Benefits

§ Reduction of manual scheduling effort

§ Advanced warning on orders at risk of being late

§ Available to promise due-dates

§ Improved customer service: progress reports per client

§ "What-if" impact of new equipment on plant output

§ "What-If" impact of new product line or vendor

§ "What-If" impact of ability to meet long range forecast

§ "What-if" impact of resizing lots for better JiT performance

Training and Integration

The time required to integrate JobTime to a host ERP system is measured in weeks, not months.  We work with clients to define a clear mapping of data fields between your ERP and JobTime's SQL database.   For ERP's based on Microsoft SQL Server, it is common to see Level-1 initial data flowing into JobTime in typically 2-3 days.  Add 2-3 additional days for each level higher than Level-1.  Microsoft SQL Server integrations typically require just a few weeks.  Next add 2-3 more weeks for ERP's using a relational database accessible via Microsoft ODBC or OLE-DB driver (e.g. Oracle, Informix, DB2, MySQL, Access or FoxPro).  And finally add 2-3 additional weeks for cases in which imports must be made from legacy mainframe systems, and send their data XML or as flat ASCII text files.  To take full advantage of certain JobTime scheduling features, your ERP might not contain JobTime5's corresponding data fields, such as JobTime's operation overlapping codes, called 'Modeling' on the operations screens, or which might not yet have populated essential fields in their ERP system (e.g. labor, tooling, required per operation, etc.).  Our Custom Import Service starts by walking your shop floor, thoroughly understanding your production needs and your most critical scheduling hot-button issues. We then define a detailed written statement scope and feature specifications to be certain everyone understands all the data requirements necessary to meet your specific integration requirements.  Writing and verifying the Custom Import Specification with the client typically requires about 20% of the time budgeted for the Custom Import task.  This level of effort insures smooth sailing throughout the remainder of the integration project.  The integration-specification lists all data needs for your scheduling application, and defines any special conversion requirements. 

We create staging tables inside your JobTime5 Custom Import database, to mirror corresponding tables and data fields in your host ERP system.  This streamlines communication, and facilitates verification that data is arriving correctly into JobTime, before being moved into the standard JobTime5 scheduling database.  This insures that each data item from your ERP gets transferred exactly as expected.  JSI develops code to transform and move each data element from the staging fields into standard structured JobTime tables which will hold the orders, operations, resource demands, station preferences. The Custom Import then moves data into 'JobTime5' tables placed in the Custom Import database, which are in fact exactly identical to the corresponding tables in the live JobTime Standard Database.  Next, we perform a series of validation tests against all records, and filter out orders and operations which might fail the validation tests.  Validations indicate that imported data do not match the minimal requirements to permit successful scheduling if moved to the Standard Database.  Any data elements which do not meet the standard are quarantined and can be viewed in reports.  The data quarantine report will guide you in fixing data in your host system, or to refining your requirements to correctly move your data successfully into JobTime® 5 in a stable manner over the months and years of your future use of JobTime® 5.  With JobTime® 5 , you can typically expect full implementation within 90 days or less, assuming active and steady participation of your designated in-house scheduling and IT staff. 

Reports

JobTime® 5  uses SAP Crystal Reports, the world's leader in report generation and deployment. Crystal Reports provides a set of basic reports, and lets you to make minor edits to match local nomenclature, or to even create custom SQL queries in the Custom Import database to provide any reports you may need.  You can preview data, automatically schedule unattended reports across your network or intranet, use standard print output, HTML web pages, asp pages, or downloadable Adobe PDF files.  You can also easily interface any other report writer software which accepts data from Microsoft SQL Server, including the Reporting Services module inside SQL Server itself.

Add Supply Chain features, by allowing your vendors to have secured access to your intranet to review your latest projected material needs from their company. JobTime® 5  can tie materials usage to your finite capacity production schedule.  Push the Supply Chain even farther by allowing your customers to review their orders, and see projected progress when operations are marked completely finished.  Avoid countless phone calls from customers asking "Where's my order today in your shop" by making their order status information available over the web, especially for orders which are being finished on schedule as promised. Password protection and encryption will protect and limit only approved customers and vendors to view your link in the overall supply chain.  

Capacity Modeling

JobTime® 5  sees not only work centers with their respective  work stations, but it can also model, separately, a system of resources and resource-groups.  Resources can be defined with preferred priority order, or in subsets as 'Resource Groups'.  Resources can be tools, floor space, operators, inspectors.  Groups can either be collections of a single resource, or even a mix of resources. In addition to a work center, a given "crew" of resources can be specified and referenced as the "crew" to use in one or more routing operation steps.  Calendars can be assigned at any level: work center, work station, resource group, or resource.  

Database Benefits

JobTime® 5  uses Microsoft SQL Server Database, which improves finite scheduling in three important ways:

	Scalability of the SQL-Server database.  Did you know that JobTime® 5  lets you schedule from a training session on a standalone laptop?  As the scheduling model,  interest and database grows, you can move the application to a desktop.  Next,  you can allow up to four co-workers to also access the database on your desktop.  When you are ready for prime time, simply move the database to any SQL Server compliant server (NT, 2000 or Novell).  SQL Server on a server is not included with the JobTime® 5 License, but on a single dedicated laptop or PC desktop, the free but equivalent SQL Server Express system can be installed.
	As your business grows, you will be able to accept growing traffic from customers and vendors, as you grow your "Supply Chain Management" system.   JobTime® 5  will be right there to deliver  your data needs across the world's largest server systems, due to the flexibility of SQL Server.
	Microsoft and Compaq have reported setting new world database transaction speed records using SQL Server.  A clustered server of multiple processors recently handled a staggering 3600 transactions per second.
	Reliability of the SQL Server environment.   Consider easier backup automation,  transaction-rollback technology, robust user authentication,  SQL trigger efficiency and consistency, and you will see how JobTime® 5  keeps you working safely.
	Mainstream Positioning.  You can be certain on of-going Microsoft support and improvement of the SQL Server Technology.  You can also be confident of finding qualified Microsoft SQL Server qualified database administrators and technical developers, both now and in the future.

Features

JobTime® 5 features a professional SQL Server database architecture, fully-relational and full-normalized.  Our thin-client concepts let your company's scheduling needs readily scale from small to large, and grow as your  business grows.  In short, JobTime^®  is the finite scheduling system that you won't outgrow. 

 

Visual Schedule Board

JobTime® 5  also provides a visual schedule board, to enable immediate execution schedule adjustments:

	Managing Execution: You can see work orders visually through the entire production cycle.  You can simultaneously see all competing orders on the same machines. Make minor "fine-tuning" adjustments such as switching the to-do operation sequence without having to fully re-schedule.
	Promising Delivery: visualize your machine loading to determine capacity available for "hot" or last-minute jobs.  JobTime® 5  knows your current capacity commitments, and will schedule into the available un-used hours of capacity, assuring that other orders are not disturbed.  You can manually  moving orders, and JobTime® 5  can show you where the following tasks will land.  This shows you the on-time impact of moving a given operation.
	What If Analysis: Shift your capacity (over-time or sub-contract) and see if late jobs will finish on-time. Impose a machine breakdown and see the impact. Re-schedule maintenance to pick up short-term capacity. See it now, not later.

 

	Zoom In / Zoom Out to view the horizon at the detail you desire
	Highlight all operations of a given work order
	Display late orders in red
	Dynamically re-schedule tasks you move, recognizing working calendar
	Move impacted tasks on the same machine accurately into the future
	Display full part or order number by moving the mouse next to a task
	Display the full operation detailed field dialog by double clicking a task
	Let you re-arrange machine-center rows and re-size width of the rows
	Scroll the board horizontally or vertically using true Windows controls
	Validate moving a task to not violate stream or overlapping operations
	Validate moving a task to machines not permitted as alternates
	Validate moving a task to a date prior to the Work Order release date

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