Weekly Planning Cycle¶

A repeatable Monday-morning routine to keep your print farm running smoothly all week.

Follow these steps at the start of each week to review demand, cover material shortages, and schedule production. High-volume farms may find it useful to repeat key steps daily — the cadence is yours to adjust.

The Flow¶

graph TD
    A[Command Center — What needs attention?] --> B[Orders — Review open demand]
    B --> C[Purchasing > Buy List — What to order?]
    C --> D[Purchasing > Low Stock — Reorder-point alerts]
    D --> E[Purchasing > Orders — Release POs to vendors]
    E --> F[Production — Create & schedule production orders]
    F --> G[Production > Scheduler — Assign ops to machines]
    G --> H[Printers — Fleet health check]
    H --> I[Week Planned]

Step 1: Start at the Command Center¶

The Command Center (/admin) is FilaOps's "what do I need to do right now?" view. It opens automatically when you log in and auto-refreshes every 60 seconds.

Where: Sidebar top entry — Command Center (or navigate to /admin)

Today's Summary cards¶

Four cards appear at the top of the Command Center:

A warning variant (amber) on Orders Due Today means some due-today orders are not yet ready to ship. A danger variant (red) on Blocked means immediate attention is required.

Action Items¶

Below the summary cards, the Action Items section lists issues requiring operator attention. Each alert card shows a title, description, priority badge, and a direct link to the affected entity — order, production order, or resource. When there are no issues, the section shows an All Clear confirmation.

Machines¶

The Machines section shows a status grid for every registered printer and work-center resource. Each card displays the current status (running, idle, offline). For idle machines, FilaOps may surface a dispatch suggestion — a recommended next operation pulled from the released work queue. You can:

• Confirm the suggestion to immediately assign the operation to that machine.
• Pick different to open the Operation Scheduler modal and choose an alternative.

Clicking a running machine card navigates to the active production order detail page.

Step 2: Review Open Orders¶

Check what orders are waiting to be produced or shipped this week.

Where: Orders in the sidebar (/admin/orders)

1. Use the Filter dropdown to select Confirmed — these orders are approved and ready for production to start.
2. Use the Sort control to sort by Fulfillment Priority (default) or by due date.
3. Look for orders whose due date falls within the current week.
4. Note any orders still in Pending Confirmation — these need admin review before they can enter production.

Order status reference:

Details: Taking and Fulfilling Orders

Step 3: Check the Buy List¶

The Buy List is the fastest way to see what you need to purchase across all open demand. It is computed on demand and is always current — no need to trigger a full MRP run first.

Where: Purchasing > Buy List tab (/admin/purchasing?tab=buy-list)

The Buy List answers: "Across every open sales order and every open production order, what components are short right now?"

For each short component it shows:

• SKU / Name — the material or sub-assembly needed
• Gross demand — total quantity required across all open orders
• On hand — current inventory
• Incoming — quantity already on open purchase orders (with status labels so you can see whether supply is a draft or a committed order)
• Net shortage — the gap to cover (gross demand minus on-hand minus incoming plus safety stock)
• Suggested qty — quantity to order, rounded up to the product's minimum order quantity
• Preferred vendor — vendor set on the item record
• Earliest need — the soonest due date among the orders driving demand

To create a purchase order from a Buy List row:

1. Click Create PO on the row.
2. FilaOps opens the Purchasing > Orders tab with the PO modal pre-filled with the vendor and suggested quantity.
3. Review and adjust quantities and costs if needed, then Save the PO.

Details: Material Planning (MRP)

Step 4: Review Low Stock Alerts¶

The Low Stock tab flags materials that are below their reorder point — even if no open orders are driving the shortage. Run this step alongside the Buy List to catch safety-stock replenishments the demand-driven view would miss.

Where: Purchasing > Low Stock tab (/admin/purchasing?tab=low-stock)

The summary cards group alerts by severity:

A blue banner appears when MRP-driven shortages (items short because of active sales orders) are also present in the list.

To create purchase orders from the Low Stock tab:

1. Check the boxes next to the items you want to order.
2. Use the Create PO dropdown (appears when items are selected) to group by vendor and open one PO modal per vendor.
3. Or click Create PO on an individual row to open a pre-filled modal for that item alone.

Step 5: Release Purchase Orders to Vendors¶

Review the draft POs you created in steps 3 and 4, then mark them as ordered once you have confirmed with your vendors.

Where: Purchasing > Orders tab (/admin/purchasing)

1. Filter by Status: Draft to see POs not yet sent.
2. Open each PO and verify:
3. Correct vendor
4. Correct quantities and unit costs
5. A realistic Expected Date (this is the date the Buy List uses to calculate incoming supply)
6. Optionally upload a vendor confirmation document with the Upload Document button on the PO detail panel.
7. Change the status to Ordered once the vendor has confirmed.

PO status lifecycle:

draft  →  ordered  →  [shipped]  →  partially_received  →  received  →  closed

Details: Ordering Supplies

Step 6: Create Production Orders¶

For each confirmed sales order that needs manufacturing this week, create a production order.

Where: Production (/admin/production)

1. Click + Create Production Order.
2. Fill in the form:
3. Product — select the item to produce
4. Quantity — how many units to make
5. Due Date — use the linked sales order's due date as a guide
6. Priority — numeric priority; lower numbers appear first in the work queue and scheduler
7. Notes — optional context for your team
8. Click Create. FilaOps navigates to the production order detail page.
9. On the detail page, check the material availability indicator. If materials are short, resolve the shortage before releasing.
10. Click Release to move the order from draft to released. Released orders become visible in the work queue and scheduler.

Production order status reference:

Details: Running Production

Step 7: Schedule Operations on the Gantt¶

After releasing production orders, assign their individual routing operations to machines.

Where: Production > Scheduler view — click the Scheduler button in the top-right of the Production page (/admin/production?view=scheduler)

The Scheduler shows a Gantt-style board:

• Lanes — one row per active machine resource and one per registered printer
• Operation blocks — scheduled operations displayed as bars; hover for product name, quantity, and timing
• Utilization % — shown per lane for the current view window
• Maintenance windows — blocking maintenance periods appear as shaded blocks so you can see true available time
• Unscheduled queue — the right panel lists released orders with no scheduled operations yet, sorted by priority then due date

To schedule an operation:

1. Find the order in the unscheduled queue (right panel).
2. Click the operation block to open the Operation Scheduler modal.
3. Select a machine lane and set a start time.
4. The conflict checker warns if the slot overlaps an existing operation or a maintenance window.
5. Click Schedule to place the block on the Gantt.

Details: Running Production

Step 8: Check Printer Fleet Health¶

Make sure your equipment is ready for the week's production before jobs start hitting the queue.

Where: Printers (/admin/printers)

The Printers page shows a card or table for each registered printer with its current status.

1. Look for printers marked offline or error — investigate and resolve before scheduling jobs to them.
2. Check for printers with overdue maintenance or maintenance windows scheduled this week.
3. Use Schedule Maintenance on a printer card to block time on the Gantt for upcoming downtime — this prevents the scheduler from placing jobs into that window.
4. Use Log Maintenance to record completed maintenance work.

Details: Monitoring Your Printers

Weekly Planning Checklist¶

• [ ] Command Center reviewed — summary cards checked, action items noted or resolved
• [ ] Machine dispatch suggestions reviewed — idle machines assigned or deferred
• [ ] Open orders reviewed — confirmed orders identified for the week
• [ ] Buy List checked — shortage rows turned into draft POs
• [ ] Low Stock tab reviewed — reorder-point alerts addressed
• [ ] Purchase orders reviewed and status set to Ordered with vendors
• [ ] Production orders created for this week's confirmed sales orders
• [ ] Production orders released and routing operations scheduled on the Gantt
• [ ] Printer fleet checked — no offline or maintenance-overdue machines blocking jobs

Related Pages¶

• Taking and Fulfilling Orders
• Ordering Supplies
• Material Planning (MRP)
• Running Production
• Monitoring Your Printers
• Command Center