The Visual Production Scheduler (VPS) is an interactive graphic planning board for Microsoft Dynamics NAV, visualizing production orders, production order (routing) lines, and operations in connection with the capacity utilization of work and machine centers. Operations can easily be moved by drag & drop, thus not only providing new transparency of the Dynamics NAV data but also enhancing the Microsoft Dynamics NAV production scheduling capabilities.
Fair enough: we are pretty focused on developing and enhancing our visual scheduling extensions for Dynamics 365 Business Central. Nevertheless, we also continue to maintain and develop our visual scheduling add-ins for Dynamics NAV ... supporting the large "Navision" customer base.
Hence we are proud to announce a comprehensive release of a new version of the VPS. It comes with a truly wide range of new and powerful features the Visual Production Scheduler for Dynamics NAV has been equipped with.
Although we strive to support Dynamics NAV customers as well as we can, we made the decision to stop the enhancement of the Visual Production Scheduler for Dynamics NAV 2009 R2. Version 1.5 of the Visual Production Scheduler does NO longer support version 2009 R2 of Dynamics NAV. Version 1.5. is available for all Dynamics NAV versions from Dynamics NAV 2013. Customers who want to use the VPS with Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 need to use the build 1.4.5.3, which we continue to maintain.
#1 Search dialog
You'll now find a search dialog in the VPS which lets you easily and comfortably search for production order lines. The view will directly scroll to the first operation of the found production order line:
#2 Consider queue time
The VPS now considers the queue time in its scheduling algorithm. Setting a queue time has no impact on the load of a work/machine center but causes the starting time of the operation to be moved forward. It can be seen as a buffer time between an operation and its successor so that you create a gap between the end time and the start time of two consecutive operations. In the picture below, the machine center TestMC02 has a queue time of 240 minutes:
The queue time is set on the work/machine center card and "lives and operates" on the calendar of the relevant machine/work center.
The VPS setup dialog was enhanced accordingly so that you can decide whether to consider the queue time or not.
#3 Warning symbol indicates sequence violation
Violating the sequence of operations if, for example, a succeeding operation starts earlier than the queue time would allow, might seriously jeopardize adhering to your plan and with this also to your promised delivery dates. Let the VPS alert you to such violations by a warning symbol
Activate the option in the "Setup" dialog of the VPS:
#4 Disable warning dialogs
The VPS helps you staying in control of your plan by alerting you in case of certain actions and letting you decide whether to carry out the action or not. These dialogs occur in case of
- a sequence violation (see above),
- moving an operation that has already started.
- having successfully saved your plan
- loading/reloading data
In most cases, these warnings/notifications are perceived as helpful, but, however, some customers wanted to decide for themselves whether the dialogs are shown or not. So we listened to them and the "Setup" dialog now offers options to switch the dialogs on or off.
#5 Storable data filters
Similar to the view filters, it is now possible to create and store multiple data filters. For this, we enhanced the data filter dialog accordingly:
#6 Let the data filter dialog pop up on every start of the VPS
You can decide now whether the data filter dialog should be shown when you start the VPS. You can specify this in the VPS setup.
#7 Select the last active view
The options to specify the view which the VPS shows when it is started have been enhanced so that you can now also select the view you have worked in last when you shut down the VPS.
#8 Coloring of the progress bar
The coloring of the progress bar was modified:
- an operation in progress is shown in grey
- a finished operation gets a black bar
- bars with a calculated progress > 100 % appear in red
#9 Saving of user settings and values
Several users settings and values, such as "Show progress" or the zoom factor get saved now so that they are active or will be considered when the VPS is started.
#10 Enhancements that can be activated or used by partners
The VPS offers several options the usage of which has to be activated or enabled by partners. To name just a few:
- Add custom context menu entries to production order routing lines
- Support multi selection (e.g. of multiple operations)
- Add custom due date line on production order line level
- Use the VPS as an automatically updating “Shop Floor Plan”
... and a few more.
And now enjoy testing the new functions and enhancements! As always, the complete release information can be found in the respective release notes.
Your Next Step
- Watch a recorded webinar
- Book a free demo with a VPS specialist
- Get free copy of our comprehensive eBook:
