Work Orders

A work order turns an active bill of materials into scheduled shop-floor work. Use it to control the quantity, location, status, assignees, materials, labor, serials, cost, and transaction history for one assembly, disassembly, or conversion job.

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Check access and prerequisites

Before creating an order, confirm that you have:

• An active assembly, disassembly, or conversion BOM.
• A positive whole-number quantity.
• The manufacturing location.
• An Available source serial when a serialized source is being disassembled or converted.

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Open Work Orders

Open Purchasing, then Manufacturing, then Work Orders. The breadcrumb reads Purchasing > Manufacturing > Work Orders. You can also search for Work Orders in the command palette. Other ways in:

• A work-order link on a sales order, the Reorder Report, Manufacturing Reports, an inventory transaction, or the dashboard opens that work order.
• Customize on Purchasing > Manufacturing > Production Planning, the build, disassemble, or convert button on an active bill of materials, and Build This Product on a product’s Manufacturing tab open New Work Order with the recipe already chosen.
• View all beside a product’s recent work orders opens the list filtered to that product. Click Clear product filter to see every work order.
• A link to a work order that belongs to another of your companies switches you to that company and says “Switched to NAME to open this work order.” If the switch fails it says “Could not switch to NAME to open this work order. Try again.” You only ever see work orders from companies you belong to.

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Create a work order

1. On Purchasing > Manufacturing > Work Orders, click New Work Order.
2. Search for and select an active BOM.
3. Enter the whole-number Quantity to Build, Quantity to Disassemble, or Quantity to Convert.
4. If Source Serial Number appears, select the serial for this source unit.
5. Review the availability panel. A warning identifies a shortage but does not receive, reserve, or create stock.
6. Select the Location.
7. Choose Low, Normal, High, or Urgent priority.
8. Set Start Date, an optional Due Date, and optional Notes.
9. Review Release immediately (skip draft state). It starts selected. Leave it selected to have this page request Release after creation, or clear it to request Draft. Clearing it does not override an enabled company automatic-release setting.
10. Click Create & Release or Create.

Arcus creates the work order before either release path finishes. Two independent paths can release a standalone order:

• The company Release new work orders immediately (skip draft) setting can release it as part of creation, even when you clear the checkbox on this page.
• The selected page checkbox makes a separate Release request after creation, even when the company setting is off.

Both release attempts are best-effort. A failed or unauthorized release request leaves the created order in Draft, so confirm the resulting status before floor work begins.

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Outcome

The new work order snapshots the selected BOM revision, lines, quantity, location, and estimated cost for the job. A selected source serial is allocated to the order. The resulting status is Draft or Released, depending on whether either release path succeeds. To request Draft from the manual page, the company automatic-release setting must be off and the page checkbox must be cleared.

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Work the queue

The Work Orders page provides Kanban and List views.

• Search by work-order number, product, or SKU.
• Use the Open, In Progress, Completed, and Overdue summary cards.
• Filter by type, assignee, and created date. Choose Unassigned to find work without an owner.
• In List view, filter by status: Open (Draft + Released), Draft, Released, In Progress, Completed, Overdue, Closed, or Cancelled. The list shows WO #, Product, Type, Status, Qty, Assigned, Actual Cost, Due, and Created.
• Plan Combined Run (needs manufacturing.create) starts a combined run of related teardown, conversion, and build jobs. A work order that belongs to a combined run links to it with Open the combined run.
• In Kanban, the active columns are Draft, Released, and In Progress. Completed, Closed, and Cancelled columns start collapsed.
• A Kanban column initially shows up to eight cards. Use its controls to show more or open the full list.

The supported lifecycle is:

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What Arcus Says After An Action

A button you may not use stays visible and turns off with its reason: “You do not have permission to edit work orders (manufacturing.edit)” for Release and Start, “You do not have permission to complete work orders (manufacturing.complete)” for Complete, “You do not have permission to close work orders (manufacturing.complete)” for Close, and “You do not have permission to cancel work orders (manufacturing.delete)” for Cancel. Kanban drag follows the board sequence Draft > Released > In Progress > Completed > Closed. The board does not drag a Released card directly to Completed, even though the work-order detail page can complete a Released order. A drop from In Progress to Completed asks for a quantity, but it cannot collect serialized output details. Use the work-order detail page for serialized completion, and always enter whole units.

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Review the work-order detail

Open a work order before starting physical work. The header shows the work-order number, status, type, priority, product, completed and planned quantities, BOM revision, location, assignees, and current viewers. Use the five tabs to answer different questions: The detail page also shows GL Movements first, with typed journal rows, reversal links, amounts, and dates. A row carries a chip when it is tied to another entry: Reversed by an entry, Corrects an earlier entry (the row’s status reads Correction), or Corrected by a later one. Expand a row to review its debit and credit account lines, then use View journal entry for the full journal entry. Inventory Movements follows with product, movement type, signed quantity, amount, and date. Expand a row for balances, location, supply or demand, account, and posting details, and open FIFO detail when available. An untouched Draft or Released order can have honest empty states until an action posts.

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Assign owners

1. Click the add-person control beside the assignee avatars.
2. Search Add assignee and select a team member.
3. Repeat to add more owners.
4. Use the remove control beside an assignee to unassign them.

Selecting someone already assigned does not duplicate the assignment. Assignees are delegation metadata only, so they do not determine who can open, issue, complete, or cancel the order.

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Release and start

Click Release on a Draft after confirming the BOM revision, quantity, location, schedule, and material plan. Click Start on a Released order when physical work begins. Starting the job normally also starts your labor timer when all of these are true:

• The company setting to start a timer with the job is enabled.
• The BOM is not configured to auto-apply planned labor at completion.
• You do not already have a running timer on this work order.
• You have edit permission and a signed-in user context.

If status changes but the timer cannot start, the work order remains In Progress. Start the timer from its card if labor should be tracked. See Track Manufacturing Labor for timer, manual-entry, and auto-applied labor choices.

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Run materials, labor, and completion

Use the focused procedures for work that changes stock or cost:

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Parts a conversion returns to stock need a cost

When you complete a conversion work order, parts removed from the source unit go back on the shelf through the order’s return-to-stock lines. Each returned part needs a cost, because a part put back at zero cost understates inventory and makes every unit look like pure profit when it sells. Arcus works the cost out in this order and stops at the first one it finds:

1. A cost you type in the Costs needed step below.
2. The cost on the work-order line, which is copied from the part’s own Cost (its product’s Pricing tab, or its variant’s cost) when the work order is created, because a bill-of-materials line has no cost of its own.
3. A cost from the part’s purchase and stock history.
4. The average cost of that part’s stock at the work-order location, but only when none of that stock sits at $0.
5. The company setting Recovered parts with no cost (below).

Complete checks every removed part before any stock moves. When one or more parts still have no cost, nothing is posted and Complete opens Complete NUMBER: costs needed. It says “One removed part needs a cost” (or “N removed parts need a cost”): “These parts come off the unit and go back on the shelf. Arcus has no cost on file for them; enter what one costs you. The cost you enter becomes their value in inventory and moves out of this work order’s cost.”

1. For each part, check the Back to stock quantity and enter its Cost each. When the product already has a cost, the field is filled from it (“Filled from the product record; change it if it is wrong.”). The Value column and the total going back on the shelf update as you type.
2. Optional: when the part has no priced stock on the shelf, you can tick “Set $X as this part's cost" to save the number on the product so "The next work order will not ask." If units of the part already sit on the shelf at$0, the tick also re-costs them. Setting a cost needs the Inventory adjust permission.
3. If some of that part’s units already sit on the shelf at $0, the step says "N unit(s) of this part already sit on the shelf at$0 and stay at $0. The cost you enter applies only to the parts going back now.” People with the permission get a link, Set this part’s cost on its product page, to re-cost the shelf properly.
4. Click Complete with these costs. It stays off until every part has a cost above $0 ("Enter a cost above$0 for every part.”). Change the quantity returns to the quantity step and keeps what you typed. Cancel asks “Discard the costs you entered for the removed parts?” when you have typed costs.

If saving a part’s cost fails, the step says “Could not set the cost of PART.” with the reason and “The work order was not completed; your costs are kept.” Fix the cause and click Complete with these costs again. On a product’s Pricing tab, Set cost opens Set cost: SKU. It shows the units on hand, the value now and the value after, and tells you whether a journal entry will post. Enter the New cost for one unit, an optional reason that shows in the activity log, and click **Set cost to $X**. Arcus says "Cost of SKU set to$X.” Setting a cost re-values the stock on hand and posts a journal entry. A product with variants keeps a cost on each variant, so set it there. An admin can change this behavior on Settings > Products & Pricing > Manufacturing with Recovered parts with no cost: With Never block completion the success message adds a note, for example “1 removed part went back to stock at $0 (Settings > Manufacturing).” Zero-cost stock understates inventory until you set a cost, so use it deliberately. Whenever Arcus finds a returned part’s cost itself, or uses the setting, the cost and where it came from are recorded with the completion in the audit trail.

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Common scenario: run a short assembly

1. Create the order from the active assembly BOM and confirm its location and quantity.
2. Release it only after the recipe and material plan are ready.
3. Assign the floor owner, then click Start when physical work begins.
4. Issue known staged inputs or let completion backflush the remaining requirement.
5. Track actual labor with timers or manual entries, unless the BOM intentionally auto-applies standard labor.
6. Complete only the whole units physically finished.
7. Compare output, serials, cost, Inventory Movements, and GL Movements.
8. Close after the full quantity and final variance review agree.

The order progresses from Draft through Released, In Progress, Completed, and Closed. Inventory and cost change only when the relevant material, labor, completion, or close action posts.

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Review costs and ledgers

Before closing or cancelling, compare the work order to the physical job.

• Cost separates actual material, labor, and overhead and compares total actual cost with the BOM-based estimate. Missing labor can make the variance look more favorable than the work performed.
• GL Movements shows manufacturing journal entries and linked reversals.
• Inventory Movements shows issues, returns, production, and reversal movements with FIFO detail where available. Work-order scrap does not create a second inventory movement because stock already left on issue.
• Marketplace stock: if you sell through connected marketplaces, every stock change from issuing, returning or scrapping material, completing, undoing a completion or cancelling queues the updated available quantities for those channels.
• Timeline preserves who performed lifecycle and transaction actions.

Verify each posting in this order: reopen the owning Materials or Labor tab, review Cost, then GL Movements, Inventory Movements when stock changed, and Timeline. Material issue moves actual FIFO cost into material work in progress. Labor entries add labor work in progress. Each completion relieves that batch’s accumulated material, labor, and overhead into its output. Closing clears any remaining work-in-progress balance to Manufacturing Variance.

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Close completed work

Close only after the full planned quantity is Completed and these checks agree:

• Physical output and output serials.
• Materials issued, returned, substituted, and scrapped.
• Timer and manual labor entries.
• Actual cost and variance.
• Inventory and GL movements.

Click Close in the header. Arcus attempts to roll up any unbooked timer sessions, calculates the planning variance as estimated cost minus actual cost, and clears residual material, labor, or overhead WIP to Manufacturing Variance.

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Cancel unfinished work

Cancel only a Draft, Released, or In Progress order with zero completed quantity.

1. Compare the physical stock with the Materials tab and Inventory Movements.
2. Click Cancel.
3. Enter an optional reason.
4. Click Cancel Work Order.

Cancellation sends each Consume and Add line’s current issued quantity back to the work-order location, reverses accumulated labor cost out of labor WIP, releases an allocated source serial that has not been consumed, removes the order from future component demand, and records the reason. The work-order labor total returns to zero, while booked labor rows and timer-session history remain visible for audit. The Cancel Work Order dialog asks for an optional reason. Keep Work Order backs out and leaves the order unchanged. Cancellation is refused after any completion. Undo eligible completion batches first, or finish and close the work. A Cancelled order cannot be restored through the work-order UI.

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Troubleshoot common blocks

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Frequently asked questions

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