suppliers assigned to this item, or only from suppliers that carry the Manufacturer specified on this line.

PO No When a PO gets generated from this job line via the Buy-for-Job screen, the PO number is automatically inserted into this field. Job line items with a PO No are excluded from the list of items displayed in the Job Issues & Receipts screen because they will be received to the job rather than issued. If in the Buy-for-Job screen you click the Ignore checkbox on an item, ‘N/A’ will display in this field.

Manufacturer If this is a purchased item, you can specify a Manufacturer, which will flow through to the Buy-for-Job screen and to the purchase order. If this item is assigned manufacturers within the bill of material Components screen, the Manufacturer designated as the Default manufacturer will automatically be selected when the job is created. If manufacturers are not designated at the BOM level, this item’s Default Manufacturer (as maintained in the Stock Items screen) will be automatically selected. If you select a manufacturer from the lookup, you can select from all manufacturers, from manufacturers carried by this job line’s Supplier, or from manufacturers assigned to this BOM component.

Purchase-to-Order Items You may have some purchased items that you never stock and only buy when you have an actual job requirement.



You can identify an item as such by selecting its PTO checkbox in the MRP – MRP Settings or its Purchase-to-Order checkbox in the Stock Items screen. This enables you to distinguish between items that are purchased on a job-by-job basis versus those that are purchased in response to overall supply and demand relative to desired stocking levels. When you use the Buy-for-Job screen, you can limit the items listed for purchase just to Purchase-to-Order items or you can display all job line items.

Subcontract Service Processing Subcontract services (such as painting, plating, heat-treating, etc.) are represented in three job screens.

• In the Routing tab, the subcontract service is defined with a routing sequence because it is one of the steps in the production process.

• In the Details tab, a ‘freeform’ detail line is linked to the subcontract Seq-Stage and contains the information needed for purchasing, including the Reference ID (it uses ‘Service –‘ followed by the item ID of the parent item being serviced), the Description (it uses the Seq-Stage Description), the Supplier, and Cost.

• On the Notes side-tab on the Details tab are Job/Quote/PO notes for the job detail line that flow through to the PO and are used to provide details regarding the service to be performed.

The Buy-for-Job screen will use the information on the job detail line and associated notes to generate a PO for the subcontract service.

Printing subcontract service specifications on PO’s It is common for the subcontract service supplier to need precise specifications on the purchase order regarding the service to be performed.

BOM Items For items defined with bills of material, subcontract service specifications are stored in the Traveler Notes within the subcontract Seq-Stage defined in the BOM Routing screen. When a job is created, the Traveler Notes are visible in the job Routing screen and also copy to the linked job detail line’s Job/Quote/PO notes (accessed via the Notes side-tab). The job Traveler Notes print on the job traveler and the job detail line’s Job/Quote/PO notes transfer to purchase orders.

Products made from scratch When you enter a product from scratch, you create routing sequences one at a time. When you select a subcontract work center, its default Descriptor and Cost are used to create a linked job detail line. Any Traveler Notes that are copied in



or entered are automatically copied to the linked line’s Job/Quote/PO notes for transfer to purchase orders.

Buy-for-Job Screen (MRP – Buy-for-Job)

Purchase-to-Order items and subcontract services are purchased via the Buy-for-Job screen. With this screen you items and services needed for any particular job in one transaction. Select the desired job in the Job/Order No field. The job description, Customer, and Status fields are automatically displayed for reference purposes. Purchase Order Settings The PO Due Date is the Due Date that will print on all the PO’s generated. If you need different dates for PO’s sent to different suppliers, enter a date and create the PO’s for that date, then return to the screen and generate additional PO’s with a different date, and so on. If you want to send a live, confirmed PO, set the PO Status to ‘Opened’. If you want to send a quote request to your supplier, set the PO Status to ‘Quote’. Item Selection You are offered a radio button choice between limiting the list to Purch-to-Order items or including All Items. Normally you would restrict the list to your Purch-to-Order items, but there may be occasions where you wish to buy other items directly for the job as well. Be aware that even if the list contains all purchased items on the job, you are not obligated to purchase all of them via this screen. You can selectively purchase items that you want to buy for the job and then use the MRP screen to purchase the remaining items.



Non-stock items are automatically listed Also be aware that all non-stock descriptor and freeform job detail lines are listed in this screen, including those that represent subcontract services such as plating, painting, and heat-treating. The MRP screen, on the other hand, is confined to the planning of stock items only. Convert & Ignore Checkboxes Within the selection grid in the main portion of the screen, you can change the Qty on any given item. Select the Convert checkbox for any item you wish to purchase. If you wish to select the entire list, click the Select All button. You can use this screen more than once if you wish to make multiple purchases for a job at different times. If you select the Ignore checkbox against an item, however, that item will not reappear on the list again. Converting PO’s When your entries are completed, you have two options for creating PO’s. Click the Convert button if you wish to generate the PO’s and print them later. Click the Convert & Print button if you wish to print or e-mail PO’s immediately. In either case, you will be prompted to select a PO Type prior to the creation of each PO. Your default PO Type will automatically be selected, but can be overridden. After PO’s are created, you are taken to the opening List of the Purchase Orders screen, should you wish to make further entries to the new purchase orders.

6-7. Job Tracking & Labor Entry


6-7. Job Tracking & Labor Entry Overview The Job Tracking & Labor screen enables the entry of items completed and the optional entry of labor and setup hours against your routing sequences. This process yields the following benefits:

• Enables you to track the progress of jobs by routing sequence. • Provides accurate job costing. • Enables you to apply overhead burden to labor and setup. • Provides information for work center and machine schedules. • Provides information to help assess work center loads and capacity

Two Entry Modes The Job Tracking & Labor screen offers two entry modes: Backflush and Labor Hours Entry.

Backflush Mode In Backflush mode, you only enter items completed or scrapped. The program “backflushes” setup and labor hours based on the estimated setup hours and production rates entered in the job Routing screen. Work center rates are applied to the backflushed hours for calculation of job costs.

Labor Hours Entry Mode In Labor Hours Entry mode, you enter actual labor and setup hours as well as items completed and scrapped. The program will cost the job based on the hours entered at your choice of either work center rates or employee wage rates.



Default Settings

Job Labor Defaults (Make – Make Jobs Setup – Job Labor Defaults)

Which entry mode is used is established in the Job Labor Defaults screen.

Transaction Type Options This setting determines how you want to handle job labor at the system-wide level. Three options are available:

Backflush In Backflush mode, you only enter items completed or scrapped. The program “backflushes” setup and labor hours based on the estimated setup hours and production rates entered in the job Routing screen. Work center rates are applied to the backflushed hours for calculation of job costs.

Labor Hours Entry In Labor Hours Entry mode, you enter actual labor and setup hours as well as items completed and scrapped. The program will cost the job based on the hours entered at your choice of either work center rates or employee wage rates.

Both If you want to enter some jobs in Backflush mode and some in Labor Hours Entry mode, select this option.



Bills of Material – Routings Tab (BOM – Bills of Material – Routing Tab) On each routing sequence, the following field determines how labor will be handled:

Trxn Type This field is only visible if the Transaction Type Option in the Job Labor Defaults screen is set to Both Types (Backflush and Labor Hours Entry). The intent with the Both Types option is to collect actual setup and labor hours against this operation, in which case you would select the ‘Labor’ type, which is the default value. With some operations, however, such as when one operator runs several machines and jobs at the same time, it is not practical to collect and allocate the labor to each job. In such cases, you would select the ‘Backflush’ type, which means that only item completions, not hours, will be entered against this operation.

Make Jobs – Routing Tab (Make – Make Jobs – Routing Tab) Once a make job is created, you can go into its Routing tab and change the Trxn Type setting, if you wish, to either labor entry mode.



Transactions Tab (Make – Job Tracking & Labor) Labor-related transactions are entered on the Transactions tab of the Job Tracking & Labor screen. Sub-Tabs If the Transaction Type Option in Job Labor Defaults is set to ‘Both’, you are presented with as many as three sub-tabs, depending on how your routing Seq-Stages are set up.

Backflush If the job contains one or more routing seq-stages with a Trxn Type of ‘Backflush’, the Backflush sub-tab is visible.

Labor Hours Entry If the job contains one or more routing seq-stages with a Trxn Type of ‘Labor Hours’, the Labor Hours Entry sub-tab is visible.

Subcontract Scrap If the job contains one or more routing seq-stages assigned to a Subcontract work center, the Subcontract Scrap sub-tab is visible.



Backflush Sub-Tab Collecting and entering labor and setup hours can be time-consuming. Many companies, especially those with many small jobs, find little gain in going through the effort required to collect labor and setup time. More important is tracking the progress of the job by knowing what has been completed and what remains to be done.

When you are on the Backflush sub-tab, completion and scrap quantities are entered against routing sequences, without entering any labor or setup hours. The program will “backflush” labor and setup hours based on the estimated setup hours and production rates entered in the job Routing screen. Field Explanations

Work Date This is the date the work was actually performed. It defaults to today’s date, but may be overridden.

Seq-Stage, Work Center These two fields are for reference only and display the routing sequence and the work center to which it is assigned.

Status This field is for reference only and is automatically updated by the program as entries get updated. There are four possible values:

Open No completions have been reported to this routing seq-stage or to the seq-stage preceding it.

Next Completions have been reported to the routing seq-stage preceding this one, which means this routing seq-stage is the next one to be performed.



Started Completions have been reported to this routing seq-stage, but there is still a quantity remaining to be completed, which means this routing seq-stage has been started, but is not yet closed.

Closed This routing seq-stage is fully completed, meaning that the quantity completed and scrapped equals the seq-stage’s scheduled start quantity.

Remaining This is a read-only field that displays the quantity remaining to be completed, based on the following formula:

Start Qty – (Completed TD + Scrapped TD)

Compl Qty Enter the amount completed in this field. This is not an accumulated total to-date, but an individual transaction. You can make several such transactions to the same seq-stage over the course of production. When this line gets updated, the amount entered will be added to the Compl TD amount displayed to the right.

NOTE: If in the Job Labor Defaults screen you select the Display Warning when Compl Qty + Scrap Qty > Remaining Qty checkbox, you will receive a warning when you update an entry that causes the total quantity completed and scrapped to exceed the expected job quantity.

Scrap Qty Enter the amount scrapped in this field. This is not an accumulated total to-date, but an individual transaction. You can make several such transactions to the same seq-stage over the course of production. When this line gets updated, the amount entered will be added to the Scrap TD amount displayed to the right.

NOTE: If you never enter scrap quantities, you can clear the Display Scrap Qty checkbox in the Job Labor Defaults screen and all scrap-related fields will be made invisible.

Compl TD This field is for reference only and displays the accumulated Compl Qty transactions to-date.

Scrap TD This field is for reference only and displays the accumulated Scrap Qty transactions to-date.

# Persons This field is for reference only and displays the # Persons setting for this seq-stage in the job’s routing. The hourly labor rate is multiplied by this amount when calculating the Labor Cost at right.



Setup Cost The field is for reference only. When you enter the first completion or scrap quantity (any amount) against a seq-stage, the program assumes that setup has been completed and backflushes the estimated setup hours entered in the job Routing screen and applies the work center Setup rate to those hours. The Setup Cost shown here will be charged to the job when the Update button is clicked.

Labor Cost The field is for reference only. When you enter completion or scrap quantities against a Seq-Stage, the program backflushes the labor hours based on the Time / Process and Items / Process settings in the job Routing screen. The work center Labor rate is applied to those hours and is multiplied by the # Persons to determine the Labor Cost shown in this field, which will be charged to the job when the Update button is clicked. Pre-Fill Button If you are on a line and you want the Compl Qty to automatically equal the Remaining Qty without having to enter the number manually, click the Pre-Fill button while on this line. Pre-Fill All Button Some companies prefer to update all the job routing sequences in a single batch entry at the end of the job, for job costing purposes. To do so, click the Pre-Fill All button and the Remaining quantity will be copied into the Comp Qty column for all routing sequences on the screen. You can then click the Update button and process all the routing sequences at once. Use the Job Control Panel for end-of-job backflushing If you do not enter completion quantities during the course of the job and prefer to backflush all your routing seq-stages in a batch at the end of the job, the better alternative to using this screen is to use the Backflush option that is offered in the Job Control Panel screen. When you backflush a job in the Job Control Panel, all the following transactions are make in a single batch procedure.

• All remaining job outputs are receipted • All remaining job lines without characteristics are issued • All remaining seq-stages set for backflushing are completed

Update Button Processing You can enter as many lines as you wish before updating. When your entries are complete, click the Update button to process your entries, which does the following:

• Updates each routing sequence’s Start Qty, Completed TD, and Scrapped TD fields.



• The routing sequence’s actual Setup, Labor, Fixed Overhead, and Variable Overhead costs are updated by the following formulas:

Setup Seq-Stage Setup Hrs * Work Center Setup rate Labor (Compl Qty + Scrap Qty) * Work Center Labor rate * # Persons / (Seq-Stage Items/Process * Seq-Stage Processes/Hr) Fixed Overhead (Compl Qty + Scrap Qty) * Work Center Fixed Overhead rate / (Seq-Stage Items/Process * Seq-Stage Processes/Hr) + Seq-Stage Setup Hrs * Work Center Fixed Overhead rate Variable Overhead (Compl Qty + Scrap Qty) * Work Center Variable Overhead rate / (Seq-Stage Items/Process * Seq-Stage Processes/Hr) + Seq-Stage Setup Hrs * Work Center Variable Overhead rate



Labor Hours Entry Sub-Tab On the Labor Hours Entry sub-tab, you enter labor and setup hours as well as items completed and scrapped. The program will cost the job based on the times submitted at your choice of either work center rates or employee wage rates.

Field Explanations

Emp No Before seq-stages are displayed, you must first select the Emp No. This is the number that identifies this employee, maintained in the Employees screen. The employee’s last name is displayed adjacent to this field for reference purposes.

Work Date This is the date the work was actually performed. It defaults to today’s date, but may be overridden.

Seq-Stage, Work Center These two fields are for reference only and display the routing sequence and the work center to which it is assigned.

Status This field is for reference only and is automatically updated by the program as entries get updated. There are four possible values:

Open No completions have been reported to this routing seq-stage or to the seq-stage preceding it.

Next Completions have been reported to the routing seq-stage preceding this one, which means this routing seq-stage is the next one to be performed.



Started Completions have been reported to this routing seq-stage, but there is still a quantity remaining to be completed, which means this routing seq-stage has been started, but is not yet closed.

Closed This routing seq-stage is fully completed, meaning that the quantity completed and scrapped equals the seq-stage’s scheduled start quantity.

Pay Rate This field is only visible if in Job Labor Defaults screen the Cost Basis is set to ‘Employee Rate’ and the Display Pay Rate checkbox is selected. Four rates are available and correspond to the rates maintained in the Employees screen against this employee.

Setup Hrs Enter the actual Setup time (in decimal hours) for each transaction, if applicable.

Labor Hrs Enter the actual Labor time (in decimal hours) for each transaction, if applicable.

Remaining This is a read-only field that displays the quantity remaining to be completed, based on the following formula:

Start Qty – (Completed TD + Scrapped TD)

Compl Qty Enter the amount completed in this field. This is not an accumulated total to-date, but an individual transaction. You can make several such transactions to the same seq-stage over the course of production. When this line gets updated, the amount entered will be added to the Compl TD amount displayed to the right.

NOTE: If in the Job Labor Defaults screen you select the Display Warning when Compl Qty + Scrap Qty > Remaining Qty checkbox, you will receive a warning when you update an entry that causes the total quantity completed and scrapped to exceed the expected job quantity.

Scrap Qty Enter the amount scrapped in this field. This is not an accumulated total to-date, but an individual transaction. You can make several such transactions to the same seq-stage over the course of production. When this line gets updated, the amount entered will be added to the Scrap TD amount displayed to the right.

NOTE: If you never enter scrap quantities, you can clear the Display Scrap Qty checkbox in the Job Labor Defaults screen and all scrap-related fields will be made invisible.

Compl TD This field is for reference only and displays the accumulated Compl Qty transactions to-date.



Scrap TD This field is for reference only and displays the accumulated Scrap Qty transactions to-date. Decimal Hours Calculator If you click the button within the Setup Hrs or Labor Hrs field, a screen is presented that calculates decimal hours based on the entry of a Start Time and End Time. This can be a time-saver if you are entering hours from time cards.

You can also enter a Break Start and Break End time if you want to deduct time for lunch or some other break during the work period. After entering the start and end times, click Calculate and you will see the Decimal Hours displayed. Click OK and the screen will close and the result inserted into the Setup Hours or Labor Hrs fields. Making a series of entries for an employee This screen is optimized for entering a series of entries for one employee across multiple jobs. After making an entry on one job, when you select the next job, the Work Date and Emp No fields remain unchanged. So if during the course of a day, the employee works several jobs, you can make a series of entries to different jobs without having to re-select the employee each time. Update Button Processing You can enter as many lines as you wish before updating. When your entries are complete, click the Update button to process your entries, which does the following:

• Updates each routing sequence’s Start Qty, Compl TD, and Scrap TD fields.

• The routing sequence’s actual Setup, Labor, Fixed Overhead, and Variable Overhead costs are updated by the following formulas:

Setup If Cost Basis = Work Center Rate:

Setup Hours * Work Center Setup rate If Cost Basis = Employee Rate:

Setup Hours * Employee Hour Rate X Labor If Cost Basis = Work Center Rate:



Labor Hours * Work Center Labor rate If Cost Basis = Employee Rate:

Labor Hours * Employee Hour Rate Fixed Overhead (Setup Hours + Labor Hours) * Work Center Fixed Overhead rate Variable Overhead (Setup Hours + Labor Hours) * Work Center Variable Overhead rate



Subcontract Scrap Sub-Tab Subcontract processing is done via PO Receipts Subcontract routing seq-stages are updated during PO Receipts entry and are not processed within the Job Tracking & Labor screen, unless a scrap quantity is to be entered. If your supplier scraps any items: If the subcontract service PO is under-received because the supplier scrapped some items, you can use the Subcontract Scrap sub-tab to enter the Scrap Qty.

Scrap Qty To enter scrap, simply enter the Scrap Qty and click Update. This transaction accounts for the scrap quantity so that the program can set the seq-stage Status to ‘Closed’. There is no cost incurred with this transaction.



Status Tab The Status tab is for inquiry purposes only and displays all the routing sequences within a given job.

At a glance, you can see the progress of the job. Within each routing sequence you can see the start quantity, items completed, items scrapped, completion percentage, and the routing sequence status.



Job History Tab All backflush and labor hours transactions entered against the job are listed in this screen for reference purposes, providing a complete audit trail. You also can use this screen to reverse any entries made in error.

Backflush View If you click the Backflush radio button, you will see all transactions that were made on the Backflush sub-tab within the Transactions tab. Labor Hours Entry View If you click the Labor Hours Entry radio button, you will see all transactions that were made on the Labor Hours Entry sub-tab within the Transactions tab. Reversing a Transaction If any transaction contains errors, you can reverse it by highlighting the transaction and clicking the Reverse button.

You are presented with this screen. For audit trail purposes, the original transaction remains and the program creates a separate reversal transaction. Normally the date of the reversal transaction would be today’s date, which is the default value displayed in the Reversal Date field. You can, however, select an earlier date, as long as it is not prior to the system-wide Financial Cutoff Date.



Once date selection is completed, click the Reverse Transaction button. You will now see your transaction listed on the History tab, highlighted in red to identify it as a reversal transaction.

Employee History Tab If you are making a series of entries for a single employee, you can click the Employee History tab to view all labor transactions for the employee across all jobs, not just the current job displayed in the upper panel.

Linking to other job-related screens You can link directly to other job-related screens (such as the Make Jobs and Job Issues & Receipts screens) by clicking the Links button and selecting the screen name from the drop-down list. Doing so closes the Job Tracking & Labor screen and automatically selects this job for display in the newly launched screen.

6-8. Job Receipts


6-8. Job Receipts By “job receipts”, we mean the reporting of finished job ‘outputs’, which are received to stock so that they can be shipped or issued to other jobs.

Costing Method (Make – Make Job Defaults) The following setting on the Make Job Defaults screen determines how job receipts are costed.

Job Receipts Cost Basis This setting enables you to select the method of costing that will update the item’s inventory Cost when receipts of finished job output items are reported via the Issues & Receipts Entry screen. Two costing methods are available:

Actual Job Cost (Recommended) This method can be used in any manufacturing environment. An estimated unit cost (based on total estimated job routing and line item costs) for all partial receipts. On the final receipt transaction, a unit cost is calculated that balances total output costs with total actual job costs. Thus, there is no variance at the end of the job between outgoing and incoming costs.

Estimated Job Cost This method provides a simple form of standard costing. With this method, the output item’s estimated job cost, which is established at the time the job is created, is used for all job receipt transactions. Typically, there is a variance at the end of the job between incoming and outgoing costs, which gets posted to your WIP Adjustments GL account.

Job Issues & Receipts Screen (Make – Job Issues & Receipts) Job receipts are entered via the Job Issues & Receipts screen. Upper Panel To enter job receipts, select a Job No in the upper panel. The Job Name, Status, and Customer are automatically displayed for reference purposes. Select a Transaction Date, which is the date when the completions took place. Two Entry Screens Two entry screens are available.

6-8. Job Receipts


The Batch Update tab is used to enter receipts for output items that do not have tracking characteristics (such as lot and serial control). The Characteristics tab is used to enter receipts for output items with tracking characteristics. The total number of line items available for processing within each screen is displayed in parenthesis to the right or each tab name.

Batch Update Tab

All job outputs that do not have tracking characteristics are listed in the Batch Update screen.

Output Lines In the Issue or Output Lines panel, click the Output Lines radio button.

Location – Upper Panel The Location field displays the stock location selected in the job header screen, which can be changed here if needed. If this field is left blank, each output item will be received into its default Receipt location entered on the Stock Items screen. If a Location is selected, all output items will be received into that location. Pre-Fill Option In the entry grid, the Receipt Qty field is where you enter the receipt amount. You can enter this quantity manually or you can use the Pre-Fill All button to pre-fill the quantity based on the Remaining quantity.

Location – Line Level If the Location field in the panel above is blank, this field defaults to the output item’s default Receipt location (maintained in the Stock Items screen). If a Location is specified in the panel above, this field displays that location. You can select another location in this field, if you wish.

6-8. Job Receipts


Unit Cost The Unit Cost that is applied to the job receipt depends on whether a partial or final receipt is being entered. See the next two sections for details. Update Button Once the Receipt Qty and Location designations are to your satisfaction, click the Update button and the transaction will be completed. The Receipt Qty column is cleared and the Remaining column reflects the transaction that just took place.

Partial Receipt If you enter a receipt quantity that is less than the remaining quantity, you are entering a “partial receipt”, meaning that an additional quantity will be entered later. When you click Update, this following screen is displayed.


Job Est Cost This field is for reference only and is the estimated unit cost that was established at the time the job was created or when any job details were modified.

This Receipt Qty This field is for reference only and is the transaction quantity being received to stock

Sugg Unit Cost This is an entry field and is the cost assigned to this transaction that will update the item’s Inventory Cost. When a partial receipt is made, the program inserts the ob Est Cost as the Sugg Unit Cost by default. Because actual costs are not yet fully known at the time of a partial receipt, the estimated unit cost is the best cost to use. You are free to override the Sugg Unit Cost, but unless you have a good reason to do so, you normally accept the default.

6-8. Job Receipts


Total Receipt Cost This field is for reference only and is the This Receipt Qty multiplied by the Sugg Unit Cost. It represents the total cost of the transaction.

Remaining Qty This field is for reference only and is the quantity remaining to be received after this transaction is completed. OK Button After you’ve reviewed the Sugg Unit Cost and accepted the default or changed its value, click OK and the transaction will be processed. The units will be received to stock, inventory value will be increased by the Total Receipt Cost, and the Items unit Inventory Cost will be recalculated by averaging the cost of the new units with the cost of any stock on hand.

Final Receipt When you enter the final receipt quantity, meaning that there will be nothing remaining, the costing is different. By the time you enter the final receipt, all your incoming job costs should be entered. All job lines should be issued, all routing sequences should be backflushed or have their labor hours and completions entered, and any linked PO’s should be received. If any of these are not yet completed, the program gives you warning messages such as this:

If you receive such a message, you should close this screen, go to the Job Control Panel, finish the uncompleted job processing, then return to this screen to make your final receipt. Once all job costs are processed and you enter the final receipt quantity, you click Update and you are presented with this screen:

6-8. Job Receipts



Job Est Cost This field is for reference only and is the estimated unit cost that was established at the time the job was created or when any job details were modified.

Total Job Costs TD This field is for reference only and represents the total of all job routing and line item costs reported to date. This is a read-only field that cannot be changed.

Total Receipts TD This field is for reference only and is the total cost of all previous receipts made for this output to date.

WIP Balance This field is for reference only and represents the difference between the Total Job Costs TD and the Total Receipts TD.

Final Receipt Qty This field is for reference only and is the final receipt quantity that was already entered for this transaction in the Batch Update screen’s entry grid.

Sugg Unit Cost This is an entry field. The program inserts one of two values in this field, depending on the Job Receipts Costing Basis setting in the Make Job Defaults screen.

If Job Receipts Costing Basis = Actual Job Cost In this case, the program calculates a Sugg Unit Cost that balances all costs that went into the job with all costs that went out. The Ending WIP Balance is zero, meaning that incoming and outgoing costs have been fully balanced. All work in process costs are thus fully absorbed into the cost of the finished item. You are not obligated to accept the Sugg Unit Cost and are free to override it if for some reason you feel the cost is not suitable. If the job

6-8. Job Receipts


finishes with an Ending WIP Balance, there is no accounting or inventory costing problem. Any ending balance gets posted to your WIP Adjustments GL account when the job is closed.

If Job Receipts Costing Basis = Estimated Job Cost In this case, the program inserts the Job Est Cost into the Sugg Unit Cost field by default and ignores actual job costs. You will often finish the job with an Ending WIP Balance, which represents the variance between estimated and actual job costs. The items will be received to stock at estimated job cost. When the job is closed, the Ending WIP Balance is posted to your WIP Adjustments GL account.

Total Receipt Cost This field is for reference only and is the Final Receipt Qty multiplied by the Sugg Unit Cost. It represents the total cost of the transaction.

Ending WIP Balance This field is for reference only and is the Total Receipt Cost subtracted from the WIP Balance. If your Job Receipts Cost Basis in Make Job Defaults is set to Actual Job Cost, the Ending WIP Balance is normally zero. If your Job Receipts Cost Basis is set to Estimated Job Cost, there is often a value in this field, which represents the variance between estimated job costs and actual job costs. When the job gets closed, this variance amount gets posted to your WIP Adjustments GL account. OK Button After you’ve reviewed the Sugg Unit Cost and accepted the default or changed its value, click OK and the transaction will be processed. The units will be received to stock, inventory value will be increased by the Total Receipt Cost, and the Items unit Inventory Cost will be recalculated by averaging the cost of the new units with the cost of any stock on hand.

6-8. Job Receipts


Characteristics Tab

Outputs Side-Tab All output items with tracking characteristics (such as lot or serial control) are listed on the Characteristics screen in the upper grid on the Outputs side-tab. Any previous transactions for any output item highlighted in the upper grid are displayed in the lower grid. To report a job receipt, highlight an output item in the upper grid and click the New button, which launches the Job Receipts by Characteristics screen. Job Receipts by Characteristics Screen In the upper panel, the Location and Cost fields are handled exactly the same as described previously for the Batch Update screen. To enter a receipt transaction, click the New button, which highlights the Qty field in the Transaction Detail entry grid. Enter the completion Qty. To the right of the Qty field, make entries or selections in whatever characteristic columns are displayed. Each column heading displays the characteristic name. Enter as many lines as are needed to record the different characteristics that apply to this transaction. After your entries are completed, click the Update button and they will be processed. The window will be closed and you are returned to the Characteristics screen. In the upper grid, the Remaining quantity reflects the transaction that just took place, and the transaction itself will be listed in the lower grid. Final Receipt If this is the final receipt, meaning that after the transaction is updated, there will be a Remaining quantity of zero or less, the program calculates a unit cost that balances total incoming job costs with outgoing costs. This is handled in this

6-8. Job Receipts


screen identically as described previously in relation to the Batch Updates screen. See the Final Receipt section above for more information.

Automatic Serial Number Generation When you receive output items into stock that have serial number characteristics, you must make an individual entry for each serial number. This is no problem if you are receiving a small quantity of items, but if you are entering a large quantity, it is time-consuming to enter a succession of serial numbers, especially if the serial numbers themselves are lengthy.


6-8. Job Receipts


Linking to other job-related screens You can link directly to other job-related screens (such as the Make Jobs and Job Tracking & Labor screens) by clicking the Links button and selecting the screen name from the drop-down list. Doing so closes the Job Issues & Receipts screen and automatically selects this job for display in the newly launched screen.

6-9. Closing and Reopening Jobs


6-9. Closing and Reopening Jobs ‘Closing’ a job signifies that it is fully completed and processed. Once closed, no further entries to the job are allowed. Some companies formally close jobs only after a ‘sign off’ procedure is completed where key personnel review the job and make sure it is fully processed, invoiced, all costs accounted for, etc. Closing a job Jobs are closed through the Job Control Panel. See chapter 6-5 for details. When a job gets closed, the program compares the total incoming job costs (labor, material, overhead, subcontract services) with total job ‘output’ costs. If there is any discrepancy, a debit or credit gets posted to your WIP Adjustments GL account. This end-of-job balancing transaction insures that your Work in Process account value always remains accurate.

NOTE: If your Job Receipts Costing Basis in Make Job Defaults is set to Actual Job Cost, the unit cost entered on each output’s final transaction balances total job incoming costs with total outgoing costs and will therefore keep WIP adjustments to a minimum.

Reopening a closed job A closed job can be reopened so that additional transactions can be made, if needed. You cannot reopen a closed job through the Job Control Panel. You must go to the Make Jobs screen and locate the job by selecting the Closed checkbox in the lower panel of the opening List screen and clicking the Refresh button Once you find your closed job, go to the job Header screen and change the Status setting from ‘CLOSED’ to ‘RELEASED’. You can then make additional transactions. Once you are finished making additional transactions, the job can be closed once again through the Job Control Panel. All additional transactions post to WIP Adjustments Be aware that all transactions made to a reopened job post to your WIP Adjustments GL account.

6-10. Job Costing


6-10. Job Costing Job Costing Reports Two reports provide job cost information.

Job Cost & Profit This report provides a comparison of estimated versus actual costs, both at the summary level and optionally at the routing sequence and line item level. You also have the option of listing total costs or unit costs, which are total costs divided by the number of finished job outputs.

Job Transactions This report lists all job transactions, either for a single job or range of jobs. Transactions are grouped and subtotaled by routing transactions, line item transactions, subcontract transactions, and receipt transactions.

Job Cost Sources – Estimated Costs When a job is created or changes are made to routing or line item details, the total estimated job cost is recalculated. The total estimated job cost, against which actual costs are compared on the Job Cost & Profit report, comes from the following sources:

Setup For each routing sequence, the estimated setup cost is calculated as follows:

Setup Hours * work center Setup rate at time of job creation or change to Setup Hours

Labor For each routing sequence, the estimated labor cost is calculated as follows:

Time/Process * Items/Process * work center Labor rate at time of job creation or change to Time/Process or Items/Process

Fixed Overhead For each routing sequence, the estimated fixed overhead cost is calculated as follows:

Time/Process * Items/Process * work center Fixed Overhead rate at time of job creation or change to Time/Process or Items/Process

Routing Variable Overhead For each routing sequence, the estimated variable overhead cost is calculated as follows:

Time/Process * Items/Process * WC Labor rate at time of job creation or change to Time/Process or Items/Process

6-10. Job Costing


Stock Items The costing method for Estimated Costs setting in the Main Setup screen determines the job Est Cost value for stock items. If set to ‘EST’, the item’s Est Cost is used. If set to ‘INV’, the item’s Inventory Cost is used. If set to ‘LAST’, the item’s Last Cost is used.

Descriptors The descriptor’s Est Cost is used as the estimated cost.

Subcontract Service Freeform Items In the bill of material, the cost for subcontract services is maintained in the routing sequence’s Cost field. When a job is originated from the BOM, a freeform line item is created, linked back to that routing sequence, and the subcontract service cost is used as the Est Cost for the freeform item.

Freeform Items Freeform items entered from scratch use whatever is manually entered in the job line Est Cost field as the estimated cost.

Job Cost Sources – Actual Costs Actual job costs derive from the following sources: Job Issues Job issue transactions made in the Job Issues & Receipts screen are costed as follows:

Stock Items Issues from stock to jobs, including those for manufactured subassemblies, are issued at each item’s Inventory Cost.

Descriptor & Freeform Items Issues to jobs for descriptors and freeform items are costed at the job line item’s Est Cost.

Buy-for-Job Receipts PO line items generated from the Buy-for-Job screen are linked back to originating job lines. When received in the Purchase Order Receipts screen, the job is costed as follows:

Stock Items Stock items are temporarily received into stock at the PO line item price and then are immediately issued to the job at the item’s Inventory Cost.

Descriptors & Freeform Items Descriptors and freeform items are received directly to the job at the PO line item cost.

6-10. Job Costing


Job Tracking – Completions Only When a routing sequence completion-only transaction (no setup or labor hours) is made in the Job Tracking & Labor screen, the following costs are calculated and charged to the job.

Setup Est Setup Cost (first completion transaction only)

Labor [(Compl Qty + Scrap Qty) / Start Qty} * Est Labor Cost

Fixed Overhead [(Compl Qty + Scrap Qty) / Start Qty} * Est Fixed OH Cost

Variable Overhead [(Compl Qty + Scrap Qty) / Start Qty} * Est Variable OH Cost

Job Labor – Setup Hours When a routing sequence transaction involving the entry of setup hours is made in the Job Tracking & Labor screen, the following costs are calculated and charged to the job.

Setup If the cost basis = work center rate, the formula is: Work Center Setup Rate x Setup Hours. If the cost basis = employee rate, the formula is: Employee Hour Rate * Setup Hours.

Fixed Overhead Work Center Fixed Overhead Rate * Setup Hours

Variable Overhead Work Center Variable Overhead Rate * Setup Hours

Job Labor – Labor Hours When a routing sequence transaction involving the entry of labor hours is made in the Job Tracking & Labor screen, the following costs are calculated and charged to the job.

Labor If the cost basis = work center rate, the formula is: Work Center Labor Rate x (Completion Qty + Scrap Qty) * Time/Process * Processes/Hour. If the cost basis = employee rate, the formula is: Employee Hour Rate * (Completion Qty + Scrap Qty) * Time/Process * Processes/Hour

Fixed Overhead Work Center Fixed Overhead Rate * (Completion Qty + Scrap Qty) * Time/Process * Processes/Hour

6-10. Job Costing


Variable Overhead Work Center Variable Overhead Rate * (Completion Qty + Scrap Qty) * Time/Process * Processes/Hour

Job Receipts When job ‘output’ receipt transactions are made in the Job Issues & Receipts screen, the output item is received into stock at a cost, derived as follows:

Job Receipts Costing Basis = Actual Job Cost When a partial receipt is made, meaning that after the transaction is updated there will be a Remaining quantity of ‘1’ or greater, an estimated unit cost is used. The estimated unit cost is calculated by taking the total estimated job cost (from job routing and line item details) and dividing it by the total quantity to make. When the final receipt is made, meaning that after the transaction is updated, there will be a Remaining quantity of zero or less, the program calculates a unit cost that balances total job incoming costs with total output costs so that the job’s ending WIP balance is zero.

Job Receipts Costing Basis = Estimated Job Cost All receipts, partial and final, use the estimated unit job cost. This cost is calculated by taking the total estimated job cost (from job routing and line item details) and dividing it by the total quantity to make.

6-11. Make Job Workflow


6-11. Make Job Workflow Phase 1 – Job Creation • Generate planned jobs from sales order lines for make-to-order items (MRP)

• Generate planned jobs from net demand (MRP)

• Convert planned jobs to make jobs (MRP)

• Modify or add job details, if required (Make Jobs)

Phase 2 – Job Release • Release job just before start date (Job Control Panel)

• Print job traveler (Job Travelers)

• Print pick list (Pick Lists)

Phase 3 – Job Processing NOTE: All job processing functions can be linked to from the Job Control Panel.

• Generate PO’s from job lines for subcontract services and purchase-to-order items (Buy-for-Job)

• Enter routing sequence completions and/or labor hours (Job Tracking & Labor)

• Receive PO’s for subcontract services and purchase-to-order items (PO Receipts)

• Issue items from stock to jobs (Job Issues & Receipts)

• Enter job receipts (Job Issues & Receipts)

• As an alternative to job issues and receipts, backflush issues and receipts (Job Control Panel)

Phase 4 – Job Close • Close finished jobs (Job Control Panel)

7. Purchasing


7. Purchasing Purchasing is an integral part of the manufacturing process. You are offered a variety of options to help you purchase materials, components, subcontract services, and other items for your jobs and inventory.

Purchasing System Elements The purchasing system consists of the following major elements. Purchase Orders Purchase orders can be manually entered via the Purchase Order screen or automatically generated from the Buy-for-Job and MRP screens. Each line item has its own due date and can be tied to specific jobs and routing sequences. PO Receipts Line items are received through the PO Receipts screen, which also handles items with tracking characteristics such as lot and serial control. Purchase Pricing Tables You can maintain supplier prices in the Purchase Prices – Items and Purchase Prices – Descriptors screens. See the Manufacturing Startup Guide for details. PO Invoices Supplier invoices can be entered and matched against PO’s in the PO Invoices screen.

How are PO’s created? Purchase orders for materials, components, subcontract services, and other items and services can be created three ways.

• Automatic generation directly from job lines via the Buy-for-Job screen. • Automatic generation directly from the MRP screen • Manual entry via the Purchase Orders screen

Buy-for Job Screen For details on using the Buy-for-Job screen to generate PO’s, see chapter 6-7, Purchasing Items & Services for Jobs.

MRP Screen For details on using the MRP screen to generate PO’s, see chapter 5-10, Generating PO’s for Net Demand.

7-1. Purchase Order Entry


7-1. Purchase Order Entry (Purch – Purchase Orders) To enter a purchase order, click the New PO button while on the opening List tab of the Purchase Orders screen. An opening dialog box is presented from which you can select a PO Type. Once you click OK, you are taken to the Header screen.

Header Screen The Header screen entry fields are described as follows.

Description Enter an up to 50-character Description of the PO that is used as a reference on lookups and reports.

Creation Date The Creation Date defaults to the system date, but can be overridden, if desired.

Status Normally, this field is left alone and automatically changes itself as the PO progresses from creation, to printing, to being fully received and matched with the supplier invoice.

Automatic Status – Opened, Printed, Closed When a PO is created, its Status is automatically set to ‘Opened’. When you print the PO, its Status automatically changes to ‘Printed’. As each line gets fully received and matched in the PO Invoices screen, its Line Status value gets changed from ‘Open’ to ‘Closed’. Once all lines are ‘Closed’, the PO header Status automatically gets changed to ‘Closed’.



Manually Closing the PO You therefore normally leave this setting alone and let the PO automatically close itself. The only time you would manually close the PO is when you have lines that are purposely under-received, meaning the supplier will not ship the remaining amount(s), or you have lines that won’t be received at all due to a cancellation. If you manually set the Status to ‘Closed’, you receive a warning that all lines will be closed as well.

‘Quote’ Status You can manually change the Status to ‘Quote’ if you wish to use the PO to request a quote from a supplier. ‘Quote’ status PO’s are ignored by the MRP screen when calculating net demand for items.

Notes You can enter unlimited Notes text that will print on the PO.

PO Type The PO type that was selected in the opening dialog box displays in this field for reference purposes.

Due Date This field sets a default Due Date for each line item entered, which can be overridden at the line item level. If you want multiple deliveries of an item, you can enter a separate line for each delivery, each with its own Due Date.

Function In a future release this field will indicate if the PO is an actual order or is used as a requisition for requesting purchases. At present it should display as an ‘Order.’

Tax Code This is the tax code for this supplier that is maintained in the Suppliers screen. If a tax code does not exist for this supplier, the default Purchase tax code from Admin – Main Setup is used. If this supplier is marked as Non-Taxable on the Suppliers screen, tax will not be calculated on any of the line items.

Location If this field is left blank, each stock item that is not designated for a job will be received into its default Receipt stock location, maintained in the Stock Items screen. If a Location is specified, all such stock items will be received into that location. Supplier Detail You can select a supplier by clicking on the lookup button in the Name field. If you enter a supplier name that has not yet been set up in the Suppliers screen, as you leave the field you are informed that the supplier does not exist and are then asked if you wish to create a supplier record. If you indicate yes, you are taken to the Suppliers screen where you can enter the supplier’s details. When you close the screen, you are returned to the purchase order header screen.



Once the supplier’s details are displayed, you can override any of the fields, including those on the Contact Details tab at the bottom of the screen. Delivery Address This address defaults to your company’s address set up in Admin – Main Setup. You can override any of the fields if desired. Order Value The Order Value field is the sum of all the PO line item values. The next line is the sum of all the line item tax amounts and uses the tax Name entered in the Main Setup screen. The Total Value is the sum of the Order Value and the tax total.

Details Screen

The Details screen fields are described as follows.

Line No As each line is created, it is assigned a sequential Line No in increments of 10. This identifies the line and controls the sort order on the printed PO.

Line Type Select ‘Stock’ it you wish to purchase a stock item, ‘Descriptor’ if you wish to purchase a non-stock descriptor, ‘Freeform’ if you wish to enter an item on-the-fly for onetime use, and ‘Catalog’ if you wish to purchase a supplier catalog item that was imported via the File –Date Import screen.

Reference ID This is the item ID for the stock item, descriptor, or catalog item. If you are entering a freeform item, you must enter a Reference ID.



Description This field automatically displays the description for the stock item, descriptor, or catalog item. The description can be overridden, if desired. If you are entering a free-form item, enter a Description of your choice.

Order Qty This is the internal order quantity that MRP uses when calculating net demand for the item. In the X-Refs tab in the bottom portion of the screen, the supplier Multiplier is divided into this quantity to arrive at the Supplier Qty that prints on the PO.

Qty Received The quantity of this line item received to-date.

UM The line item’s unit of measure (EA, LBS, HRS, etc.). The Supplier UM, located in the X-Refs tab in the lower portion of the screen, may be different than your UM and is the UM that prints on the PO.

Cost This is the purchase cost of this line item that, when received, will be used to update the job cost and/or Inventory Cost. The cost derives from three potential sources:

• If a supplier price is maintained in the Purchase Prices – Items or Purchase Prices – Suppliers screen for this line item/supplier combination, that price will flow into the Supplier Price field (see below), which will then be translated by the Multiplier and Exchange Rate (if applicable) to establish the purchase Cost.

• If a supplier price is not found and the line item is a stock item, the program looks at the setting in Purch – Purchasing Setup – Purchasing Defaults and uses the Last Cost, Inventory Cost, or Estimated Cost for the purchase Cost.

• If a supplier price is not found and the item is a descriptor, the Est Cost maintained the Descriptors screen is used for the purchase Cost.

Ext Cost This field is for display only and is the result of the Order Qty multiplied by the Cost.

Tax Amt This is the total sales tax amount for this line item, if applicable. The column heading uses the Tax Name entered in Main Setup (GST, Sales Tax, etc.).

Due Date This field automatically defaults to the Due Date entered on the header screen, but can be overridden. If you want multiple deliveries of an item, you can enter a separate line for each delivery, each with its own Due Date.



Job No This field is for reference only. When a PO gets generated via the Buy-for-Job screen, this field displays the associated job.

NOTE: If you wish to purchase items for s specific job, do not enter the PO manually. Instead, go to the Buy-for-Job screen and generate the PO directly from the job lines. This process formally links the PO to the job line for tracking and costing purposes.

Seq-Stage This field is for reference only. If this PO was generated from a job line via the Buy-for-Job screen and the job lines was assigned to a routing Seq-Stage, the Seq-Stage is displayed in this field. Subcontract service job lines are typically assigned to a Seq-Stage.

Tax Code This defaults to the Tax Code entered in the header screen, but can be overridden if a special tax code applies to this line item.

Line Status Once a line is fully received and matched in the PO Invoices screen, the program automatically sets the Line Status to ‘Closed’. All lines must be “Closed’ before a PO can be closed at the header level. If for some reason you will not be matching the original line quantity, usually because you accepted an under-shipment from the supplier, you can manually set the Line Status to ‘Closed’ so that the PO can be closed.

X-Refs Sub-Tab Supplier Part No This is the Reference ID that will print on the PO. If the item has a Supplier Part No maintained in its Sources screen for this supplier, it will display in this field. If not, this line’s Reference ID copies into this field. You can manually override this entry, if you wish.

Supplier Qty It is not uncommon for a supplier to sell an item in a different unit of measure than your unit of measure. The Supplier Qty is the order quantity that prints o the PO. The Supplier Qty is multiplied by the Multiplier value to establish the Order Qty, or conversely, the Order Qty is divided by the Multiplier to establish the Supplier Qty. So if you change the quantity in this field, it will change the Order Qty, and vice-versa.

Supplier UM This is the UM that will print on the PO. If the item has a UM maintained in its Sources screen for this supplier, it will display in this field. If not, this line item’s UM copies into this field. You can manually override this entry, if you wish.



Multiplier The Supplier Qty is multiplied by this factor to establish the Order Qty. If the item has a Multiplier maintained in its Sources screen for this supplier, it will display in this field. If not, this field is automatically assigned a value of ‘1’. You can manually override this entry, if you wish.

Supplier Price If an entry is maintained in the Supplier Prices table for this item, that price is pulled into this field. The Supplier Price is then translated into the purchase Cost value, using this formula: Supplier Price * Multiplier = Cost If this PO is being submitted to the supplier in a foreign currency, the formula is this:

Price * Multiplier / Exchange Rate = Cost

Supplier Tax The Tax Amt in the upper grid is equal to the Supplier Tax amount, unless the PO is being submitted to the supplier in a foreign currency, in which case the Supplier Tax is translated using this formula:

Supplier Tax = Tax Amt * Exchange Rate

Manufacturer Part No This prints on the PO for reference purposes and can be left blank. If the item has a Mfgr Part No maintained in its Sources screen for the Manufacturer specified in the next field, it will display in this field. You can manually override this entry, if you wish.

Manufacturer If this PO was generated directly from a job line via the Buy-for-Job screen, this is the Manufacturer specified in the job line. If you enter this line from scratch and this item has a default Manufacturer in its Sources screen, that manufacturer will display in this field. You can leave this field blank or you can select a manufacturer from the lookup.

Notes Sub-Tab You can enter unlimited, free-form notes that will appear on the printed PO. Item and descriptor Notes (maintained in the Stock Items screen and Descriptors screen) as well as job line item Job/Quote Notes automatically copy to the PO line item Notes and can be modified, if desired.



Using Speed Entry The Speed Entry function helps you enter order detail lines as rapidly as possible and is especially useful when entering large numbers of line items. To use Speed Entry, click the Speed Entry button while in the Detail screen. A screen gets presented that contains an upper panel, a main selection grid, and a display grid at the bottom. In the upper panel, choose whether you want to select Stock Items or Descriptors. All your stock items or descriptors will display in the main selection grid.

Selecting Items To select an item, start typing the Item ID or Descriptor ID. As you type each character, the cursor will progressively move to the item with the closest match. Once you find the item you are looking for, press Enter and the cursor will move to the Qty field where you can enter the order quantity. After entering the quantity, press Enter and you will see your entry displayed in the lower grid. The cursor moves to the left-hand column where you can immediately make another selection. Using the mouse is not necessary Speed Entry is designed so that you don’t have to use the mouse to make your selections, which slows down the process. You can press Enter to move back and forth from the Item ID or Descriptor ID field to the Qty field and to make your selections. You can use your arrow keys to navigate up or down the columns. You can, of course, also use the mouse, if you wish. Other Search Techniques Progressive typing is not the only way to find items.



You can use the Description Search field (located below the main selection grid) to narrow the contents of the main selection grid only to items that contain the text you enter. Once you enter your text, click the lookup icon to the left and the main selection grid will display the items with matching text. Once you make a selection, the grid will repopulate itself with all your items. If you make a search and don’t select an item, click the ‘X’ button and the grid will repopulate with all items. You can also click any of the down arrows on the column headings to narrow your search using the system’s standard grid filtering options. This would enable you to narrow the list to a particular item Category or descriptor Type, for example. De-Selecting Items If you make a mistake and select an incorrect item and wish to de-select it, highlight the item in the lower display grid and click the Delete button in the upper right corner of the screen. Transfer Button Your item selections and quantities are displayed in the lower grid in the order that they were selected. When your selections and quantities are completed, click the Transfer button to the right and the items and quantities will be transferred to the purchase order. During the transfer, each item’s price is automatically calculated using the system’s pricing rules. Once your items are transferred, they can be edited for any changes that may be required. Use Speed Entry as often as you wish You can use Speed Entry as often as you wish within a purchase order. You can enter a few lines, transfer them, enter a few more, transfer them, and so forth.

7-2. Receiving Purchase Orders


7-2. Receiving Purchase Orders (Purch – PO Receipts) To receive purchase order line items, highlight a PO on the opening List screen and click the Detail tab. Upper Panel In the upper panel of the Detail tab, the PO No, and Supplier are displayed for reference purposes and cannot be changed. The Location field displays the stock location specified in the PO header screen. If left blank, each stock item not designated for a job will be received into its default Receipt location, maintained in the Stock Items screen. If you specify a Location, each such stock item will be received into that location. Enter a Document No, if you wish to reference your supplier’s packing slip number. Enter any Notes to describe the transaction and enter or select a Receipt Date. Two Entry Screens Two entry screens are available. The Batch Receipts tab is used to receive line items that do not have tracking characteristics (such as lot and serial control). The Characteristics tab is used to receive line items with tracking characteristics. The total number of line items available for processing within each screen is displayed in parenthesis to the right or each tab name.

Batch Receipts Tab All line items that do not have tracking characteristics are listed in the Batch Receipts screen.

Rec Qty Click the Pre-Fill All button and the Remaining quantity for each item will be inserted into the Rec Qty column. You are then free to edit any quantities, if needed.

Location If the Location field in the upper panel of the screen is blank, the Location field for each item not designated for a job is automatically displays the item’s default Receipt location (maintained in the Stock Items screen). If a Location is specified in the upper panel, each such stock item will be received into that location. You can select another location on any given line item, if you wish. Non-stock items can also be received The Purchase Receipts screen is not limited to stock items. All descriptors, freeform lines, and catalog items are listed with a Location value of ‘Non-Stock’.



Cost This field displays the Cost entered in the purchase order line. This is the cost that will be charged to the job or the one used to update the item’s Inventory Cost, if received into stock. You can change the Cost in this screen, if you wish.

Shortage OK It is common with some items and suppliers to have an arrangement where the supplier can under-ship or over-ship an item. If you are finished receiving an item that is under-shipped, click the Shortage OK checkbox, which tells the program that you are finished receiving that item. This way the item won’t be presented again for receiving and the PO can be closed without fully receiving that line. Update Button Once your entries are completed to your satisfaction, click the Update button and the transaction will be completed. The Rec Qty column will be cleared and the Remaining column now reflects the transaction that just took place.



Characteristics Tab

All PO line items with tracking characteristics (such as lot or serial control) are listed in the upper grid of the Characteristics screen. Any previous transactions for any item highlighted in the upper grid are displayed in the lower grid. To receive an item, highlight an item in the upper grid and click the New button, which launches the PO Receipts by Characteristic screen. PO Receipts by Characteristics Screen In the upper panel, the Location and Cost fields are handled exactly the same as described previously for the Batch Receipts screen.

To receive the item, click the New button, which highlights the Qty field in the Transaction Detail entry grid. Enter the receipt Qty. To the right of the Qty field, make entries or selections in whatever characteristic columns are displayed. Each column heading displays the characteristic name.



Enter as many lines as are needed to record the different characteristics that apply to this transaction. After your entries are completed, click the Update button and they will be processed. The window will be closed and you are returned to the Characteristics screen. In the upper grid, the Remaining quantity reflects the transaction that just took place, and the transaction itself will be listed in the lower grid.

Automatic Serial Number Generation When you receive items into stock that have serial number characteristics, you must make an individual entry for each serial number. This is no problem if you are receiving a small quantity of items, but if you are entering a large quantity, it is time-consuming to enter a succession of serial numbers, especially if the serial numbers themselves are lengthy.


7-3. Entering PO-Related Invoices


7-3. Entering PO-Related Invoices Supplier invoices related to purchase orders are entered in the Purch – PO Invoices screen and not the AP – Supplier Invoices screen. In the PO Invoices screen, supplier invoice header information is entered and invoice lines are ‘matched’ against PO line items. The matching procedure serves two purposes.

• First, it provides a formal means of comparing the supplier invoice with your PO to make sure that you were billed correctly.

• Secondly, whenever a line is closed (meaning that it is fully matched), and discrepancy between PO line receipt costs and invoice costs is posted to your RNI Adjustments GL account, which keeps your Received Not Invoiced account accurate.

PO Invoices (Purch – PO Invoices)

To enter a PO-related supplier invoice, click the New button while on the opening List of the Purchase Order Invoices screen. You are then presented with the Detail screen. Upper Panel To begin invoice entry, select the appropriate Supplier, then enter the Invoice No and Invoice Date, which is the date that is used for aging and payment processing purposes. The GL Post Date is the date that gets posted to the General Ledger for the purpose of recording the payable liability. If you receive an invoice with an Invoice Date that falls into a closed period, the GL Post Date enables you to post the invoice to the current period.



Invoice Amounts From your supplier invoice, enter the Net Amt, which is the total prior to tax and shipping, the total Tax amount, and the total Shipping charges. The Invoice Total field automatically sums these three amounts and should correspond to the grand total on the supplier’s invoice.

NOTE: If you transact with this supplier in a foreign currency, enter these amounts in the foreign currency.

Pay Reference The invoice number is automatically inserted into the Pay Reference field, which ultimately flows through to printed check stubs. You can override this with any text you wish. PO Filter If this invoice pertains to a single PO, select the PO number in this field. This limits the lines displayed in the lower grid to the PO selected. Payment Terms The Payment Terms section automatically displays the default Payment Terms assigned to this supplier. You can select a different payment term, if you wish, or you can manually edit any of the payment term fields, such as the invoice Due Date, the Disc Days allowed for an early payment discount, and the Discount % that can be taken. Currency This section is only visible if this supplier is assigned to a foreign currency. The Currency is displayed, for reference purposes. All amounts entered or matched in this screen are to be done so in the foreign currency. Lower Grid The lower grid is used to match invoice prices and tax amounts to PO lines and to enter shipping charges. PO Receipts Section In the left portion of the grid is displayed PO receipt information, including the PO No, the Reference ID, the Supp Qty (which is the received quantity that has not yet been matched), the supplier’s UM, and the Supp Price from the PO line.

NOTE: Quantities and prices are displayed in the supplier’s unit of measure and currency so that it corresponds with the information presented on the supplier invoice.

Supplier Invoice Section In the right portion of the grid are displayed the Supplier Invoice columns, which correspond to the columns in the PO Receipts section to the left.



Matching Prices & Tax Each invoice line item must be matched to its corresponding PO line item. If the quantity and unit price on the supplier invoice are the same as the Supp Qty and Supp Price displayed in the Supplier Invoice section, and the Tax Total is correct, select the Match checkbox. If either the Supp Qty or Supp Price does not agree with the actual invoice, enter the corrected quantity or price. As you change either of these values, the Tax Total will be recalculated based on the rate associated with the Tax Code to its right. After your corrections are made, click the Match checkbox. As each line is matched, the Supp Qty is multiplied by the Supp Price and the total amount is added to the Matched field to the right of the Net Amt field in the upper panel. When all lines are matched, these two amounts should agree with one another. You will not be allowed to Update the invoice until these two amounts are equal. In the same fashion, as each line is matched, the Tax Total is added to the Matched field to the right of the Tax field in the upper panel. You will not be allowed to Update the invoice until these two amounts are equal. Entering Shipping Charges Each time a PO receipt transaction is processed in the Purchase Order Receipts screen, the program creates a freeform line item with a Reference ID of ‘SHIP’ and a Description of ‘Shipment Received (receipt date)’. You will see the shipping line(s) displayed in the grid, with a Supp Price of zero. Enter the actual shipping charges in the Supp Price field, then select the Match checkbox. A Tax Total will be calculated if this line’s Tax Code is set up to tax shipping charges. As each shipping line is matched, the Supp Price amount is added to the Matched field to the right of the Shipping field in the upper panel. You will not be allowed to Update the invoice until these two amounts are equal. Manually Closing a Line When the receipt quantity on a PO line is fully matched with the invoice quantity, the program will automatically change the line’s Line Status from ‘Open’ to ‘Closed’ when Update is clicked and the invoice gets saved. If for some reason the invoice quantity is less than the quantity received (perhaps because the supplier sent you an overage amount at no charge), you can manually close the line by going to the Purchase Orders screen and manually changing the line’s Line Status setting to ‘Closed’. Update Button When the three Matched fields have equal amounts to their corresponding fields to their left (Net Amt, Tax, Shipping), the Update button goes from gray to an active button.



When you click Update, the following processing occurs:

• A supplier invoice record is created. If you are using the Manufacturing Ledger, the invoice is available for transfer to your accounting system via the AP Transfer screen. If you are using the DBA financial modules, the invoice is listed in the Supplier Invoices and Payment Processing screens.

• In terms of GL posting, matched invoice amounts are debited to Received not Invoiced, tax totals are debited to Purchase Tax, and shipping amounts are debited to PO Shipping charges. If you are using the Manufacturing Ledger, the offsetting credit entry is to AP Transfers. If you are using the DBA financial modules, the offsetting credit entry is to Accounts Payable.

• The Line Status of each PO line where the invoice quantity matches the receipt quantity is changed from ‘Open’ to ‘Closed’.

• When a PO line is closed (automatically or manually), the program compares total receipt costs with total invoice costs and posts any difference to your RNI Adjustments GL account. This process keeps your Received Not Invoice account accurate.

Links Button While you are in the Purchase Order Invoices screen, you can click the Links button to link to the following screens:

• Stock Items • Descriptors • Change Inventory Cost • Purchase Prices – Items • Purchase Prices – Descriptors • Suppliers

The linking capability enables you to update purchasing-related settings in other screens, such as the maintenance of supplier prices. Once you close a linked screen, you are returned to the PO Invoices screen, where you can continue with your entries. Inventory & Job Cost Adjustments Be aware that when you change the Supp Price in the PO Invoices screen, the program does not retroactively change inventory and job costs. Whatever the supplier price was at the time of PO receipt is the cost that was used to update inventory or job costs. If a supplier price discrepancy is severe enough to warrant adjusting costs, your potential remedies are as follows:

• In the case of inventory, you can click the Links button and link to the Change Inventory Cost screen to change the item’s unit Inventory Cost. Be aware, however, that there is no guarantee that stock has not already been issued to jobs or shipped to customers. But if there is still stock on hand, its cost can be adjusted.



• In the case of jobs, you can correct the cost of a job line item as follows. Go to the Job Issues & Receipts screen and perform a reverse issue by entering a negative issue quantity against the item. Now that the item has been returned to stock, use the Change Inventory Cost screen to change its unit Inventory Cost. Now go back to the Job Issues & Receipts screen and issue the item to the job once again at the new cost.

7-4. PO Closing


7-4. PO Closing When a PO’s Status changes to ‘Closed’, it signifies that the PO has been fully received and matched with the supplier invoice. No further processing is required on a closed PO. PO closing is normally an automatic process Closing PO’s is normally an automatic process that occurs during the PO Invoices process. As each PO line gets fully matched in the PO Invoices screen, the Update process automatically changes the line’s Line Status from ‘Open’ to ‘Closed’. During the PO invoice Update process, if the program detects that all lines in the PO have a Line Status of ‘Closed’, the Status of the PO itself (header screen Status) is changed from ‘Printed’ to ‘Closed’. Manual closing is for cancellations only The only time a PO is to be manually closed is when you manually close one or more lines because they were cancelled or there is a remaining amount that was cancelled. To manually close the PO, go to the Purchase Orders header screen and change the PO’s Status to ‘Closed’.

7-5. Purchase Order Workflow


7-5. Purchase Order Workflow Phase 1 – PO Creation • Generate PO’s from job lines for subcontract services and purchase-to-order

items (Buy-for-Job)

• Generate PO’s from net demand (MRP)

• Enter PO’s for non-stock purchases (Purchase Orders)

• Print/Email PO’s (Purchase Orders – Print PO button)

Phase 2 – PO Receiving • Receive purchase orders (PO Receipts)

Phase 3 – PO Matching • Match supplier invoices with PO receipts (PO Invoices)

8. Activity Notes


8. Activity Notes ‘Activity notes’ provide a contact management capability whereby you can record contact events and schedule follow-up events. Unlike contact managers, which are usually confined to customers and prospects, you can also use activity notes in relation to suppliers, jobs, items, descriptors, and service assets.

Activity Notes Setup

Activity Note Types (Notes – Notes & Documents Setup – Activity Note Types)

Use this screen to create ‘activity note types’, which allow you to organize your activity notes into meaningful categories for sorting and analysis purposes. For example, SALES could be used for sales calls, OVERDUE could be used for follow-up on overdue accounts, and PROJECT could be used for notes related to internal projects.

Activity Analysis Codes (Notes – Notes & Documents Setup – Activity Analysis Codes)

8. Activity Notes


Use this screen to create ‘activity analysis codes’, which provide a further level of categorization within activity note types. These codes can be used for analytical purposes.

Entering a new activity note (Notes – Activity Notes Screen)

To enter a new activity note, go to the Activity Notes Screen and click the New button, which starts a new line in the grid where you can enter the following fields:

Source This field is used as a filter on the Activity Notes Action Report and lets you know to which of the following the note is related:

• General (nothing specific) • Job • Customer • Supplier • Item • Descriptor • Service

Reference Depending on the Source selection, this field is used for selection of the particular customer, supplier, item, etc. If the Source is ‘General’, no lookup is provided and you can enter any reference you wish.

Note Type Note Types are user-defined in the Notes – Activity Notes Setup – Activity Note Types screen. These enable you to organize your activity notes into meaningful categories for sorting and analysis purposes. For example, SALES could be

8. Activity Notes


used for sales calls, OVERDUE could be used for follow-up on overdue accounts, and PROJECT could be used for notes related to internal projects.

Action Date This is the date that follow-up action is to take place. This may be the date you plan on making a sales or collection call, to check with a supplier on a delivery, to see the status of an engineering change, etc.

Description This is a short description of the activity note that is a reference on screens and reports.

Responsibility This is the employee number of the person who is responsible for resolving whatever tasks are associated with the activity note.

Creation Date The date the activity note was first created. This lets you know how old the activity note is.

Notes You can click on the icon in this field to display a notepad within which you can enter unlimited text to document the activity note.

Status An activity note can have a Status of ‘Open’ or ‘Closed’ or you can enter freeform text to create your own status. The bottom panel of the screen contains checkboxes that enable you to filter the screen list by ‘Open’, ‘Closed’, and ‘Other’ status. Freeform text status falls under the ‘Other’ category.

Analysis Code This is a user-defined code created in the Notes – Activity Notes Setup – Activity Analysis Codes screen, which provides a further level of categorization within activity note types. These codes can be used for analytical purposes.

Duration This field has no current use.

8. Activity Notes


Accessing and creating notes from other screens In each of the following screens, you can click the Notes button to see any open activity notes for that particular source. While in that screen, you can click the New button to create a new activity note. The program will automatically populate the Source field with the associated item, job, customer, supplier, etc.

• Customers • Suppliers • Jobs • Sales Orders • Stock Items • Descriptors • Service Assets

Activity Notes Action Report (Notes – Reports – Activity Notes Action Report) Use this report to get a listing of activity notes, usually for follow-up purposes, but it can also be used for historical reporting on closed activity notes. You can limit the report to a range of action dates, to all status notes or just open or closed notes, and you can selectively include notes from any or all note sources.

8. Activity Notes


My Action List (Notes – My Action List)

In the Admin – User Setup Screen, each user can be assigned to a Linked Employee, which links that user to an employee record in the Employees screen. Each activity note is assigned to an employee number in the Responsible field. When a user clicks on the My Action List, all open activity notes assigned to his or her linked employee number are displayed on the screen. This provides a convenient means for each user to quickly view his or her task list.

9. Documents Directory



Overview The ‘Documents Directory’ provides a document management capability that lets you organize and store company documents (policy manuals, technical guides, drawings, contracts, etc.) on the file server with password-protected access permissions for your personnel. The Documents Directory consists of the following elements. Document Groups Each document will be assigned to a ‘document group’ set up in the Document Group Setup screen, which enables you to organize documents into logical categories for retrieval and security purposes. Documents Directory On the Documents Directory Entry screen, each document is assigned to a document group and is given a path to its location on the central file server. User Setup On the Document Groups tab of the User Setup Screen, each user is assigned to appropriate document groups. This determines which groups will be visible to the user on the Documents Directory screen. Documents Directory Screen The Documents Directory screen is where actual viewing of the documents takes place. The user selects a document group, highlights a document, then clicks the View button to view the document on the screen and print it out, if desired.

Document Group Setup (Admin – Document Group Setup)

Each Documents Directory document will be assigned to a ‘document group’ set up in the Document Group Setup screen, which enables you to organize documents into logical categories for retrieval and security purposes.



Each group of documents is given an up to 20-character Group ID and accompanying Group Name.

Documents Directory Entry (Admin – Documents Directory Entry)

Each Documents Director’ document will be assigned to a document group and given a path to its location on this screen. Select a Document Group to which this document will be assigned. Enter the Description of the document that will be displayed within the Documents Directory screen. In the Doc Path field, enter the full path to the document’s location on the file server. You can click the Browse button and navigate to the location.



Documents Directory Screen (Notes – Documents Directory)

The ‘Documents Directory’ provides a document management capability that lets you organize and store company documents (policy manuals, technical guides, drawings, contracts, etc.) on the file server with password-protected access permissions for your personnel. Actual viewing of documents takes place on this screen. The user will see only those documents groups to which he or she is assigned on the Document Groups tab of the User Setup Screen. To view a document, double click on a document group (identified with a ‘book’ icon), then highlight the document you wish to view and click the View button.

NOTE: The opening process uses the registered File Types identified in ‘Folder Options’ on the Control Panel of your PC to determine which program to run to display the document. For example, a *.doc file runs Microsoft Word, a *.pdf runs Acrobat Reader, etc.

10. Knowledge Base


10. Knowledge Base The Knowledge Base gives you a place to record information on any subject in a question and answer format that can be searched by Types, Categories, and text strings. Within each answer you can attach documents and links to web sites or other resources. Many companies use the knowledge base as an integral component of their customer service function, which is why it is located on the Service menu. You can use it for any purpose, however, including storing information on company policies, company history, work procedures, etc.

Knowledge Types (Notes – Notes & Documents Setup – Knowledge Types)

Use this screen to set up Knowledge Types, which allow you to organize knowledge base topics into categories that assist in the search process. A typical way to use knowledge types is to create types for each product that you service.

10. Knowledge Base


Knowledge Categories (Notes – Notes & Documents Setup – Knowledge Categories)

Use this screen to set up Knowledge Categories, which provide another level of search categorization within Knowledge Types. Knowledge types, as suggested above, could be established for each of your products. You could then set up standard knowledge categories that represent different aspects of your products, such as troubleshooting, warranty information, operating instructions, etc.

Knowledge Base (Notes & Documents – Knowledge Base)

Finding a Knowledge Base topic To quickly find a Knowledge Base topic, use the filtering options that are built into the opening List screen. For example, you can click on any column heading and the list will be re-sorted in the order of that column’s contents.

10. Knowledge Base


Within the Type column, you insert the cursor, begin typing, and each keystroke will get you progressively closer to a match.

NOTE: The progressive match feature is case-sensitive. If you want to search for text included in any of the fields displayed on the list screen, enter your text string in the field in the lower right corner of the screen and click the Refresh button. The list will now be limited to lines containing the text entered. Once you find the topic you are looking for, click the Detail button to see it’s contents.

Detail Screen

Knowledge Base topics are organized into a question and answer format. There is no limit to the amount of text you can enter against any topic.

Linking Documents A useful feature is the ability to attach documents or files of any type to a Knowledge Base topic. This enables you to link user manuals, drawings, images, etc. To link a document, click the Documents side-tab and click the Edit Document panel at the bottom of the screen. Give the document the Description that will appear on the Associated Documents panel, then double-click on the File Location to navigate to your file. Once selected, click the Open button to complete the link. Making Documents Accessible to All Users If you link to a document stored on your local computer, other users will not be able to access it.

Therefore, if you want a document to be accessible to all users, store it in a folder on your file server.

10. Knowledge Base


Another consideration is the drive letter in the document path. In a network, one user might be mapped to the server such that he or she sees it as drive H, while another user might see it as drive J.

To achieve a universal drive letter designation for all users, replace the drive letter in the location path with ‘(AppPath).’

For example, if when I link to a file, the path is returned as: H:\Documents\SampleAttachment.bmp

Change it to the following to convert the drive letter ‘H:’ to a universal setting: (AppPath)\Documents\SampleAttachment.bmp

11. Spreadsheet Generators


11. Spreadsheet Generators (Utilities – Spreadsheet Generators) The Spreadsheet Generator is a utility that you can use to create your own database queries, each of which can be given a name and saved for re-use. The results of your query can be displayed on the screen in a spreadsheet type format, where it can be re-sorted, filtered, and grouped even further, and then the contents of your query can be output to an Excel spreadsheet, to an HTML page, to a text file, or to your printer. Spreadsheet Generators are available for the following data sets:

• Inventory • Invoices • Jobs • Job Transactions • Purchases • Sales • General Ledger

Selection Screen When you click on a Spreadsheet Generator menu option, you are first presented with a selection screen that enables you to filter and limit the data set to particular ranges of items and dates. These selection screens are essentially the same as the selection screens used with reports.

Once your selections are completed, click the Analysis button to generate the Analysis screen.



Analysis Screen The data set you have selected is displayed in the Analysis screen, which is a spreadsheet type grid that displays all the available fields, along with all the records that comprise them. Normally, you would not want to view all these columns – it’s way too much information for any one query. So what you do is create your own queries, which are limited to the fields you want to include. Customize Button The query is reduced to just the fields you want by dragging unwanted fields off the screen. This is done via the Customize button, which presents a box in the lower right corner of the screen. To remove a field, drag its column heading and drop it into the box. Continue removing fields one by one until you are left with the fields you want. When done, click the Save Layout button, and give your query a name. This adds your query to the Layout List. Now whenever you want to run this query again, you select it from the Layout List, click the Restore button, and your custom layout is displayed once again.

Column filtering & grouping Before you generate your final spreadsheet, you can perform additional filtering and grouping on your data set. Column Filtering You can click the down arrow on any column heading and from the drop-down list, select a particular value. This enables you to limit a query to a particular customer, item, job, etc.



If the column is a date field, you can click the column heading down arrow, select the ‘Customize’ option, and then enter ranges of dates. Column Sorting You can sort your list by clicking on any of the column headings, which will then sort the entire list by that column. Click the heading a second time and the sort order will change from ascending to descending, or vice-versa. Grouping You can also create list groupings by dragging a column heading into the header blue panel above the column headings. For example, if you drag a Customer Name field into the header panel, the lines are then grouped by customer. You can even have a group within a group. For example, you could drag a Start Date field into the header panel, which would form a sub-group within customers.

Output Options When you are done with your selection screen, layout list retrieval, filtering, sorting, and grouping, you have essentially created a spreadsheet that can be used as an inquiry screen. You can, however, click the Output button to output this information into the following formats.

• Output to the printer • Output to HTML • Output to Text • Output to Excel

Output to the Printer When you select this option, a print preview screen is displayed. You can click File – Page Setup to select various options that will change the report appearance. When the format is to your satisfaction, click the Print button. Output to HTML, Text, Excel When you select these options, you are prompted to save the file to a name and location.

12. Backup Manager


12. Backup Manager (Windows – Start – Programs – DBA Manufacturing – Utilities – Backup Manager)

You are strongly advised to back up your data each business day. This recommendation applies to any accounting or manufacturing system and is a sound business practice that preserves your most precious asset – your data! The system comes with a complete Backup Manager utility that helps you automate the backing up process. This utility is found outside the system on the Windows – Start – Programs – DBA Manufacturing – Utilities menu. Video Clip To learn how to operate the Backup Manager utility, please view the DBA University video clip titled ‘Backing up System Data’ in the online support center. Restoring on a regular basis is good for your database Restoring data from a fresh backup on a regular basis good for your database because the Backup Manager restores data on a record-by-record basis, re-indexing each record as it goes. In effect, this gives your database a ‘tune up’ that keeps it optimized for good performance and minimizes data errors.