Solve and Repair Behavior

The Solve and Repair processes help in efficiently fine-tuning the schedules before a release, thereby reducing scheduling cycle times.

You can allow or disallow offloading an operation to an alternate resource or fix the start time of a work order operation for consideration in subsequent solves. You can manually adjust the schedule of a single production stage, firm the schedule at that stage, and then align the upstream and downstream stages through a solve action.

After manually scheduling changes like offloading or resequencing, the subsequent repair action implements the changes, ensuring that appropriate production rates are applied, and the correct changeovers are inserted. A manual scheduling change is complete only after the repair action. Changes to the properties only affects the solve action and not the repair action.

Properties Impacting Schedule Calculation

There are several work order and work order operation properties that impact schedule calculation. Some of these simply describe the work order and its operations, such as the item produced by the work order, the work order quantity, the resource hours needed by the various operation resource sequences, and the materials and quantities required by each work order operation. Other properties provide additional guideposts that the solve action must consider. These include the work order firm status, the work order operation firm status, and the work order operation offloading allowed with the latter two being available only in Oracle Production Scheduling.

• Work Order
  • Firm status: This status is displayed under the Work Orders tab. After a schedule refresh, the the toggle switch under the Firm status column is on for all work orders that are firm in SCM Work Execution and for all released work orders that start inside the fixed time fence, if the Firm released work orders that begin during the fixed time fence period option is selected on the Schedule Options page. You can toggle this switch on or off.
• Work Order Operation
  • Firm status: This status of work order operation is displayed in the Dispatch List tab and is available only in Production Scheduling. After a schedule refresh, the status is displayed as Firm for all operations of a firm work order and as an empty cell for all unfirm work order operations. If you set the Fixed Start Time then this status will display Fixed start time for those work order operations that were changed, regardless of the status of the work order.
  • Offloading Allowed: This status of work order operation is displayed in the Dispatch List tab and is available only in Production Scheduling. After a schedule refresh, the default status is displayed as off for all operations of a firm work order, and on for all operations belonging to nonfirm work orders.

Change the status of the properties manually.

1. Select one or more work order operations in the Gantt chart or Dispatch List.
2. Click Edit to open the drawer.
3. On the work order operations page, set the values of Fixed Start Time and Offloading Allowed properties as required.
4. Select Update. The corresponding values are changed.
5. Click Solve. The solve action considers these properties and aligns the upstream and downstream operations.

Note: The data in the dispatch list isn’t refreshed automatically. You need to switch between resources or run the solve process.

Note: It's recommended to change the Work Order Operation’s Firm Status and Offloading Allowed properties only after completing all manual scheduling changes via a repair action.

How the Properties Interact and are Considered During Solve and Repair

While the work order operation’s firm status and the offloading allowed properties are independent of one another, they both interact individually with the work order’s firm status. The following tables explain the solve and repair behavior for various combinations. It also explains whether the work order operation dates can be changed by the solve or repair actions depending on the work order firm status and operation firm status.

Work Order Firm Status	Operation Firm Status	Solve	Repair
Firm	Fixed start time	Solve action respects the dates inside fixed time fence. It tries to respect the dates outside the fixed time fence but might change it if necessary.	You can change work order operation dates through manual scheduling and subsequent repair action.
Firm	Firm (inherited from work order firm status)	Solve action respects the dates inside fixed time fence. It tries to respect the dates outside the fixed time fence but might change it if necessary.	You can change work order operation dates through manual scheduling and subsequent repair action.
Not Firm	Fixed start time	Solve action respects the dates inside fixed time fence. It tries to respect the dates outside the fixed time fence but might change it if necessary.	You can change work order operation dates through manual scheduling and subsequent repair action.
Not Firm	Not Firm	Work order operations are scheduled flexibly, and their dates will typically change	You can change work order operation dates through manual scheduling and subsequent repair action.

Note: : Inside the fixed time fence, the solve action removes precedence constraints between two operations with operation firm status set to Firm or Firm start time if their firm dates conflict with each other and advanced solver option Respect firm work orders is selected.

Work order operations can be offloaded to alternate resources by the solve and repair actions depending on the work order firm status and operation allow offloading values. The following table explains the various scenarios.

Work Order Firm Status	Operation Offloading Allowed	Solve	Repair
Firm	Yes	Work order operation might be offloaded to an alternate resource.	Work order operation can be offloaded to an alternate resource, if operation hasn't been transacted yet.
Firm	No	Work order operation won’t be offloaded to an alternate resource.	Work order operation can’t be offloaded to an alternate resource.
Not Firm	Yes	Work order operation might be offloaded to an alternate resource.	Work order operation can be offloaded to an alternate resource, if operation hasn't been transacted yet.
Not Firm	No	Work order operation won’t be offloaded to an alternate resource.	Work order operation can’t be offloaded to an alternate resource .