Production Planning FAQ and Troubleshooting

• Production planning is activated per Transaction Type on the Settings tab.
• Organisations with multiple departments or processes, can create multiple Work Order Transaction Types and activate production planning for each one.
• Each Work Order Transaction Type has its own production planning board.
• A single Work Order can contain multiple items that must be produced. The production planning module separates the jobs and tasks for each item that is part of an estimate.
• The expected transaction flow is Quotation > Sales Order > Work Order. However, work orders may be created directly.
• Behind the scenes, planning fields are integrated into the materials and routing sections (tasks and outwork) of estimates.
• As part of the Work Order Menu options, production views are used to manage outwork, materials, services, and timekeeping. 

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Frequently Asked Questions on Production

Questions and answers on implementing Production Planning.

Can I Have Multiple Planning Boards?

• Yes. Every Work Order Transaction Type has its own planning board. 
• Create another planning board by creating another Work Order Transaction Type.

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Must I Create all the Inventory-Movement Transactions?

• No. You only need to create inventory-movement transactions if you need them for internal control purposes.
• Inventory is controlled by two functions: The Resolve option and whether the Inventory column is checked for the status. If you uncheck inventory for all the statuses, no inventory transactions are created.

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Can I Selectively Implement Inventory Management?

• Yes. Create multiple Transaction Types for the chain of events: Work Order > Purchase Order > Supplier Invoice and select how each group of transactions must handle inventory. ​
• For example:
  • No inventory (e.g. stock is purchased for a particular order and none is left over):
    • Supplier Invoices are posted to Purchases (Debit Purchases, Credit Supplier Account).
    • No further entries are needed.
  • Inventory is used:
    • Raw materials are purchased into stock. (Debit Inventory Accrual, Credit Supplier Account).
    • Stock is transferred to production.
    • Production issues completed goods back into stock.
    • Production returns unused stock.
    • Stock is issued to Customers.
    • The Inventory Summary shows the value of stock on hand.
    • Monthly journal entries are entered to clear the Inventory Accrual account, adjust the Stock on Hand to match the Inventory Summary, and record the Cost of Sales.
    • Periodic stock counts can be undertaken to ensure the system inventory matches the physical inventory.

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Can I Automate Creating Goods Received and Issued Entries?

• Yes. When you create the Copy Rules, select Trigger from the dropdown list in the Execute column. Select a Status in the Trigger Status column.
• As you change the statuses (and you can use Batch Updates to change multiple entries at a time), the necessary stock movement transactions are created automatically.

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How do I Create Operators?

Operators are Contacts with the type Person, who are added as Staff to one or more Cost Centres. 

1. Navigate to Entities.
2. Create or Edit an Entity of the type Cost Centre.
3. Click Edit (button) on the top row if not greyed out.
4. If the staff member is already a contact:
   1. Click Staff (tab) > Select Contact.
   2. Select all the people you want to add as operators.  (Use Ctrl + Left click to multi-select)
   3. Click Select (button).
5. If the staff member is not on the list of contacts:
   1. Click Staff (tab) > Add Staff.
   2. Complete the Edit Person form that opens.
   3. Click Save (button).
   4. Close the popup. The person will be added.

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How do I Create Workstations?

Workstations are the Assets linked to Cost Centres.

1. Navigate to Entities.
2. Create or Edit an Entity of the type Cost Centre.
3. Click Assets (tab).
4. Click Asset (button) next to Add.
5. Fill in the line that opens as follows:
   1. Status = Select Active from the dropdown list.
   2. Code = Type a code for the asset (workstation).
   3. Description = Type a description for the asset (workstation).
   4. Purchase Date = Select a purchase date from the calendar if applicable.
   5. Purchase Price = Type a purchase price if applicable.
   6. Current Value = Type the current value if it does not match the purchase price.
   7. Monthly Cost = Type a value for the monthly cost.
6. Click Save (button).

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Troubleshooting

Solutions to issues you may encounter when using Production Planning.

Cannot Select an Inventory Location for the Material

1. Right-click the applicable line and select Open Linked Item from the context menu.
   • Note: If you get a message that there is not a linked item, the entry is most likely a custom entry. Locations can only be specified for pre-created material items.
2. Click Edit (button) on the item popup.
3. On the dropdown list next to Inventory select either Fixed Locations or All Locations.
4. If you selected Fixed Locations navigate to Inventory (tab).
   1. Click Inventory Location (next to Add) and select a location from the dropdown list.
      • Note: Inventory locations are created under Entities.
5. Click Save (button).
6. Close the popup.
7. Click Edit (button) on the top row of buttons (if not already greyed out) of the Materials production view.
8. Select a location from the dropdown list in the Location column.
   • Note: The dropdown list contains all the locations if All Locations were chosen, otherwise only those added to the Inventory Tab.

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No Option to Copy the Transaction

1. The applicable copy rule must be created for Work Orders.
2. Click Menu (button) > Edit Transaction Type.
3. Create the Copy Rule as explained here.

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No Access Error Message on Copying Transaction

• User access must be granted for each copy rule. You must have Admin Rights to give yourself access, otherwise, ask your administrator.
• You can set access to all the copy rules from the Users’ interface (Main Menu > Setup > Users).

1. Click Menu (button) > Edit Transaction Type.
2. Click Copy Rules (tab).
3. Right click the applicable entry and select Edit User Access from the context menu.
4. Move the user’s name (e.g. your name) from the Available section to the Selected section using the navigational arrows in the middle.
5. Click Save (button).
6. Close the popup.

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Progress on Job’s View Shows Zero

1. Progress is set based on the Status settings of the applicable item on its view (e.g. Materials on Materials View, Outwork on Outwork View).
2. If there is only one entry (e.g. material item) and its Status is changed to complete, the percentage will change to 100%.
3. If there are two entries (e.g. two material items) and one of them is complete, the percentage will change to 50%.
4. The statuses that must be set are those in the middle of the screen of the Materials, Tasks, and Outwork Views (the statuses on the left are for the work orders).

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Cannot Access Work Orders

Production views are part of the menu options of Work Orders. If you exit Work Orders while viewing production, you are returned to the production view when you access work orders again.

1. From any of the production views: click Menu (button) > Transactions to access the Work Order transaction list.

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