Background: Our final op for every part is final QC signoff. This is setup as Resource Group ‘QC’, and there is only one infinite resource there, ‘QC1’. The operation is assigned a Scheduling Resource Capability specifically for QC. The Capability references the Primary Resource Group ‘QC’ and contains the one resource ‘QC1’.
Issue: Occasionally when QC goes to the data collection PC to enter their final quantity in MES, they are forced to select a resource group. Normally this doesn’t happen, but occasionally this prevents them from submitting accurate transactions. We can do it manually from Time and Expense entry in the front office. I haven’t been able to capture a screenshot.
Question: What setting forces users to enter a resource group when entering a labor transaction with MES? How could this inadvertently get turned on for some jobs and not others?
More notes: I have looked closely at two jobs that are the same except that in one job the QC user had to enter a resource group, and the other didn’t. I couldn’t see any differences between the jobs or operations/resources. The labor transactions show no resource ID for the job that didn’t force the user to choose a resource group. There is a resource ID in the labor transaction for the job that did force the user to choose a resource group. I believe that when the QC user gets the popup screen forcing them to enter a resource group, they either don’t have permissions, or training to choose it correctly. So they don’t enter anything and just write it down to send to the office for entry. I think some users try to enter a RG when requested using the override in MES.
What else would help solve this little puzzle?
Thanks for your time!
Nate
I would look to see if that operation was scheduled. If it was not, then the scheduled resource would not have been set and that might make the operation already have something defaulted.
It is out of the box functionality that requires a RG/Resource for each operation. I would not look down that road as that is just “how Epicor works”. Concentrate on why there is not a RG/R that is defaulted on the operation.
I do see a pattern in the labor transactions for the final QC op. In our case this is always op seq 900, which makes things a bit easier to search. For the past year, well the first half of the year there are no resource IDs listed in the labor transactions. The last half of the year has resource IDs for almost every labor transaction. About June the QC folks started using their PC and Office MES to enter their final quantities. Could it be that office MES is forcing them to supply a resource (with the weird message that a resource group is mandatory), while the data collection MES just accepted their op (and the associated resource group/capability)?
Looking at both jobs (where RG was mandatory and not), under Job Details > Operations >Scheduling Resources > List I can see the one capability for QC there. However, under Scheduled Resources, both jobs are blank.
Sounds like it might be a bug on the Office MES? I would create a job and then duplicate it to try logging in from both MES and Office MES and see what happens.
I logged time against op 900 from the regular MES, and from Office MES. Both methods filled in a resource in the labor transaction, and neither option required me to enter or select a resource group.
I believe so. When the engineer releases the job, he schedules it at that time. I believe scheduling the job, schedules all the operations. I admit I am not a scheduling expert.
Go into Job Entry, go to the operation, then the Scheduled Resources tab, and if they were scheduled there will be a resource assigned. I forget what is there if it is not scheduled when using Capabilities, but I think it would show the RG. If you are not sure and provide screen shots, I could probably figure it out.
Ah ha! The older job does not have a scheduled resource, but the newer job does. We will be modifying our scheduling process to utilize MRP in the coming months. I am just trying to figure out why this weird message was coming up for our QC users. I still don’t get it. If the job has a resource scheduled, why would MES pop a message that resource group is mandatory for the QC user?
It definitely schedules all the operations when you create a job. However, if you then un-engineer the job and make changes, it will not prompt you to re-schedule. You have to manually re-schedule it.
No. The schedule is held in erp.ResourceTimeUsed and records in that table are removed when a job is closed or manually removed from the schedule.
You still have the JobOpDtl record within the job itself, but that’s just the “default” for the job. People using the scheduling boards can absolutely move jobs off the default to other resources, even other resource groups.
Then, of course, you have LaborDtl, where users actually logged their time on a resource. The default for this is pulled from ResourceTimeUsed. If the op is unscheduled (as could happen in a re-release) I’d expect it to pull a blank as you’re seeing.
All three of these tables can be in disagreement, BTW. Scheduler can ignore the job. Floor worker can ignore the schedule.
I’m not sure I’d say that about myself either, but I’ve spent a lot of time in the Part->Engineering->Job->Scheduling pipeline. Including a fair amount of customization. You have any questions, hit me up.