Work a job — steps, files & tasks
The Production tab is the floor's view: departments, steps, time and notes.
What this is for
The Production tab is where a job gets made. It lists every department the job passes through with the steps inside each, their status, the estimated and recorded time, and the notes the floor needs. Steps come from the work written into the product's recipe, so nobody has to type a job sheet.
What is on this screen
Each part of the screen above, top to bottom, and what changing it affects.
Production tab
- Schedule health
- CRITICAL / AT RISK / ON TRACK, Running late, the current department, the ready queue and the date it will now finish. Open production timeline shows it in the schedule.
- Department filter · Estimated · recorded · Open full job sheet →
- All or one department; estimated hours against recorded; the printable sheet.
- Department card — Add time · Edit time · Set workflow status… · Department notes · Save department note
- Record a timesheet line (day, start, finish, what was done) or correct one already recorded; move the department along by hand; notes the floor sees.
- Sign lines — proof state · Qty · hrs · Processes · Production steps
- Each sign in this department with its steps: PENDING, DONE (by whom, when) or After … for one waiting on another, with every time entry listed under its step (who, start to finish or Still running, how long). The proof state comes from the job's proofs: Proof needed until one is uploaded, Proof not sent yet, Out for approval, Revision required (knocked back or approved with changes) or Approved. It only says No proof needed when someone picked that on the sign's card and no proof has gone out since. Add floor note per step.
- Client expectations (this department) · Save expectations
- What the customer cares about, printed on the job sheet.
- Add work
- Put labour or machine time on the job after it was made, for a job started without a quote or work the quote didn't cover. Pick Labour or Machine, the department doing it, what the work is, which sign it's for (or the whole job), the estimated hours and the date it's due. It becomes a normal step: on that department's board with a QR code, on the job sheet and in the production timeline.
- Edit (beside each step)
- For the production manager: set the date the step is due, swap the machine it runs on (cutting off the CNC onto the laser), move it to another department or change its hours. A released job's schedule is worked out again from the new dates. Work added on the job can be taken off again until someone starts it or books time to it.
- Additional cost tracking · Add cost · Remove
- What the job actually took, entered by whoever did the work or used the thing, after it happened. Add cost offers Labour (a department and the hours, costed at its labour rate), Machine (one of your machines and the hours, at its hourly rate), Item (from Items and hardware, at its cost or price break), Material (from your stock, by width × height in mm) and Misc (anything else, like crane hire, with its cost each). Labour and machine time count in the job's actual labour and the rest in its materials, on the Accounts tab and the job card. Nothing is taken off stock on hand, and nothing goes on the production board: use Add work for work still to be done.
- Start · Finish · Pause · Resume (beside each step)
- Only where your shop has turned on Let staff start and finish steps from the job page (Settings → Departments); otherwise steps are started and finished on the floor board or by scanning. Pause needs the pausing switch too.
Files tab
- Drop files here · Choose files
- Up to 2 GB per file, direct to storage with a progress bar.
- Require approval before production uses this file · Tag as
- A gate for a proof the customer must sign off; tags are Artwork, Proof, Site & reference, Final files, Dispatch photos, Client supplied and Sample image.
- Tag chips — All · Artwork · Proof · Site & reference · Final files · Dispatch photos · Client supplied · Sample image · No tag
- Show only the files with that tag. Change a file's tag from the box beside it.
Details tab
- Project summary · Project tasks · Add task
- A summary line and a checklist with due dates; seeded from your checklist templates.
- Council permits · Add permit
- Authority, reference, expiry, document.
- Correspondence · ✨ Draft an email with AI · Log correspondence
- Calls, emails and meetings logged against the job; the AI drafts the customer update.
- History — All · Edits · Production · Commercial · Correspondence
- Everything anyone did on the job, filtered.
Step by step
- 1
Open the job and its Production tab. Schedule health at the top says whether it is on track, which department it is in now, and when it will finish; Open production timeline shows it in the schedule.
- 2
Each department card lists its production steps — PENDING, DONE, or 'After …' for one that waits on another — with who finished it and when, and the time entries under each step. Steps are started and finished on the floor board or by scanning; if your shop allows it, Start and Finish beside each step do the same from here.
- 3
Add time on a department records a timesheet line against it: who, which day, start and finish (the time worked is added up for you) and what was done. Edit time lists the entries already there and lets a supervisor correct one, with a reason. Department notes and Client expectations (this department) tell the floor what the customer cares about. Set workflow status… moves the department along by hand.
- 4
Add work: tap Add work, choose Labour or Machine, the department doing it, what the work is and which sign it's for, and optionally the estimated hours and the date it's due. It goes on the department's board straight away. The production manager can then tap Edit beside any step to set its due date, swap its machine or move it to another department.
- 5
Additional cost tracking: tap Add cost and pick what it is. Labour: choose the department and enter the hours. Machine: choose the machine and enter the hours. Item: search Items and hardware and enter how many. Material: pick a category, search your stock and tap its size, then enter the width and height in mm and how many. Misc: for anything else, like outwork or travel, say what it was for and enter its cost each. The cost shows before you save.
- 6
Files: drop the job's files or Choose files, up to 2 GB each, and tag them Artwork, Proof, Site & reference, Final files, Dispatch photos, Client supplied or Sample image. Dispatch photos are the shots of the job packed or loaded as it leaves, and a delivery docket printed from Outbound files itself there. Client supplied is anything the customer sent that isn't artwork to print. Sample image is a picture of the product or a sample, for reference only. Only Artwork and Final files go to a supplier on a purchase order, and only Artwork and Proof get the print check. Tick 'Require approval before production uses this file' for a proof the customer must sign off. With Sign OS Sync, files land here from your shop drive on their own; with Google Drive or OneDrive connected, Add from Google Drive or Add from OneDrive links files that stay in your cloud. Open in SOS Vector on a PDF, AI, EPS, SVG or picture starts a drawing from it.
- 7
Details: tick off Project tasks (add your own with a due date), track Council permits, log Correspondence — a phone call, a meeting — and read the History of everything done on the job.
Tips & gotchas
- Production waits on the proofs themselves: while any current proof is out for approval or knocked back, the job can't be released. Picking No proof needed on a sign only changes what the job sheet says; it doesn't skip the approval of a proof that has been sent.
- Open full job sheet → on the Production tab is the printable version of the same steps, with department notes.
- Draft an email with AI, under Correspondence, writes the customer update from what is on the job.