Netronic Boosts Performance with Updates to Visual Scheduler Suite.

The Netronic Visual Scheduler is a suite of software tools designed to streamline scheduling processes within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. It offers interactive Gantt charts and visual representations of schedules, allowing users to efficiently create, modify, and track tasks, resources, and projects. Recently, they announced significant updates to these extensions. In this article, we explore the features and changes introduced.

Visual Advanced Production Scheduler

Streamlined data integrity checks

Netronic has introduced a new Role Center Page within VAPS aimed at simplifying data integrity checks. Recognizing the complexity of data patterns within Business Central that can sometimes lead to undesired outcomes or system crashes, Netronic emphasizes collaborative efforts between customers, partners, and themselves, especially during the initial phases of VAPS implementation. The newly introduced page is designed to detect data anomalies early on, expediting implementation timelines and ensuring seamless operation by enhancing the ability to conduct thorough data integrity checks.

The page provides insights into various activities, including:

✔︎ Information from Business Central with numbers of production orders and resources.
✔︎ EMAD information.
✔︎ General information about the VAPS simulations.
✔︎ Data validation data for Business Central: the cues appear in red when data is not valid, otherwise they are displayed in green like the other cues.

Move operations via dialog

Previously, users were limited to dragging and dropping one operation at a time or scheduling entire production orders. However, feedback from customers highlighted the need to move multiple operations individually, particularly when dealing with numerous production orders. To address this, Netronic has introduced a feature allowing users to select and move multiple operations simultaneously without affecting their sequence. This is facilitated through the addition of the “Move Operation(s)” context menu item, triggering the “Select Production Order Routing Line(s) to move” dialog. Users can then make further adjustments in the “Move Production Order Routing Line(s) Settings” dialog, defining parameters such as start date, capacity type, and target machine center.

Visual Production Scheduler

Viewer Mode

During the Dynamics NAV era, Netronic provided separate licenses for VPS planner and VPS viewer. However, with the transition to Business Central, Netronic consolidated these licenses into one, allowing broader access for schedule adjustments. Yet, as customer feedback poured in and needs evolved, Netronic identified situations where having a visual production schedule in a view-only mode would be highly beneficial. This realization prompted the development of the VPS Viewer Mode.

Why and how: VPS Viewer Mode

✔︎ VPS: shows data directly from production orders.
✔︎ VAPS: shows data from the simulation table (by design, these data can and should differ from the BC production order data).

There are use cases, where “non-production-scheduling-people” want to see the production schedule; Examples:

Sales

✔︎ What: check and understand the general production backlog.
✔︎ Why: derive conclusions for delivery time commitments.

Shopfloor workers

✔︎ What: see which production orders are scheduled for today.
✔︎ Why: make operational decisions (if allowed).

Netronic built the VPS Viewer Mode with all cases in mind but focused on the shopfloor.

✔︎ Sales = open schedule, assess backlog, make conclusion, close schedule.
✔︎ Shopfloor = schedule “always on” … on a screen on the floor.
✔︎ Needs to show a fixed period.
✔︎ Needs to be pre-filtered.
✔︎ Needs to update automatically.

In the Viewer Mode, all options for changing the schedule are deactivated, along with the corresponding menus and functionalities, including saving. However, changes to Business Central data remain possible via the Business Central pages.

As usual, the progress window appears during reloading. If a user previously working as a planner switches to the viewer mode after making changes, those changes will be overwritten without prompting (saving is disabled in viewer mode).

Users can select the mode through the designated option in the new “Editing Mode” section within the VPS setup. The Scheduling Mode is set as default.

Depending on the selected mode, the settings offered in the newly added “Automatic Screen Updates” area of the Setup dialog differ:

Viewer mode:

✔︎ whether and how often the view should be updated.
✔︎ whether and how often the view should scroll.
✔︎ whether the current date-timeline is shown and how often it should be updated.

Scheduler mode

✔︎ whether the current date-timeline is shown and how often it should be updated

Comprehensive performance improvements

With this release, Netronic has significantly boosted scheduling performance, achieving up to a 30% increase.

Visual Job Scheduler

Performance improvement

Netronic has made substantial improvements in performance, particularly benefiting customers with extensive resources and employees configured as resources.

The complete information can be found in the release notes. And don’t forget to browse the knowledge base for more detailed information found here.

For further information on Netronic Visual Scheduling Solutions. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with allonline365 at +27 (21) 205 3650, email us at contact@allonline365.com or visit our website www.allonline365.com.