Global Precision ERP User Guide

Table of Contents
System Navigation Basics
Menus
Views
Searches

Sales & Purchases

Contacts & Leads
Adding a Contact Correctly
Managing Opportunities
Quotations
Master Quotations
Sales Orders
Processing Sale Orders
Purchase Orders
Auto Followers (Email Notifications)
Example Workflow

Projects
Overview
Searching for Projects (by name, number, team etc)
Assigning a Project Team
Project Status and Tasks
Viewing Sales Activity from Project
File Manager
Auto Followers (Email Notifications)
Daily Projects Report Email PDF
Example Workflow

Shipping & Quality Control

Viewing a Shipment
Viewing Tracking Number
Shipping Requirements & QC
Auto Followers (Email Notifications)
Example Workflow

Resource Library
Viewing and Navigation
Adding a File to the Resource Library (OwnCloud)

Calendar

Holidays
Booking a Holiday
Example Workflow

Manufacturing (MRP)
Products
Managing BOMs
Master and Sub-Assemblies
Stockable and Non Stockable Products
Make to Order, Manufacture and Buy
Printing BOMs
Routing (Assembly Lines)
Work Centre Operations (Operation Cards/ Works Instructions)
Manufacturing Order
 Work Orders
Example Workflow for China
Example Workflow for UK

System Navigation Basics

Menus

Menus are structured as follows: the primary menu is at the top of the user interface, each option at the
top will reveal a further sub-menu which will then appear at the left hand side of the window.

Views

Views can be selected within each sub menu, this allows the user to decide how to present the
information they are currently viewing. List view shows all items as a list, form view opens a more
detailed form view which then allows the user to edit or create a record and save. Kanban view shows
the records as Kanban cards, allowing the user to drag into different columns to determine the status.
This is most commonly seen in opportunities and project tasks.
Breadcrumbs allow you to navigate backwards without using the back button in your browser which
takes much longer as will have to reload the page, always use breadcrumbs for a better user experience.

Searches

Within each view there is the option to search based on a number of criteria. Simply begin typing the
term you wish to search for but instead of hitting enter, select the type of search you wish to use. For
example if you wish to search for a project by its name, select project name, if you wish to search by
project number, select project number. This applies within the context of every other area of the
system.

Sales & Purchases

Contacts and Leads

Customers can be viewed by clicking the Sales menu option on the top level menu bar, then the
Customers option on the left bar. The customers are grouped together based on their current state. The
state is the sales rating of the customer, for example:
Dormant means there is no activity with this customer at the moment.
Limited Opportunities means the customer is active and will communicate however there are limited
opportunities available at the moment from this contact.
Warm is higher up this scale and means they are showing interest, there are potential opportunities and
the contact is worth pursuing.
Active means they are an active customer who is engaging and has active enquiries; this is the highest
status for a customer and would be set on our largest and most active customers.

The statuses can be set by simply entering the contact by clicking anywhere on the line, and selecting
the status. No edit or save is required for this action.

On the left menu is ‘Pending Opportunities’ or ‘Leads’ depending on your terminology.

This is the first stage of monitoring a prospective client or opportunity.
Details can simply be logged by filling out a simple form, click create, enter a simple description, fill in
the company name or use the customer field if they are an existing customer. Fill in other details you
have to hand, as a minimum we would suggest the email address, contact person’s name and company
name.
Set the next activity to act as a reminder for following up with this client. This will then be listed in
your ‘next activities’ on the left. This can be used to track and keep tabs on activities with prospective
clients and pending enquiries before we reach the opportunity stage itself.
To purge this item from the list once the next activity has been carried out, simply click done
underneath the activity from the form view.

Adding a Contact Correctly

To add a contact, click the contacts menu, then click create.

Or if you are sales team and need to track your contacts, then use the customers menu under Sales
instead – This is because it will associate this customer with the correct sales person automatically if
added this way, adding from the contacts menu will not.
The form is then presented, select the type of contact you wish to add. **Important**
If the contact is a new company select company, if you are adding a new contact person for an existing
company, select individual.
If the contact is an individual, enter the persons full name then select the company they should be
added under below. Be careful when typing in this field not to add a duplicate, just begin typing the
company name and select it from the menu. Fill in the details as required.
The contact will default to adding each new contact as a customer, however if you are adding a new
supplier then click the sales and purchases tab, deselect ‘is a customer’ and then select ‘is a supplier’.
In rare circumstances a contact can be both a customer and a supplier at the same time, in which case
just select both.
You can also add a new contact within a company by first finding the company by searching, then
clicking edit In form view, then creating a new contact underneath that company. Either way will
achieve the same goal of having a contact name under a company. This is important as companies may
have many contacts and using the generic company email isn’t good practice as quotes etc will go to
the wrong person if not specifying the individual contact person.
Once all is done, click save to complete.

Managing Opportunities

Opportunities are basically enquiries, the term can be used interchangeably. These can be viewed
under Sales, then Pipeline. Immediately you will be presented with the currently logged opportunities
for your default sales team.
Depending on the details entered for the opportunity, this view will show the project number the
opportunity is assigned to, the enquiry name, the customer, the sales person, nominated suppliers and
the project team. Other information will appear such as enquiry value and a speech bubble symbol if
there is chatter within this enquiry but only if this is entered – These will not show if nothing has been
entered.
Each opportunity is in its own column, the column defines the status of the enquiry. New enquiries are
one’s which have been logged but not quoted yet, this information has likely been sent to suppliers to
obtain a quote or is being reviewed internally before a quote has been sent. Quote sent is quite self
explanatory, once the opportunity has been quoted the Kanban card is then dragged into this column. If
the opportunity has been won, it will go into the won column, if the enquiry is dead or no feedback for
a couple of weeks then we can place in the inactive column.
Each column is checked with a different frequency.
The New column is checked daily (every week day) and followed up and discussed during the morning
call (enquiry review). The quote sent column is followed up weekly at the end of each week, the
inactive and Won column at the end of every month. This is then at the end of each month purged for
dead enquiries and won enquiries by archiving the enquiries that are no longer relevant by clicking the
menu on each enquiry then archive. The enquiries are never deleted and can always be viewed from
the projects menu within each project so we have a history of enquiries both won and archived.

Quotations

Quotations can be accessed via Sales, then Quotations.

There are two ways to create a quotation, standalone and as part of an opportunity.
It’s good practice and more organised to create a quotation from the opportunity so its clear which
quotes are part of which opportunity. This can be done by clicking Sales, pipeline, selecting the
opportunity and then clicking ‘New Quotation’. This is also quicker than doing it from the quotations
menu as the information will automatically port into the quotation, such as customer and project
number.

From the quotation form view click edit and this will then allow you to begin populating the quotation.
Before this is done of course, we will need to know what we are quoting, we will use the example
quotation received from one of our suppliers as a basis for this tutorial.

Enter the details by clicking ‘add an item’ entering the product / part name.
Enter the product category – This is very important as will identify the type of product to both our team
and also the customer. The description field is what the customer will see on the quotation. Here any
technical details should be added that will be useful for the customer to make their decision.
If tooling for example we would show the cavitation, tool steel, number of cycles etc. Set the quantity
of the line, and enter the sell price in the ‘unit price’ field.
We must then enter the cost of the line, this is the price that we buy the product for and defaults to USD
as the currency. This is because most of our bought items are in USD from our suppliers. This can be
however changed to RMB or other currencies if this is required.
All currency conversions are done by the system, this is based on a rate entered by accounts which is
our rate we get from the bank, so the margin shown at the bottom is as accurate as can be.
We must then set the supplier, begin typing the name of the supplier. If the name doesn’t appear please
check that the supplier has been added in the contacts menu as a ‘supplier’ and not a ‘customer’. If
they have been added as a customer they will not show in this field and cannot be selected as a
supplier, so please don’t just hit enter and add them from here as this will not work.
Enter the lead time then click any white space anywhere outside of the list.
The line item is now added for the quotation, hit save and this is now complete.
Sending a quotation is done by using the send by email button at the top right of the screen. Please
ensure the customer is an individual within a company, not just an email address or the generic
company, this is important to ensure the quotation reaches the correct contact person within that
company. Clicking the button will flag up a warning so we must finish these tasks before we send the
quotation.
Click the project button at the top right of the window, then click the project that displays.
In this project, you will see the folders created, if this shows ‘0’ then we need to create the folders.
Do this by clicking the ‘Create Folders’ button at the top of the project form view.
This will then generate some generic folders, click in supplier quotes then drag the supplier quote into
this area, click the form view button to refresh once this has been done to check it has uploaded
correctly.
Note the supplier reference, copy and paste back into the quotation under the field ‘Supplier
Reference’, putting an abbreviation of the supplier name in brackets after the quote reference if there
are multiple suppliers.
Then upload the data/drawings for this quotation.
This follows the same logic, if the data is split into drawings and 3D data you can upload separately, if
it’s all in a zip file, just upload this to the 3D data folder.
Once this has been done, you can then tick the checkboxes, supplier quote uploaded and data uploaded
and hit save. This will now allow you to send the quotation to the customer.
Click Send by Email, check the recipients field and check the details appear correct.
Add any comments you wish to communicate to the customer, then hit send.

Master Quotations

Master quotations are used for production only. This is where a price is maintained and a quotation is
used a master reference as to what the price is for production. If any prices are changed or updated,
these are reflected in the master quote and will always be used for ongoing production. For example
every time the customer raises an order for production where we have a master quote, the customer will
raise an order against that master quote, we will duplicate from it, remove the items they haven’t
ordered and then confirm. Master quotes should never be edited or tampered with unless absolutely
sure the price is accurate for ongoing production, if anything is changed, the quote should be re-issued
to the customer and everyone is then up to date. A master quote is set by simply hitting the checkbox
‘master quote’ and can be found using the favourites filter in the quotations menu.
Sales Orders

Sales orders can be viewed from Sales, Sales Orders, or via the Sales Orders widget via a specific
project.
Sales orders are confirmed orders. A customer sends us their purchase order and we log this as our
sales order: PO = Outbound order SO = Inbound order.
A sales order and a quotation are the same type of document, just one is draft (quotation) and the other
is confirmed (sale order).
You can see this by the status at the top right of the form view.

Confirming Sales Orders

There are a few prerequisites to confirming an order, the first being receipt of a customer order (SO).
Their order will usually reference our quotation number and we can then find this in our system using
search under quotations.
Once the quote has been found, we must reference each line and confirm that everything is accurate,
such as the data / part name, revision level if stated, the quantity and unit price.
Once this has been checked a final check for the bottom-line value total is also checked.
If everything matches up, first note their purchase order reference number, copy this and paste it in the
customer reference field under the ‘other information’ tab then hit save.
Then drag the customer order into the window to store a copy of the customer’s order in our Sales
order – This will then be in the attachments at the top of the form view.
Check the delivery address if stated as different to the default one in the quotation, if it is, then we need
to change this delivery address also.
Check the project team and if there’s anyone assigned to it, there should be both a UK and China
project team member assigned. This is important to ensure the relevant people are copied on the email
when this is confirmed to the customer and they are still then in the loop. This will also copy them on
any associated purchase orders that relate to the sale order – covered In purchase orders section.
Check in the supplier reference field to make sure there is a supplier quote reference, if this is empty
the order cannot be processed as there is nowhere to route the order as we do not have the information
to give to the supplier. If there is a supplier reference, we would then look in the file manager via
project > Folders > supplier quotes and find the supplier quote itself, double checking the detail is all
correct.
If the customer is only ordering some items of the quotation (not all the items) we simply duplicate the
quotation and remove the items they haven’t ordered.
If everything is correct and the project team advise it’s ok to proceed, then we click the ‘Confirm Sale’
button at the top of the quotation form view.
Send the customer an email to notify them their order has been placed.
Then send them the actual order confirmation document – This ensures we’re on the same page and are
double confirming with the customer what we have ordered allowing them to object if something is
wrong.
This is now a confirmed order on the system, meaning this quote reference GP*** is no longer visible
from the quotations menu and is now a sale order, accessible from the sales orders menu.
The next thing to do would be to place any orders we now need to place on suppliers.

Purchase Orders

Once a sale order has been completed, we can now place purchase orders on suppliers. To keep things
traceable, we do this from the sale order itself.
The supplier reference field in the Sale Order form view shows the supplier reference so the first thing
we would need to do is copy this reference as we’ll need to tell the supplier which quote we’re ordering
against.
Once this has been copied, click create PO.
This will create a PO associated with this sale order.
Then click the ‘view PO’ button which will now be visible.
As it’s possible to have multiple suppliers in use for each order/quote this will either bring up a list of
purchase orders or simply show the one if there is only one.
From the purchase order form view click edit and paste the supplier reference into the supplier
reference field.
 Click confirm order, then ‘Send PO by Email’.
Check the email is displaying correctly and check the supplier in the recipients appears correct.
Add any notes you wish to communicate with the supplier then hit send.

Auto Followers (Email Notifications)

In each document, sale order, purchase order, quotation, opportunity we’ve already mentioned, there
are people who will automatically be copied on these documents.

Opportunities – This will copy anyone added in the project team, the mails sent will come from the
salesperson.
Quotation – This will copy anyone added in the project team, the mails sent will come from the
salesperson.
Sale order – This will copy anyone added in the projects team and also accounts, the mails sent will
come from the salesperson.
Purchase order – This will copy anyone added in the projects team, the mails sent will come from the
person who sends the order from the system.

Projects
Overview

The projects menu can be accessed by clicking ‘Projects’ from the top-level menu bar.
This presents immediately the list of projects that have been assigned to you.
Although you can see these projects, you may notice others have also been assigned to the same
projects so they would see these records also when they navigate to this area.
The projects list view shows the project Number, Name, the persons assigned to the project, the
customer (this can be changed to the ‘actual/end’ customer if required to help identify more easily i.e.
if customer is paragon but McLaren are the actual end-client, we can put this in here and it will not
affect the quotes/invoices etc.
The next column is the latest comment in the chatter, when the project was last updated, who updated
and the current generic status of the project. The next column shows tasks associated with this project
(we will run through this shortly), and finally the start and expected end date of this project.
The filter at the top of the projects view is the reason you will only see projects you have been assigned
to by default. If you wish to view all projects, simply remove the filter and they will all become
available. This is useful if you are currently not assigned to a project and wish to assign yourself to
one, or are looking for the status or information for a project which you’re not assigned to.
Clicking anywhere on the line, we can enter the form view of the project.
This then presents a dashboard style interface where anything related to the project can be accessed
from one place.
At the top of this view we have the project number, underneath you will find the project name. Like all
form views, we can click edit and enter any information for these fields by clicking the edit button,
entering as desired, then clicking save.
We then have the start date and end date, this is the date the project starts and when we expect this to
end. Generally this will relate to the tooling elements of a project as parts move into production and
are not managed through the project management application. If machined parts howeverand being
managed by the project manager (not production), then we would put the start and expected end date of
the run of parts.
Underneath we have the project team, we can add or remove team members from here.
And Finally we have the Description field. This serves as a general ‘static’ description of the project to
help with visualisation or any information which remains constant throughout the life of the project.
I.e. if this project is to be managed differently than usual or any notes that all team members should be
aware of, we can put this information in here. Images can also be put in here if required.
As usual we have the chatter underneath here, this is likely to be the most updated part of this section,
in here we can post documents, comments, if the project has been chased up by sales etc.
Other documents related to the project can be viewed at the top right of the form view using the large
buttons we call widgets. The widgets available are Tasks, Folders, Opportunities, Quotations & Sale
Orders. We will cover these in another tutorial.
Searching for Projects (by name, number, team etc)

Back in the list view, if we want to search for a specific project but don’t have all of the details we can
search by using a number of criteria.
We must first remove the filter, otherwise we will only see our own projects that we are assigned to.
The criteria are as follows:
Title – This searches by the project name i.e. ‘Lens tooling’
Number: This will search by project number i.e. 9208
Team: This will search by member of the project team, i.e. Andrew Sale, Colin Xie
Contact: This is the customer
Project Manager (Obsolete, ignore this)
If you need to search by part number or any other criteria, you would have to search the sales orders or
quotations using the search criteria under those sections.

Assigning a Project Team

Assigning a project team member is as simple as clicking ‘edit’ in the project form view, adding a
member, selecting the member you wish to add, repeat as many times as you need to add more
members, then click save. To remove, click edit again, remove the members you need, then hit save
again.

Viewing Sales Activity from Project

From the project form view, we have the widgets (large buttons) at the top right of the form view.
If we have a status in the review stage and don’t know if there has been any activity from the sales
team, we can simply look at the opportunities and see the status and any chatter in there.
If it indicated the project has been lost or has gone quiet for a considerable time then we can set the
project status to inactive without having to ask lots of questions to the sales team as it’s already been
noted in the sales activity.
We can also see all orders that have been confirmed relating to the project in Sales Orders, so an
engineering change order for example would be visible if you wanted to check this has been raised.
Quotations are also accessible from this area, clicking the widget shows all quotes that have been sent
in relation to the project.

Project Status and Tasks

The project list view shows the general status of the project and this acts as a good indicator as to the
general status of a project. This is useful for both personal management of projects, however also
makes the process very easy if a customer calls the office and the project team is not available.
Another team member can simply look in the projects list and see the status of the project overall.
A point to note is that projects in the state ‘production’, ‘Completed’ or ‘Inactive’ will not show in the
project manager’s view.
If a project becomes active again or needs to go back into the project manager’s view, we can simply
remove the filter at the top of the screen, search for the project and set it back to it’s relevant status.
Of course always check you are still part of the project team to ensure this appears in your list.
This however becomes less useful if there are multiple tools being made as part of this project, or
different orders with different tools and the status is needed for a specific tool.
This is where project tasks come in.
Open project form view, go to sale orders and note the order with the relevant tools.
Go back to the form view using the breadcrumbs.
At the top left click the button ‘Create Task From Sale Order’.
Type or paste the sale order reference, alternatively just select the order from the dropdown
This will then bring up the order lines.
Note the lines which have ‘Tooling’ or equal thereof as the product category.
Select these items and click ‘Create Tasks’.
This will then add the tools as ‘tasks’ to the project.
Go back to the project using breadcrumbs, then back into ‘tasks’ using the widget at the top right of the
project form view.
Each tool can then be simply dragged into it’s respective state.
 The view can be changed to list view and viewed this way also, state can also be changed from the
form view of each task at the top right.
The status of the tasks is also visible from the sale order, so keeping this up to date will help accounts
to invoice on time as they can see clearly the status of each tool and where the project is at without
having to look through the projects directly.

File Manager

The file manager is the central resource for the project’s files, primarily CAD data, drawings, quality
documents, supplier quotes and GA’s.
Certain elements are stored in other areas of the system such as customer purchase orders which are
stored in our sales order under the attachments.
When a project is created there are no generic folders and these must be generated as soon as a file for
the project is available.
To do this, enter the project form view and click ‘Create Folder’.
This will generate a list of generic folders, this is done to keep navigation uniform for users to find
documents and files more easily.
To open a folder click the white area of the block.
Now we are inside the folder we can simply drag a file into this area.
The upload progress indicator will show the percentage of the upload and when this is done, the form
view button must be clicked to refresh the view so you can see your upload.
To download it, simply click the file and in the dialog box click the file name and the download will
start.
As more involved projects may have lots of files, this can be cleaned up by clicking the trash can icon
next to the line you wish to remove.
This doesn’t delete the file but keeps things tidy, the archived file can then be accessed using the
attachments menu at the top of the form view and clicking ‘manage’.
This will then display a list of all files, including ones removed from the first list of files.

Auto Followers (Email Notifications)

For projects, the project team is followed on activity from the chatter automatically once added to the
team.
This will auto follow on associated records such as emails going out for purchase orders to suppliers,
quotations to customers and also order confirmations.
This is to ensure the relevant team are automatically copied on the thread of mails to customers and
suppliers keeping all relevant people in the loop.
The project is the knot that ties all elements of the system together and all documents are associated
with a project in one way or another.
So if you want to be copied in on the activity of your project, make sure you’re in the project team !

Daily Projects Report Email PDF

The daily projects report is a daily PDF which is emailed out to the entire Global projects team in both
China and the UK.
The report shows the latest activity at the top, scrolling down gives a snapshot of the latest activity for
the active projects.
This is helpful for everyone who wants to know the status of a project without having to look in detail
in the system.
Reading through the latest updates in a morning is good practice for if a customer calls and asks any
questions for example. The general status of projects is then generally known throughout the
organisation.

Example Workflow

Shipping & Quality Control

Viewing a Shipment

Shipping can be accessed a number of ways, the most appropriate way dependent on your main role
and access rights in the ERP system
If you have access to the Shipping menu at the top, click Shipping.
We can view all pending shipments that have not yet been marked as shipped by clicking the menu
option which says ‘goods out’ – There will be one for UK and one for the China side of the business.
Goods-in is currently not being used and will be developed in the future so don’t worry about this for
now.
Dispatched goods shows all shipments which have already been shipped.
Another way to access the shipment is via the Sale Order.
Click Sales, then Sales Orders.
In the form view click the ‘Delivery’ widget at the top right.
This will then show the shipments associated with this sale order.
This is a useful way to track the shipments as it relates directly to the order.
Click on a delivery to view it’s details.
The list of parts shows how many will be sent as part of that shipment of each line.
As deliveries are often split, looking via the sale order is often the best way as it will show all the
deliveries / batches associated with that sale order and when they will ship.

Viewing Tracking Number

The tracking number can be viewed from the ‘Additional Info’ tab then looking in the ‘Carrier’ and
‘Carrier tracking number’ field.
This is done once the goods have been shipped so there may be nothing it, however this will be entered
by the shipping person once it is marked as dispatched.

Shipping Requirements & QC

Once a sale order is confirmed the delivery / shipment / picking (terms can be used interchangeably) is
created, based on the line items in the sale order.
So if there is one item for tooling in the order and another line item for the parts, once this is looked at
by the shipping person, they will check to see if we are shipping the tool, if not, this will be removed
from the list in the shipment.
Then they will check for the estimated shipping date, this information can be found either in the project
or by asking the person managing production.
Once we have this information the dates can be set.
The shipping person then needs to confirm with the customer how they intend to ship the goods.
This is important to confirm in advance rather than waiting until the parts are ready before we begin to
get shipping quotes as this could delay the goods.
The quickest and most comprehensive way to do this is to click the Request Shipping Requirements
from Customer (Email) button and send the generic mail, this will ask the customer the question in an
email.
Once they have returned the form, the shipping person copies and pastes their reply in the chatter for
reference and ticks the ‘Customer Shipping Requirements’ checkbox.
This is a mandatory checkbox which must be ticked before the shipment is allowed to be processed.
There may be cases where we do not have to ask the customer as we already know, or they have
communicated this to the PM or salesperson and they have already told us.
In this case, just tick the checkbox and put the confirmed customer requirements in the chatter.
Before the goods are allowed to be shipped the QA Approved checkbox must also be ticked.
This however cannot be done by the shipping person, they have to request this from an authorised
quality control person, they then tick the box and the button to Validate appears.
Click the Validate button to confirm the shipment as being shipped and this is marked as complete.
This is the point where the tracking number would be entered.
Accounts then use this to recharge the shipping amount to the customer once we receive the bill from
the carrier.
Delivery note can also be printed from the print menu at the top of the shipment also if this is requested
by a customer, however this should be printed and put into the last box of goods when the goods are
shipped in addition to this.
 Auto Followers (Email Notifications)

Auto followers of the Shipping activity are the people who are in the QA & Shipping

Example Workflow

Resource Library
Viewing and Navigation

The resource library is a central resource where a number of functions are available. This can be
accessed using the information ribbon at the central top right of gthe user interface. The first being the
Quality Management System documentation. This can be accessed using the Quality Management
Systems folder once the resource library has been opened.

Here will display our ISO9001 2015 documentation and is updated and managed by the UK Quality
Engineer. This view allows just read-only access to the files so they cannot be tampered with or
changed/deleted from here, however as this is a public resource, documents uploaded here are available
to anyone with access to the ERP system should any member of staff wish to review this information
for transparency.

Templates and docs is a resource which has common files which staff can use freely to save time
should they require for example a letterhead template for MS Word, this can be found here, along with
payment information, our Global power point presentation, code of conduct declaration etc. Another
useful resource is the Supplier Records. This is an area where the full power point presentations of
some of our most common suppliers are stored. These can even be sent to customers to give them an
idea of the relevant facility being used without divulging supplier information; this is because the
power points have all been de-branded and their logo / company name removed and replaced with our
own standard format.

The global file portal is our own China Friendly file transfer system used for sending files which are
too large for email. This can be logged into with your usual email address but without the @global-
precision.co.uk, just the prefix (your name) with no spaces etc. Once in here the files can be uploaded,
a link generated and the link sent in an email to download.

The other items are the tutorials you are watching now and also the shipping document template for
commercial invoice and packing list. A short list of the most common HS codes we use is also next to
this.

Adding a File to the Resource Library (OwnCloud)

Adding files to the QMS section of the resource library is done using the QMS File Manager
(OwnCloud) link at the bottom of the initial welcome screen. A login screen is displayed and the user
name and password is entered here. This is only available to those who have been granted access to
control this data as the area is quite sensitive being our primary resource for ISO documentation.

Once logged in the ‘shared folder’ Quality Management Systems is shown and can be accessed by
simply clicking the folder. Once inside the standard ISO folders are displayed and can be entered in
the same way. This is where files can simply be dragged and dropped into the window to upload files,
or renamed, deleted etc using the menu option on each file.

As standard practice we do not delete files from here, only upload updated versions of the same file.
This is because revision levels are available for each file so changes can be tracked historically – This
is a standard requirement for ISO 9001 and provides the traceability they need for site audits and keeps
us compliant.

Calendar
 The calendar is a useful tool for making sure others throughout the organisation know your location or
activities on a certain date, such as which site you are planned to work from that day or if you have
holidays booked.

The calendar can be accessed by clicking the calendar option from the top level menu bar.
Immediately this will display your own logged calendar entries, clicking the ‘Everybody’s Calendars’
checkbox will then show everyone’s entries.

An entry can be made by simply clicking the date you wish to add an entry, typing ‘Chesterfield
Office’ for example and then hitting the create button. A simple way to keep the whole team aligned
and activities transparent to the whole global team.

Holidays
Booking a Holiday

Booking a holiday can be booked using the holidays tab on the top level menu bar. Once inside, the
‘leave request’ menu shows a calendar where the start date of the dates you wish to book should be
selected. Once this has been selected a dialog box will appear asking for a description (optional) i.e.
“Family Holiday” or “visiting family” can be entered. The leave type field ‘Paid holiday is the default
and option which should be used. Then we select the last date of the holiday you wish to request. This
will automatically account for weekends and bank holidays so there’s no need to manually account for
these dates as they won’t come off your annual leave days.

Once all is correct, click save and an email will automatically be sent to your allocated manager to
approve your request. As soon as they confirm you will receive an email notifying you of their
decision.

Also coming back to this same area will show whether this has been approved or not. By clicking the
entry and viewing the status at the top right.

Other’s holidays can also be viewed by removing the filter from the search bar once inside the leave
request menu. This can be used to help view when others are off so as to minimise or potentially work
around or choose holiday dates that overlap as little as possible with colleagues dates.

Example Workflow

Manufacturing (MRP)
Products

Products are entries in the system which represent a line item to be sold to a customer. This can be
done by going to Manufcaturing, then products and clicking Create.
Due to the way we work at Global, there are many products in the system which were simply added as
line items in a quotation.
For this reason there are thousands of products listed in the system, many of which will never be
ordered or function as anything other than a reference on a quotation, however we must leave them
there as they are tied to the quotes and this maintains a history of what we have quoted.
When we talk in terms of MRP, the products function differently to just a simple reference on a
quotation.
There are a number of ways they can be added which changes the behaviour of the system and it’s
important to understand this before setting up production using MRP.

Stockable and Non Stockable Products

The first thing to understand is the difference between stockable and non-stockable products.
Products set to ‘consumable’ are non-stockable.
This means that a product set to consumable will not track stock levels of the product.
A consumable item can be ordered in any quantity and it can always be shipped or used because it’s
treated as though there is always something in stock, i.e. infinite amount always in stock.
A stockable item is the opposite.
A stockable item must be in stock before it’s allowed to be used for anything.
No manufacturing process or shipment will work if there is not enough of a stockable item in stock.
Any product which is used in either a shipment or MRP will almost always be set to ‘stockable
product’.

Make to Order, Manufacture and Buy

The different ways the system will handle a product for procurement are using the make to order,
manufacture and Buy options which are located directly beneath the dropdown manu for stockable
product/consumable.
Make to order is simply is exactly as it says.
If the product is on an order and that order is confirmed, the make to order item will be ordered
automatically.
If this is not selected, then nothing will happen once an order is confirmed.
As we use customer orders to drive our production we would normally select this option so parts are
ordered automatically.
This is because we would have to manually work out what to order otherwise, and this is a key feature
of why we use MRP, so components / materials used to create a final product are ordered-in
automatically.
The other options in this section are Manufacture and Buy.
The Buy option will simply buy the product from a supplier.
The Buy option will not create a manufacturing order.
This will just buy the part straight from a supplier (bought in part)
For this to happen the ‘buy’ option must be selected and the supplier, cost and currency set in the
product.
The Manufacture option, when selected, will create a Manufacturing order.
Manufacturing orders are different to buying in parts. MO’s consume subcomponents/materials to
create an entirely new product completely.
In order words, subcomponents disappear from stock and the new product is created in stock in their
place.
This is because the subcomponents have been either assembled together if it’s an assembly or melted
down and moulded into a new product if it’s UK production (injection moulding from plastic pellets
from example).

Managing BOMs

A Bill of Materials (or BOM for short) is the list of parts that are consumed to produce a new product.
The subcomponents or raw materials that are to be used in a manufacturing order are defined in the Bill
of Materials.
So if we were to make a coffee cup for example, the product shown on the customer’s order would
simply be ‘Coffee Cup’.
The bill of materials for this ‘Coffee Cup’ would be something along the lines of 1 x cup and 1 x lid.
So if 2 Coffee Cups are ordered for example, a manufacturing order is created and the manufacturing
order will consume 2 x cups and 2 x lids.
If 3 Coffee Cups were ordered, it would consume 6 cups and 6 lids.
If 4 Coffee Cups are ordered, 8 cups and 8 lids.
The cups and lids would be taken from stock and essentially disappear from the inventory.
Replacing them would now be the assembled items in stock called ‘Coffee Cup’ which would be sold
to the customer on their order.
Once they are shipped to the customer, the coffee cups then disappear from stock also.
For injection moulding, the bill of materials would simply contain the raw material to be used and the
shot weight of the part, so if the part uses Ellastolan and weighs 50g the bill of materials would say
‘Ellastolan’ with the quantity set to 50g.
For each part ordered/produced, 50g of material would be taken from stock and the new injection
moulded part would be added in stock.

Master and Sub-Assemblies

The system can handle multi level BOMs also when producing goods.
This means that assemblies can be added within assemblies and consumed as subcomponents.
For example if a coffee cup was to be assembled in a box with a teaspoon, the ‘Master BOM’/ ‘Master
Product would be listed on the customer’s order as ‘Boxed Coffee Cup and Teaspoon’.
The BOM for ‘Boxed Coffee Cup and Teaspoon’ would be 1 x Coffee Cup and 1 Spoon.
The Coffee Cup, as you know, we have just produced using lid and a cup subcomponents.
Once we have finished ‘Coffee Cup’ components in stock, we can then produce the ‘Boxed Coffee Cup
and Teaspoon’ produce by then putting the Coffee Cup and Teaspoon together.
These items are then consumed to produce the finished ‘Boxed Coffee Cup and Teaspoon’.
The logic behind multi level BOMs is that each level of the BOM is produced separately, or that they
are on different assembly/production lines.
So in order to be able to make the Master product, you would have to produce a number of
subassemblies in order for this to work.
For example, if you had only managed to produce 10 x Coffee Cup components, you would only be
able to produce 10 x Boxed Coffee Cup and Teaspoon products (even if you had much more teaspoons
in stock.

Printing BOMs

As with most reports, there is an option to print the BOM structure in a way which is more easily to
mentally process once you have built it.
Once in the Bill of materials form view ( Product > Bill of Materials > Bill of Materials ) there is an
option to print at the top, this will show each level of the BOM expanded so you can visualise the
structure.

Routing (Assembly Lines)

A routing is essentially an assembly line, or it should be visualised this way.

So if we imagine the long assembly tables you see on shop floors, the ‘routing’ is the route from the
beginning of this bench to the end of it.
Each production worker would sit at one of the positions on this long table and each worker would
have an instruction which advises them of what their part in the process is; for example ‘screw 4
screws into top plate’.
This instruction is called a ‘Works Instruction’ or ‘Operation Card’.
However it is also described as a ‘Work Centre Operation’ in our MRP system.
To recap, you can have multiple works instructions / operation cards/ work centre operations in each
route.
A route is applied to a BOM, so if there is a master BOM and a subassembly BOM, you might want a
routing for each assembly that’s part of this process.

Work Centre Operations (Operation Cards/ Works Instructions)

The Work Centre Operations (Operation Cards/Works Instructions) are the visual and written aids that
support/instruct the assembly line with specific instructions on how to assemble the products.
We can generate these and store them using the routing.
To do this click Manufacturing then Routings.
Click Create and give it a name.
Then click ‘Add and Item’ and a popup window will appear.
This represents one of the individual Works Instructions that would be part of this assembly line.
Give it a name and set the Work Centre (Workstation 1 for example).
Fill in the details and upload images such as before / after etc.
Save and Close, then save the routing.
Do this, saving the routing every time you add a new works instruction to avoid losing your work.
This also uploads the images you have uploaded once you save the routing so doing everything at once
would make things more likely to be lost.

Manufacturing Order

The manufacturing order is the document that controls the manufacturing process.
The manufacturing order looks at the product to make, what materials or components are in the bill of
materials and essentially uses that information to action the part to be made.
Looking in the MO you will see on the left parts to be consumed.
Once we have produced some of the final products, the parts consumed would disappear from the parts
to be consumed side and move into the consumed parts side on the right.
This can be done using the

Work Orders
Example Workflow for China
Example Workflow for UK