Editing Work Orders

We know plans on the shop floor can change by the hour, with machines being switched and due dates moving. FourJaw supports that flexibility with clear editing, a history of what's changed, and swift updates onto operator tablets.

This article explains what you can edit, how updates flow through to tablets, and how FourJaw keeps your edits separate from your imported data.

How you edit

You make edits from the Work Orders page. Hover over the value you want to change to see a pencil icon. Click it to open the edit modal that shows the current value and lets you change it, then save. Every edit you can make in the interface is also available through the API, so the same changes can be automated if you need them to be.

Hover a cell, click the edit icon, change the value and save.

What you can edit

You can edit the following, at respective work order or operation levels:

• Target quantity on the work order, so the job reflects the correct required output when requirements change.
• Due date on the work order, to keep up with changing customer or production deadlines.
• Scheduled start and end on an operation, to set or adjust when the operation is planned to run.
• Estimated run time on an operation, so the schedule and progress reflect the true expected duration.
• Machine on an operation, to reassign the job to a different machine or clear it entirely.
• Notes on an operation, to record any detail your team needs against that step.

Editing scheduled start and end

Scheduled start and scheduled end appear as two separate columns on the operation. Clicking the edit icon on either column opens the same modal, which lets you set both the start and the end together, each with its own date and time. You can also clear a scheduled time to leave it unset.

The start must be earlier than the end. If it isn't, you'll see the message "Start date and time must be earlier than end date and time", and the change won't save until you fix it. 

Editing the machine, and how it affects tablets

Reassigning a machine in FourJaw doesn't just update the Work Orders page; it moves the job on the shop floor:

• The operation appears on the new machine's job list on the tablet, and no longer shows on the old machine.
• If you clear the machine so the operation is unassigned, it appears on no tablets, until you assign one again.

Reassigning an operation in the web app is all it takes to route it to the right operator & tablet. There's no need to tell them separately or change anything on the tablet itself.

Reassign an operation and the job moves to the new machine's tablet.

Operation status

Operation statuses are driven from the shop floor tablets; if a work order has been started, it will move into In Progress.

You can't currently edit statuses of operations from the web app; this must be driven from the tablets to keep data clean and reliable. 

Your edits are kept separate from imported data

Work order data gets changed in different places at once. A team leader might reassign jobs to another machine while the sales team updates due dates in the ERP, and a FourJaw edit can easily land before the next CSV import is due. When you edit a field in FourJaw, that value becomes the source of truth for it.

FourJaw keeps the originally imported value in the background and records your edit alongside it. Everywhere the value is used, shows your edited value and when the next CSV is imported, your edit won't be overwritten. If you want your edit to be overwritten by the import, simply change it back to the originally imported value, and it will update on the next import. 

In practice this means:

• Edit freely. Make your changes knowing the next import won't undo your work.
• You can see what changed. Where a field has been edited in FourJaw and now differs from the imported value, FourJaw marks it so you can tell an edited field from an untouched one, and see both the original and your amended value.
• Clearing a value is remembered too. If you deliberately clear a field, that's treated as a real change and kept, rather than being read as no change at all.

Edited fields are marked so you can tell them apart from imported values.

Have a question?

Don't hesitate to get in touch with our friendly support team by emailing support@fourjaw.com.