2017 R1 Release

The much-awaited new release sees major development of some existing functionality plus the introduction of a major new feature; Project Management.

Keep Calm and Manage

 We are all used to directing shop floor staff via JAVELIN output such as Work To Lists, Routing Sheets, Delivery Schedules, etc. but a number of new developments focus on managing or tasking users outside the direct manufacturing sphere.

Projects

In response to a number of client’s requests for ways of managing non manufacturing functions (such as design or programming) we have taken the opportunity to work with a JAVELIN client who have requirements to run major project management programs in advance of, and during the life cycle of, extensive contract.

The new Projects module allows the definition of structured tasks within a specific project plan with standalone target dates or with inter dependency on other tasks.  Planned times can be assigned to specific persons and the progress monitored both in time and cost expended against the original estimates.  The plans are interactive in as much new estimated time to completion for each can be input whilst time booking which, once approved by the Project Manager, will be adopted into the plan along with potential changes in target dates.

The whole suite has been developed to make use of the power of SQL, providing real time updates of progress and predicted completion dates and costs at any level of the project hierarchy.

Projects can be associated with Works Orders, Sales Orders or Estimates wherein the costs of working on the various tasks will be added to the overall costs of that data element. (Contract costing required for direct cost booking to Sales Orders).

User Tasking

Action Notes have been available for several versions now, but this function tends to be underutilized by sites due to its limitations in contact points with JAVELIN data.  This release sees a rework of the underlying data structure to allow it to link in to far more trigger points.  

Notes or Actions can now be assigned against Parts, Suppliers, Customer, Sales Order / Line, Purchase Order / Line, Quote / Line, Defect Note, Project Plan Task and Works Order, tasking users to perform actions to resolve underlying issues and evolving a complete trail of associated activity as a series of simple, editable notes.

In addition, a new Task Dashboard, triggered by a Ctrl-F8 hotkey or optionally when users login to the system, will display outstanding tasks against the specific user not only within Action Notes but also CRM and Projects where applied.  Users can review and interact with these tasks directly without having to move to other areas of the system.

Shop Floor Data Capture Feedback

Get immediate alerts when things are going wrong.  Currently only a periodic run of the WIP Booking Validation report will highlight when operators have made erroneous bookings.  Now, as well as these being logged and the WIP processing being aborted JAVELIN can email select employees, such as the operator’s supervisor, immediately a mistake has been made.

Realistically Reject and Scrap always occurs somewhere but certain operations may never generate rejects, rework being done in real time, or perhaps you don’t want to allow the booking of scrap or holding a works order at a certain work center by putting the decision in the hands of an inspector or other responsible person at a later stage.  Now SFDC terminals can have unique customization to decide which terminals facilitate these functions, making it easier for the operators to concentrate on their specific duties.

Finally, operators can now make comments as they complete bookings – this may be just for information or indicate why they are not on target or invoke actions at a later date.  The text is stored against each booking and can be examined via works order maintenance.

Advanced Scheduling Inquiries

A new suite of inquiries and reports have been added to make the most of the new features of Advanced Scheduling.  These now expose scheduled times as well as dates and allow far more drill down to source information and clearer analysis of important results within each screen.

Improved Outwork Control

Make repeat shipments of a single works order without having to manually generate additional P&R note records via the new Outwork Shipping screen.

Group outwork orders by process type to make the most of minimum charges or batch quantity price breaks for specific subcontractors.

Process orders in different units to the works order with automatic conversion including pre and post processing tolerances.  (Typically weight v unit quantity).

Streamlined Quotations

The new layout of Quotation Maintenance should be familiar to users of Sales Order.  The screens have been redesigned in a familiar Header / Items format with all the fields required for a single price break quote now contained within the main Items screen.  You only need to visit the Price Break button if you want to quote multiple price breaks.  

Quote and Quote Item discount have also been incorporated and these fields will pre-populate their equivalents on the sales order when confirmed.

Whilst these developments form the core of this release there are always other minor changes and improvements in every release.  For full details of how moving to JAVELIN 2017r1 can help you contact your account manager.