Managing a production floor requires real-time visibility into schedules, capacity, and material availability. In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, you can achieve this through powerful reporting tools and dashboards that keep everyone aligned, from planners to supervisors.
This blog explores how Business Central helps manufacturers monitor production orders, analyze capacity, and leverage Power BI for actionable insights. For a complete walkthrough, watch the full demo → Dynamics 365 Business Central Manufacturing Series Part VIII: Reporting.
Production Order Queues: What's on the Floor?
One of the most practical features for shop floor management is the Production Order Queue. From the Role Center, users can view firm planned and released production orders, along with their routing steps. This makes it easy to see what's currently on the floor and what's coming next, without digging into each order individually.
A key benefit? Drag-and-drop rescheduling. For example, if you need to push back an operation scheduled for February 21st, you can simply adjust the date, and Business Central automatically recalculates subsequent steps. This provides a simple way to keep schedules accurate and resources balanced.
Managing Active Operations
The second widget on the Role Center focuses on released production orders currently in progress. This gives supervisors a real-time view of active operations. While you can reschedule from here, note that this view only shows steps already started—unlike the queue, which shows the full sequence.
Both widgets allow filtering and sorting by department or work center, giving managers quick access to the data they need.
Capacity Management at Work Centers
Beyond order visibility, understanding work center capacity is critical. Business Central provides capacity statistics at the work center level, showing total available hours, scheduled demand, and what's consuming that capacity. This data helps identify bottlenecks before they impact delivery.
For example, you can drill into a specific work center and see how firm planned and released orders occupy capacity. If a rush job comes in, you can identify where adjustments are needed.
Shortage Reports: Staying Ahead of Material Issues
Business Central includes out-of-the-box reports like the Shortage List, which checks if upcoming production orders have all required components. These reports can be run for individual orders or across all released and firm planned orders.
However, keep in mind: if you want to evaluate material availability across the entire production schedule, the Planning Worksheet remains the most powerful tool. The shortage report is best for quick checks on a per-order basis.
Power BI for Real-Time Insights
While Business Central provides robust built-in reports, many manufacturers prefer Power BI for advanced visualization and analytics. The integration is seamless: any page in Business Central can be exposed as a web service for Power BI reporting.
In the demo, a Power BI dashboard shows:
- Capacity utilization by work center
- Active production orders
- Future capacity demands
- High-priority jobs
Because Power BI can refresh as often as every hour, you can monitor shop floor progress in near real time—ideal for supervisors and production managers who need quick insights.
Why It Matters
For manufacturers, visibility drives performance. With Business Central:
- Supervisors can reschedule operations quickly without opening every production order.
- Managers gain real-time capacity insights to avoid bottlenecks.
- Planners stay proactive with shortage and availability reporting.
- Executives benefit from Power BI dashboards for strategic decision-making.
Ready to See It in Action?
For a detailed demo of these features and more, watch the full webinar: