Action

An action is equal to a change or activity that must be performed in order to execute a decision. One decision can result in one or many actions that must be executed. The concept is to keep the actions as simple building blocks and rather try to combine several actions to solve one decision instead of creating one more complicated action. This approach has reduced time spent in the design and improved the quality of the code. As a consequence, it is also easier to reuse the already created actions.

Two main types of actions are transferred to the action log:
  • Defined: Includes clear rules on what, how and to what data should be changed.
  • Open: Does not include clear rules on what, how or to what data should be changed.

An example of a defined action is "Reschedule" of a macro order. In that case, you know which macro order to affect, how to do it and to what date it should be rescheduled to. An example of an open action is "Allow overload", this action is pointing out that there is a capacity problem. Open action points out which work center/period you have the problem but it does not point out how to solve the action. In that case several ways exist to solve it, like adding extra shifts, outsource, delay demand, and so on.

Defined actions can be automatically implemented in M3 BE, which cannot be done for open actions.

Open actions is useful to store actions that is further discussed and investigated before the final decision on how to solve them can be made.