Production Planning FAQ and Troubleshooting

Answers to common questions about planning boards, inventory movements, operators and workstations, and solutions to common production planning errors.

Frequently Asked Questions on Production#

Can I Have Multiple Planning Boards?#

• Yes. Every Work Order Transaction Type has its own planning board.
• To create another planning board, create another Work Order Transaction Type.

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 things: the Resolve option and whether the Inventory column is checked for the status. If you uncheck the Inventory column for all the statuses, no inventory transactions are created.

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 clear the Inventory Accrual account, adjust the Stock on Hand to match the Inventory Summary, and record the Cost of Sales.
    • You can do periodic stock counts to make sure the system inventory matches the physical inventory.

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, the necessary stock movement transactions are created automatically. You can use Batch Update to change multiple entries at a time.

How Do I Create Operators?#

1. Navigate to Entities.
2. Create or edit an entity of the type Cost Centre.
3. Click Edit (button) on the top row unless it is blue.
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.

How Do I Create Workstations?#

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 new row as follows:
   1. Status = Select Active from the dropdown list.
   2. Code = Enter a code for the asset (workstation).
   3. Description = Enter a description for the asset (workstation).
   4. Purchase Date = Select a purchase date from the calendar if applicable.
   5. Purchase Price = Enter a purchase price if applicable.
   6. Current Value = Enter the current value if it does not match the purchase price.
   7. Monthly Cost = Enter the monthly cost.
6. Click Save (button).

Troubleshooting#

Cannot Select an Inventory Location for the Material#

1. Right-click the applicable entry and select Open Linked Item.
   • Note: If a message says that there is no linked item, the entry is most likely a custom entry. You can specify locations only for pre-created material items.
2. Click Edit (button) on the item popup.
3. Click Inventory (tab).
4. Click Inventory Location (button) next to Add.
5. Select a location from the dropdown list.
   • Note: Inventory locations are created under Entities.
6. Click Save (button).
7. Close the popup.
8. On the Materials production view, click Edit (button) on the top row unless it is blue.
9. Select a location from the dropdown list in the Location column.
   • Note: The dropdown list contains the locations added on the item’s Inventory tab.

No Option to Copy the Transaction#

1. Click Menu (button) > Edit Transaction Type.
2. Create the Copy Rule as explained under Copying Transactions (Copy Rules).

No Access Error Message on Copying Transaction#

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

Progress on Job’s View Shows Zero#

• Progress is based on the Status settings of the applicable item on its view (e.g. materials on the Materials view, outwork on the Outwork view).
• If there is only one entry (e.g. a material item) and its status is changed to complete, the percentage changes to 100%.
• If there are two entries (e.g. two material items) and one of them is complete, the percentage changes to 50%.
• 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).

Cannot Access Work Orders#

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