Today’s topic deals with using Oracle Project Management (PJT) in a Project Manufacturing (PJM) environment.

PJM is a solution delivered by Oracle to enable ATO/ETO-type firms that design and build manufactured items to client specifications. Each client order is managed as a project (due to hard time and budget constraints), but the execution is done primarily in Project Manufacturing.

PJT provides integrated automation solutions for a project manager (PM). However, these two solutions need to highlight the reintegration points and issues.

Integration Points

1. 1. Resource Classes

==> Materials: Can be setup to refer to inventory items from specified (in resource class screen) Item Master and Item Category set.

==> Equipment: Can be setup to refer to BOM resources (Labor and Equipment) setup in Manufacturing.

1. 1. Deliverables

==> Deliverable Type of ‘Item’ allows for associating Items that can be setup as Inward or outward bound deliverables

==> For Purchased deliverables, you can setup deliverable actions for Purchasing which allows you to automatically create Purchase Reqs in PO for those items.

==> For Manufactured deliverables, you can setup deliverable actions for Shipping which collects additional information and then allows you to place a demand on the MRP and once the item is manufactured place a ship order on the item right from the deliverable action screen.

Issues
One primary consideration in using the two solutions is the level at which delivered items are planned for in PJT. The users can plan at the (summary) given item level or at the (complex) BOM components of the delivered items level. In either case, there are issues to consider regarding how this will be handled.

1) If planning at the summary level, the issue arises with collection of Manufacturing actuals and how these actuals are mapped to the planned summary items in the workplan for proper actual v/s planned reporting. The issue is as follows: When a delivered item is planned at a summary level, the actuals from Mfg come at the detailed BOM Component items level as these items are charged to the project as they are consumed in the build out of the summary item. Now when these actuals come to PA, they are stamped with the detailed Component Item and as this does not map to the planned item, it is mapped to the workplan as an unplanned actual: thereby doubling the cost.

==> The solution to this is to collect the final summary item on each mfg transaction as the detailed items are issued from inventory (in a DFF on the transaction). Then after these transactions are cost collected and pushed into the PA-Transaction-Interface table and before the transaction import process is run in PA, we need to change the item on the transactions from the detailed component to the summary item fro the DFF on the Transaction. Now when this transaction is pulled into PA and subsequently mapped to the Workplan it will show up correctly as actuals against the summary planned item

2) If planning at the detailed item level is desired, the issue comes of how to identify all the detailed components needed in the build out of the delivered item in order to plan for them on the workplan. In this case the Delivered items should be setup as a deliverable in order to place the Demand on the MRP as needed. Once this is done, there 2 choices

==> Manually figure out the detailed components and enter them as task assignments on the workplan

==> Have a custom – batch process, that reads the deliverable items and then fetches the detailed components from the BOM explosion of the item in BOM and automatically add them as task assignments to the task associated with the deliverable item.

That’s it for now, and remember:

There is no better way to manage a business than to Manage by Project.

PS: I welcome all comments/trackbacks/pingbacks/queries to my nascent venture here. I will try