Managing Schedule Stability and Long Planning Horizons in MxAPS

MxAPS provides controls for managing which production orders are included in a schedule, how far into the future scheduling is performed, and how previous manual scheduling decisions are considered in later runs.

Controlling schedule stability

When generating a schedule, the Schedule As field determines whether newly scheduled operations are created as Unlocked or Locked.

When Locked is used, the operation remains locked to the machine center on which it was scheduled. This can help maintain machine assignments between scheduling runs.

MxAPS can also carry forward previous manual scheduling decisions through the Consider Past Moves setting on the MxAPS Setup page.

Available values are:

• Include Active Schedule
• Ignore
• Include Users Latest Schedule

When previous moves are included, MxAPS can use machine moves and ranking changes from an earlier Schedule Result when generating the next schedule.

The MxAPS Generate a Schedule page also includes Consider Manual Changes From, allowing a specific Schedule Result to be selected as the source of those manual changes.

Scheduling horizon

The Schedule Duration field controls how far forward MxAPS generates the detailed production schedule.

The maximum supported scheduling duration is up to 365 days however the volume of information that is sent matters, and could be less depending on the complexity of the routings, BOMs, shift schedules, and other configuration as well as the licensed volume of orders.

This allows planners to choose a scheduling horizon that matches the level of detail required by the business. For example, orders may remain open in Business Central for many months while only the portion requiring detailed finite-capacity scheduling is included in the current MxAPS run.

Controlling which orders are scheduled

The MxAPS Generate a Schedule page provides two ways to control which Production Order Routing Lines are included:

• Filter controls which Production Order Routing Lines are used for scheduling.
• Scheduling Filter Set applies a saved Filter Set to further refine the scheduling population.

Filters are based on fields available on the Prod. Order Routing Line table.

This is useful for businesses with long lead times because orders can remain open in Business Central while MxAPS focuses detailed scheduling on the work that is currently relevant.

For example, a scheduling configuration could include only routing lines that meet selected status, date, production cell, or other operational criteria.

Supporting long lead times

MxAPS scheduling scope does not need to match the complete set of open production orders in Business Central.

A manufacturer with orders extending many months into the future can use:

• Schedule Duration to define the detailed scheduling horizon.
• Filter and Scheduling Filter Set to control which routing lines are included.
• Consider Past Moves to preserve relevant manual scheduling decisions.
• Schedule As to control whether machine assignments are locked.

Together, these settings allow planners to keep long-range demand in Business Central while focusing MxAPS on the production work that requires detailed scheduling.

Licensing considerations

MxAPS licensing is based on the production orders submitted for scheduling rather than simply the total number of production orders that are open in Business Central.

For businesses with long lead times, scheduling filters can be used so that MxAPS processes the production orders that currently require detailed scheduling.

Contact your Insight Works partner or representative to confirm the appropriate license level for your expected scheduling volume.

Related MxAPS documentation

• Configure MxAPS Manually or for Advanced Functionality
• Schedule Result
• MxAPS Release Notes