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ExpressMRP - MRP (Material Requirements Planning) Software

ExpressMRP - MRP (Material Requirements Planning) Software

ExpressMRP is a software for material requirements planning (MRP) in manufacturing companies. It is a tool for planners and production managers, that are facing stressful strugle to deliver products in time.
New version of the ExpressMRP software brings many improvements and new features such as: persistent backups, exploding MRP with automatically created production orders for dependent demands (sub-parts and semi-finished products), procuring list, applying quantity constraints on production and purchase orders, production orders consolidation and more.
The software provides intuitive interface for importing data (products list, bills of materials, stocks) from external sources, so it can be easily integrated with your existing ERP systems, such as SAP ERP.
Main features of the ExpressMRP software are:
-Powerfull interface for data improt from various external business systems and spreadsheets
-Simple and fast ad-hoc, independent analysis of material availabilites and shortages for a single product
-Flexible and powerful MRP calculation of individual and total material reqirements, availabilities and shortages for list of production orders
-Result of MRP calculation is presented in information-rich datagrids in master/detail relationships. Data is presented in both products/components and components/products order. Both individual and summary information is shown.
-Materials usage list
-Procurement/purchasing list
-Data validation
-Production orders and procurement list consolidation
-Automatic production orders exploding with dependent demands for semi-finished products and sub-parts, any level deep
-Applying quantity constraints on production quantities and purchasing list (discrete/non-discrete, minimumm, maximum, standard multiple quantity)
-Summary and detailed printable reports
-Exporting to spreadsheets
-Powerful interface for filtering datasets
-Easy searching of specific data in a dataset
-Sorting of datasets by any column
-Customization of the user-interface, by section and data-grid splitters and saving session properties
-Visual signaling of shortages
-Multiplatform design (Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, MAcOSX etc.)
-Easy installation, non-dependent on any external libraries or database servers
-Saving to and loading from persistent backups
-Fast, mostly in-memory processing and calculation

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Zlatko Matić

April 07, 2014
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  1. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP User's Manual Version 1.1, March 2014 Table Of Contents Introduction.....................................................................................................................3 Functional Modules Overview........................................................................................3 Session Administration.................................................................................................3 Session Backup And Restore............................................................................4 Data Import From External Sources.................................................................5 Tables............................................................................................................................8 Products And Boms...........................................................................................9 Stocks..............................................................................................................11 Materials Quantity Constraints.......................................................................12 MRP Calculation.........................................................................................................13 MRP For Single Product.................................................................................14 MRP For Multiple Products............................................................................16 MRP Preparation...................................................................................16 Sorting Order And Priorities Of Production Orders.........................18 MRP Calculation Options.................................................................19 Option “Validate before calculation”.......................................19 Option “Explode MRP with dependent orders”......................20 Option “Consolidate orders before calculation”......................20 Option “Return consolidated orders as result”........................20 Option “Apply quantity constraints”.......................................21 MRP Calculation Actions..................................................................21 Button “Consolidate Orders”...................................................21 Button “Apply Quantity Constraints”.....................................21 Button “Validate Orders”.........................................................22 Button “Calculate MRP”.........................................................22 Button “Recalculate Partially”................................................22 MRP Results By Products.....................................................................23 MRP Results By Components...............................................................26 Purchase List.........................................................................................29 MRP Log...............................................................................................31 Materials Usage List...................................................................................................32 Global Options............................................................................................................34 Global Option “Precision of float fields”........................................................35 Global Option “Display format for float fields”.............................................35 Global Option “Maximum string size”...........................................................36 Global Option “Default string size”................................................................37 Page 1 of 55
  2. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Global Option “Decimal separator”................................................................37 Global Option “Refresh calculated data on start-up”......................................38 Common And General Features....................................................................................41 Data import.................................................................................................................41 Printable reports..........................................................................................................42 Data export..................................................................................................................43 Filtering.......................................................................................................................44 Searching.....................................................................................................................46 Sorting By Column.....................................................................................................47 Visual indications........................................................................................................47 User-interface customization......................................................................................48 Multi-platform and portable design............................................................................48 Internal Structure And General Principles....................................................................49 Database structure.......................................................................................................49 User Interface Elements..............................................................................................50 Different Versions And Licensing Issues......................................................................54 Contact..........................................................................................................................55 Evaluate, Purchase, Donate...........................................................................................55 Page 2 of 55
  3. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Introduction ExpressMRP is a MRP (Material Requirements Planning) software for planing material demands for production. It is simple and intuitive, yet powerful tool for ad-hoc MRP calculations often needed in process industries. The program is especially suitable for dynamic manufacturing companies that produce many different products, handle variety of raw materials and often change production schedules and priorities. Some examples would be pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industry. In such dynamic manufacturing companies it is of essential importance to forecast material shortages in time, in order to be able to react and provide missing materials. With it's user-friendly and highly interactive interface, it provides means for fast simulations of different production cases and timely procuring required materials. It is aimed to help production and supply chain managers and planners, that are facing stressful struggle to deliver products in time. Functional Modules Overview ExpressMRP functional modules are organized in tabsheet pages and subpages, so it is easy to navigate between them. Session Administration In session administration page, there are functionalities related to session backups and restore of database data. ExpressMRP is based on in-memory datasets that provide fast calculation, with minimum disk-writing. However, these in-memory datasets have to load and save data from and to some persistent storage. As primary persistent storage of data, ExpressMRP uses simple CSV (Comma Separated Data) tables, which can be edited with any spreadsheet software (such as Excel, Calc, Gnumeric, etc.) or any text editor. This type of storage is chosen for sake of portability and non-dependency on any database server or external libraries. The whole database engine is embedded in the executable itself. Page 3 of 55
  4. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization In-memory datasets are visually represented by datagrid controls placed on forms. Some in-memory datasets (Products, Boms, Stocks, QuantityConstraints, Import scheme datasets) are saved to underlying CSV tables on any insert/update/delete, while other datasets are saved to underlying CSV tables only on application closing or when user saves it manually by clicking corresponding “Save” button. In any case, all datasets are saved to underlying CSV tables on application closing, and are loaded on application start. During application start, last saved session is automatically loaded from the CSV tables. As premium (paid) option, ExpressMRP offers saving and loading sessions to persistent, backup storage DBF tables. Any number of sessions can be saved and later loaded into the active session. This enables user to simulate different scenarios, save them and reuse them later. Session Backup And Restore Page 4 of 55
  5. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization In the “Session backup and restore” tabsheet, on the left side, there is list of saved backups, with timestamp information of date and time of backup creation. You can rename automatically assigned name and put some comment to any backup item. On the upper part there are four buttons: • “Save Session” - triggers immediate saving of all datasets to underlying CSV tables • “Restore Previous Session” - reloads saved CSV tables into the datasets • “Backup Datasets” - creates new persistent backup of the current session • “Restore Backup” - restores a backup (the one in the list on which cursor is positioned) On the right part, there is log of backup and restoring activities. Data Import From External Sources Page 5 of 55
  6. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization On the data import page, you can define import schemes and save them as different import variants. It consists of four main sections: • In the upper left section, there is list of import variants. • In the upper right section, there is log of import activities. • In the central section, you can link internal (called “destination tables”) with external tables (called “source tables”). Left datagrid is list of internal tables, while right datagrid is list of external sources. There is a dialog for appending new external table to the list of external sources. By using assignment buttons you can connect or disconnect external tables to the corresponding internal tables. For every destination table listed you can switch-on or switch-off whether data is going to be imported or not, by placing check-mark into "To Be Imported" check box. On the right, in Source Tables section, there is a file navigator, by which you find a CSV file containing source data to be imported. Then choose columns delimiter used in original source file (";" or ",") and click "Add file to list" button. This will append the file into Source Tables datagrid list. ExpressMRP will try to auto-determine fields separator, but you can define it explicitly too. Next step is to bond source and destination table. Navigate both datagrids so that cursor is positioned on appropriate source and destination tables. Then click "=" button in order to connect them. This will copy source table name, path and delimiter from source table row into destination table row. If you want to remove a bond, just click "<>" button. "<<>>" button will Page 6 of 55
  7. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization remove bonds for all destination tables. Of course, you can manually edit and delete rows in both sections. • In the lower section, you can link internal fields (columns) with external fields (columns). Left datagrid is list of internal fields, while right datagrid is list of external fields. By using assignment buttons you can connect or disconnect external fields to the corresponding internal fields. The principle is the same as with linking tables. Here you have list of destination fields on the left and list of source fields on the right, for current pair of Source/Destination tables. Position cursor on left row, navigate appropriate row in right list and click "=" button in order to bond them. This will copy source field name into the Destination Field row. Now ExpressMRP knows from which source field to insert data into which destination field. You can remove bonds by using "<>" and "<<>>" buttons. By defining proper import schemes, you can highly improve your ExpressMRP experience. You might define different import variants for different occasions and business cases. For instance, you might import fresh data for all tables (Products, Bills Of Materials, Stocks, Quantity Constraints) once a week, but you might import fresh warehouse stocks data twice a day. In this case you will define one complete import scheme and one partial for only stocks. External data must be provided in normalized spreadsheet CSV format (Comma Separated Values), with .csv extension. That is the most compatible format for structured data transfer from one system to another. Normally, ERP systems provide tools for exporting reports to csv format. If not, you can always export it first to some other format, such as .xls and then convert it to csv format. You might consider automation of that process, by providing automated scheduled exports in regular time frequencies. When preparing external spreadsheet table for importing, bare in mind following general rules that must be followed: • Data must be in normalized, two dimensional structure, consisting only of columns and rows. Only one header is allowed, with column names. Multidimensional, hierarchical structures are not allowed. • Table must not have empty rows or empty columns, neither additional hierarchical headers, except the one with column names. • Empty spaces in column headers are not allowed When new import scheme is added to the list, ExpressMRP will automatically populate list of internal tables and fields. The following tables are automatically appended to the list of internal tables: Page 7 of 55
  8. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization • „Products” - list of products, with base quantities. Base quantity is the standard quantity for which corresponding bill of materials is expressed. It might be, for instance, 1.000 pieces or 500 kg and similar standard quantity, depending of the nature of your product. It is important that this quantity matches quantities in the corresponding bill of materials. • „Boms” - this is the table with all bills of materials, in normalized spreadsheet format. • „Stocks” - this is the table of available stocks in the warehouse. Data can be summarized, but can also be one item per batch. ExpressMRP will summarize it during MRP calculation for itself. • „Orders” - this is list of production orders that can be included into the MRP calculation. You might, for instance, import your monthly production plan. • „Quantity Constraints” - this is a table where you can define quantity constraints in production and purchasing processes. For instance, a product is produced in standard 500 kg batches and can be produced only in multiples of the standard batch. Or a raw material can be purchased only in bags of 25 kg. Or you can produce some product with certain minimum quantity, let’s say, 2.000 pieces, etc. Though all mentioned internal tables are automatically appended to the list, it doesn’t mean that you are forced to link all of them to the external tables. You are free to define import scheme as you wish. Only those tables for which you assign external table and check the checkbox „To be imported”, will be processed when import action is triggered. Once different import scheme variants are defined, you can execute any of them by placing cursor on an import variant and clicking "Import data" button. This will start importing process defined by current import scheme variant. For current import schema ExpressMRP will navigate through all destination tables which are marked as active, check which source tables correspond to which destination tables, which source fields correspond to which destination fields and finally import data to destination tables. Tables In the “Tables” page, you can navigate and insert/update/delete items in the input data tables: “Products”, “Boms” (Bills Of Materials), “Stocks” and “Quantity Constraints”. Though ExpressMRP is primarily designed to process data imported from external sources, you can use it as stand-alone program too. This means you can insert and update data manually, through the provided datagrids, which are very similar to spreadsheet programs. Page 8 of 55
  9. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Products And Boms This page consists of two sections divided by splitter. In the upper section, there is datagrid with “Products” table, while in the lower section, there is datagrid with the “Boms” (Bills Of Materials) table. Page 9 of 55
  10. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization When you navigate products items, the BOMS datagrid is automatically refreshed to show the corresponding bill of materials. This means that referential integrity and filtration is enforced between the two tables via common key field, which is the field “Product”. Normally, this is a product code, while long description/name of the product is entered in the field “Product description”. The Bills of Materials datagrid lists components with its base quantities for the base quantity of the corresponding product. Currently, only one bill of materials is allowed per product. If you have different alternative BOMS for the same product, you have to define different import schemes for them. Otherwise, if you import multiple BOMS for the same product, they will be listed as one composite bill of materials. In many cases, there are separate theoretical bills of materials and bills of materials with scrap (wastage) included. You should define separate import schemes for them. By clicking “Validate data” button, you can start procedure that will analyze list of products and corresponding bills of materials, to check for invalid records. The procedure will check whether base quantities of products and components are valid (must be number values different than null or zero) and will check whether a bill of materials is present for the product. If there is no corresponding bill of materials, product item will be deleted. This prevents errors and crashes caused by inconsistent data. You can create printable report of the bills of materials for all products or only currently selected product, by clicking appropriate “Report” button. Page 10 of 55
  11. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Stocks In this datagrid, you can navigate and edit stocks of materials, from the tables “Stocks”. Page 11 of 55
  12. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Depending on the structure of the external source table, this might be stock already summarized by materials or it could be list of batch or series stocks, as shown in the demo. Note that ExpressMRP “Stocks” table is unaware of batch or serial number structure. For ExpressMRP, every item is just a quantity that will be summarized during MRP calculation. All the complexity is removed to definition of different import schemes. In many cases, businesses differentiate different statuses of stocks, such as: “unrestricted stocks”, “restricted stocks”, “stocks on quality inspection”, “blocked stocks”, “stocks in transit”, “ordered stocks that are not yet physically present”, etc. ExpressMRP does not deal with stock status, it treats all imported stocks equally. All the complexity is removed to defining appropriate import scheme. In such cases, if different statuses or batch/serial number is used, you might provide different import variants for different stock statuses. For instance, you might define an import variant for importing only unrestricted stocks, another import variant would be for importing sum of unrestricted stocks and stocks on quality inspection, another import variant could be importing of sum of all stock statuses, etc. It is solely up to you to define your business cases through the import scheme variants. Materials Quantity Constraints Page 12 of 55
  13. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization In the “Quantity Constraints” datagrid, you can edit your data about quantity constraints to be applied during MRP calculation. If no quantity constraint is found, ExpressMRP will consider that any quantity of production or purchasing is allowed. If some quantity constraint is defined, ExpressMRP will correct the calculated quantity according to the constraint. You might want to define these constraints in cases when a product can be produced in only certain quantities/amounts or a material can be purchased only in certain quantity. You can define whether quantity is discrete or not. Discrete means that quantity is not continuous, but rather, can be produced or purchased only in certain discrete quants of quantity. Furtherly, you can define minimum, maximum and multiple quantity. The actual meaning of these values depends on whether the quantity is discrete or not. MRP Calculation This is the central part of the application. It is divided into two subpages. The first page is for simple on-the-fly checking of materials for a single product, while the second one is for the true MRP calculation on the list of active production orders and gives cumulative result for availabilities and shortages of components. Page 13 of 55
  14. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization MRP For Single Product This page enables you to search for a product, specify a quantity and immediately see whether you have enough materials or not. The calculation shows the calculated bill of materials with current stocks and availability of materials for the specified quantity of the product. Page 14 of 55
  15. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization In this simple MRP calculation, the product and corresponding materials are checked independently to other products and production orders. In this calculation, ExpressMRP considers all quantities on the stock available for the currently selected product. The page consists of the three sections: • The upper section is the list of products. You can find a product and specify the quantity. • The central section shows the corresponding bill of materials, with currently available stock for every component, as well as calculated shortages of components. • The lower section provides summary information about whether the specified quantity can be produced or not and which is the quantity that could be produced. This functionality is very handy for ad-hoc calculation and printing the bill of materials for any custom quantity besides the base quantity. The list of products is automatically generated on application start, taking data from the “Products” table. On navigation through the list of products, calculated bill of materials is automatically generated from the table “Boms”. When you change production quantity, the bill of materials is recalculated. If you change a component’s required quantity, corresponding production quantity is automatically recalculated and the whole bill of materials is recalculated too. However, you can also force recalculation manually, by pressing buttons “Load and calculate” or “Calculate”. “Load and calculate” button will reload products list and bill of materials, while “Calculate” button will reload only bill of materials from the corresponding datasets. “Recalculate partially” button will just recalculate quantities, without deleting existing records and re-appending new records. Use this when you want to exclude some components from the calculation. You can manually delete components items, if you wish to ignore some components for which you, for instance, know that they are not of interest or that are not important. ExpressMRP will then recalculate result excluding the component. By clicking the “Report” button, you can create printable report of the result of calculation. Page 15 of 55
  16. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization MRP For Multiple Products This is the core page of the application, providing true MRP calculation for the list of active production orders. It consists of several subpages: • “MRP Preparation” - page for preparing list of production orders and defining options for calculation • “MRP Results By Products” - presents results of MRP calculation in the way that results are sorted first by products, then by components, where products are master dataset, while components are slave dataset. • “MRP Results By Components” - presents results of MRP calculation in the way that results are sorted first by components, then by products, where components are master dataset and products are slave dataset. • “MRP Log” - provides info about progress and steps of the calculation • “Purchase List” - shows list of materials and quantities to be purchased in order to satisfy demand MRP Preparation Page 16 of 55
  17. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization The “MRP Preparation” subpage consists of four sections, separated by splitters: • In the left upper section, you can navigate through the products (table “Products”) and append currently selected product to the list of active production orders, by clicking the “Append Selected Product” button. Page 17 of 55
  18. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization • In the right upper section, you can navigate through imported list of production orders (table “Orders”) and append currently selected order or all of them at once to the list of active production orders, by clicking “Append Selected order” or “Append All Orders” buttons. • On the central section you can execute some actions by pressing corresponding buttons, or define calculation options, by checking or unchecking corresponding checkboxes. • On the lower section, there is list of active production orders that will be included into MRP calculation. Besides appending new active production orders, either from the list of products, either from the list of imported production orders, new orders can be inserted manually too. It is enough to enter production code in the field “Product” and click “Post” button. ExpressMRP will find other data from the Products tables, if the product exists. Sorting Order And Priorities Of Production Orders When a new item is appended to the list of active production orders, it’s position in the list defines it’s priority. It is important to understand that in ExpressMRP, sorting order of the production orders is everything! During MRP calculation, available stocks are going to be assigned to production orders according to their position in the list. You can redefine priorities of production orders by moving orders up and down in the list. You can do it by using right positioned panel with buttons for rearranging production orders. There are four buttons which will move currently selected production order to another position in the list. The four buttons are: “Move to first position”, “Move upward”, “Move downward”, “Move to last position”. Page 18 of 55
  19. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP does not deal with time horizons, start and end dates of production, etc. Rather, all active production orders are considered equally in time. The priority of orders is solely defined by position of an order in the list. ExpressMRP is essentially time-agnostic. To deal with time-horizons, you might consider defining different import schemes for different time-horizons. For instance, lets say you are simulating yearly plan of production. You might divide production plan into quarters. You can then define four cumulative lists of orders, for every quarter of the year. You might then consecutively import and process quarter by quarter. For every quarter you can execute MRP calculation, save the results (save reports in pdf documents, export results to Excel sheets) and create persistent backups for every quarter. If time aspect or any other additional information is of importance to you, consider importing that information into the “Comment” field of the “Orders” table. MRP Calculation Options By switching chekcboxes on or off you can enable or disable certain options that will affect results of the MRP calculation. Option “Validate before calculation” If this option is enabled, before starting actual MRP calculation, ExpressMRP will navigate through the list of active production orders and check data validity and consistency. This is strongly recommended, because, since ExpressMRP is designed to rely on external data sources, it cannot enforce strict rules upon datasets during import phase. This means that ExpressMRP highly depends on good-quality imported data, which might not be the case. If input data is not consistent and valid, this might cause application crash during MRP calculation. The following is checked during validation: • Whether there is a corresponding product in the table “Products” Page 19 of 55
  20. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization • Whether there are corresponding records in the bills of materials (table “Boms”) • Whether product order quantity is valid (must not be 0 or null) During validation process, ExpressMRP will try to auto-correct certain errors. If you can rely on integrity and quality of imported data, you might switch this option off, in order to speed-up MRP calculation. Option “Explode MRP with dependent orders” If this option is enabled, ExpressMRP will analyze calculated demands to see whether in calculated demands there are materials that can be produced internally, meaning that there is a corresponding bill of materials in the table “Boms” and corresponding product in the table “Products”. If this is the case, ExpressMRP will auto-create new production orders for such materials. This is common situation when you have products with subparts or semi-finished products produced in-house. If this option is enabled, you might append to the list of active production orders only products/orders on the top-most level (finished products), while ExpressMRP will auto-generate dependent production orders for subparts or semi-finished products. ExpressMRP is capable of calculating such dependent demands any level deep. Option “Consolidate orders before calculation” If this option is enabled, before starting MRP calculation, all production orders for the same product will be summed and fused into a single consolidated production order with cumulative quantity. This is strongly recommended in case of using quantity constraints, because results will be more optimized. If quantity constraints are used on many small orders for the same product, ExpressMRP will apply constraints separately on every production order, increasing their quantities to satisfy minimum quantities. This might lead to unexpectedly high resulting quantities. In such cases it is more appropriate to consolidate orders first and then apply quantity constraint upon the cumulative production quantity. Option “Return consolidated orders as result” Page 20 of 55
  21. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization If this option is checked, then MRP calculation will return minimum number of resulting production orders, because resulting production orders for the same product will be fused together into one cumulative order. The same applies to the resulting purchasing list. Option “Apply quantity constraints” If this option is enabled, MRP calculation will take into account quantity constraints defined in the table “Quantity Constraints” and apply them to production orders and resulting purchasing list. If option is disabled, ExpressMRP will calculate quantities as if no quantity constraint is defined. Quantity constraints are applied on two places: on the production orders quantities, on the resulting purchase quantities in the purchasing list. Applying quantities can result in increasing production quantity, dividing production order into several production orders, etc. It is important to be aware that quantities are always rounded up, never rounded down. Quantity constraints are not applied on the required quantities of components, but only on the production orders and purchasing quantities for materials. MRP Calculation Actions In the central section of the MRP preparation tabsheet there are several buttons, by which you can trigger different actions related to MRP calculation. Button “Consolidate Orders” If button is clicked, ExpressMRP will fuse all separate orders for the same product into one cumulative production order. Button “Apply Quantity Constraints” Page 21 of 55
  22. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization If button is clicked, ExpressMRP will iterate through all items in the list of active production orders and apply quantity constraints on production quantities. As the result, quantities might be changed and some orders might be divided into several new production orders. Button “Validate Orders” If button is clicked, ExpressMRP will iterate through all items in the list of active production orders and check their validity and consistency. ExpressMRP will check whether there are corresponding product in the table “Products”, corresponding records in the bills of materials (table “Boms”) and whether production quantities are valid (must not be 0 or null). Button “Calculate MRP” This button triggers full MRP calculation. Depending on which of the options are switched on, ExpressMRP will perform some or all of the following events in MRP calculation sequence: • validation of production orders • exploding production orders list with auto-generated production orders for dependent subparts or semi-finished products • consolidation of production orders • applying quantity constraints to production quantities • calculation of material requirements, availabilities and shortages of components • calculation of quantities that could be produced • final consolidation of resulting production orders and purchasing orders Button “Recalculate Partially” When full MRP is started, all previously appended records in the components demand list are first deleted and then fresh new records are appended, according to the bills of materials. When partial MRP recalculation is triggered, the existing records in the components demand list are not deleted, but only quantities are recalculated. Partial recalculation is useful in cases when you manually delete some components from the components demand list and then want to recalculate MRP with the component excluded. For instance, full MRP calculated that a production order can not be produced because of a missing component, but you know that this component is not important or you are sure that it is ordered and will come in time, so you want to Page 22 of 55
  23. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization ignore this component. In that case, you could manually delete the component after the full MRP is finished and recalculate the MRP partially. Besides manual deletion of records, you might also change production quantities or even change required quantity for a component. Here is the trick - if you change quantity of a production order, ExpressMRP will instantly recalculate required quantities for all the components issued for the production order. And vice versa is also true - if you change required quantity for a component, ExpressMRP will instantly recalculate and change production quantity for the production order and then recalculate recalculate requirements for all the components belonging to the production order. However, it will not immediately recalculate availabilities and shortages. In order to propagate effect of the new quantities and recalculate summary availabilities and shortages, you have to start partial MRP calculation. To summarize, difference between full and partial MRP calculation is that full MRP calculation first deletes all records and then re-append new records according to the bills of materials, while partial MRP recalculation does not delete neither re-append components items, but rather recalculates quantities only. MRP Results By Products Page 23 of 55
  24. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization On this page, MRP calculation results are shown in two datagrids in master/detail relationship, where master dataset presents production orders, while slave dataset presents components. The page consists of two sections. The upper section contains datagrid with production orders, while the lower section contains datagrid with components. When you move cursor in the master datagrid with production Page 24 of 55
  25. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization orders, the slave datagrid is refreshed to show only components belonging to the currently selected production order. In the production orders datagrid, you can see planned production quantity, calculated quantity that could be produced and information whether targeted planned quantity can be produced or not. In the components demands datagrid you can see information for every component, about both individual and summary component's requirement, availability and shortage. Also, you get information whether there is enough component for the current order and for all other orders issuing the component. Note how information rich are these two datagrids, providing in the same time both individual and summary information for every production order and issued component. MRP results by products can be printed as short or detailed report. Short Report shows only production orders with their targeted production quantity, information whether they can be produced and the calculated maximum quantity that could be produced. Detailed Report shows both production orders and calculated bills of materials, with total and individual requirements, availabilities and shortages. Page 25 of 55
  26. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization MRP Results By Components Page 26 of 55
  27. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization This page consists of two section with datagrids in master/detail relationship. In the master datagrid of the upper section, summary information about components demand is shown, while corresponding individual requirements and availability of components per production orders is shown in the slave datagrid of the lower section. Page 27 of 55
  28. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization In the master dataset with components, you can see summary information about every component, providing data about total required, available and shortage quantity for a component. It is indicated whether there is enough component for total demand. In the slave datagrid, all individual production orders issuing currently selected component are shown. Every row presents one production order issuing the component, with individual requirement, availability and shortage of the component. Results can be printed in short and detailed Report. Short Report shows cumulative, total reuirements, availabilities and shortages of components. Detailed Report shows also corresponding individual production orders for every component. Page 28 of 55
  29. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Purchase List Page 29 of 55
  30. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Purchase list contains summary information about components quantities to be ordered from external suppliers. Depending on the whether option checkbox for returning consolidated orders was switched on or off, resulting purchasing list can be consolidated or not. If the result is non-consolidated purchase list, you can always consolidate it by clicking the button “Consolidate”. If quantity constraints are defined and corresponding option was enabled, purchasing quantities will be rounded according to the quantity constraints. Purchase list can be printed as report, on which both total shortage quantity and purchase quantity is shown. Page 30 of 55
  31. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization MRP Log On this page, all activities and progress of MRP calculation is logged, so you can see what is going on. The log information might help you in better understanding logic of MRP calculation and returned results. Page 31 of 55
  32. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Note: Visual appearance of the logging process during MRP calculation is slightly different on different operating systems. In Windows, the log list is auto-scrolled when reaches end of the screen. However, on some operating systems with certain libraries (GTK2, for instance), it seems that auto-scrolling is not working properly. Materials Usage List Page 32 of 55
  33. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization This page consists of two sections, with datagrids in master/detail relationship. In the upper section, there is master datagrid showing list of materials, with additional information about current stock of the component. In the lower section, there is slave datagrid showing list of products in which current component is used according to the bill of materials. With help of searching and filtering tools, this page provides easy way to determine which products issue some component. The usage list of materials can be printed as printable reports. You can create report for all components or only currently selected component. Page 33 of 55
  34. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Global Options Page 34 of 55
  35. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization On this page, you can set some global properties influencing how program will behave: • Precision of float fields • Display format for float fields • Maximum string size • Default string size • Decimal separator • Refresh calculated data If you change global options, they will be activated on next application start. If you wish to apply changes immediately, click on the button “Apply Options”. Global Option “Precision of float fields” Here you can define precision of float fields. If you don’t have any particular reason to explicitly define float precision, leave it 0, so default value is going to be used. Global Option “Display format for float fields” Here you can define display format for float fields, by using standard Pascal/Delphi symbols for formatting float values. Use "#" and "0" signs to specify formatting output. Page 35 of 55
  36. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization "#" defines digit place that can be empty, while "0" defines a digit place that must not be empty. "." symbolizes decimal separator (both decimal dot and decimal comma separator). Some formatting examples: Format Examples of output ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ #.# 1.1; 1; .2; 2.3; 13423125 (1,1; 1; .2; 2,3; 13423125) #0.00 1.10; 1.00; 0.20; 2.30; 13423125.00 (1,10; 1,00; 0,20; 2,30; 13423125,00) #,##0.## 1.10; 1.00; 0.20; 2.30; 13,423,125.00 (1,10; 1,00; 0,20; 2,30; 13.423.125,00) As you can see, you can easily define decimal and thousand separators, as well number of decimal digits to be shown in datagrids and reports. For instance, if you want to present float values in a way that number can be shown from no decimal digits to maximum 3 decimal digits, then formatting should be: #,##0.### In this example, last three # means that if number is integer, no decimal digits will be shown, if there is one decimal digit then one decimal digit will be shown, but if there are 6 decimal digits in number, only rounded first three decimal digits will be shown. If formatting is #,##0.000 instead, then three decimal digits will be shown even if it is integer number. Example1: number is 3,456789 if formatting is #,##0.### or #,##0.000 then it will be shown as 3,457 Example2: number is 3,45 if formatting is #,##0.### then it will be shown as 3,45 but if formatting is #,##0.000 it will be shown as 3,450. Global Option “Maximum string size” “MaxStringSize” parameter limits maximum string size in textual database fields. This way you can restrict memory consumption, if not enough memory is available. Every text field has predefined string size, for instance, it is 10 characters for measurement units; 20 characters for fields: “Product”, “Component”, “Material”; 50 characters for fields: “Product Description”, “Component Page 36 of 55
  37. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Description”, “Material Description”; 1000 characters for all comment fields, etc. In most cases, this will be optimum. However, these predefined values define consumption of memory space. It is not problem if you have enough RAM available on your computer, but may be problem in cases of limited RAM available. In that case, you might wish to decrease memory consumption, by limiting memory space reservation for text fields. If you set maximum string size, let’s say, to be 100 characters, then all strings having more characters than 100 characters will be trimmed to 100 characters. This will mostly influence comment fields. Global Option “Default string size” “DefaultStringSize” parameter expands string size in textual database fields. This way, you can grant more memory space to text database fields than it has been originally predefined. Every text field has predefined string size, for instance, it is 10 characters for measurement units; 20 characters for fields: “Product”, “Component”, “Material”; 50 characters for fields: “Product Description”, “Component Description”, “Material Description”; 1000 characters for all comment fields, etc. These predefined values consume memory space. Therefore, by design, string length is limited to certain values, depending on the nature of a fields. For instance, it is reasonable to assume that fields “Product”, “Component” and “Materials” will contain materials code that will not exceed length of 20 characters. It is also reasonable to assume that actual description names of materials will be less than 50 characters (fields “Product Description”, “Component Description”, “Material Description”), etc. However, if this assumption was wrong in your particular case, and some of the string fields don’t have enough space to contain required value, then you can increase available space by setting parameter “Default String Size” to be greater than the minimum number of characters required to correctly display information. If the value of this parameter is not null and is not 0, ExpressMRP will increase string size for any string field if it’s predefined string size is lesser than the value of “Default String Size” parameter. Global Option “Decimal separator” This parameter determines character to be used as decimal separator. It can be dot (".") or comma (",") or you can leave it empty. In case of empty, ExpressMRP will use local system settings for decimal separator. Page 37 of 55
  38. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization If you set, for example, "," as decimal separator and import data use "." as decimal separator, ExpressMRP will try to replace all dots with commas during import process. IMPORTANT NOTICE: Remember that in tables for data import, numeric float values should contain only decimal separator and no thousand separator. If you have thousand separator in CSV file, remove it before data import into ExpressMRP. Otherwise, ExpressMRP might not distinguish decimal and thousand separator and could crash. Global Option “Refresh calculated data on start-up” This option defines whether calculated datasets are going to be recalculated every time during application startup, or will be just loaded from previously saved CSV tables. For instance, materials usage list is calculated dataset that is saved on application closing and loaded on application startup. However, dataset is not, by default, recalculated every time application is started, unless this option is explicitly enabled. If enabled, ExpressMRP will recalculate materials usage list from scratch, otherwise, it will be loaded from previously saved CSV table. You might, however, manually trigger it’s recalculation by clicking “Calculate” button. Bare in mind that if this option is enabled, this might considerably slow-down application startup. Informations And Activation On this page, there are several subpages with information about the software and dialogs for registering and enabling commercial license that unlocks premium functionalities. At the moment of this writing, premium, paid, options include: printable reports, datasets export to CSV tables, saving and loading persistent backups. License Page 38 of 55
  39. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization This page provide licensing information. Contact And Download Links On this page you can find informations about program, contacts, internet and download links. Page 39 of 55
  40. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Register/Purchase Commercial License On this page, you get information about download and purchase web pages links. By clicking corresponding button, your default browser will open linked web pages. Page 40 of 55
  41. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization You also get information about unique machine (computer) ID representing your computer. Use this designation during purchasing process to retrieve your computer specific commercial release code. Once you get commercial release code, you can activate it by clicking the button “Activate Commercial release Code”, which will open dialog where you have to enter your release code. If the release code is valid, premium features will be enabled. Common And General Features In the following chapter, there is short overview of some common and general features of the application. Data import ExpressMRP provides intuitive interface for data import from external sources, through import scheme definition form. By assigning external CSV tables and fields (columns) to internal tables and fields (columns ), it is easy to define an import variant. Once import scheme is properly defined, you can reuse it and repeatedly execute import from the same external source of data. Page 41 of 55
  42. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization This enables easy automation and interfacing with other business software. All that is needed is to follow these steps: • Provide (and, prefferably, automate) business information exported in the form of .csv tables. • Define different importing schemes in the Data Import tabsheet, by connecting internal and external tables and fields. • Import data Printable reports As premium option, ExpressMRP provides different kind of summary and detailed printable reports. Besides printing to paper, reports can be saved in different formats (pdf, csv, html, jpeg, png, etc.) for archiving and later reuse. Page 42 of 55
  43. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Data export As premium feature, ExpressMRP provides CSV (Comma Separated Values) exporting utility, so you can export datasets to CSV (*.csv) spreadsheet tables. Any dataset can be exported. Page 43 of 55
  44. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization After export, you might further process the resultset or report in different spreadsheet (Calc, Gnumeric, Excel) or database programs. Notice "Export" button placed on most ribbons above datagrids. When you click it, a pop-up window for exporting dataset will appear. This enables you to export a dataset to specified CSV table. Enter the full path and name of exported CSV file, specify decimal separator and fields (columns) delimiter and click "Save file" button. Filtering ExpressMRP provides simple interface for defining and saving custom database filters, which you can later reuse in repetitive business cases, for narrowing resultset to specific subset of data. By applying custom filters to datasets, you can narrow result to only those items that are of your current interest. For instance, you might define different filters for listing: only raw materials, only packaging materials, only transport boxes that are missing, only those materials that are in shortage, only semi-finished products, only those product that contains certain string in its name, etc. Define bunch of good filters for frequently repeating business cases and you will save yourself huge amount of time. Page 44 of 55
  45. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Notice "Filter" button placed on most ribbons above datagrids. When you click it, a pop-up window with saved filters for filtering dataset will appear. You can choose appropriate saved filter or cerate and save new one. Filters are very powerful way to narrow resultset of MRP calculation and can save you lot of time. Please, note that on calling filters pop-up window, all filters are listed, but it doesn't mean that all of them can be applied to the current dataset. Only those filters that have valid expression for the current dataset can be successfully Page 45 of 55
  46. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization applied on the dataset. Therefore, it is good practice to specify to which dataset or datasets a filter is applicable, by entering descriptive comment in the field “Comment”. Filter expressions are constructed by combining: field name (column names from CSV files), some operator or function (=, <, >, <> etc.) and value expression. Single quotes have to enclose strings. "*" is joker symbol representing any number of any characters. You can also use logic operators such as "OR" and "AND". Examples of filter expressions: Component = '4*' ComponentShortageTotalQuantity > 0 ProductDescription = 'Tams*' ComponentShortageTotalQuantity > 0 AND Component ='2*' Component ='5*' AND ComponentDescription='*Kut*' AND ComponentDescription='*tran*' ComponentShortageTotalQuantity > 0 AND Component ='5*' AND ComponentDescription='*Kut*' AND ComponentDescription='*trans*' You can write filter expression manually or use help of combobox lists with fields and expressions. "Append Field" and "Append Expression" buttons are used to append chosen values to expression below. Save filter by pressing "Post" button. Activate filter by clicking "Apply Filter". Remove filter by clicking "Remove Filter". Searching ExpressMRP provides simple searching pop-up dialog, for finding particular value in a dataset. You can search any dataset by any field (column), which you can choose from a combobox. Page 46 of 55
  47. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Notice "Find" button placed on most ribbons above datagrids. When you click it, a pop-up window for searching will appear. Choose a field on which search action will be performed, then click "Find". If ExpressMRP finds appropriate value, cursor will be placed on corresponding row. Sorting By Column Depending on whether “Use Indexes” option is checked or unchecked, predefined index used for sorting dataset by ID column is used or not. Every dataset has it's auto-incremented integer ID column, uniquely identifying any record. If “Use Indexes” option is enebaled, it means that new records are going to be appended to end of the list. Otherwise, new records will be inserted before the cursor. Besides predefined index on ID column, which has unique auto-incremented integer value uniquely designating every record, you can create indexes on any other column on-the-fly, by simple clicking on the title of a column. By clicking a column’s title on the datagrid, a dataset is sorted ascending or descending by that particular column(field). Visual indications Page 47 of 55
  48. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Throughout the application, conditional coloring of the records is used to visually emphasize some supplementary information. Though somehow ambiguous, general meaning of coloring is following: White color is default color of records. However, in datagrids where extensive coloring is used, white colored column (field) usually indicates that the field is editable. This indicates that you can manually change quantity or enter some custom comment, for example. Sky-blue color can indicate either that the column (field) is not editable (it is read-only), either can be used to indicate status of production order or material, meaning that the production order can be produced (all components are available in required quantities) or that the total quantity of a component is enough for all requirements. Yellow colour indicates shortages of materials and production orders that have unsatisfied demands. Coloring is used just for providing additional visual indication, not as the primary source of information. User-interface customization ExpressMRP main form is organized in tabsheet pages and subpages. Functional elements on every page are grouped in sections that are placed on panels divided by splitters. You can easily move those splitter with mouse and thus customize the appearance of the page. You might increase one section and decrease another section. This way, you can customize user interface to satisfy your screen resolution and specific needs. The same applies to datagrid columns, which you can increase or decrease by moving columns splitters. Also, you can change order of columns, by dragging&dropping columns. All the user-performed customizations are saved during application closing as session properties, so next time application is run, those customizations are going to be loaded. The same applies to values in checkboxes. The session properties are saved in XML files placed in the subfolder “SessionProperties”. Multi-platform and portable design ExpressMRP is programmed in a multi-platform way, so that there are compiled executables and packages for different operating systems, such as: Windows, Linux, different BSD systems, MacOS X, etc. On request, ExpressMRP might be compiled for other systems, too. Page 48 of 55
  49. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Internal Structure And General Principles Database structure ExpressMRP database is based on in-emory datasets which can save and load data from flat text files in CSV (Comma Separated Values) format with .csv extension. Fields are separated by semicolon (";"), strings are enclosed in double quotes, while decimal separator depends on your locale settings. Thousand separator is not used in saved data, though it can be used for formatted data representation. When records are appended, edited or deleted, in-memory dataset are either immediately saved to underlying flat text files, either remain only in memory until explicitly saved. In any case, datasets are saved during application closing. Some datasets (“Products”, “Boms”, “Stocks”, “Quantity Constraints”, datasets for import scheme definition) are immediately saved on any change, while others (datasets used for MRP calculation and materials usage list) are saved only if explicitly triggered by pressing “Save” button and during application close. ExpressMRP automatically loads all datasets from underlying text filed on opening application and saves them into CSV files on closing application. The following flat text files ussualy called CSV tables ("Comma Separated Values"), are used by ExpressMRP and are placed in application folder, “Data” subfolder: A) Primary tables - those that requires data input from a user or import from external CSV files. They are immediately saved on any change by user. ExpressMRPOptions.csv - stores values of global options, such as whether dot or comma is used as decimal separator, float values display format etc. Filters.csv - stores custom, user-defined filters. Products.csv - holds information about products and their base quantities. Base quantity is a quantity of product for which bill of materials is expressed. For example, 1 pcs or 1000 pcs or 100 kg... Boms.csv - stores information about the bills of materials, listing components with their base quantities, required for production of base quantities of products. Page 49 of 55
  50. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Stocks.csv - holds info about currently available quantities on stock. Orders.csv - stores list of production orders, with production quantities. ImportVariants.csv; ImportToTables.csv; ImportToFields.csv; ImportFromTables.csv; ImportFromFields.csv - these tables store information about importing schemes, used for import from external data sources. B) Secondary tables - those datasets that ExpressMRP internally generates from primary tables. Most of them are saved to underlying csv file only on closing application or explicitly clicking "Save" button. Some of them are saved during MRP calculation. SingleMRPProducts.csv; SingleMRPComponents.csv; SingleMRPFooter.csv - these tables are generated by MRP calculation for individual product. MultipleMRPProducts.csv; MultipleMRPComponents.csv; MUltipleMRPProductsSummary.csv; MultipleMRPComponentsSummary.csv - these tables are generated by MRP calculation for multiple products/production orders. UniqueComponents.csv; UniqueComponentsProducts.csv - these tables are generated by materials usage list calculation. User Interface Elements ExpressMRP has simple and straightforward user interface. Application is consisted of one main form and few auxiliary forms popping up when Find (searching), Filter or Export functionalities are activated. Main form is organized in tabsheet pages and subpages. Tabsheet pages contain one or more sections separated by splitters, which you can freely move and enlarge section of interest. Every section contains datagrids with columns showing data. By clicking column's title you can sort a dataset by the column, ascending or descending. Above every grid, there is a ribbon with buttons for data navigation, saving, loading, exporting, searching, filtering, reporting, starting calculation etc. On application close, ExpressMRP saves positions of every splitters on pages and columns in datagrids. This way, ExpressMRP remembers your visual Page 50 of 55
  51. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization customizations. On next application start, it will load saved customizations from fxml files which are stored in the application folder, sub-folder “SessionProperties”. Common buttons used throughout application are: Find, Filter and Export buttons Find button When you click “Find” button, a pop-up window for custom searching on dataset will appear. From combobox list choose a field on which search action will be performed, then click "Find". If ExpressMRP finds appropriate value, cursor will be placed on corresponding row. Filter button Notice "Filter" button placed on most ribbons, above datagrids. When you click it, a pop-up window for filtering dataset will appear. Page 51 of 55
  52. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization Filters are very powerful way to narrow resultset of MRP calculation to only those records that are of interest. Export button Notice "Export" button placed on most ribbons above datagrids. When you click it, a pop-up window for exporting dataset will appear. Page 52 of 55
  53. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization This enables you to export a dataset to specified CSV table. Enter the full path and name of exported CSV file, specify decimal separator and field delimiter and click "Save file" button. Clear, Save and Load buttons "Clear" button deletes all records from a dataset, "Save" button immediately saves dataset to underlying CSV file, while "Load" button loads data from underlying CSV table into in-memory dataset. Datagrid navigation buttons A datagrid control representing a dataset can be navigated by mouse scrolling, by keyboard or by using DBnavigator buttons in the ribbon above the datagrid. Besides navigation buttons, dbnavigator has buttons for insert, update and delete of records in the dataset. Page 53 of 55
  54. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization The buttons are: “First”, “Prior”, “Next”, “Last”, “Insert”, “Delete”, “Edit”, “Post”, “Cancel”, “Refresh”. Use Indexes Checkbox Notice “Use Indexes” checkboxes placed on ribbons above datagrids. If “Use Indexes” checkbox is checked, records in the dataset will be sorted by ID column. In practical sense, that means that when a record is manually inserted, it will be appended to end of the list. If “Use Indexes” checkbox is unchecked, the so-called “default order” is used, meaning that records are not sorted by ID column or any other column. When a record is manually added by pressing button “Insert”, the new record is inserted before the current record, rather than appended on the end of the list. Clicking on any column title will cause sorting ascending or descending by that particular column. In background, that is achieved by creating index on the dataset’s field. Values (checked/unchecked) are saved in session properties. Different Versions And Licensing Issues ExpressMRP 2.X is offered as shareware software in which basic features are free, while premium options are enabled if appropriate licensed release code is purchased and entered. Premium, paid, features are the following: • Printable reports • Exporting datasets to spreadsheets (files with .csv extension) • creating and loading persistent backups Upon first installation of ExpressMRP software, time and number of days limited trial period is started, in which premium features are enabled for evaluation purposes. After trial period, you can freely continue using basic functionalities of the software, without premium features. If you wish to use the premium features (printable reports, exporting, backups), you need to purchase commercial release code. Page 54 of 55
  55. ExpressMRP – MRP software for production planning and optimization ExpressMRP

    – MRP software for production planning and optimization At the moment of writing, commercial release codes can be purchased for one machine /for period of 12 months. Contact Zlatko Matić (e-mail: [email protected]) http://matalab.freehostia.com Milkovićeva 6 Mala Ostrna 10370 Dugo Selo Croatia Evaluate, Purchase, Donate Download recent manual: http://matalaba.freehostia.com/ExpressMRP_Manual.pdf Download ExpressMRP software: http://matalab.freehostia.com/ExpressMRP_Setup.exe http://matalab.freehostia.com/ExpressMRP-Download.php You can purchase commercial premium release code for unlocking premium features, from Share-It service: http://www.shareit.com/product.html?productid=300355629 If you find this software useful, please support this software by donation: Zlatko Matić, Milkovićeva 6, Mala Ostrna, 10370 Dugo Selo, Croatia Bank: Zagrebacka banka dd, Zagreb, Paromlinska 2 SWIFT/BIC: ZABAHR2X IBAN: HR0723600003234431003 Account: 3234431003 Thank you! Page 55 of 55