As I look at all of the statistics on how employees can lose time and productivity at work (from Angry Birds to Email), it’s staggering. Minutes per day turn into days per quarter and then weeks per year . . . lost. According to an IDC report titled “The Knowledge Quotient”, 61% of knowledge workers regularly access four or more systems to get the information they need to do their jobs. Also, 36% of a typical knowledge worker’s day is spent looking for and consolidating information spread across a variety of systems. And finally, it said that only 56% of the time workers can find the information required to do their jobs.

If you are a Material Planner and part of your job is to find Planning Data, those stats are not something you are willing to settle for! Luckily, Infor SyteLine ERP has a Material Planner’s Workbench that will bring the information & data you need to you. Let’s explore some of the possibilities and options within the Material Planner’s Workbench.

The Material Planner’s Workbench was designed so that you can deal with ‘your’ parts in one place.  The Workbench Generation form allows you to select a variety of information.  You can use the basic ‘Planning’ data that is generated from either Advance Planning/Scheduling (APS) or Material Requirements Planning (MRP).  Or you can use the strong cross-reference information for Customer, Job, Transfer, Project and Service Repair Orders.  Also, by running the Workbench by ‘Item’ you are basically running the Inventory Below Safety Stock Report with the ability to do something about it.

Once you have generated the Workbench, you can now firm up either Purchase Requisitions/Orders, Job Orders, Transfer Orders or Production Schedule to replenish what is needed.  If cross-reference functionality is desired the system will maintain the linkages just as if you went to each orders line and physically sourced each orders information.

A mouse click away can be :

• The ‘Planning Detail’ driving this information
• Online real time ‘Time Phased’ Inventory
• The actual ‘Demand’ causing this replenishment
• Lastly, a ‘Summary’ of what kind of impact firming up your plans will cause Cost Implications, Order/Lines that will be created based on selections that have been made.

Some of the basic setup deals with assigning Planner Code and Buyer for items.  Note: The Buyer field can be used for manufacturing items also.  This can denote the person who is ultimately responsible for monitoring the item.  All of the other fields are part of the basic item setup.  Things like what type of item is this ‘Purchased’, ‘Manufactured’ or ‘Transferred’ and which warehouse is setup for the item.

Enjoy the first SyteLine Workbench…let it make your life easier!