Plan to produce
Convert remaining demand into a released production plan, accepted output and a reconciled work-order cost.
8 stages · 3 approvals
Roles and responsibilities
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Step 1Demand
ProductWarehouseLot NumberExpiry Date
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Step 2Plan
Planned Order NumberTypeProductQuantityPurchase
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Step 6Inspect
Work OrderOperation NumberDescriptionWork Center
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Step 7Receive completion
ProductWarehouseLot NumberExpiry Date
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Step 8Close
Journal Entry NumberEntityPeriodDate
Process steps
Follow the process from start to finish. Select a step to see who acts and what changes.
Demand
Production Planner identifies approved remaining sales demand, eligible contract delivery cycles and safety-stock needs within the entity, warehouse and horizon. A generated order replaces its contract cycle's demand. Direct service billing does not create physical production requirements.
Plan
Production Planner captures an MRP run with engineering, demand and supply snapshots. Components are netted against eligible unclaimed stock and remaining firm receipts or work orders. Planned orders retain their source requirement and exceptions; firmed supply is not generated again on a later run.
Approval required
Release
Production Planner reviews and firms the work order, freezing its BOM, routing, quantity, conversions, quality points and separate cost/rate bases. Missing material or engineering evidence remains explicit. Later changes require a controlled revision rather than replacing the plan already running.
Issue
Warehouse Operator or an authorized Operator consumes exact component reservations into WIP at captured issue cost. Configured backflush and explicit issues share the same remaining requirement, so they cannot issue it twice. Returns retain original-issue lineage and exclude consumed quantities.
Execute
Operator reports assigned work, time, good quantity and scrap against the operation and lot. Plant Manager coordinates the floor within the released plan and approves assigned time. Approved timesheet sources retain their work-order and cost-centre allocation and cannot be consumed twice by costing or payroll.
Approval required
Inspect
Quality Inspector decides the required presented scope at its current revision. First-article permission authorizes continuation; final release covers only completed accepted output. Holds and rejected pieces remain excluded from shipment. Reinspection references earlier decisions without adding accepted quantity again.
Receive completion
Operator records the eligible terminal-operation output through the controlled completion action. The finished-stock receipt retains its lot or serial and WIP cost relief. Good counts from intermediate operations are not summed into finished quantity, and partial completion leaves the remaining work and cost in WIP.
Approval required
Close
Production Planner reviews resolved component, quantity, quality and cost obligations with the required Controller variance evidence. Close posts authorized residual variances from the frozen material, labour and overhead bases. Subsequent corrections preserve the original work and use linked effects in a permitted period.
Approvals and exception handling
3 approvals required in this process
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Release
Production Planner signs · issue waits
WorkOrders, WorkOrderComponents, DocumentRevisions -
Inspect
Quality Inspector signs · receive completion waits
QualityInspections, WorkOrderOperations -
Close
Production Planner signs · closes the process
WorkOrders, WorkOrderCostEntries, JournalEntries - The MRP snapshot uses remaining supplyDemand in one scope. Full original orders and their generated contract cycles cannot both count.
- A running job keeps its released engineering and cost basisA new product standard cannot restate its history.
- Production quantities follow the operation and lotRework and repeated inspection do not manufacture new first-pass output.
- A held or unaccepted quantity remains unavailable even if an Operator requests a completion movement.
- Approved source time feeds labour absorptionPayroll once. Actual pay reconciles with absorption without another WIP charge.
- Cancellation and correction reconcile issued materialCompleted output and financial effects rather than deleting their source records.
When the process needs attention
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late
Plan
Planned orders retain their source requirement and exceptions; firmed supply is not generated again on a later run.
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hold
Inspect
Holds and rejected pieces remain excluded from shipment.
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variance
Close
Production Planner reviews resolved component, quantity, quality and cost obligations with the required Controller variance evidence.
From approved size demand to finished products
Production Planner uses the size-run reference to check the underlying product quantities. The released work order fixes its product, BOM and routing. Operator records actual material use and operation results; Quality Inspector reviews the required accepted output. No stock is created by spreading a style total across an assumed size ratio.
Records and postings
| Stage | Records | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Demand | SalesOrderItemsContractCyclesInventoryReservationsInventory | Identify remaining physical requirements |
| 2 Plan | MRPRunsPlannedOrdersRequisitionsBOMs | Propose net supply once |
| 3 Release | WorkOrdersWorkOrderComponentsDocumentRevisions | Authorize the frozen production plan |
| 4 Issue | StockEventsInventoryReservationsWorkOrderComponents | Move claimed material value to WIP |
| 5 Execute | ProductionLogTimesheetLinesWorkOrderCostEntries | Record unique production and approved labour |
| 6 Inspect | QualityInspectionsWorkOrderOperations | Release the actual inspected scope |
| 7 Receive completion | ProductionCompletionsStockEventsInventory | Receive eligible terminal output once |
| 8 Close | WorkOrdersWorkOrderCostEntriesJournalEntries | Resolve WIP and post reviewed variances |
Process reports
All reportsTrial Balance
Posted immutable JournalEntryLines by entity and eligible posting period with opening, debit, credit and closing; reversal entries contribute once on their posting dates, and source/version/rounding reconcile to controls.
Inventory Valuation
Owned net StockLayers/StockMovements at the cutoff by entity, warehouse and costing method reconciled to mapped inventory controls; pending custody excluded, reservations do not reduce ownership value, and remaining WorkOrders.OpenWIP excludes transferred completed/scrapped cost.
Run by an agent
Agent support
An assistant cannot turn its user's authority into an unattended human approval. Purchase approval, quote or order decisions, payroll approval, payment release and period close remain with the accountable people described by the process. Service access cannot bypass credit limits, document revisions, independence rules or payroll privacy. Uncertain bank responses require reconciliation before a retry can create another instruction.
# Example after configuration
$ curl -fsSL https://www.erp.ai/skill.md | paste into your agent
› plan to produce · demand on SalesOrderItems, ContractCycles, InventoryReservations, Inventory
✓ Production Planner identifies approved remaining sales demand, eligible contract delivery cycles and safety-stock needs within the entity, warehouse and horizon.
› plan to produce · plan on MRPRuns, PlannedOrders, Requisitions, BOMs
✓ Production Planner captures an MRP run with engineering, demand and supply snapshots.
› plan to produce · release on WorkOrders, WorkOrderComponents, DocumentRevisions
⏸ approval · waiting for the production planner
# 5 more stages after approval: issue, execute, inspect, receive completion, close
Other processes
4 moreOrder-to-cash
Carry an accepted offer through credit approval, fulfillment and invoice settlement without losing its commercial terms.
8 stages · 3 approvals
Procure to pay
Authorize the purchase, match accepted quantities and release a payment instruction with the right independent reviewer.
10 stages · 6 approvals
Hire to pay
Use effective employee data and approved time to prepare payroll, review its totals and reconcile actual payment.
8 stages · 5 approvals
Record to report
Reconcile each entity, authorize its close and preserve the source evidence behind the consolidated reporting pack.
8 stages · 4 approvals