Jobs
A Job in ianaiERP is one customer order followed from engineering through planning and the shop floor to delivery. It brings together the sales order, the work orders raised to build it, the purchase orders bought for it, the shipments that delivered it, the invoices that billed it and any engineering changes that touched it — on one screen, instead of five.
Overview
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No extra paperwork: a job is not a separate document you create. A sales order becomes a job the moment a work order is created for it, and the job's number, customer, due date and status are the sales order's own.
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One view of the order: work orders, purchasing, shipments, invoices and engineering changes for the order are gathered in one place.
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Will it ship on time?: Readiness tells you whether the job is on track, and if not, exactly what is in the way.
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Live cost and margin: production cost and margin are tracked while the job runs, not just after it closes.
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Project-aware: if the order is on a project code that belongs to a project, the job links to that project. The project holds the budget, schedule and contract; the job is about getting the order built and shipped.
Where to Access
Navigation: Manufacturing → Jobs.
The menu entry appears for users who can see sales orders and work orders, when sales orders are turned on for the company. Work Center accounts do not see it.
The Jobs List
The list opens filtered to orders that are still open — Open, Ready, On Hold, Back Ordered and Partial. Change the Status filter to see finished or cancelled jobs. You can also filter by Customer, Project Code, Due Date and Ordered date, and search by job number or customer name.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Job | The sales order number |
| Customer | The customer on the order |
| Order Status | The sales order's own status |
| On the Floor | One status summing up all of the job's work orders; a split work order counts once, by its children |
| Due | The order's due date |
| Shipped | How much of the ordered quantity has actually left, as a bar and a percentage. Hover for the quantities |
| Contract | The order total |
| Project Code, Ordered | Hidden by default; turn them on from the column menu |
Select a row to open the job. There is no Add New button — create a work order for a sales order and it appears here. A blanket sales order never appears on its own; each of its releases is a job.
Key Functions
Raise the work
On the job, open Create at the top right:
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Work order – Raises one work order for every order line that still needs building. Bought items and lines already covered by work orders are skipped, and a message tells you which lines raised nothing and why.
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Plan materials… – Opens the job plan, which walks the whole bill of materials and shows what covers each part. See Job Materials Planning & Compliance.
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Buy this item, Shipment, Relocation, Invoice, Partial invoice or Next invoice, Invoice what shipped – The same actions the sales order offers, under the same rules.
Alongside Create:
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Print travelers – Prints all of the job's work orders in one go.
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Start ECO – Opens a new engineering change already tied to the job. Shown when the job belongs to a project and you can see BOMs.
Read the top strip
Every figure on the strip says underneath where it came from.
| Figure | What it is |
|---|---|
| Readiness | On track, At risk, Blocked or Done — see below |
| Ordered | The sales order total |
| Production cost | Actual and applied cost booked on the job's work orders. A sub-assembly built on one work order and used on another is counted once |
| WO estimated | The work orders' estimated amounts |
| Margin | Projected margin once the job has something to measure against; before that, margin to date (invoiced less cost) |
| Open POs | Purchase orders for the job that still have a balance |
| Shipped, Invoiced | How much of the ordered quantity has shipped and been invoiced |
A red note under the strip means the job's actual cost has moved materially away from its baseline — its standard cost, BOM cost or project budget.
Cost figures are shown only to users with access to journals. Everyone else sees — with "hidden" underneath: the figure is withheld, not zero.
Work through the tabs
| Tab | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Overview | The Readiness panel, a Timeline (ordered, due, work orders raised, first shipment, invoices) and the Cost breakdown by material, labor, machine, subcontract and overhead |
| Work Orders | Each work order with its item, status, progress, actual and standard cost and variance. Badges flag Split, On hold, Quality hold and Overdue |
| Purchasing | Every purchase order for the job, how it is linked, when its next line is due, its total and what is still open. Late and After job due flag trouble |
| Shipments & Invoices | Shipments and relocations that carried the job, and the invoices that billed it with their open balance. Cancelled invoices are listed but do not count toward what has been billed |
| Changes | Engineering changes raised against the job. Shown when the job belongs to a project |
| Genealogy | The as-built tree of a chosen work order, once one of the job's work orders has started consuming material |
| Compliance | The job's quality checklist and downloadable compliance package. Shown to users with quality access |
When the job belongs to a project, a banner links to it. Financials → on the Cost card also opens the project. The project's figures come from bills and journal entries — a separate view of the same work — so read them beside the job's figures, never add them together.
Readiness
Readiness answers one question: will this job ship on time, and if not, why? Each reason in the panel opens the document you need to act on.
| Readiness | Meaning |
|---|---|
| On track | Nothing found in the way |
| At risk | Work can continue, but something may make the job late |
| Blocked | Something must be resolved before work can continue |
| Done | The order is finished, or every line has shipped in full |
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Blocking: a work order on hold, a work order with an active quality hold, a component a work order is short of, or a shipment that cannot leave until its quality findings are resolved.
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At risk: a work order past its due date, a purchase order with lines past due or due after the job, a part planning shows short, an order line with no work order, purchase order or stock behind it, or an engineering change not yet applied.
How Purchase Orders Reach a Job
The Purchasing tab's Linked by column shows why each purchase order belongs to the job. A purchase order is listed once, under its strongest link.
| Linked by | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Linked | Raised directly against a line of this order |
| Order | Bought for this job, for a part it uses rather than the item ordered |
| Subcontract | Raised for an outsourced operation on one of the job's work orders |
| Project code | Shares the order's project code — a weaker link, since a code can cover several orders |
| Pegged | Supply planning allocated this supply to the job's demand |
Good to Know
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A job has no status of its own. Order Status is the sales order's; On the Floor summarizes the work orders.
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Shipped means shipped. Creating a shipment does not count; only shipment lines that have actually left do.
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Work orders are raised in the order line's unit and cover only what is still missing.
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A job finds its project through the order's project code. An order without a project code has no project, so there is no Changes tab and no project budget to compare cost against.
Troubleshooting
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A sales order I expected is not in the list: it has no work order yet, it is a blanket order, or the Status filter is hiding it. Create a work order for it, or widen the status filter.
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Create → Work order raised nothing: every line was skipped — bought items have no BOM to build, service items are not built, and lines already covered need nothing more. The message lists each line and the reason. If the order has no location and an item has no default location, set the order's location first.
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Margin says "to date" instead of "projected": the job has nothing to project from yet — no standard cost, BOM cost or project budget, no cost booked and nothing on order. It switches to the projected margin as soon as one exists.
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The job's figures differ from the project's: they are meant to. The job shows cost booked on its work orders as work happens; the project's financials show bills and journal entries. They meet when the job closes.