DreamzCMMS Production Planning — Overview & Feature Guide
DreamzCMMS Production Planning is your digital production scheduler built directly into DreamzCMMS. It replaces the physical whiteboard with a live, colour-coded view of all jobs across every extrusion line — so you always know what's running, what's next, and where your bottlenecks are.
Overview
Production Planning gives your team a single, shared view of the entire production schedule. Jobs flow from import through enrichment, scheduling, execution, and reporting — all in one place. Role-based stage gates ensure each team member sees and acts on only what they're responsible for, reducing miscommunication and keeping the floor running smoothly.
Here is a reference video:
Dashboard
When you log in, you land on the Dashboard — your at-a-glance command centre for the day's production activity.
At the top, you will see three key summary numbers:
- Open Work Orders — the total number of jobs currently in progress or pending.
- Total Tonnage Planned — the cumulative tonnage across all scheduled jobs.
- Estimated Lead Time — the projected time to work through the current queue.
Below the summary numbers, the Dashboard also displays:
- Lead Time — Today — a focused view of lead time for today's workload.
- Stage Gate Status — Today's Jobs — a snapshot of gate completion across all jobs scheduled for today.
Work Orders
Head to Work Orders to see all jobs imported from your connected system. You can search and filter by date range, status, or production line to find what you need quickly.
Opening a Job Card
Click any job to open its Job Card. From here you can:
- Enter the Run Speed — the system automatically calculates Run Hours using the formula: Tonnage ÷ Run Speed.
- Assign the Production Line.
- Set the Start and End date and time directly on the job card, giving you full control before the job reaches the Gantt.
Stage Gates
The Job Card includes three Stage Gates that teams tick off as their part is confirmed:
- Checked — confirmed by the responsible checker.
- Allocated — visible to and actioned by Warehouse staff.
- Weighed — visible to and actioned by WeighIn staff.
A traffic-light indicator shows gate progress at a glance. Each role only sees their relevant gate, so everyone acts on exactly what they're responsible for.
Releasing Jobs to the Gantt
When a job is ready to be scheduled, click Release to Schedule on the job card. The job will move from the Work Orders list to the pending panel in the Production Scheduler.
- Bulk Release — select multiple jobs and release them all to the Gantt in one action.
- Bulk Cancel — select multiple jobs and cancel them all at once if plans change.
- Delete WO — available to administrators only; permanently removes a work order when needed.
Closing a Completed Job
When a job is complete, open the Job Card, enter the actual tonnage produced, and click Close. Closed jobs are automatically removed from the Gantt.
Production Scheduler (Gantt)
The Production Scheduler is where planning happens. Released jobs appear in the panel on the left, ready to be placed onto the schedule.
Scheduling a Job
To schedule a job, drag it from the pending panel onto the production line at the time you want it to start. The block width represents how long the job will take — a wider block means a longer run.
Once placed on the Gantt, you can:
- Drag a block to a different line or time slot.
- Resize a block by dragging its right edge to adjust the run duration.
- Send back to pending to unschedule a job and return it to the pending panel.
- Click any placed block to open a popup where you can edit the start time and run speed directly — a quick alternative to dragging for small adjustments.
Block Tooltips and Gate Status
Hover over any block to see a tooltip with the product code, tonnage, run speed, run hours, and gate status — all the key details without opening the job card. A small dot on each block gives you a quick traffic-light view of gate completion at a glance.
Day, Week, and Month Views
Use the view toggle buttons at the top of the Gantt to switch between views:
- Day View — hour-by-hour precision. A blue vertical line marks the current time so you can instantly see where you are in the shift.
- Week View — shows the full five-day spread for a broader planning perspective.
- Month View — a high-level calendar overview of all scheduled jobs, useful for management planning. Note: drag-and-drop scheduling is available in Day and Week view only.
Shift Windows and Weekend Exclusion
The Gantt respects each line's configured shift window. Jobs are automatically clamped to the shift start and end times, and weekends are excluded from scheduling — so you can never accidentally drop a job on an off day.
Setup Blocks
To add preparation time before a job, drag the Setup activity from the pending panel onto the Gantt. Set the duration using the spinner in 30-minute steps. The setup block appears with an orange border immediately before the job and moves with it automatically when the job is rescheduled.
Overrun Blocks
An Overrun block — shown with a red border — can be placed after a job's end to represent hours that spill beyond the shift window. Overrun blocks reposition automatically when the associated job is moved.
Cascade Scheduling
When you move or reschedule any job, the cascade engine automatically pushes all subsequent jobs on that line forward to keep the schedule gap-free. No manual re-stacking is needed.
Bird's-Eye View
Need a quick overview of all lines at once? Go to the Bird's-Eye View.
Each line card displays:
- The line name.
- Current utilisation.
- The job currently running.
- How many jobs are queued behind it.
Click any line card to open the side drawer, where you'll see the full details of the current job, its stage gate status, and the complete queue of upcoming jobs. Clicking any job in the queue opens its Job Card directly — so you can check or update details without leaving the Bird's-Eye View.
Reports
The Reports section gives you your SQCDP metrics — Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery, and People — across four tabs. Each tab opens with a KPI summary at the top, showing headline figures before you dive into the detail.
The four report tabs are:
- Schedule Adherence — compares planned versus actual start times and calculates an adherence percentage.
- Tonnage by Line — shows planned versus actual kilograms produced per production line.
- Stage Gate Compliance — shows completion rates for each gate, broken down by role.
- Closed Orders — a full list of completed jobs with dates and variances.
Every tab includes:
- A date range filter to focus on the period you care about.
- An Excel export button to take the data wherever you need it.
- A rows per page control — choose 30, 50, 75, or 100 rows.
Settings
The Settings page is where your administrator configures how the system behaves. It is divided into three sections:
- Run Hours Formula — set example values to confirm the formula is configured correctly for your operation.
- Stage Gate Configuration — enable or disable the optional Checked gate, and map each gate to the corresponding work order status in DreamzCMMS.
- Production Lines — control each line's display order, daily capacity, and shift start and end times. This tells the Gantt when each line is active and which days are working days. You can also enter the actual tonnage produced per line here, which feeds directly into the Tonnage by Line report. Inactive lines can be hidden from the scheduler without deleting them.
Links
The Links page gives you quick access to key areas in the core DreamzCMMS module that feed directly into Production Planning.
[SCREENSHOT: Links page]
- Import Work Orders — upload your Priority Work Order export file. Once imported, work orders appear instantly in your Pending list, ready to be enriched and released.
- Job List — opens the full work order list in DreamzCMMS, where you can view all jobs across the system with complete details.
- Job Details — deep-links directly into an individual job record in DreamzCMMS, giving you access to the full job details, attachments, and status trail.
- Gantt View — opens the DreamzCMMS native Gantt for a broader cross-module view of all work orders.
- Calendar — opens the DreamzCMMS calendar view for a date-based overview of scheduled activity.
Tips for Getting the Most Out of Production Planning
- Always enrich the Job Card (run speed, line, dates) before releasing a job to the Gantt — this gives the scheduler accurate block widths from the start.
- Use Bulk Release at the start of a shift to push all ready jobs to the Gantt in one go, rather than releasing them one by one.
- Use Day view for precision scheduling during the shift, and Week view for forward planning at the end of the day.
- Set up your shift windows correctly in Settings before scheduling begins — this prevents jobs from being placed on off-hours or weekends.
- Use the Bird's-Eye View during the shift for a fast status check across all lines without navigating away from the overview.
- Export reports to Excel regularly for records and review meetings — the date range filter makes it easy to pull exactly the period you need.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are Run Hours calculated?
Run Hours are calculated automatically using the formula: Tonnage ÷ Run Speed. Enter the Run Speed on the Job Card and the system does the rest.
Can I release multiple jobs to the Gantt at once?
Yes. Select the jobs you want to release from the Work Orders list and use the Bulk Release option to push them all to the scheduler in one action.
What happens if I move a job on the Gantt?
The cascade engine automatically pushes all subsequent jobs on that line forward to maintain a gap-free schedule. You do not need to manually re-stack jobs.
Can I schedule jobs on weekends?
No. Weekends are automatically excluded based on each line's shift configuration in Settings. Jobs cannot be dropped onto off days.
What does the traffic-light dot on a Gantt block mean?
The dot shows the current stage gate completion status for that job — green indicates all gates are complete, amber means gates are partially complete, and red means gates are not yet started.
How do I close a completed job?
Open the Job Card, enter the actual tonnage produced, and click Close. The job will be removed from the Gantt automatically.
Who can delete a work order?
Only administrators have access to the Delete WO option on the Job Card. This permanently removes the work order from the system.
Can I hide a production line without deleting it?
Yes. In Settings → Production Lines, you can mark a line as inactive. It will be hidden from the scheduler but retained in the system for historical data.