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1.1. Create New Work Order

Work orders define requirements for the production of manufactured items. You may also create work orders for purchased items that you normally purchase, but you occasionally manufacture. These items may have a bill of materials (BOM)—or not. The system supports both BOM-based and non-BOM-based work orders.

BOM-based

Material requirements are drawn from the BOM when the work order is exploded, using the specified revision. Users may add or subtract material requirements as needed.

Non-BOM-based

Ideal for labor-only work orders having a routing but no BOM—for example, service work orders which require labor operations only. Also good for items or jobs where the material requirements are not-known—but must be added on an ad hoc basis.

To create a new work order, go to Manufacture > Work Order > New. The following screen will appear:

Work Order

Tip

To edit a work order after it has been created, use the right-click menu in any of the Work Order Schedule by displays. There you will find an Edit W/O option.

When creating a new work order, you are presented with the following options:

Work Order #

The next available work order number will automatically display, unless your system requires you to enter work order numbers manually. Default values and input parameters for work order numbers are configurable in the Manufacture > Setup.

Item Number

Enter the Item Number of the item you want to create a work order for. You may also enter purchased items that you normally buy, but you occasionally make. The magnifying glass located to the right of the field leads to a searchable list of make and buy items.

Note

Work orders for job items are created exclusively by sales order demand. It is not possible to create a job item work order using the Work Order screen. Similarly, production posting for job items occurs in a unique way. Production for job item work orders is posted when the sales order, which demanded the job item, is issued to shipping. This is the only way to post production for job item work orders.

UOM

Inventory unit of measure (UOM).

Site

Specify the site where the item is supplied. For manufactured items to be included on a work order, their item site record must indicate they are manufactured for the site.

Note

Order parameters may have an impact on work order quantity if the Enforce on Manual Orders option is selected in the Item Site master for a manufactured item. If order parameters are in effect, the work order must conform to those restrictions. Both minimum order size and order multiple may be governed by order parameter settings.

Assembly

Select to identify the work order as an assembly order.

Disassembly

Select to identify the work order as a disassembly order. When disassembling items, the system will not enforce order parameters defined at Item Site > Planning.

Note

If there are average cost items on a disassembly order, those components will be returned to inventory using standard cost when they are backflushed.

Qty. Ordered

Value entered specifies the number of item units to be processed by the work order.

Qty. Received

Displays the quantity of finished product posted as received into inventory to date, if any.

Lead Time (Days)

Select a number using the arrows or manually enter a value up to a maximum of 999. Value entered specifies the manufacturing lead time required between the date the work order starts and the date it is due. Lead times for items are specified in the Item Site master, but may be modified on this screen.

Tip

The Lead Time option is only available when creating a new work order. Once the order is created, this option will not be visible.

Due Date

Enter the date the work order must be completed by.

Start Date

By default, this date will be the due date less the lead time. The start date may be changed by altering the Lead Time field.

Priority

Select a number using the arrows or manually enter a value up to a maximum of 99. Value entered assigns a priority to the selected work order. By assigning a priority to a work order, you can indicate the relative importance of a work order in comparison to other work orders.

Project #

If your system is configured to use projects, select a project number to associate with the work order. If the work order was created from sales order demand—and the parent sales order had a project number associated with it—then the project number from the parent sales order will automatically be entered here. In this way, sales orders and work orders may be linked to the same project.

When you have the xTuple Project Accounting package installed—and you link a project to the work order—transactions related to the work order will include the project number as the final segment of affected G/L account numbers. Account numbers related to the following transactions will include the project number as the final segment: issue materials, post operations, post production, return material, correct post operations, correct post production, and scrap material.

Detail

The Detail tab provides a kind of workbench for managing materials, child work orders, and operations associated with a work order. Use the context-sensitive right-click menu to perform actions related to work order management. The display is a nested list, with a plus (+) sign located to the far left of the display next to each row that may be expanded to lower levels. By clicking your mouse on a plus sign, you reveal lower levels of information related to the group. The following color-coding has been implemented to simplify navigation: green (work orders), blue (operations), black (materials).

Show

Specify the type of work order information you would like to include in the display:

Operations

Select to include information about work order operations in the display.

Materials

Select to include information about material requirements in the display. Materials may be issued to exploded work orders only if that option is enabled in the work order configuration. For more information, please see Allow Issue To Exploded Work Orders.

Indented

Select to include child work orders in the display. If selected, child work orders will be shown indented in the materials and operations list.

Print Traveler

Select to print a work order traveler at the point when the work order is initially created. This option will be hidden once the work order has been created.

To add notes to a work order, select the Notes tab. The following screen will appear:

Work Order Notes

When adding notes to a work order, you are presented with the following options:

Notes

This is a scrolling text field with word-wrapping for entering production notes related to the work order. Production notes are printed on pick lists and packing lists for reference by production personnel.

Tip

If a work order was created from a sales order, the Production Notes field will contain the sales order number, the customer name, and any additional sales order line item notes.

If an item has characteristics associated with it, you have the option of linking those characteristics to a work order item. In the case where a work order is generated from a linked sales order, the work order will inherit characteristics defined at the sales order level.

Tip

You can link characteristics and values to an item by using the Item master. Once entered, these characteristics and values will be available to users entering sales order line items.

To associate characteristics with a work order, select the Characteristics tab. As you can see in the following screenshot, there are two types of characteristics available:

  1. Work Order Item Characteristics: Inherited from item characteristics

  2. Work Order Characteristics: Ad hoc characteristics which may be associated manually with a work order

Work Order Characteristics

The Work Order Item Characteristics list presents the following columns:

Name

Displays the name of any item characteristics associated with the item. Characteristics defined as item characteristics may be associated with items on the Item master.

Value

Displays the default value associated with an item characteristic, but permits you to specify an alternate value. When associating characteristic values with a work order item, you have four options: 1) Select the default value; 2) select an alternate pre-defined value; 3) manually enter a new value in place of the pre-defined value; or 4) make no selection. Making no selection means the characteristics will not be associated with the work order item.

Work order characteristics, by contrast, are ad hoc in nature and may be created manually and linked to the work order.

To create a new characteristic for your current context, select the NEW button from the characteristics list. The following screen will appear:

Create new Characteristic

When creating a new characteristic, you are presented with the following options:

Characteristic

Select a characteristic from the list of characteristics available for your current context. To learn more about how characteristics are linked to specific contexts, please see Section 9.2.2.1, “Characteristic”.

Value

Enter a value to associate with the characteristic.

Default

In some contexts, the Default option will appear. Select if the value entered is the default value for the specified characteristic. Default values will always be listed first where characteristics are used.

To create or view comments related to a work order, select the Comments tab. The following screen will appear:

Add Work Order Comments

Note

Work order comments may not be added at the time of work order creation. Instead, use the Production Notes tab for entering notes related to a work order.

When adding or reviewing comments, you are presented with the following options:

Verbose Text

Select to display all comments in the list in an expanded view which includes the entire text of each comment. To edit a comment, simply select the EDIT link next to the comment. That link will not be shown for changelog comments, which can't be edited. If the Verbose Text option is not selected, the comment list will display only header level information for each comment.

Comments

Display lists comments related to the record.

The following buttons are available:

NEW

Opens screen for creating a new comment.

VIEW

Highlight a comment and then select this button to reach a read-only view of the Edit screen.

EDIT

Enables you to edit highlighted comments—as long as the comments are not changelog comments. ChangeLog comments are system-generated and may not be edited. The Edit screen is the same as that for creating a new comment—except that when editing, the fields will contain comment information. Double-clicking on a comment will also bring you to the editing screen.

To enter a new comment, select the NEW button. The following screen will appear:

Create new Comment
Comment Type

Select a comment type from the drop-down list to classify the comment. This is a required step. Comment types may be system-defined (i.e., changelog and general) or user-defined, as described in Section 13.2.3, “Comment Types”. Once you have specified a comment type, begin typing your comment in the main text area. The text area features word-wrapping and scroll-bar support for longer comments.

The following buttons are unique to this screen:

MORE

Select to show the complete list (i.e., thread) of comments associated with the record. To hide the list, simply select the MORE button again. The comment thread will show the most recent comment first.

Once a work order is in process—that is, either materials have been issued or production or operations have been posted—you can begin to view costing information for the work order. To view costing information for the work order, select the Costing tab. The following screen will appear:

Tip

The Costing tab will not be visible until after a work order has been created. You will not see costing information when creating a work order.

Work Order Costing

When viewing work order costing information, you are presented with the following options:

Accumulated Costs

Information about the following categories of currently accumulated work order costs will be shown:

Posted

Displays the current posted value of the work order. The posted value is equal to the total cost accumulated on the work order, including both labor and materials. The posted value will be the same as the WIP value until the point when finished goods are received. Ultimately, once production (or operations) posting is completed, the posted value will be equal to the received value. If these two values are different, then a variance will result.

Received

Displays the current value of finished goods received into inventory from the work order. The received value is equal to the posted value minus work in process (WIP).

WIP

Displays the current value of WIP for the work order. The WIP value is equal to the posted value minus the received value.

Cost Recognition

Used by work orders for job and average cost items to determine how and when costs are recognized:

To Date

All of the costs accumulated against the work order will be debited to inventory and credited to WIP.

Proportional

Costs are recognized in proportion to the total costs posted and the total items received to date.

Note

The default cost recognition method is defined at Manufacture > Setup under Work Order Cost Recognition Defaults; however, you may change the setting manually at the Work Order level.

When creating a work order, you have the option to specify which revision of the work order item's bill of materials (BOM) and routings you want to use. By default, the active revision will be used. Once the work order has been created, these options will become read-only. To specify revision information for a work order item, select the Revision tab. The following screen will appear:

Revision information

Note

You may create work orders for pending revisions. For work order purposes, a pending revision is considered to be the same as an inactive revision. The revision status of a pending revision will not be changed if a work order is created for it.

When specifying revision information for a work order item, you are presented with the following options:

Bill of Materials

Specify the BOM revision you want to use for the work order. By default, the active revision will be used.

Revision

Select from the list of existing available revisions. The status of the revision will also be displayed.

Routing

Specify the routing revision you want to use for the work order. You can select the current active or any substitute routing. By default, the active revision will be used.

Revision

Select from the list of existing available revisions. The status of the revision will also be displayed.

To view the documents associated with a work order, select the Documents tab. The following screen will appear:

Work Order Documents

When associating documents, you are presented with the following options:

NEW

Select to create a new document and associate it with the current record. You may create the following document types:

Image

Select to create a new image association.

Fixed Asset

Select to create a new fixed asset association.

Maintenance Order

Select to create a new maintenance order association.

Incident

Select to create a new incident and associate it.

Project

Select to create a new project and associate it.

Opportunity

Select to create a new opportunity and associate it.

To Do

Select to create a new to-do and associate it.

EDIT

Enables you to edit associated documents. The Edit screen is the same as that for creating a new document—except that when editing, the fields will contain document information. Double-clicking on a document will also bring you to the editing screen.

VIEW

Highlight a document and then select this button to reach a read-only view of the Edit screen.

ATTACH

Select to associate already-existing documents. The following document types may be attached: contact, account, customer, employee, file, image, incident, item, opportunity, project, purchase order, sales order, vendor, web site, work order.

DETACH

Highlight a document and then select this button to remove the association.

To associate already-existing documents, select the ATTACH button. The following screen will appear:

Attach a Document

When associating already-existing documents, you are presented with the following options:

Relationship

Indicate how the document is related to the current record. The following relationship options are available: related to, parent of, child of, duplicate of.

Type

Specify the kind of document you want to associate. The following document types may be attached: contact, account, customer, employee, file, image, incident, item, opportunity, project, purchase order, sales order, vendor, web site, work order. When associating files, you will also be given the option to save the file to the database.

Tip

There is no file size restriction when saving files to the database. However, excessively large files could cause storage and performance issues.

Notes

Leave any notes on the document file as needed.

Document

Use the lookup tool to identify the specific document you want to attach. The data entry options will vary depending on the document type you select.