Capacity

planning
This demo script provides an overview of
the capacity planning features that are
available to a manufacturing company.

Demo script

May 2018

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Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations

 Contents
Target audience 3

Demo scenario 3

Overview 4

Demo step-by-step 5
Demo 1: Process design 5
Demo 2: Capacity planning 9
Demo 3: Load balancing 15

Conclusion 17

Capacity planning 2
 Capacity planning
This document is a demonstration that explores the capacity planning capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics 365 for
Finance and Operations. The primary objective of the demo scripts is to provide an overview of the capacity planning
features that are available to a manufacturing company.

Target audience
The scripts in this document should be used to demonstrate the value of Finance and Operations and the solution’s
support for capacity planning scenarios to a business decision maker (BDM) or a super user from the customer’s
manufacturing operations. The people that you present to will find value in this document if they are challenged by
completing the following tasks:

● Designing production processes that are generic in nature, and that can be run on various resources
● Scheduling productions on resources that have finite capacity
● Manually rescheduling production jobs
● Managing available capacity
● Load-balancing work across production resources

Demo scenario
The scripts in this document take you through the following Finance and Operations modules:

● Product information management

● Production control
● Master planning

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 Overview
The company that will be used for the make-to-stock scenario is Contoso HQUS. The following illustration shows the
products that Contoso HQUS produces. produces.

The following illustration shows how the products are manufactured and distributed in Contoso HQUS.

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 The scripts use the following product:

● Standard Speaker (product D0003)

Demo step-by-step
Demo 1: Process design
Scenario:

Oscar, the process engineer, has just completed the route definition for Contoso’s D0003 Standard Speaker product.
He has taken full advantage of the new capabilities in Finance and Operations that let him define routes that can be
used across multiple resources. However, before the new route is approved and activated, Oscar wants to make sure
that Contoso has resources available to perform all the operations and produce the D0003 Standard Speaker product
according to the new process.

Persona

Oscar – Process engineer

“How can we make this simpler?”
Oscar often receives specifications for new products from product designer. He defines
the processes that are required in order to make the product. Occasionally, he and the
product designer make prototypes together.

1 Make sure that you’re signed in to the HQUS legal entity.

The first step is to review the route and the resource requirements for the route operations.

2 Go to Product information management > Products > Released products.

3 On the Released product details page, select the line for item number D0003, and then, on the Action Pane, on
the Engineer tab, in the View group, select Route.

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 4 On the Route page, select the line for operation number 10 (Assembly), and then select the Resource
requirements tab.

Here, you can review the resource requirements for the selected operation. In this case, Oscar has specified that a
resource that has both the Assembly capability and the Speakers capability is required in order to perform the
Assembly operation. Additionally, if the production is job-scheduled, the resource must also have the Electronics
capability.

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 Because the requirements for operations scheduling and job scheduling are differentiated, the long-range
operations scheduling can have a more coarse-grained view of resources.

The next step is to review the feasibility of the route.

5 Select the line for route number 000002, and then, on the Action Pane, on the Route version tab, in the View
group, select Route feasibility.

On the Route feasibility page, Oscar can see whether resources are available to perform each operation in the
route. In this case, because there is a check mark in front of every operation, Oscar knows that all operations are
feasible on the date that is specified in the Date field at the top of the page.

To get a sense of the number of resources that are available to perform each operation, Oscar can step through
each operation in the route. The resource requirements for each operation are shown. A list of applicable
resources is also shown. (Applicable resources are all resources that match the resource requirements for the
operation on the selected date.)

For the new route for the D0003 Standard Speaker product, Oscar notices that two resources match the resource
requirements for the Assembly operation (operation number 10). Oscar wants to see how many hours of
available capacity these resources might have, excluding existing capacity reservations.

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 The next step is to review the resource calendar.

6 Select a line for resource 1211, and then select View details.

The View details button takes Oscar to the Resources page, where he can learn what calendar resource 1211 is
working according to.

7 On the Resources page, select the Calendars FastTab.

The work calendar for a resource can change over time and depends on the resource group that the resource is
assigned to. In this case, while resource 1211 is assigned to resource group 1210, it works according to the
Production calendar.

8 Select the Production calendar to open the working times of the production calendar.
9 Select Working times.

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 On the Working times page, Oscar can see that resource 1211 works eight hours per day, five days per week.
Oscar believes that these working times are sufficient to produce the expected volume of the D0003 Standard
Speaker product. Furthermore, if demand rises, there is room to extend the working hours or add another shift.

10 Close all open pages except the main Finance and Operations window.

Demo 2: Capacity planning

Scenario

Eduardo, the production planner, has received a rush order for two pairs of the D0003 Standard Speaker product.
They are required for an upcoming trade show, where Contoso will demo the new revision of the D0003 Standard
Speaker product to its domestic resellers. Eduardo must make this additional production order fit into the overall
production schedule that has already been generated by master planning.

Persona

Eduardo – Production planner

“Oh no, not another fire to put out!”
Eduardo manages the scheduling and planning of production. He must often shuffle
existing orders to make room for more urgent orders. He considers exceptions to be the
rule.

The first step is to create and estimate the production order.

1 Go to Production control > Production orders > All production orders.

2 On the All production orders list page, on the Action Pane, select New production order.

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 3 In the Create production order dialog box, enter a new production order for a quantity of 4 of item number
D0003, and then select Create.

4 On the All production orders list page, select the production order that you just created.
5 On the Action Pane, on the Production order tab, in the Process group, select Estimate.
6 Select OK.

The next step is to run job scheduling.

7 On the All production orders list page, on the Action Pane, on the Schedule tab, in the Production order
group, select Schedule jobs.
8 On the Job scheduling page, verify that the Finite capacity option is set to Yes.

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 9 Select OK to start the scheduling.

By setting the Finite capacity option to Yes, Eduardo helps guarantee that the scheduling engine will consider
the actual capacity of resources that were identified as having finite capacity on the Resources page, and that it
won’t overbook any of those resources.

10 On the All production orders list page, on the Action Pane, on the Production order tab, in the Production
details group, select All jobs.

On the Jobs page, Eduardo can see how the production has been scheduled.

11 Close the Jobs page.

The next step is to use a Gantt visualization to make changes to the schedule.

Eduardo wants a better overview of how the production is scheduled. Therefore, he opens the schedule for the
rush order in the Gantt chart view.

12 On the All production orders list page, select the Refresh button to refresh the page.

13 On the Action Pane, on the Schedule tab, in the View group, select Gantt chart.

14 On the Gantt chart page, on the Action Pane, on the Gant chart tab, in the View mode group select Resource
view.

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 15 Select the plus sign (+) on each line to expand all operations.

Before he makes any changes to the schedule, Eduardo wants to understand the available capacity of each
resource.

16 Use the mouse to drag the second job for operation number 20 to a different time slot (for example, a few hours
earlier).
17 Right-click the job that you just moved, and then select Schedule previous jobs on the shortcut menu.

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 After the previous jobs are rescheduled, the first job is aligned with the earlier start time of the second job.
Eduardo is satisfied with the revised schedule and is confident that the shop floor can execute it.

18 On the Action Pane, select Save.

19 Close the Gantt chart page.

The next step is to check the capacity reservations and load.

Now that the production has been scheduled, Eduardo wants to understand the impact on the available capacity.

20 On the All production orders list page, on the Action Pane, on the View tab, in the Related information group,
select Capacity reservations.

21 On the Capacity reservations page, right-click resource 1211, and then select View details on the shortcut
menu.
22 On the Resources page, on the Action Pane, on the Resource tab, in the View group, select Capacity load.

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 On the Capacity load page, Eduardo can see how much capacity is booked on the affected resources, and how
much capacity is still available.

23 Close the Capacity load page.

24 On the Resources page, on the Action Pane, on the Resource tab, in the View group, select Capacity load,
graphically.

25 In the Configure chart content dialog box, set the Show capacity, Include job scheduled, and Include
production options to Yes.

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 26 Select OK.

The Graphical capacity load page shows essentially the same information as the basic Capacity load page but
in chart form. Again, Eduardo can assure himself that the impact of the rush order is acceptable.

Demo 3: Load balancing

Scenario

Lars, the shop supervisor, wants to make sure that work is evenly distributed among the resources that he is
responsible for. His primary goal is to keep morale high by making sure that all workers get an even share of the
work. However, he also wants to help guarantee that all workers maintain their skills and routine when the workload
isn’t so high. To achieve these goals, Lars uses a Gantt chart that includes the resources that he is responsible for.

Persona

Lars – Shop supervisor

“I make sure that the machine operators keep churning out the parts according to plan.”
Lars make sure that the machine operators are productive, trained, and motivated, so that
the day-to-day production jobs are run correctly.

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 First, group resources by using Gantt charts.

1 Go to Organization administration > Resources > Gantt charts.

2 On the Gantt charts page, select New, and create a Gantt chart that shows a period of eight days.

3 On the Resources FastTab, select Add to add all resources that have an ID that starts with 12.

4 Select Save.
5 On the Action Pane, select Gantt.

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 6 In the Define dates for Gantt chart dialog box, select OK.

The Gantt chart page is opened in Resource view. The resources that Lars is responsible for (that is, the
resources that have an ID that starts with 12) are visible, and the chart shows all the jobs that are scheduled on
those resources.

Just as Eduardo (the production planner) can reschedule a production job by dragging it to a new time slot, Lars
can load-balance work by dragging a previously scheduled job to another resource.

Next, check the capacity reservations.

7 Go to Organization administration > Inquiries and reports > Resources > Capacity reservations.

Conclusion
In most cases, the finite capacity scheduling capabilities of Finance and Operations help guarantee that resources
aren’t overbooked, and that master planning generates a viable production schedule. However, in cases where the
management of capacity requires manual intervention, Finance and Operations also provides the tools for viewing
and managing capacity.

This demo script shows how Finance and Operations provides capacity planning capabilities at various levels, from
features for making sure that resources are available to support a new (or modified) product to drag-and-drop load
balancing on the shop floor.

Capacity planning 17
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