Release 12 – Discrete Execution Workstation Parameters

There is a lot happening on the shop floor of any manufacturing organization. Its full activities, from shop floor workers to the supervisors to the managers ensure there is no lapse productivity. Oracle Ebusiness Suite has a wide range of modules that is tailor-made for the shop floor and one such module is Work In Process (WIP). In Release 12, WIP has a new functionality called Discrete Execution Workstation, an HTML based user interface, which allows user to perform and monitor shop floor activities. Through a simplified user interface, this workstation provides, a one-stop-shop of information needed for shop floor workers to record and monitor shop floor activities as part of the day-to-day production task, thus maximizing the value-added manufacturing time.

To setup this functionality, follow these steps

Assign the Work In Process responsibility to the user(s) using the Discrete Execution Workstation user interface. Using the WIP responsibility, double-click on the ‘Discrete Workstation’ functionality under the ‘Discrete’ menu. Please note you must define the parameters in the WIP module before you access this functionality, else you will come across an error as shown in the figure shown below

Once the HTML interface comes up, Shop floor operators and supervisors can see what jobs are assigned to which work centers, view requirements and instructions for performing work, and
monitor progress and problems. There are some pretty good enhancements offer in Release 12 over the previous releases and it is as mentioned below.

Configuration preferences

The workstation is highly configurable with a system of preferences controlling both
overall behavior at the organization level as well as access to information and actions
at the user level based on each user’s role. One can specify and setup the parameters to control the applications behaviour by Site, Role, Organization and Department.Based on the user role, predefined security and preferences control the types of functions and information that each user of this workstation can access. There are several parameters that control the UI, behavior, security and content by Site, Role, Organization and Department.

Many workstation related parameters can be modified, as follows

Allow Moves From Prior Operations Parameter controls the Move Transactions. The possible values as either Yes or No. When set to Yes, users are allowed to specify a prior operation in the “From” operation field in move transactions as a way to support out-of-order operation completion reporting. Otherwise users are restricted to enter a “From” operation while performing Move Transactions.

Attachment Sources Parameter controls the type of attachments that are displayed in the Work
Content Page and the order in which they are displayed. The possible attachments can be:
Assembly, BOM, Components, Routing, Operation, Discrete Job, Sales order header, Sales order line.

Attachment Window Height Parameter controls the height of the attachments that are displayed in the Work Content Page. The possible values can be:
100, 400, 600, 800 in pixels

Automatic Job Transition Parameter controls the presentation of the jobs to be subsequently worked on from the work content page. The possible values can be either Yes or No. When set to Yes, upon completion of one job operation, system automatically takes user directly to the work content of the next ready job operation. Else it returns the user to the work content page of the current operation.

Charge Resource at Report Time Parameter determines whether resource transactions are created from reported times. The possible values can be: Yes/No. If set to Yes, system automatically generates resource transactions after submitting the actual hours worked.

Default Dispatch List Type Parameter determines the type of dispatch list to display as users enter the workstation screen. The possible values can be: Current/Scheduled. If the value is “Current”, all the jobs that are open in the current shift for a specific organization, department or resource or a combination thereof are displayed. If the value is “Scheduled” then all the jobs that are scheduled to be worked on are shown in the dispatch list.