Manufacturing Operations Management

Full error message:

Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.

Cause

The posting routine has been unable to connect to the SYSPRO database.

Solution

Check that the SQL Server is accessible and can be accessed by the Smart Manager Web Server.

Full error message:

Transaction (Process ID) was deadlocked on lock resources with another process and has been chosen as the deadlock victim.

Cause

A deadlock has occurred (i.e. two processes have locks on separate objects and each process wants to lock the other's object).

Solution

Re-approve the transaction and allow the posting routine to retry the transaction.

Cause

The Sequence checking required by default setup option is enabled in SYSPRO (Setup Options > Preferences > Manufacturing > Work in Progress) and you are trying to post a transaction for an operation where earlier operations have not yet been started.

Solution

Labor must be posted to the milestone operation.

Full error message:

SYSPRO Work Center capacity time UOM ('value') is not defined in HOURS. Conversion factor cannot be calculated.

Cause

The Capacity UOM set against the Work Center must be defined in hours.

Descriptions which meet the Capacity UOM validation rule include the following:

• Hours
• Hrs
• Hr
• HH

Solution

MOM only accepts a Capacity UOM that is defined in hours.

Visual APS fails to startup, refresh, save or publish due to the following error:

Server internal error occurred: Check error logs for details.

Lynq.Erp.Server.Processor.Extension.Interfaces.ExecutionInternalTypeError: Error in type 'Lynq.Erp.S...

Exit Company?

This type of error message can be due to a number of different reasons and the stage at which the error message is returned may help troubleshoot this further.

Whenever Visual APS returns an error to the screen, the exact details of the problem are saved to log files on the computer where the software is installed.

To view the log files, select Yes to Exit Company and then select About > Open Error Log.

When the error is displayed on start-up or refresh, check the following:

1. User is connecting to the correct SQL Server database.
2. User is connecting with the correct authentication (Windows/SQL).
3. User has chosen the option to connect to APS using the App Role, if public only permissions are granted in SQL.
4. User has sufficient permissions in SQL to the SYSPRO database for their chosen authentication method.
5. SQL Server is accessible from the computer where APS is installed.
6. Firewall is not blocking access to SQL (standard port 1433).

7. The SYSPRO company to which APS is connecting doesn't contain duplicates of any of the following:

   • Stock Codes
   • Employees
   • Jobs
   • Work Centres
   • Machines
8. If the SYSPRO database has been restored to a point before Visual APS was initially installed, APS objects will be missing and the application will need re-configuring.

When the error is displayed on save and publish, the problem is more often than not, an issue with SQL permissions.

Check the following:

1. User has chosen the option to connect to APS using the App Role, if public only permissions are granted in SQL.

2. User has sufficient permissions in SQL to SYSPRO database when the App Role is not in use.

   Save and publish requires the user to be a member of the db_owner role.

When using the drag-and-drop option in Visual APS to schedule an order or operation, you may find under certain circumstances that the order or operation can't be dropped onto the Visual Planning Board.

When using drag-and-drop you may receive the following error message:

Production cannot be scheduled at this time.

Possible causes for this error include:

• The start date for the order or operation is not within the working time defined by your shift.
• The number of resources required to schedule the order or operation exceed the available resources for the machine.

Review the following and adjust accordingly:

• Start date for the order or operation.
• Working time defined for the shift.
• Available resources.

When using the drag-and-drop option in Visual APS to schedule an order or operation, you may find under certain circumstances that the order or operation can't be dropped onto the Visual Planning Board.

When using drag-and-drop you may receive the following error message:

Resource Not Available or Constrained

The time required to schedule this order or operation is outside of your planning interval.

Review the following and adjust accordingly:

• Configured planning interval.
• Available resources.

There will be occasions where knowing the version of the installed software can be useful.

The following will help you establish your version number:

Visual APS

1. From the top right hand side of the screen, select the ABOUT option.

   This opens a window that displays installation information, such as:

   • License details
   • Release version
   • Build number

Smart Manager

1. From the home page of Smart Manager, select the icon at the top right hand side.

   This opens a window that displays information about the product, such as:

   • License details
   • Release version
   • Build number

SmartLYNQ

1. From the home page of SmartLYNQ, select the icon, located in the top right hand corner.

   This opens the administration page menu.

2. Select the Licensing option to view information about the product, including:

   • License details
   • Release version

Smart Manager has the option of storing data in separate databases.

A typical setup for production and sandbox instances of Smart Manager will be configured to store data as follows:

1. Application Logic Database

   Where all required data for events generation is saved.

2. Application Data Database

   Where application data is saved.

3. Application Config Database

   Where application configuration is stored.

The number of decimals displayed in Workforce Manager is controlled by the Smart Manager web.config file. The file resides in the LYNQ\Smart Manager Site Name\Site\ folder.

Different decimal places can be set for different transaction types:

• <add key="RoundQuantity" value="2" />

  Used for quantity, material issue and rejects and scrap.

• <add key="RoundLabour" value="2" />

  Used for labor.

• <add key="RoundDefault" value="4" />

  Used for any other decimal field.

The following tables can be found in the Smart Manager database:

In order to access the Workbench feature, manufacturing employees must have a seat (license) assigned in Smart Manager.

Follow the steps below to assign a seat to a manufacturing employee:

1. Open Workforce Manager.
2. Select User Maintenance.
3. From the Seats tab, place a tick in the Active column for the manufacturing employee to whom you want to assign a seat.
4. Save your entries.

After creating quantity or labor transactions in the Workbench you may notice duplicate transactions.

This issue may be experienced when running Workforce Manager over a high latency network or on tablet devices. Under certain conditions transactions may appear more than twice.

To correct this issue you must apply the Smart Manager Hotfix 2.8.7.0 from the Product Updater.

When viewing the Transaction screen in Workforce Manager, there may be a number of reasons why transactions aren't displayed. However, you know that transactions have been entered in the Workbench for the following:

• Labor
• Quantity
• Scrap
• Material Issue
• Status Changes

The most common reasons for this behavior include:

• The date filter, transaction type filter or a column filter is incorrectly set.

• Direct hierarchy has been enabled under advanced settings, and you don't have any group members that have generated transactions.

• The windows service that converts events to transactions (i.e. LynqMEAutocall_SiteName) is not running on the web server, or logging errors in the application log.

  This service should be set to run automatically and will default to run every minute.

• Transactions are being generated for a different day (e.g. the employee has forgotten to end day).

• Extended Protection is set to Accept under the Windows Authentication Settings on the Smart Manager website.

• The Smart Manager site has incorrect binding settings which prevents the LynqMEAutocall_SiteName service from accessing Smart Manager.

• In versions prior to Smart Manager 2016 of Workforce Manager, transactions may fail to generate if a Workforce Manager employee has been deleted in SYSPRO.

The Lynq_ME_API_Config_AutoCallExec table holds the last run date of the Lynq Workforce Manager Auto Call service.

Logging may be turned on for issues relating to the Lynq Workforce Manager Auto Call service.

To enable logging, set the following keys to True in the Smart Manager web.config file:

• <add key="AllowAutocallLog" value="true" />
• <add key="AllowAlertsLog" value="true" />
<add key="AllowPerformLogicDataExchangeLog" value="true" />

After logging has been enabled, details can be viewed in the Lynq_ME_API_Config_PerformLogicDataExchangeLog table.

This is caused by duplicates of a transaction being generated in the Lynq_ME_Logic_ANav_ReceivedEvent table.

Solution

Although a permanent solution is in progress, a temporary remedy is to delete the duplicates as follows:

1. Run the following SQL statement:

   Select EID, count (1) from [LOGIC_DB_NAME].[Lynq_ME_Logic_ANav_ReceivedEvent]

   Group by EID having count (1) > 1.

   This query will show rows with similar EID

2. Run the following SQL statement:

   Select * from [LOGIC_DB_NAME].[Lynq_ME_Logic_ANav_ReceivedEvent]

   Where EID = 'Enter the EID_FROM_PREVIOUS_SCRIPT'

   This query will show the duplicate rows. Two rows will have a different ID.

3. The row with the greater ID needs to be deleted.

   For example: if one row has ID = 1 and another has ID = 2. then the row with ID = 2 should be deleted.

   The following SQL statement will carry out this task.

   Delete from [LOGIC_DB_NAME].[Lynq_ME_Logic_ANav_ReceivedEvent]

   Where ID = 'Enter the GREATER_ID_WITHIN_ROWS FROM PREVIOUS SCRIPT'.

When posting material issues to SYSPRO you may receive the error Serial allocation not allowed for batch serials.

This error is returned for all items that are configured as Batch Serial.

This defect has been corrected in Smart LYNQ version 2.3.2.0.

This happens when your access permissions are missing when trying to run the Smart Manager website.

Ensure that you have a valid user account in Smart Manager.

To verify this, log on to Smart Manager as an Administrator and select the Work Force Manager from Organization Setup > Users.

Ensure that the your user is listed and includes membership to the necessary Smart Manager Role(s).

For a number of users, it is common for the time unit of measure between SYSPRO and Smart Manager to differ.

Smart Manager calculates time in hours, whereas the time unit of measure in SYSPRO can be defined in any value. In situations where work centers or employees have their units of measure defined in anything other than hours, time must be converted. This article demonstrates how to configure SYSPRO to ensure that time is calculated correctly.

There are two methods in SYSPRO for converting time (hours) into the time unit of measure you wish to maintain in SYSPRO:

1. Specify a manual override factor.
2. Specify the correct relationship between the Time Per Unit/Day and Capacity Per Unit/Day values.

Using the scenario where SYSPRO has time defined in minutes and one day comprises of 480 minutes, either of the following setups would be required:

Unless you are using the manual override factor to convert the work centers Time UOM to hours, the Capacity Unit of Measure and Capacity Per Unit/Day values must be specified instead.

These values must represent time in hours to match Planning Manager and Workforce Manager.

Workforce Manager validates the Capacity Unit of Measure on posting but the validation is case-insensitive. Therefore, a value of HOURS or Hours is treated as the same Capacity Unit of Measure.

Acceptable values for this field are hours, hrs, hr and hh.

Conversion Examples

The following explains how the conversion of time is calculated in Planning Manager and Workforce Manager, using the example of minutes and hours:

Operation	Duration	Conversion Method	Calculation	Planning Manager
1	30 Mins	Manual Override	Duration * Factor	0.5 Hours
2	30 Mins	Capacity UOM / Time UOM	Duration *(Capacity / Time)	0.5 Hours

The following table details Workforce Manager labor transaction examples:

Operation	Duration	Conversion Method	Calculation	SYSPRO
1	1 Hour	Manual Override	Duration / Factor	60 Mins
2	1 Hour	Capacity UOM / Time UOM	Duration / (Capacity / Time)	60 Mins

Using Employee Rates instead of Work Center Rates

Workforce Manager supports the use of employee rates.

However, considering the employee rate cannot be selected or defaulted when labor transactions are created, only labor rate 1 (Normal Time) is supported.

If you define your employee rate in a different unit of measure to your work center (e.g. mins/days) the conversion between the work center time unit of measure and the employee unit of measure must be defined.

Use the Employee Time Unit of Measure Setup in SYSPRO to define your relationships between the employee and work center.

Employee	Employee UOM	Work Center UOM	Equation Rate	Conversation Result
1	Day	Mins	Multiply 480	1 Day comprises of 480 Min
2	Hrs	Mins	Multiply 60	1 Hour comprises of 60 Mins

Validation Rules

Workforce Manager provides some level of validation to prevent transactions from posting to SYSPRO where the conversion of units of measure cannot be properly calculated. Without validation, there is a potential for hours captured in Workforce Manager to be posted without any conversion of time, if the Work Center related to the transaction has not been configured correctly.

The following provides an explanation of the validation rules used by Workforce Manager when posting transactions to SYSPRO:

Validation	Description	Posting Error Message
Capacity UOM	The Capacity UOM set against the Work Center must be defined in hours. Descriptions which meet the Capacity UOM validation rule include Hours, Hrs, Hr and HH (case-insensitive).	SYSPRO Work Center capacity time UOM ('mins') is not defined in HOURS. Conversion factor cannot be calculated.
Capacity Per Unit/Day	Manual Override is OFF but Capacity Per Unit/Day is set to 0.	SYSPRO Work Center Normal capacity per day setting cannot be zero. Conversion factor cannot be calculated.
Time Per Unit/Day	Manual Override is OFF but Time Per Unit/Day is 0.	SYSPRO Work Center Time Unit per day setting cannot be zero. Conversion factor cannot be calculated.
Time UOM/Employee UOM	Use Employee rates has been enabled but there is no conversion between the Work Centers Time UOM and the Employees Time UOM.	SYSPRO Work Center Time UOM to Employee Time UOM conversion cannot be found.
Time UOM/Employee UOM	Use Employee rates has been enabled but the conversion between the Work Centers Time UOM and Employee Time UOM is 0.	SYSPRO Work Center Time UOM to Employee Time UOM conversion cannot be zero.
Manual Override Factor	When Manual Override is ON, the factor must be a positive value. 0 is not permitted.	SYSPRO Work Center manual override conversion factor cannot be zero.

Correcting Setup Issues

This section details the correcting of setup issues and the impact on Planning Manager and Workforce Manager.

• Planning Manager calculates the conversion of time directly from the work center record in SYSPRO.
• Workforce Manager captures the conversion factor of hours when the labor entry is created.

Therefore, the following explains how to correct conversion errors in either application:

Module	Behavior	Corrective Action
Planning Manager	The duration of operations is not displayed in hours.	Correct the setup of the work center in SYSPRO and refresh Visual APS.
Workforce Manager	The duration of labor transactions posted to SYSPRO is either not converted and posted to the job in hours or converted to the wrong unit of measure.	Correct the setup of the Work Center in SYSPRO and re-approve the transaction in Workforce Manager.

Unlike Smart Manager, Visual APS doesn't have its own dedicated database to store application data.

Data relating to Visual APS is stored in tables in the SYSPRO database.

Frequently used data tables in Visual APS:

If a list of companies is not displayed when clicking on the Company button from the Open Company screen, the Windows/SQL user connecting to the ERP database doesn't have the necessary SQL Permissions to read/write to the ERP database.

If you are using the LYNQ application role to grant rights to the user, check that the LYNQ Application Role is not disabled (Settings > User Access). You may need to login as the Thinklynq SQL account to access this setting.

The LYNQ Application Role setting is stored in the users profile and must be enabled from each user's computer.

Visual APS defines available resources by a combination of the default machine settings and then by the applied Shift.

Resources are consumed based on the requirements defined in your SYSPRO routing operations.

To understand how Resource Consumption works in detail, it is best to use an example.

For example:

A manufacturing operation requires a total of eight (8) hours labor from two (2) resources to complete.

Float Off

With Float disabled, Visual APS schedules based on 2 resources for 4 hours elapsed time (2 x 4 = 8 hours total).

In the example above there are MORE resources available (3) than required by the operation (2). Therefore, scheduling is successful.

In the example above there are EQUAL resources to that required by the operation (2). Therefore, scheduling is successful.

In the example above there are LESS resources (1) to that required by the operation (2). Therefore, scheduling is not permitted.

Float On

Now let's see what happens with the Visual APS float option enabled.

In the example above there are LESS resources (1) to that required by the operation (2). However, due to float being enabled, scheduling is now permitted.

In this scenario, the 8 hours required are delivered by one (1) resource instead of the two (2) defined in the operation. Elapsed time is now 8 hours.

In the example above there are MORE resources (4) to that required by the operation (2). Therefore, scheduling is successful.

In this scenario, the 8 hours required are delivered by four (4) resources instead of the two (2) defined in the operation. Elapsed time is now 2 hours.

In the example above resources are VARIABLE and show greater and/or less than that required by the operation (2). Therefore, scheduling is successful.

In this scenario, the 8 hours required are delivered when resources are available. Elapsed time is now 5 hours.

In the example above resources are VARIABLE and show greater and/or less than that required by the operation (2). Therefore, scheduling is successful.

Furthermore, a MAXIMUM setting of 2 resources has been set (i.e. no more than 2 resources can be consumed at any one time).

In this scenario the 8 hours required are delivered when resources are available but consume no more than 2 resources at any one time. Elapsed time is now 6 hours.

Float Discrete

Using Float Discrete, Visual APS is forced to consume resources based on the quantity to produce. It won't consume more resources than required to produce the quantity.

The Float Discrete setting is a work center-specific setting and can only be used when Float Specific and Float Usage are enabled.

Consider the following example:

It takes 1 resource, 2 hours to produce 1 unit. Units can not be produced faster than this.

To produce 2 units would therefore take 4 hours.

In the example above resources are consumed based on the time it takes to produce each unit.

2 units need to be produced and there are 3 resources available.

As it takes 1 resource 2 hours to produce each unit, 2 resources are consumed for 2 hours each to produce the 2 units required.

Scheduling is successful and the elapsed time is 2 hours.

Extending this scenario to the example above, you could also produce 3 units in the same elapsed time as you have 3 resources available.

However, 4 units would take 4 hours of elapsed time (considering available resources are as in the above example).

Visual APS uses the same logic as SYSPRO to schedule sub contract operations.

The following table explains how the different fields in the Structure and Routing setup are included in the calculation of sub-contract time:

In summary, Visual APS adds the values from Offsite Days and Dock to Stock Days together with schedule sub contract type operations, and considers Move Time to offset from this, when scheduled with other operations (auto-scheduling).

Therefore, to enable Visual APS to calculate the sub contract operation, ensure that the values entered for Offsite days and Dock to Stock Days are accurate.

Visual APS provides users with an ability to create machines manually within the application, or to import machines from SYSPRO.

We recommend that machines are imported to reduce the effort required to configure the application. This function is run on the initial setup of Visual APS, but can be run again anytime after you add new machines in SYSPRO.

Once imported, machines will appear under the relevant work center in the factory explorer. New work centers are automatically read by Visual APS and don't need to be imported.

It is important to note that the scheduling of jobs cannot be completed unless a valid machine exists in Visual APS.

Jobs which are planned for a machine that doesn't exist in Visual APS will have a red indicator in the column valid for scheduling.

To correct these errors, ensure that the machine has been imported or created.

The following task explains how to import new machines:

1. Ensure that you have refreshed data from the database within Visual APS.

2. From the Home menu within Visual APS, select the Import button.

3. If Visual APS recognizes that there are new machines to import, the following screen will appear:

   

   At this point, you can declare any default values to associate with the new machine(s).

4. Once any values have been entered, select OK.

   A further window shows the machine(s) being imported, and the work centers with which they are associated.

5. Select the correct machines to import, if multiple machines are available.

6. Select OK.

When changes occur to the machine settings or to the machine calendar, scheduled tasks may be affected resulting in possible errors with the Production Schedule.

Using the possible errors function in Visual APS, planners can verify errors to ensure the Production Schedule is not negatively affected.

Highlight the affected tasks and use the Resolve Selected command to resolve the task with a possible error.

Alternatively, use the Resolve All command to resolve all tasks with possible errors.

Once resolved, tasks with possible errors will stop flashing on the planning board and the error indicator will be removed.

Should Visual APS return an error, the full error message is captured in an error log file.

There are two error logs that are created by Visual APS:

1. server-log.txt
2. gui-log.txt

Both log files reside in the users Windows profile folder in the LYNQ folder\Application Name folder.

Log files can be accessed by either browsing to the users profile folder in Windows, or directly from Visual APS.

Log files can be accessed via the Edit Settings window.

The options are not immediately visible and you need to use the scroll bar on the right hand side of the window to get to the bottom of the window.

Even if the company does not open due to an error, you will still be able to access the log files from the Visual APS application.

1. From the File menu, select the Settings icon.

2. When the Edit Settings window opens, use the scroll bar to get to the bottom of the window.

   Here you will find three options to select from:

   • Send Error Log to Email

     Only likely to work if the client has an email program installed.

   • Open Containing Folder

     This will open up a window showing the various log files.

   • Clear Log Files

     This clears out log files, if appropriate.

Changes to your settings are not retained when closing and re-opening the company.

All configuration changes made to the application are stored in the settings.xml file (stored in the users profile folder within the LYNQ folder).

APS supports both local and roaming profiles.

Local profiles

When using local profiles, if you access Visual APS from another computer, you wouldn't have any settings configured (i.e. it isn't aware of companies you have previously accessed).

This is because the settings are only stored on one computer and not transferred when you use a different computer.

Roaming profiles

Roaming profiles overcome this by enabling you to store profiles on a network.

When you log in with roaming profiles enabled, the profile (which includes the APS settings file) is copied to your local profile.

When you log off, any changes made to the profile are replicated back to the repository where the roaming profiles are stored.

This allows users to move around and have their settings move with them.

If for any reason you don't have access rights to the roaming profile folder, the profile may not be copied back to the network. So the next time you login, your settings are not seen.

The application event log (located on the server that your are connecting to) should help identify if there are any issues with roaming profiles.

You may see permission errors relating to the repository or if you have been logged in with a temporary profile.

It's possible that roaming profiles are not enabled at all, which means if you log in to different servers, the profile is local to the server.

Visual APS uses the standard functionality of Windows profiles to operate and supports both local and roaming profiles.

If you receive a License is invalid error when opening a database, you may have a license file stored on the computer from an earlier version, or your license may have expired.

To change your product license, select the About menu option, followed by the Change Product License option.

Alternatively, contact Support and request a new license file.

There are eight main menu tabs in Visual APS that each provide a set of user functions:

• File
• Home
• Manage
• Pan
• Schedule
• Review
• Reports
• View

An issue sometimes experienced by users is that these icons disappear from view when selecting something else on the planning screen.

The reason for this is that the menu tabs are reactive to a double mouse click (i.e. an inadvertent double-click of a menu name puts the menu structure into an 'auto-hide' mode).

If you experience this, a further double-click of the menu name returns the mode to 'permanently display'.

You can apply a new license for Visual APS either from file or via the internet.

How to load a new license from the Internet

1. Select the About option from either of the following platforms:

   • Visual APS
   • Visual Planner
   • Scheduler

2. Select the Change Product License option.

3. Enter your customer license name in the Customer Name field.

4. Select the Get License Online option.

How to load a new license from file

1. Select the About option from either of the following platforms:

   • Visual APS
   • Visual Planner
   • Scheduler

2. Select the Change Product License option.

3. Select the Upload license file manually option.

4. Locate and select the relevant license file to upload.

When the Protect this page with license password option is enabled, you are required to enter a password every time you access the User Access > Seats screen.

To bypass this, enable the Use application role option so that Visual APS no longer requests a password entry when accessing this screen.

When reviewing the SmartLYNQ Integration Log you may see errors uploading to the database.

This is likely to be a permissions issue.

Ensure that the operator entered during configuration has permissions enabled for the WIP business objects in the System Setup program of SYSPRO (Business Objects tab - ENET Licence field).

If labor posts to the incorrect work centers in SYSPRO, this will result in incorrect rates and general ledger codes being used.

Possible cause(s) of this error include:

• Visual APS has been installed, but the product is not implemented or operational.
• Smart Manager data source is configured 'With Planning Manager'.
• Machines have NOT been imported into Visual APS and employees are configured with home work centers in SYSPRO.

Rules to identify the work center to which labor is posted

• Use a default work center configured against the Workbench Terminal.
• Use the work center from the operation routing.
• Use the employee's home work center.

However, this only applies if machines have not been imported into Visual APS.

To solve this, import machines into Visual APS.