Work Order Process
A Work Order Process — also called a route or a template — is the ordered list of stages a product goes through to be made. Think of it as the method in a recipe: not the ingredients, but the steps, in the order you do them. You describe it once, and then reuse it for every batch you ever make of that product.
This page explains the idea. The step-by-step guides for building and viewing routes are linked at the bottom.
Availability depends on your plan and your role.
What a route actually is
A route lays out how a product is made, stage by stage. For a metal part it might read:
Cutting → Welding → Painting → Packing
Each stage in that list carries three pieces of information:
| For each stage | In plain words |
|---|---|
| Materials it uses | The parts that go in at this step, and how much of each |
| Resources it needs | The machine, tool, or skill that does the work |
Because you spell this out once, Bizconnekt knows exactly what each batch should consume and produce — you don't work it out every time. Work orders and Demand Planning both take a batch's materials from the route's stages.
The last stage produces the finished product
Read a route top to bottom and it builds the product up. Raw materials go in at the early stages, part-made goods pass from one stage to the next, and the final stage produces the finished product — the item you set out to make. That's the thing that lands back in your stock when the job is done.
Build it once, reuse it forever
The whole point of a route is reuse. You describe how a product is made a single time, and from then on every batch simply follows that route. Nothing to re-plan, nothing to re-type.
What if a product can be made more than one way? Some products have a couple of routes — a fast line and a careful line, say, or a summer recipe and a winter one. Bizconnekt handles both cases simply:
- When you raise a Work Order, you pick the route to follow. Only active routes made for that product are listed.
- In Demand Planning, a line you choose to Make needs a route too. If the product has only one active route, it's filled in for you.
Route versus parts list — don't mix them up
It's worth repeating the one distinction that trips people up. A route is not the parts list.
- The Bill of Materials is a parts list — used for Stock Conversion, Job Order kits, and adding a product's parts to a document.
- The Work Order Process (route) is how a product is made — the method, stage by stage, including the materials each stage uses.
To make something with a work order, you only need the route. The fuller explanation lives in BOM vs WO Process.
Related guides
- Add a Work Order Process — build a route stage by stage
- View Work Order Processes — find, open and edit your routes
- Work Order — make a batch that follows a route
- BOM vs WO Process — parts list versus production route
Need help? Contact support at support@bizconnekt.com