Comprehensive features list for PlanetTogether APS


Our robust APS scheduling solution addresses many needs within your enterprise. Please see our links to other resources on this site. 


PlanetTogether APS Software Features

  • System
    Capacity Bottleneck Identification

    Visual identification of activities that are delayed due to resource capacity limits

    Master Scheduler Users

    Users with the ability to adjust plans and schedules

    View-Only Users

    Users with the ability to view plans and schedules and (optionally) update production status

    That-If Users

    Users with View-Only ability plus the ability to create What-If Scenarios

    Data Limits (Plants, Orders, etc.)

    No limits (other than computer memory) on any data objects or records

    Visio® Process Flows

    Process flow diagrams built in Microsoft Visio® and integrated into the system to guide users and run functions

    Workspaces

    Tailored screen layouts optimized and customizable for user roles and functions

    Split-Screen and Multi-Screen Viewing

    See multiple views together on one screen or on multiple screens

  • Constraint Management
    Capacity Bottleneck Identification

    Visual identification of activities that are delayed due to resource capacity limits

    Material Bottleneck Identification

    Visual identification of activities that are delayed due to material availability limits

    Buffer Management

    Manage variability using buffers and monitoring buffer penetration

    Bottleneck Scheduling

    Schedule to automatically protect bottleneck resources from starvation to maximize output

    Flexible Gantt Labels

    Choose what is shown in the Gantt to see material shortages or other useful information

  • Resource Scheduling
    Machine Scheduling

    Schedules for equipment

    Labor Scheduling

    Schedules for individual people with various skills or groups of labor

    Tool Scheduling

    Schedule tool usage and compatibility with products and machines

    Maintenance Scheduling

    Coordinate maintenance schedules with production schedules

  • Plan & Schedule Optimization
    KPI Optimization

    Automatic schedule generation based on target Key Performance Indicators

    Multi-Factor Optimization

    Automatic schedule generation based on a combination of factors (such as setup time, priority, due-date, etc.)

    Multi-Plant Optimization

    Optimize all your plants together or separately

    CoPilot Optimization

    Automatic searching and proposed changes to existing Optimization Rules

    Cross-Plant Optimization

    Create plans and schedules that are synchronized and cross loaded between plants

    Fast Optimization

    Quickly create updated schedules for your needed order voume

    Productivity Optimization

    Optimize plans and schedules to maximize resource utilization and output

    Financial Optimization

    Optimize plans and schedules to based on financial measures such as: revenue, cost, profit, and cash flow

    Frozen Zone

    Create stability, protecting a portion of the schedule from being re-optimized

    Stable Span

    A secondary level of stability, protecting a less firm area of the schedule right after the frozen span

    Compress

    Automatic removal of gaps from the schedule

    Time Anchoring

    Preserve commitments, preventing specific Jobs and operations from being re-optimized

    Resource Locking

    Preserve manual resource assignments, prevenging specific operations from being re-assigned

    JIT Scheduling

    Automatic Just-in-time scheduling to reduce inventory

    Product and Operation Attributes

    Fully customizable attributes that allow advanced scheduling by number ranges, Employee Skill Level or Certification

    Custom scheduling rules

    Rules that are custom tailored to specialized needs, built in any Microsoft .Net language

  • Scheduling Tools
    Smart Drag-and-Drop

    Automatically adjust for operation precedence, material constraints, and capacity

    Activity Grids

    Reschedule from configurable grid views where all data can be easliy seen as desired

    Expedite

    Expedite of Jobs and Supplying Jobs and Material, moving other work out of the way as necessary

    Split/AutoSplit

    Divide a single operation across multiple resources or multiple days (manually or automatically)

    Unlimited Undo/Redo

    Multi-level Undo/Redo for schedule and data changes

    Clock Advance

    Automatic roll forward of unfinished work (preserving schedule sequence) as time passes

    Job Split/Join/AutoJoin

    Split and Join Jobs (manually or automatically)

    Multi-Planner Scheduling

    Simultaneous login and scheduling of multiple planners to facilitate collaboration

    Multi-Job Drag-and-Drop

    Reschedule groups of Jobs in one action

    Multi-Plant Schedule Visibility

    Schedule visibility of multiple plants

    Multi-Plant Schedule Coordination

    Syncrhonize material flows between vertically integrated plants

  • Capacity Planning
    Capacity Plan

    Graphical load to capacity view with adjustable detail level and filters

    Cross-Plant Capacity Planning

    Dynamically allocate production across plants to balance plant work loads

    Capacity Calendars

    Manage planned maintenance, shift schedules, and overtime schdules by Resource, Department, or Plant

    Time-dependent capacity eligibility

    Define resources as being eligible to perform work in the future when certfied or trained

  • Order Management
    Capable To Promise (CTP)

    Immediate date estimating for new orders for multi-level BOM products

    Order Alerts

    Visual indicators of custom order conditions with drill-down details

    Order Pegging View

    See material flow between Jobs to destination orders on one screen

    Job Statuses

    Track/sort/filter/color by various job statuses such as: Planned, Firm, Estimate, What-If, or Quote

    Job Watches

    Proactively manage high-value Jobs by creating individual Gantt's for each Watched Job

    Multi-Plant CTP

    Immediate date estimating for new orders for multi-level BOM products that are made by multiple plants

    CoPilot Insert Jobs

    Automatically schedule new orders to maximize KPIs without making other orders late

    Shop Dispatch and Reporting

    Real-time communication with the shop floor on schedule changes and work completions

    Auto Finish

    Automatically close operations at their scheduled time for workcenters where reporting is not desired

  • Key Performance Indicators
    KPI View

    Immediately know how schedule changes affect Key Performance Indicators

    Select best KPI Plan

    Choose from recent schedules to choose the one that delivers the best KPI values

    KPI Impact

    Immediate impact analysis on KPI for any schedule change

    Pre-defined KPI

    Approximately 40 different KPI in areas such as: productivity, financials, and customer delivery

    Custom KPI

    Create KPI tailored to your specific needs scripted with any Microsoft .Net language

  • Scenarios
    What-If Scenarios

    Unlimited Scenarios that can be easily created, saved, and compared by Master Schedulers or What-If Users

    Compare Scenarios

    Create and compare plan scenarios based on KPI to make better choices

    Scenario History

    Track scenarios over time to analyze trends and compare actual versus planned

    Live Scenario

    A scenario that can be worked on collaboratively by multiple planners

    Published Scenario

    A finalized scenario that can be shared throughout the company while a new plan is being constructed

    Short-Term Scenario

    Automatically remove long term data to focus on short-term scheduling

  • Communication Tools
    Visual Factory

    Hands-free shop floor viewing that cycles through screens automatically

    Real-time Schedules

    Automatic update of the schedule as work is completed or delayed

    Job and Operation Holds

    Place a Job, Manufacturing Order, or Operation on Hold until a set date

    Activity Comments

    Record and display comments related to scheduled jobs

    Flags

    Custom tailored visual alerts when special scheduling preferences are violated or need attention, scripted in any Microsoft .Net language

    Instant messaging

    Messaging between users

  • Inventory & Distribution Planning
    Inventory Plan

    View inventory projections by location with configurable grid views

    Inventory Alerts

    Visual indicators of custom inventory conditions with drill-down details

    Multi-Warehouse Inventory Planning

    Plan supply and demand of inventories in multiple warehouses

    Cross-Warehouse Material Coordination

    Synchronization of material flow across warehouses

    Purchase Order Planning

    Track Purchase Orders to ensure accurate scheduling of orders requiring material

    Sales Order Planning

    Track Sales Orders to ensure you are meeting customer delivery dates

    Express MRP

    High speed, unlimited depth BOM explosion with simultaneous capacity constraints, creating Jobs and P.O.'s

    Transfer Order Planning

    Track Transfer Orders between Warehouses and Plants for real-time inventory visibility

    Lot Tracking

    Lot tracking of material to enforce material and WIP shelf-life or usage level

    Safety Stock Reordering

    Automated creation of planned jobs and purchase orders when safety stock is depleted

    ByProducts and CoProducts

    Multiple products made by a single Job or Operation

    Batching

    Batch multiple demands into production jobs

  • Analytics
    Impact Analysis

    Immediately know how schedule changes affect other orders

    Order Management Analytics

    Track and predict order delivery performance

    Capacity Analytics

    Analyze load versus capacity

    Productivity Analytics

    Analytics focused on utilization, output and performance

    Financial Analytics

    Financial indicators

    Custom Analytics

    Create charts, grids, and composite dashboards

    Web and Mobile Analytics

    Access information from PlanetTogether, Web, and tablets

    Analytic E-mails

    Subscribe to analytics to receive charts and measures via e-mail

  • Resource Constraints
    Finite Capacity Scheduling (FCS)

    Avoid scheduling more work in a period than the actual capacity allows

    Infinite Capacity Scheduling

    Fixed lead-time scheduling at a resource, independent of workload

    Capability Work Assignment

    Flexible means of specifying which types of work a resource can perform

    Multi-Tasking Resources

    Resources that can work on multiple Jobs at the same time but are limited to how many Jobs they can work on

    Multi-Resource Scheduling

    Simultaneous (finite) scheduling of machines, tooling and labor on one activity

    Manual Scheduling Overrides

    Allow editing Operaiton data and preserve edits during future imports

    Post Process Time

    Extra time delay (such as drying), either consuming the resource or not

    Subcontract Operations

    Schedule subcontract work, tied to buy-direct purchase orders.

    Batch Scheduling

    processing of multiple jobs on one resource at the same time (similar to an oven)

    Tank scheduling

    Reserve tank capacity until the tank is emptied

    Sequence-dependent Setup Time

    Setup time that depends on product attributes for sequentially run products

    Manual-only Resources

    Resources that can only be assigned manually, not by the system

    Product Rules

    Resource preferences and run rates that avery by the type of product being made on different resources

    Transfer Time

    Minimum delay times between operations (dry, transfer, etc.)

    UDF Scheduling

    User-defined fields to drive scheduling or to display

    Custom Rules

    Special constraints tailored to your exact needs

    Custom Constraints

    Custom tailored speciality planning constraints scripted in any Microsoft .Net language

    Custom Timings

    Custom tailored operation times scripted in any Microsoft .Net language

  • Material Constraints
    Raw Material Constraints

    Constrain activity start times based on availability of raw material

    WIP Material Constraints

    Constrain start times based on availability of work-in-process inventory

    Compatibility Scheduling

    Dependency between resources working on different jobs

    Material Overlap

    Schedule a job to start before the WIP material is completely finished

  • Flow Constraints
    Alternate Path Scheduling

    Manual accomodation of alternate ways of producing the same product

    Automatic Alternate Path Scheduling

    Automatic selection of alternate ways of producing the same product

    Operation Overlap

    Schedule a successor operation to start before the predecessor is completely finished

    Resource Connectors

    Material flow rules limiting which resources can be seleted based on the resource performing the preceding step

    Cellular scheduling

    Scheduling to keep all operations for a job in the same production cell

    Max-delay Scheduling

    Maximum delay times between operations (shelf-life, etc.)

    Keep Successors

    Automatically keep operations on the same resource as the preceding step

  • Integration
    Integration Wizard

    Easy setup and automation of data imports

    Web Services

    Directly submit information and trigger actions from another program

    Real-time file loading

    Immediate reading of custom text files to drive data import or other actions

    SAP ERP Integration

    SAP ERP Integration

    SAP Business One Integration

    SAP Business One Integration

    SAP ByDesign Integration

    SAP ByDesign Integration

    Microsoft AX Integration

    Microsoft AX Integration

    Microsoft NAV Integration

    Microsoft NAV Integration

    Microsoft GP Integration

    Microsoft GP Integration

    Oracle ERP Integration

    Oracle ERP Integration

    QAD Integration

    QAD Integration

    Sage MAS 500 Integration

    Sage MAS 500 Integration

    Sage MAS 90/200 Integration

    Sage MAS 90/200 Integration

    Escape Velocity Systems O2 Integration

    Escape Velocity Systems O2 Integration

    Vicinity Manufacturing Integration

    Vicinity Manufacturing Integration

    Microsoft SQL Server Integration

    Microsoft SQL Server Integration

    Excel Integration

    Excel Integration

    ODBC Integration

    ODBC Integration

  • Alerts & Reports
    E-Mail Subscriptions

    Subscribe to analytics to receive charts and measures via e-mail

    Grid Alerts

    Custom alerts on jobs and inventory with real-time drill-down

    My Suggestions

    Custom tailored lists of messages that can be scripted in any Microsoft .Net language

    Grid Layouts

    User-configured grids that filter, sort and show information as desired

    Job Report

    Report for late jobs

    Schedule Reporting

    Report for daily schedule

    Performance Reporting

    Report for resource performance

    Custom Reports

    Reporting database for ad-hoc reporting

    Custom Views

    Screens that are purpose-built to your special needs and written in any Microsoft .Net language

"We searched diligently for the right tools in the SAP family and found the systems lacking, so we looked elsewhere. PlanetTogether was the most flexible and adaptable option."

DEAN DIETRICH
Vice President of Operations Support

“The fact that PlanetTogether was .NET-based was important. It meant we could easily integrate with our manufacturing software."

DICK MARX
Materials Manager

"On the integration to SAP: “We flipped the switch and it worked. It was a seamless transition. The team at PlanetTogether is exceptional.”

BRUCE HAYS
Director of Manufacturing

"The requests for information and meetings around challenges tied to production have gone down. We now have ‘one version of the truth,’ which is a win.”

BRIAN GOODWIN
Master Scheduler

"PlanetTogether's software is by far the best and most encompassing planning software package offered today. Before it took hours to schedule our production because scheduling was based on manual reports. Now it only takes seconds!”

ED CZYSZ
Production Scheduling Manager

"I’m very happy now that everything is up and running. We use it for everything. PlanetTogether has cut production scheduling time in half."

JAIME OZUNA
Production Scheduler

Free Trial Offer for APS Staff

With PlanetTogether Scheduling, you'll create better production schedules much faster. Plus, those schedules will take your material and capacity constraints into account, so you'll know that commitments made will be commitments met.

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