Versions of Control 3.x and before used dispositions and stages somewhat similar to stations. Dispositions were used for tracking the sub-status or orders and estimates, and stages were used for tracking the progress of line items through production.

Control 4 unifies both concepts of dispositions and stages into departments and stations. Both orders and line items can share the same list of stations regardless of the tracking methodology used. This allows users to migrate more easily from order level tracking to line item level tracking as their business and production complexity grows.

When upgrading to Control 4, all of your current dispositions and stages will be converted into stations, but you might want to take the opportunity to restructure them. The setup of all stations is in System Setup, under the Stations category.

Earlier versions of Control used employee time clock statuses to classify the employees working department. Control 4 further unifies the time clock status into departments and stations. Each station can be set as an Employee Clock-In Station. When an employee clocks in, they may now specify a valid clock-in station to attribute their working time, whether or not a specific job is specified.

When upgrading to Control 4, all of your time clock statuses will be converted into stations, but you might want to take the opportunity to restructure them. The setup of all stations is in System Setup, under the Stations category.

One of the most powerful features of Control has been the use of Parts to automatically (or manually) build out the bill-of-materials, labor, and equipment estimated for an order. Several new innovations have been made in Control to enhance the use of parts for estimating and costing.

One important evolution for tracking cost in Control is the use of part-usage cards. Earlier versions of Control provided an “Actual Usage” to go along with the “Estimate Usage”. This Actual Usage could be entered to record the actual amount of a part used, which adjusted the corresponding inventory and cost data. In Control 4, part usage cards are used to record all actual use of a part.

With material parts, every time material is used a part-usage card would be created to reflect the adjustment in inventory (if being used) and record the appropriate costs. Likewise labor usage cards can be created from timecards to record the time and costs associated with actual work. Alternately, labor usage cards can be manually entered in batch or individual mode.

Usually, you will want to start with workstations corresponding to your departments. Additionally, you might break down those departments and you will certainly add some non-employee workstations to represent queues and sub-statuses. The setup of all stations is in System Setup beneath the Orders, Estimate, and Service Ticket options.

As orders move through the production process, you will want to update their current status (station). There are several ways to do this, but the first distinction is to decide if you want to move the entire order together or move each line item individually through production.

You can change the station for an order, service ticket, or estimate through any of the following methods:

• Edit the order and change the station for the entire order, estimate, or service ticket. The Order's workstation is at the top left of the order screen.
• From the order or estimate explorer, right-click, select Change Station, and choose the new station.
• From production home screen, choose Change Work Info and select the new station.

When selecting new stations, you may choose any stations in the valid list. The valid list will change based on the status of the transaction (you can establish whether a station is valid for WIP, Built, estimates, etc.).

You can change the station for a line item through any of the following methods:

• Open the order and right-click on the line item. Select Change Station, and choose the new station.
• Edit the order, open the line item, and on the advanced tab of the pricing form you will see a drop-down to change the station.
• From the line item or service ticket explorer, right-click, select Change Station, and choose the new station.
• On the instrument on the production home screen, select the line item and set the new station.

Control 4 merged dispositions, stages, and time clock statuses into a unified concept of Stations. Workflow in Control is now organized into stations and substations. (Top level stations are referred to as departments.)

Control 3 users will need to reorganize these to match the workflow of your business. Create department level stations and sub-stations corresponding to the organization of your business.

Not every station is usually appropriate for order-level station tracking, line item station tracking, and time clock status. Set each station as valid or not valid for these uses so that invalid choices are not displayed to the user.

You will usually change the station of an order or line item in one of the following ways:

• Right-clicking on an order/line item from Explorer
• Right-clicking on an order/line item from a production dashboard instrument
• From Production Terminal (a web-browser based application for production)
• When clocking in/out on a job

All of these methods produce the same results, and the best one to use is based on your specific usage patterns.

The real power of stations is when it is applied to parts. In Control 4, all of your parts list can be broken down into their appropriate stations. This provides much better reporting and analysis capabilities, by allowing the following questions to be asked:

For production tracking purposes, each part in Control can specify the station where it will be used. Edit the parts and set the station where that part is normally used.

Note: This setting may be overridden when the part is linked to a product, modifier, or selection list. When the default value does not apply, you will need to override this value and set the appropriate station.

When establishing a Product-Part link (on the Parts tab in product entry or the Products tab in part entry), you can override the default station and manually enter the appropriate station.

When establishing a Modifier-Part link (on the Parts tab in modifier entry or the Modifiers tab in part entry), you can override the default station and manually enter the appropriate station.

When establishing a Part Link in a selection list, you can override the default station and manually enter the appropriate station. You can enter the new station in the default row, or specify a station for each selection list item.

During order entry, you can also override the station where the part applies. To do this, click on the Parts button beneath the line item entry and override the station. If you do not see the station in the Parts grid, right-click on the grid and choose “Column Chooser” to enable this column.

The Production Home Screen in Control 4.0 is now a dashboard that each user could customize. It displays instruments that will commonly be used by employees in the production environment.

You cannot overwrite the default Production Home Screen, but you can click on Save As, enter a new name (for example, Jim's Production Screen), and set this as your Home Screen. Then you can make new changes, but remember to save them before closing Control.

The Production Home Screen in Control 4 is now a dashboard. This gives the user the ability to customize what information is displayed and how their production home screen is used.

A number of specific instruments have been designed for production use, many of which mimic or expand functionality on the Production Home Screen in earlier versions of Control. Instruments found on the default Production Home Screen include:

• Production Shortcuts Instrument– This instance of the shortcuts instrument keeps shortcuts to common production tasks just one click away. (Shortcuts include Conform Labor Time, Change Work Information, Confirm Material Usage, View Work History, Use Material, Change Another Job's Information).
• Time Clock Employee List Instrument – This instrument provides the list of employees and is used by other instruments to identify the employee for whom the action (such as clocking in and out of the system) will be recorded. It has an option to display only employees currently logged in or all employees.
• User Time Clock Instrument – This instrument allows the user to clock in and clock out of the system. It can be set up to always display the logged in employee's information or the employee selected in the Time Clock Employee List instrument. The status can also be changed along with any additional information related to the status change.
• User Time Clock History Instrument– This instrument provides the time clock history for the selected employee.
• WIP Order Explorer Instrument – This instance of the Order Explorer instrument shows all orders with the status of WIP. Each user may wish to filter this for their station, or if you are using line item routing, to remove this instrument and use only the Line Item Explorer.
• Line Item Explorer Instrument– This instance of the Line Item Explorer displays the line items for the order selected in the WIP Order Explorer Instrument. If you are using line item tracking and not order level, you will probably want to remove the Order Explorer and configure the Line Item Explorer to display based for a particular line item station.
• Part Usage Instrument– This instrument displays a list of parts for an order and the total amount of usage for each part. You can filter the parts listed based on the part type (Labor, Material, Equipment, Other, Outsource, and/or Freight). It also displays the total cost of the parts if this option is checked.
• Create Part Usage Cards Instrument– This instrument allows you to manually create part usage cards for orders. Part usage cards can be created from the parts in an order or manually. It has options for setting a default employee and the date and time of the usage cards.
• Part Usage Card List Instrument This instrument provides a list of part usage cards created within a specified time period. An order number can be specified.