Jobs Group

Jobs Group




Jobs Group









// List Jobs

The List Jobs screen, part of the Jobs Group, is used to quickly and easily browse, sort and search through jobs within the Realtrac system.  






Basic Features  

Basic Controls and Options Menu

Refresh - Refresh the data in the window
Exit - Close the Group window
Hide - Minimize the Group window

Options
System Messages - The Option box will illuminate to a neon green color when there is an important system message, Select System Messages to view the details.
Help - Access the Help documentation






Audit Record - When a row is selected in the list, the menu will populate an audit Record selection for that job.  The Jobs group offers an audit record for the Job, Job Router, the Job Invoice and the Job Ship Schedule. 






Filters

The Filters button at the top of the interface can be used to help narrow down the jobs showing in the list.  


 






Sorting Columns

The columns across the top can be sorted by any visible column. Simply left click on the column you wish to sort by, and the list will sort in descending order. Another click on the same column will order the list in ascending fashion. 


Columns can also be added, removed, and sorted to customize the screen. Right click anywhere within the header, which will bring up a floating list box with the available headers.  A check next to the header column means it is enabled, clearing the check will remove the header from the window view. The default is with all headers enabled.







The Jobs List Column Order (highlighted with red arrow in (Fig 4), can also be used to specify the order of the fields by moving the field position up or down. The default positions can also be reset to the default order (Fig 5).  Enabled, data fields and field positions are saved in each user’s profile and stored on your Realtrac server, so the preferences will follow if logged into a different computer. 




Fig 5 - Selecting and setting the column order



Jobs List Profiles

After using the filter and sort column features, custom profiles can be created to save customized  views and layouts of the List Jobs interface.  Press the ' + ' button to add and name a profile.  To remove a profile, select the profile then press the ' - ' button.







Search List Jobs

Search fields are another way to narrow down your search for a specific Job. The yellow search fields above each column can be used to retrieve a list of Jobs by a single field or use a combination of fields to quickly drill down the data to a specific job. 

 





Tags Field

It is important to note the Tags field in the List Jobs grid. Every job can have a set of free form tags applied to it that may describe the job, the part, customer, materials used, etc.  In (Fig 4) below, we see the example tags are materials used in the production of the part.  This allows the search for all jobs that include these materials. The flexibility of the tags column allows for many possibilities when combined with the Realtrac List Jobs search interface.  







Jobs Color Key

The List Jobs tab is color coded to make it easy to view at a glance those jobs that are open, closed, marked as expedited and more.  The system color key below can be found in Toolbox menu for reference.





List Jobs Document Strip

Realtrac allows documents to be attached to each Job for easy document control and organization.  When a job is highlighted in the List Jobs screen, the documents that are attached to that job will populate in the document strip.  Please see Jobs Entry Form – Document Strip below and Document Strip and Attachments Document Strip and Attachments for more detailed information and functionality of this feature.










//Job Entry Form

The Job Entry Form, part of the Job Group, is used to create new jobs and edit existing jobs.  A job that originates from an estimate is going to have many fields pre-populated.  In addition to editing the job details, this screen allows access to the job’s router, bill, purchase orders, shipment schedule and invoice interfaces. 


//Jobs


Creating a new Job

New Job button - When selecting the 'New Job' button, the following options will be displayed to create a new blank job: 




Creating a Duplicate Job

Duplicate Job button  -  Realtrac will create a new job that is a duplicate of the currently loaded job.  For example, if you have a job for the same part you can navigate to that job and select ‘Duplicate Estimate’ to copy all the estimate details with the following options:

Job Options:
  1. Standard Job
  2. Rectification Job - Typically used for non-conformance jobs or RMA's

Bill Options:

  1. Duplicate Bill –All the verbiage and associated settings in the bill line will be copied directly.
  2. Duplicate Bill/Clear Costs – With this setting, all the verbiage and settings in the bill are copied, but the estimated costs are blanked out. 
  3. Clear Bill – This setting will start with a blank, fresh bill in the newly promoted job.  






Job Number -  The Job Number follows a pattern YYJNNNN, 
  1. YY is a representation of the year the job was created, 
  2. J - Indicates that it is a Job (‘E’ for estimate, ‘J’ for job). This  can be set to a custom character in the System Setup located in the Toolbox.
  3. NNNN Is the job number.  The next sequential number is populated automatically when a new job is generated.  To override the default number, simply type the new number in the window.  During initial setup, the starting number is set to 1000 but can also be set to a custom number.  To update and use a custom number, see Can I change the Job Number or send a request to support@Realtrac.com for assistance.


Job Entry Form Fields

Description - This can be a description of the job, part or drawing number.  

Customer   – The customer can be added to the Job form using either their full company name or the company code. Using mouse or the tab key to enter in to either the 'search for company name' or 'search for company code' and begin typing.  As you type in the field, Realtrac will bring up a customer selection window and continue to narrow down as you continue typing.  
Customer Contact and New Contact   – Once the Customer has been entered, a list of associated Contacts can be selected from the drop menu or a new contact can be added by clicking the New Contact button.  




Set Default Ship To Address - This can be as a quick and convenient way to select the default Ship To address for the Realtrac job invoices.  The ship to can be override when creating new invoices if it is other than the default selected.



Part Fields 

A part is considered an independent piece of data in the Realtrac 10 system. That means that a common part can be shared among many estimates and jobs. This is an important concept to understand as it means changes to a part could possibly have an impact on many jobs and estimates within the system.

Within Realtrac, a part is made up of the following bits of information: 
  1. Drawing Number/Rev – Drawing number associated with the drawing the estimate is generated for 
  2. Part Number – Part number associated with the part the estimate is generated for.  Part Search/Edit can also be used
  3. Part Description – Description of the part

No matter the choice, begin the process by clicking the 'Part Search Edit' button or begin typing the information in the Drawing No.,, Part Number or Description fields to open the Part Search Edit window.  Next, select the part from the existing list or select the 'New Part' button to add a new part.







Once completed and returned to the Job Entry Form, the part will be selected and attached to the job. 





Ref Number  - User defined field.  Can be used to note any customer numbers pertaining to the job.
PO Number/Line Item  - User defined field to note the Customer PO number and specific Line Item.
Sales Rep - Select a sales rep on the job by using the drop down list menu.
RMA - Used to create a (Return Merchandise Authorization) ticket for the job.





Quantity and Price Fields

Qty Ord - The number of units the customer is expecting as a result of the job.  If the job is made for stock as opposed for a customer, this value can be 0.  Realtrac monitors shipments as the  job progresses.  Once the shipped quantity meets or exceeds the quantity ordered,  Realtrac will remove the job from the loading schedule.
Qty Mfg - Generally, but not always, greater than or equal to the Quantity Ordered. This value may be lower if some units from stock will be shipped to satisfy the order. Often users will make this number higher due to expected losses from production (either scrapped during a subcontracting process, or scrapped internally due to quality issues).  Realtrac uses this value to calculate the expected loading, so it’s important to correctly estimate the number of units the job will work on. 

Price Ea - The expected price to charge the customer.  Used in calculating the profit or loss per piece.  When a new invoice is created for the job, the default price each in the invoice will be this value. 
Price Ext  The total price for the entire job. Based on (Price Ea X Quantity Ordered).  If a user changes the Price Ext, Realtrac will automatically calculate the appropriate Price Ea. 




Date fields 

The date fields are important as they trigger Realtrac to schedule the job.  Realtrac supports both forward and backwards scheduling. 
  1. Forward scheduling (arrow pointed to the right, or forward) a job is used when the Start Date is known for the job. Realtrac will automatically calculate a Due Date based upon the router.
  2. Backward scheduling (arrow pointed to the left, backwards) is used when the Due Date is known.  If the customer would like the finished product on a specific date, the Due Date can be provided and Realtrac will calculate the Start Date. 




Comments, Notes and Tags

Comments - This field is completely free form text.  Each Realtrac user will choose to use this field differently.  Note that the field cannot be searched upon in the List Jobs tab.

Notes/Tags - This is a free text field to add tags to describe the part, the job, the customer or really any piece of information you wish to sort or organize groups of jobs by. A gear shop may put a few descriptors of the type of gear in this field (helical, worm, spur, etc..). The Realtrac List Jobs interface provides a field to search and group jobs by these tags as well as run reports on just those specific job sets. This field is truly free text, and each Realtrac user will choose to use this field differently

Buyouts

In a job, Realtrac allows you to manually adjust the buyout values, or use the values in the Bill section to control the Buyouts. The Buyout values have a direct impact on the costing calculations (which both change in real time and along with the cost of labor and overhead yields the cost each and cost extended calculations by the software). 
  1. Manual Entry - It is up to the user to capture costs on their own, and update the Materials, Subcontract and Other Costs directly.  As a job, these fields are all cumulative; the total costs for the entire job (which is different than how the Buyouts fields work in Estimates – since as an Estimate, we don’t know how many units will be produced in the resulting Job). 
  2. Bill - Will automate the process of capturing costs. As purchase orders are received and material is consumed by the job, the costs from the purchase orders will be automatically transferred to the bill. This means the job will have a true real time view in to the materials and costs consumed by the job. Bill lines can also be manually added for costs that may not be captured by purchase orders.





As a best practice, unless the project manager for the job plans to closely monitor the costing, Realtrac recommends setting the Buyouts to Bill. Then, we recommend using Purchase Orders to purchase material, and using the Inventory module to move the material to jobs as the floor needs the material. This will guarantee that your costs are up to date in real time and truly reflect the out of pocket costs involved in the production of the parts up to that point.



Job Part Inventory  Information





Document Strip - In addition to the basic part details shown in the Job Entry screen, we can attach other bits of data to the part.  With the drag and drop functionality, blueprints, images, email, or any part related document can be easily attached to the part and is accessible every time you make a job for this part. 

When attaching a document, Realtrac will ask you to assign the document association to a Part or to the Job (Fig 12).  If the attachment pertains to a “Part”, all future estimates and jobs will see and get this file automatically.  If associated to the Job, it will stay with this Job only.  Please see Document Strip and Attachments Document Strip and Attachments for more detailed information and functionality of this feature.







//Router 

A router is a list of required operations necessary to produce a part, often referred to as the ‘traveler’.  Each work center that the part will need to visit should be listed, but it is also important to list other steps as well, such as ordering materials, outside services and preparing the shipment as the parts complete production.  To ensure we are making parts profitably, and the parts are shipped on time, it is critical to document each step carefully to make sure costs are being captured.







Router General Information

The following fields that reference to the Job and operations are populated and/or changeable at the top of the page.

Qty Ord 
Qty Mfg
Est/Act Total
Hrs Left
Router Printed

Setup Qty
Run Qty
No Rfqs 
Document Strip  



Job and Router Real-time Data

At the top of the router, Realtrac will display a real-time status for Labor & Workstation Costing, Outside Service Costs and actual s for throughout the life of the job for quick reference.  The cells will turn red when the number slip to negative or above estimated price





Router Symbol Key 

The router has coded symbols in the leftmost column Indicating operation status. The symbols appear as follows:

√   Represents an inspection operation
ʬ     Indicates that a work-session has been registered against this operation 
Ø   The router operation is closed
Ξ   The Spec has text in it
■   The router line has documents attached
Ʃ   The operation that is considered the ‘Count’ operation and when finished, commits the routers part to inventory






Router Operation lines and Columns

OPR – Operation Number. Typically, a 2-3 digit a number that commonly starts at 10 or 100 and increments in units of 10 to allow for additional steps between existing operations if needed.

Route Code – Type of operation. The Route Code is also important for costing purposes. Realtrac will categorize the costs associated with employees work sessions based on the route code of the operation. (In other words, we are able to show the costs associated with building a fixture, setting up a process, and running the job.) The selected Route Code plays an important role with the Estimated Time associated with the step. We will discuss that more momentarily.

  1. Run – This is default, meaning this step is a production step where the machine operator is working on each piece individually.
  1. Setup – Capturing the time required to set up an operation. Like ‘Fixture’ and ‘Count’, this code will generally precede the actual ‘Run’ operation that was setup.
  2. Setup/Run
  3. Count code should be used at any step where an operator should perform a counting operation to make sure the expected number of pieces matches the actual number of pieces. Realtrac recommends that every router have at least one Count operation, typically at or near the end of the router when the manufacturing is complete, and the parts will be shipped or transferred to inventory.
  4. Fixture will track time required to build, prepare, and test a fixture. Typically, this step will be placed immediately preceding the ‘Run’ operation that requires the fixture.
  5. Program is used to capture the time required to program the machine for a ‘Run’ operation. Similar to Fixture, a router line with a Program code will typically have a ‘Run’ operation immediately following.
  6. Rework – Rework operations may or may not be present on an initial router. They are often added to a router during production or even after the part has shipped. If a flaw has been detected in a part or process and additional work is required, insert a new router operation after the faulty process, and assign it the Rework classification. Doing so will allow the Realtrac user to capture the costs of quality associated with the flawed part or process
  7. Other – If none of the above categories fit, and you wish for an operation to be based on an aggregate time value as opposed to a per piece time value, use the Other code. (See the Est Time Min Ea field below for additional details.)
  8. Outside Service – If the router step involves sending the parts to an outside vendor for service (Heat Treat, Testing, etc..) then use the Outside Service code. When the Outside Service code is selected, the user will select a specific vendor in the Work Center column.
  9. Service Receive – Each time a router is created with the Outside Service route code, Realtrac will automatically add an additional router line with the route code of Service Receive. This router line is used for the employee working at the dock/shipping location that will be receiving the parts coming back from the vendor.


·    Description – A description of the operation. This description will be present on the router reports (AKA “traveler”) that is distributed to the work floor.

·    Work Center – The work center that it is expected that the shop floor personnel will use to complete the router operation. Realtrac will allow users to log on to a different work center but will warn the user before doing so. (Note that if the operation has a route code of Outside Service, the user selects a Vendor in the Work Center field. See the Outside Service section above.)

·    Qty Comp - The number of completed pieces.  As the shop floor employees log out of jobs, they are prompted to enter the number of completed pieces

Qty Scrap - The number of pieces that were scrapped in the operation.
Est Min Ea  – For operations added with Router Code of Run or Count, this value is the number of minutes it is expected to process (Run or Count) each piece that is produced on the floor. An entry of 3 means it is expected that each part will take 3 minutes. Router lines with any other Router Code, the time values are an aggregate time value.

·    Est Hrs Tot – For users that prefer, or large jobs that are easier to estimate in hours than minutes, this column is also available. The column is simply another representation of the Est Time Min Ea column. Changing one column will immediately reflect in the other.

·    Setup Hrs Tot – If the user selects the route code of SETUP/RUN, then the user is able to supply both the estimated RUN time (in the Est Min Ea and Est Hrs Tot columns) and the estimated SETUP time in this column. For any other route code, this field in inaccessible.

·    Act Hrs Total - The actual time that has been logged on this operation.  If this exceeds the estimated time, the value will turn red.

Act Setup Hrs Tot - The actual time that has been logged on the setup operation.  If this exceeds the estimated time, the value will turn red.
Date Completed - If the operations has completed, then this is the date it was closed.Shop floor employees are given the option to close an operation during the log off process but it can also be closed by right clicking on the router line and selecting 'Close Router Line'
Work Sta Cnt  – If a work center has more than 1 workstation within it, you can instruct Realtrac that you intend to run the job on more than one workstation at the same time. This setting will come in to play as the estimate is promoted to a job and is scheduled. An operation that is scheduled for 2 stations will take half as long.

·    Overlap % - By default, Realtrac waits for all pieces to be complete at an operation before releasing them to the next operation. The user can choose to release the next operation early with this setting. Setting it to 50% means that once 50% of the pieces are complete in a router operation, it’s expected the next work center will begin working on it. Changing this will speed the schedule in Realtrac, but make sure that you intend to follow through on the floor when changing this setting. Else, Realtrac will calculate a schedule that is more aggressive than you are able to deliver, thus causing a potential late shipment.

Right clicking on an individual router line will bring up a context menu for performing various functions.





Action Buttons

Menu
  1. Close Router Line
  2. Renumber Operations
  3. Compare Estimate vs Actual Costs
  4. Click to notify me of shop floor logon/logoff
  5. Allow Router Additions from Shop Floor






Insert - Options that will quickly add multiple lines or specific inserts to the router.




Delete Copy Paste - Buttons that can be used to add, remove or copy router lines.

Router Replace - These options allow you to quickly and easily copy and another job or estimate router and use as a template for the current router build.





Logon - This is a quick access button that will open a Shop Floor window to logon

Work Sessions - This is a quick access button that will open a work Session window for the selected router line.


//Bill 

A bill tab is one way to keep track of expenses consumed for the job such as purchases of materials, subcontract services, and more.  The bill screen also allows a method to add comments when a quote is prepared. In the process of preparing an estimate, you may wish to enumerate the materials and subcontract costs associated with the production of the part. Each row of the bill can represent such an expense. 




At the top of the Bill page, a document files strip is offered to attach documents to specific bill lines that provide additional details about the material or subcontract described. 

 

Below the document strip, a summary of the costs each, per piece and totals are displayed for quick reference.






Bill columns and fields

Code  – Used to classify the expenses on each line to ensure proper costing for the estimate.  For bill lines that are merely comments, leave the Code as None.  Available options include:

•       None

•       Material

•       Subcontract

•       Other


Per Job or Per Part  - Determines if the costs for the bill line are to be applied for part, or for the entire job.

Print to Quote  – If checked, the text in the Description field will be printed on the Quote report. The Quote report is limited to 8 total lines of bill description fields.

Description  – A text description of the charge. 

Quantity – If the bill line is set to.

  1. Per Job, this determines the total number of units required to complete the production of the part. ·
  2.  Per Part, this is the number of units required to complete each part.

Example: If a bill line is set to ‘Per Part’, with the Quantity set to 5, when the estimate is promoted to a job to manufacture 100 units, the bill in the job will reflect 500 pieces required for the job.

Cost Each  – The cost per unit of the item in the bill. As this field is updated, the ‘Total Cost’ field is automatically calculated.

Total Cost  – The total cost for the bill item. This field is automatically calculated based on the value input in the ‘Cost Each’ column.  If this column is updated, the ‘Cost Each’ column is automatically calculated.


//BOM 

The Bill of Materials functionality requires the Inventory and Purchase Order modules to be enabled in the Realtrac system.

Before discussing the functionality within the BOM Tab, it is important to discuss the concept of the Bill of Materials. A Bill of Materials is a list of goods and services required to build a part. The key word here is part; all estimates and jobs for a specific part will have the exact same Bill of Material. If the Bill of Material is updated in any of the estimates or jobs, the bill of material will automatically be updated for all jobs and estimates associated with that part.





Any items added to the Bill of Materials must first be added to Realtrac in the Item Master catalog. The Item Master catalog, available under the Inventory Group, lists and classifies items and services that a business routinely requires.  For more information on the Item Master catalog, see the Inventory Group documentation. 




//Ship Schedule






//Invoice

Invoice History

When a job is selected, the invoice history tab will show the history of invoices generated for that job.  In the example below, the Invoice history shows 5 Invoices with Qty Shipped of 10 each.  When selecting each invoice it shows the line item Qty Ordered 50 and Qty Shipped 10.  







Customer Selection

Create a new invoice for a Job

Create an invoice by clicking the “New Invoice” button and the system will automatically assign an invoice number.  This number can be changed by right clicking on the invoice number and selecting the “rename” option.  The 'Bill To and 'Ship To addresses will automatically populate from the customer on the Job entry screen.

Notice the items created for this specific job will also automatically populate in the body of the invoice, including quantity to ship, part description and price.  The ship orders and inventory tabs can be used to add additional items to this invoice. As the Quantity to Ship / Invoice is changed, the form will automatically calculate the total price. These values can also be overridden. Comments can be added in the field which will appear on the invoice and packing list reports when printed.

Commit Inventory

Once we have the number of units we’re going to ship set on the invoice, it’s time to tell Realtrac to pull the units from inventory. To get started, click on the 'Commit Inventory' button that is shown in the middle of the interface.

A commit preview window will appear asking you to confirm the items to be committed from inventory for shipping and invoicing.






You will notice the 'Invoice Committed' in the top right is now checked and marked in red.




Next, use the 'Reports' button to print the Packing List and then Invoice for the customer.  After printing is complete, Invoice Printed and Packing List Printed are now checked and marked in red also.







//Cost




Overall Cost Summary

Labor & Overhead
Buyout (Purchased Items)


Cost Each Calculation Options

The Cost Each Calculations lets you select which view to display in the Cost tab
  1. Quantity to manufacture
  2. Router Piece Count
  3. Quantity Ordered



Standard Costs

WIP Cost
Pieces in Production
  1. Normal
  2. User Override
  3. Estimated Cost


Percent Total Job Cost graph




//Material Usage 






//Job Schedule






//Job Queue Status







//Additional Charges 

Additional Charges Tab allows you to add any miscellaneous charges or costs to a Job with the option of printing on the Billing Invoice. 






//State of the Job

The  Realtrac State of the Job feature was built with the intention to provide a quick snapshot of the overall health and status of jobs, and to make the task of closing jobs easier.   Since the State of the Job group does an analysis on everything related to the job including financial costing information, access can be assigned on an employee by employee basis.  

Employee permissions for State of the Job can be found in the Employee Group.  Navigate to the Employee Entry tab then in the Level 1 Basic Employee Data you will find the system permissions check box for to allow user access to State of the Job.