Who Uses This Feature
Before You Start
Before creating a Production Plan, make sure:- Active Sales Orders exist for items you manufacture (if planning from Sales Orders)
- Active, approved BOMs exist for every finished item to be produced
- Warehouse records are set up for your raw materials and WIP stores
Creating a Production Plan
1
Open Production Plan
Go to the Manufacturing workspace and click Production Plan in the Production card, or use the Production Plan shortcut.
2
Create a new Production Plan
Click New.
3
Set the Get Items From field
Choose what drives this production plan:
- Sales Order: Pulls items from confirmed Sales Orders
- Material Request: Pulls items from internal Material Requests raised for production
4
Set the date range
Enter From Date and To Date to filter which Sales Orders or Material Requests to include. Use the From Delivery Date and To Delivery Date fields to filter by the expected delivery date on the Sales Order.
5
Filter by customer or item (optional)
Use the Customer and Item Code fields to narrow the plan to specific customers or items.
6
Click Get Sales Orders
Click the Get Sales Orders button. The system pulls all open Sales Orders matching your filters into the Sales Orders table. Review and remove any orders you do not want to include in this plan.
7
Click Get Finished Goods for Manufacture
Click the Get Finished Goods for Manufacture button. This populates the Assembly Items table with the items that need to be manufactured, along with their planned quantities.Review the list and adjust quantities if needed.
8
Get sub-assembly items (if applicable)
If any finished items contain sub-assemblies that also need to be manufactured, click Get Sub Assembly Items. The system adds those sub-assembly items to the plan.
9
Check material requirements
Click Get Raw Materials for Purchase. This calculates the total raw material requirements based on the BOMs for all items in the plan, then checks current stock. Items with a shortfall appear in the Raw Materials table.You can download the full materials list using Download Required Materials.
10
Create Material Requests for shortfalls
If materials need to be purchased, the system can generate Material Requests for the shortfall quantities. These Material Requests can then be converted to Purchase Orders by the Procurement team.
11
Submit the Production Plan
Click Save then Submit to approve the plan.
12
Create Work Orders
After submitting, click Create Work Orders. Bizaxl creates one Work Order for each assembly item in the plan. You can review the Work Orders from the Work Order list.
Field Guide
Workflow Journey
Monitoring and Reports
Dashboard Charts
The Pending Work Order chart shows how many work orders have been created but not yet started, giving the Production Manager a view of the production queue.Best Practices
Run a Production Plan before every production cycle. Rather than creating Work Orders individually, always start with a Production Plan to ensure material requirements are calculated and shortfalls are flagged before production begins. Set sensible date ranges. A Production Plan with too wide a date range may bring in stale Sales Orders. A range that is too narrow may miss orders that need to be produced together for efficiency. Use the consolidation option for similar items. If multiple Sales Orders include the same item, tick Consolidate Sales Order Items to combine them into one production run rather than creating multiple small Work Orders. Review raw material availability before submitting. If the Raw Materials table shows shortfalls, raise the Material Requests and allow time for procurement before creating Work Orders. Starting a Work Order without materials leads to production stoppages. Skip sub-assemblies already in stock. If you keep a buffer of sub-assemblies, tick Skip Available Sub Assembly Items to avoid unnecessarily manufacturing sub-assemblies you already have. Do not use Ignore Available Stock unless forecasting. This option overrides current stock levels and creates requirements for the full planned quantity regardless of what is in the warehouse. It is useful for forecast planning but not for normal production scheduling.Troubleshooting
No items appear after clicking Get Sales Orders: Check that the date range covers the Sales Orders you want to include, and that those Sales Orders are in Submitted (not Draft) status. The Assembly Items table is empty after clicking Get Finished Goods: Confirm that the items on the Sales Order are set as manufactured items and have active, approved BOMs. Raw material shortfalls appear for items you know are in stock: Check the Raw Materials Warehouse field. If it points to the wrong warehouse, the stock check will not find the materials. Work Orders are not being created: Ensure the Production Plan is in Submitted status before clicking Create Work Orders.Related Features
- Bill of Materials — the BOM for each item defines what materials the plan requires
- Work Order — Work Orders are created from this Production Plan
- Sales Order — the demand that drives the production plan
- Material Request — created by the plan for raw material shortfalls
- Purchase Order — converts Material Requests into supplier orders