Deadlines and Lead Times

Order Due Dates and Lead Times

Deadlines and Lead times are important tools for keeping track of how long work should take in Steelhead. This is a rundown of how Deadlines and Lead Times are used in Steelhead.

Deadlines

Sales Order Deadlines and Work Order Deadlines can be viewed in the respective edit Sales Order/Work Order dialogue. The Deadlines can be edited within the dialogue with either a calendar prompt, or by typing in a date.

Process Node Lead Times

If a Lead Time is defined on a Root Process Node, and the Process is selected on a Work Order, that Lead Time will override any other default Lead Times that apply to the Work Order, and will set the Work Order Deadline.

If a Lead Time is defined on a Parent or Child Process Node, that Lead Time will be set on derived Recipe Nodes, and be referenced in comparison with other Recipe Node Lead Times and the Work Order Deadline to determine Sub-Process Deadlines.

Sub-Process Deadlines are calculated as the active Work Order Deadline minus the sum of all the Lead Times for the future Recipe Nodes..

Edit a Process by clicking the edit pencil icon next to its name:

Here, the Parent Process Node "Test Process" has been given a 20-day Lead Time.

Now, a Work Order assigned to "Test Process", previously having no default Lead Time, automatically has a Deadline 20 business days following the Start Date:

When you edit the Lead Time on a Process Node, Steelhead will ask if you'd like to cascade the Lead Time to un-executed Recipe Nodes preceding the Lead Time entry point in the Process:

If you click YES, those derived Recipe Nodes will carry the same Lead Time requirement.

If a Lead Time is set on a Recipe Node of a Work Order, you will be able to know by hovering over the calendar icon. The tooltip reads, "Sub-Process Deadline." If no message appears, it means the Deadline was set on the Work Order/Sales Order:

Deadline Editing

A Sales Order can have multiple Work Orders on it and those parts on the Work Orders could have different Deadlines, therefore when you update a Sales Order Deadline you will also have to update the Work Order Deadline (and the other way around).

In other words:

• Work Orders can differ from Sales Order Deadline because one Sales Order can have many Work Orders and each Work Order can have different Processes.
• The only time the Work Order will have the same Deadline as the Sales Order is if you set the Sales Order Deadline when creating the Sales Order in order entry.

Lead Times

• A Process Lead Time is how long any specific process should last overall

  • This can be viewed in the Processes list:
    

• Domain default Lead Time and Customer default Lead Time are terms for how long Process Lead Times should last normally or most often, that is, unless someone chooses otherwise.

• Domain default Lead Time is used across the whole company, and Customer default Lead Time is used specifically for Sales Orders from that Customer.

  • These can be viewed and edited in Domain Settings or in Customer Preferences:

Questions

What happens if you update Sales Order Deadline after creation? (Will it update Work Orders on that Sales Order?)

Yes, updating the Sales Order Deadline will effect the Work Orders nested within it, except for Work Orders that have had their Deadline set to be something different. Once a Work Order's Deadline has been set differently it cannot be made to automatically match the Sales Order it is in.

What happens if you update Work Order Deadline after creation? (Will it update Sales Order Deadline?)

No, changing the Deadline for Work Orders does not effect the Sales Order they are in.

What takes priority - Customer or Domain default Lead Time?

Customer default Lead Time will override the domain default Lead Time. However the process specific Lead Time, if it exists, will define the work order Deadline.
For example: If the domain default Lead Time is 10 days, and the customer default Lead Time is 5 days, but the process has a Lead Time of 7 days, when you create a sales order for this customer the sales order Deadline will be in 5 days, while the work order Deadline is in 7 days.