Dynamic Job Board Follow

The Dynamic Job Board, or the DJB allows users to view jobs and tasks on different levels. 

Each of the different tabs provide a different view of what is happening in the shop at any time, and the timeline and calendar views provide the ability to schedule and move tasks to different days or even to different resources.

Setup

In order to have the schedule work effectively, there are a couple of administrative screens that need to be set up appropriately.  This is done in the Admin Settings menu, in the global settings tab. In addition to the Global Settings setup, The screens that need to be configured are the Machine, Machine Department, and Standard Services tabs. To edit these screens, click the gear icon in the upper right of midnight to get to the administration menu. In Global settings, the DJB processes are set up in the DJB tab.

This tab contains many options for the DJB, such as:

• Options for the default Job-In status
• The amount of time to display in the Calendar view.
• Color codes and what statuses they represent
• View which color codes are active and not active.
• Configure color codes for Urgency and what they mean, in addition to which ones are active.

Machine

The Machine setup screen is where you will enter all of the machines or resources in your shop. You can enter any of your presses, mailing or binding equipment, and even handwork areas as machines that can be occupied when an operator is performing a task.

To add a new machine into the system, scroll to the bottom of the screen and enter the needed information.

The fields to enter here are: 

• Code: The short code for identifying the Machine.
• Name: The longer code for identifying the Machine.
• Description: A description of the Machine.
• Run Rate: The speed the machine runs at, in units per hour.
• Start Time: The beginning time for the machine to start in the schedule.
• Stop Time: The time the machine ends in the schedule.
• Active: Checkbox for whether the machine is active or valid.

Machine Departments

The machine department screen is where users will set up general categories for machines. The categories can include machines that you might alternatively schedule work on, like different digital presses, multiple inserters or addressing systems. Once you have set up the departments, you will be able to attach machines to them and them to services.

The required fields are: 

• Department: The name of the Department to place machines in.
• Start/Stop Time: What time the department starts and stops as a whole.
• Active: Check for whether the department is active or not.

Clicking the Plus button at the far left of the column allows users to view all machines, and the start and stop times for those respective machines in a chart. Selecting the add machines button on the right side of each department row allows users to add individual machines to a department.

Standard Services

The Standard Services screen set up is covered in the Standard Service Setup article.

Midnight Job Board

To access the Dynamic Job board, select the calendar icon in the upper right of the Midnight home page.

The Job board is made up of five screens. These are the:

• Task View
• Order View
• Version Status View
• Calendar View
• Timeline View

It is also possible to go to the Shop Floor display view by clicking on the TV icon in the upper right of the screen.

Task View

The Task view displays every open task or service line in the system. As long as an order has service items and a drop date or due date, it will show up on the job board until either it is closed, or the due date becomes 60 days past the current date. The Task view is used for many different scheduling activities, such as:

• Setting priorities
• Assigning employees or equipment to tasks
• Viewing job details
• Updating estimated time
• Entering time spent on tasks
• Assigning task start/end dates
• Updating task status
• Scheduling tasks on the calendar/timeline views
• Entering task notes
• Splitting Tasks
• Grouping Tasks

To change values, double click on the field you want to change, and enter the updated value. Note that not all fields can be updated from this screen. 

It is also possible to use the top columns to search, sort, and print custom schedule reports by selecting the printer icon on the top right of the screen. Clicking on the DJB Column selector button will open up the DJB Grid selector, where you can select which columns to view in the Task View screen. Once you have made your choices on which grids to display, click the green Save/Refresh button in the upper right to display the updated chart.

In addition to the previous ways to edit the displayed columns, selecting the drop down list that is located on most tabs will allow you to edit the displayed columns. To check if a tab has a drop down, hover your mouse over it. If a down arrow shows, then a drop down is on that columns. To access the column selector, click a drop down arrow. From the drop down, navigate to the columns option to toggle which columns are displayed on the DJB. Once a column is unclicked, the DJB will instantly update.

Task View Reports

To create a task view report, click the print button in the upper right of the Task View screen.

Clicking this will open up the report in another window on your browser. 

From here, you can edit the report, create a new report, email it, and save it as multiple different types of documents.

This the screen to edit the DJB report. Using this screen, you can change the sources of data in the report, insert charts, and change how the report looks. Once finished, click the file button, and then save it using your desired method.

Order View

The Order View screen is used to view and update details on a job such as due date. You can also print a DJB order report from this screen by clicking on the printer icon on the top right. The editing function on the Order view works by double clicking the desired field to edit, and updating it with a new value. Using the drop down list where it says Show All Company allows you to filter what companies are displayed in the chart.

Clicking the order number on the left displays additional informational that does not appear on the DJB. This information includes Priority, Employees, Equipment, Time taken, Task quantity, Status, Notes and Task number.

Version Status view

The version status view displays the urgency, and progress of orders. You can customize the options for version status in Administration/Settings->Estimate/Order->Order Version Status list. You can customize the options and colors for Urgency in Administration/Settings->Global Settings->DJB->Urgency. 

To move orders on this screen, click and hold the order while dragging it to the desired space. Double clicking on any order will open up an expanded order details screen where users can edit the: Priority, employee, and equipment for tasks relating to the order.

Calendar and Timeline View

The Calendar View and Timeline views are used to view and update schedules for each machine. These views are typically used for managing press-rooms, finishing areas, and mailing equipment. The views are separated by department and will display all machines within that department. To see a department, select the desired department from the ‘dept’ drop down list, then select a date for which you’d like to see the schedule for. To filter the results, select the Day, Week, or Month option to see when tasks are scheduled.

Note that Calendar and Timeline views display the same information with a switched X/Y axis. The timeline view may be preferred when viewing departments that have a long list of machines. 

The Calendar view (Top) and the Timeline view (Bottom)

To update a schedule block, simply you drag the block to the desired machine or
time-slot. Alternatively you can double click the block to open up to task details screen.

Scheduling a new task

To add a new task to the Calendar or Timeline, click the Add Task button in the upper left on either screen. It is also possible to click and hold the mouse button between the start and the desired end date to create a new task entry.

From this screen you can change the title, description, machine, task status, start date/time, and end date/time. You can also un-schedule (remove) a task from this screen.

Clicking on the calendar in both of the previous screens displays which days have jobs scheduled. The days with jobs scheduled are highlighted in yellow on the calendar. Clicking on any day on the calendar takes you to that month.