This is the start date of the operations that can be used for forward scheduling.

The end date will automatically be set to the date specified in the Desired shipping date field on the General tab of the sales line. This date can be used for backward scheduling.

Note: The end date can also be determined by the date on which a parent production file is required.

This is the actual start date of the production file, i.e. the first date on which hours were posted against an operation in the production file.

This is the last date on which hours were posted against an operation in the production file.

If the goods produced in the production file must be ready at various dates, click the Production schedule button to specify these dates.

Restrictions can be specified for the entire production file and for individual operations.

A limitation enables you to restrict the options for the start or end date of a production file or an operation. For instance, if you select 'Must start on' and specify a date, you can make sure that the production file or operation will start on that date.

You can choose from the following options:

Not applicable:	The start and end dates are not restricted.
Must start on:	Fixes the start date. The operation must start on the restriction date.
Do not start before:	The operation cannot start before the restriction date.
Do not start after:	The operation cannot start after the restriction date.
Must end on:	Fixes the end date. The operation must end on the restriction date.
Do not end before:	Specifies that an operation cannot end before the restriction date.
Do not end after:	The operation cannot end after the restriction date.

Enter the restriction date to the right of the Restriction field.

During the planning process, restrictions have highest priority. If, for instance, you are planning based on finite capacity, but specify a restriction resulting in an overload, the planning result will still comply with the limitation.

A special situation occurs if you specify restrictions that are contrary to the planning direction. Let us assume that you are forward planning a production file using the restriction 'Do not end after'. During the lead time planning process, the restrictions are evaluated and the planning is performed again, in the opposite direction, in order to adhere to the restriction. The Planning method field (Operations production calculation, Planning tab) shows how the operation has actually been planned.

The priority is relevant if you are planning based on finite capacity. When performing the lead time planning for production files, you can specify the order to be used for scheduling the files. The sequence can be specified by production file priority, customer priority, and by the priority set for sales orders.

This percentage indicates the progress of the production order. The percentage is calculated by adding up the times of the underlying operation lines. The calculation is as follows:

Progress = (Total Actual Time / (Total Planned Time + Actual Time)) * 100%

The progress percentage will not be greater than '0' until hours have been posted against the order. The percentage is updated automatically during the execution of the Process hour lines or Backflush process.

Use these fields to control the lead time of the production file. This does not affect the preliminary costs.