What are the different work order statuses in Production Scheduling?

Article code: PSHDC16
Tags: Work Order Status, Terms, Definitions

Answer

In Production Scheduling, there are different work order statuses that you can use to show the progress of a work order. The following sections contain examples that describe when to change the work order status to reflect the work order’s progress.

Please note that work order status changes are made through work order import each time. To do so, please complete the “Status” column in the work orders CSV file by entering one of the following work order statuses:

1. Open
2. Booked
3. Closed
4. Cancelled

1. Open Status

The Open status indicates the following:

1. The work order has not been assigned a planned start and end dates
2. Production can be scheduled
3. Production has not started

You may choose to use the Open status to communicate with your team that open work orders refer to incoming production work that will occur in the future. Often, work orders with an Open status may have information that is outstanding and will need to be inputted or details that are still pending and need confirmation. It is best to check for missing details on these types of work orders.

Although you may have information on these work orders that are still pending (e.g. you’re waiting to find out the expected units to produce or due date), you may choose to schedule production for open work orders to assist with visualizing how production will look like at your facility in the coming months. A friendly reminder that scheduling production for work orders on your schedule does not make the work orders firm. Instead, make it a practice at your facility that all team members should work with the exported schedule because the exported schedule contains work order information that have been confirmed and finalized. 

Example of using the Open work order status

For example, it is the beginning of the summer holidays and your customer has sent you a work order request to produce cases of crayons for a Back-to-School special, which is planned to occur 3 months from now. Since your customer cannot confirm the total number of cases they want you to produce, you set the work order status to “Open” when you complete a work order import. You may even choose to estimate how many cases you will need to produce on this work order and then schedule production using the estimated amount.

2. Booked Status

The Booked status indicates the following:

1. The work order has been assigned a planned start and end dates
2. Production can be scheduled 
3. Production has not started

Typically, you would use the Booked status to communicate with your team that work order data has been confirmed and production is ready to be scheduled. It is best to create your production schedule using booked work orders because it is more accurate to schedule production when you have confirmed all work order details with your customer.

Example of using the Booked work order status

For example, it is near the end of summer and your customer has confirmed that they require the production of 300 cases of crayons in 3 weeks. Since your customer has confirmed how many cases they need (i.e. expected units) and when they need it by (i.e. due date), you can now update the work order status to “Booked” through a work order import. You may also choose to edit any work blocks that you have scheduled production for. 

3. Closed Status

The Closed status indicates the following:

1. The work order has been assigned a planned start and end dates
2. All production worked required has been scheduled
3. Production has started (i.e. some or all production has been completed)

You may choose to use the Closed status to communicate with your team that production on closed work orders has been scheduled and started. In Production Scheduling, a closed status can imply that full or partial production has been completed. 

Example of a closed work order with full production

You have scheduled and produced 300 cases of crayons for your customer before the due date. You notify your customer that their work order request is now complete and ready to be shipped. To ensure you have accurate work order data, it is best that you update the work order status to “Closed” by doing a work order import.  

Example of using the Closed work order status

You have scheduled the production of 300 cases of crayons (required amount specified on work order) for your customer before the due date. After production has started and you have produced 120 cases, your customer notifies you that they want to stop production of the remaining units. With this new information, you update the work order by recording that 120 cases were produced and changing the work order status to “Closed” by doing a work order import. Then, you can ship the 120 completed cases to your customer. 

4. Cancelled Status

The Cancelled status indicates that production on the work order has not started before the work order was cancelled. In Production Scheduling, the Cancelled status can imply the following:

1. The work order was created by accident
2. The work order was originally Open or Booked but then changed to Cancelled

The main difference between the Closed and Cancelled status is whether there has been some/all required production work completed. If all/partial production has been completed on the work order, then the work order should have a Closed status. If no production has been completed on the work order, then the work order should have a Cancelled status.

Example of using the Cancelled work order status

If you have a list of new work orders that you want to add to Production Scheduling. You fill out the work orders CSV import file and import it into Production Scheduling. Afterwards, you notice that there is an extra work order that was created by mistake. You want to let your other team members know that they should disregard this extra work order. Since you cannot delete work orders in Production Scheduling, you choose to update the status of this work order to “Cancelled” and then import the file. 

Best Practice Tip!

It is best to understand when to use the different work order statuses (i.e. Open, Booked, Cancelled, and Closed). By using the correct work order status to reflect the work order’s progress, this ensures your team will have a shared understanding of each work order. 

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• What are the different scheduling statuses in Production Scheduling?
• How to edit notes that have been added to work orders in Production Scheduling?
• What information is shown on work order cards in Production Scheduling?
• What information can I search using the search bar in Production Scheduling?
• How can I tell if there is production scheduled to be completed after a work order’s due date in Production Scheduling?