About Job Dates

You can create manufacturing job orders by creating them manually on the Job Orders form, by cross referencing from a customer order line, by firming a planned order, or by running the Copy Routing/BOM utility.

A job order has a Start and End date that the system calculates or you enter manually depending how you create the job:

When you create a job manually, you must enter either a Start or End date.
When you firm a planned order into a job, the Start and End dates are determined by the completion date MRP or APS projected for the planned order.
When you create sub-jobs automatically (by copying a current routing/BOM to a job or by firming a planned order and copying the indented BOM) their Start and End dates are populated based on the parent job's start date and lead times.

The Start and End dates may determine when the system plans the job's materials and are used as input values to the Scheduling activity's calculations.

The job also has a Projected Date, which the APS Planning activity or Scheduling activity calculates based on the latest plan information. Depending on the setting of the Planning Analysis for Non-Scheduled Jobs parameter, you will use either the Start/End dates or the Projected Date for your output analysis activities.

This topic describes how the system updates a job's Start, End, and Projected dates differently depending on how you created the job and depending on the planning mode you are using. It also describes how the system uses these dates on the output forms and reports.

How Job Dates Are Set in APS Mode

The APS Planning activity calculates job dates as follows:

For jobs with blank Start and End dates, APS populates the Start and End dates based on the current, latest plan data (unless you manually entered dates for the job on the Job Orders form).
For any unscheduled jobs, APS populates or updates the Projected date based on the current, latest plan data.

The Scheduling activity populates or updates the Projected date, but never populates the Start and End dates.

The table below summarizes the conditions when APS Planning or the Scheduling activity updates the job dates.


Date	APS Planning	Scheduling
Start/End	Updates if dates are blank	Never updates (because the APS Planning activity will already have populated the Start and End dates)
Projected	Updates if job is not Scheduled	Updates

How Job Dates Are Set in MRP Mode

MRP Planning does not populate a job's blank Start and End dates, nor does it modify existing Start and End dates. MRP also does not populate or modify a job's Projected date field. If you are using MRP, you must run the Scheduling activity to populate any of the job dates.

The table below summarizes the conditions when MRP Planning or the Scheduling activity updates the job's dates.


Date	MRP Planning	Scheduling
Start/End	Never updates	Updates if dates are blank and job was completely scheduled
Projected	Never updates	Updates

How Job Dates Are Presented on Output Forms and Reports

Either the job's Start and End dates or the Projected Date may appear with the job on output forms (such as Planning Detail and Material Planner Workbench) and reports (such as the Order Action Report), depending on the following conditions:

The Planning mode you are using (APS or MRP)
Whether the job is scheduled
The setting of the planning parameters Use Scheduled Times in Planning and Planning Analysis for Non-Scheduled Jobs.

The table below summarizes the conditions that determine how output forms and reports display job dates when you are using APS mode.


Job Scheduled?	Use Scheduled Times in Planning	Planning Analysis for Non-Scheduled Jobs	Dates Used
No	No	Use Job End Date	Job Start/End
No	No	Use Projected Date	Projected date
No	Yes	Use Job End Date	Job Start/End
No	Yes	Use Projected Date	Projected date
Yes	No	Use Job End Date	Job Start/End
Yes	No	Use Projected Date	Projected date
Yes	Yes	Use Job End Date	Projected date
Yes	Yes	Use Projected Date	Projected date

In MRP mode, if the job is not scheduled, the job's Start and End dates are always used on the output forms and reports.

If the job is scheduled, the Use Scheduled Times in Planning parameter determines which dates are used. If Use Scheduled Times in Planning is selected, the job's Projected Date is used. If Use Scheduled Times in Planning is cleared, the job's Start and End dates are used.