BDP SmartFlow APS
Advanced production scheduling with interactive Gantt chart and sequence optimization for Business Central.
1. Overview
BDP SmartFlow APS is an advanced production scheduling extension for Dynamics 365 Business Central that transforms standard MPS/MRP planning into a visual, interactive, finite-capacity scheduling experience.
The extension embeds an interactive Gantt chart directly within Business Central. Production planners can visualize their entire schedule, drag and drop orders to reschedule or reassign resources, check material availability, and optimize changeover sequences — all without leaving Business Central.
Key Benefits: Interactive Gantt scheduling, finite-capacity validation, drag-and-drop rescheduling, sequence optimization with changeover matrices, material availability checking, what-if simulation, and real-time KPI dashboard.
2. Getting Started
Follow these steps to set up SmartFlow APS in your Business Central environment:
Install the Extension
Install BDP SmartFlow APS from Microsoft AppSource or upload the .app file through Extension Management in Business Central. Requires BC 2024 Wave 2 (v26.0) or later with a Premium Manufacturing license.
Assign Permissions
Assign the BDP APS Full Access permission set to production planners and manufacturing managers. Assign BDP APS View Only to supervisors and other read-only users.
Configure APS Setup
Open the APS Setup page to set your frozen horizon, capacity warning thresholds, planning horizon, and (optionally) the sequence optimizer endpoint URL for cloud-based optimization.
Set Up Constraints & Changeover Matrix
If you use sequence optimization, define constraint types (e.g., Allergen, Color), assign product attributes to items, and configure changeover times in the changeover matrix.
Open the Scheduler
Navigate to BDP APS Scheduler from the search bar or role center. The Gantt chart loads your firm planned and released production orders automatically.
3. Interactive Gantt Scheduler
The Gantt scheduler is the primary interface for SmartFlow APS. Production orders appear as horizontal bars on a timeline, grouped by work center or machine center.
Visual Features
- • Status Color-Coding: Each order is colored by status (Simulated, Planned, Firm Planned, Released, Finished)
- • Completion Overlay: Progress percentage displayed as a fill within each bar
- • Material Status Icons: Green, amber, or red indicators show component availability
- • Priority Markers: Visual pip markers highlight high-priority orders
- • Late Order Borders: Red border highlighting for orders past their due date
- • Today Line: Vertical marker for the current date with weekend dimming
Navigation & Interaction
- • Zoom Levels: Switch between Day, Week, and Month granularity
- • Click to Select: Click any bar to open the order detail panel with full information, routing operations, and material status
- • Double-Click: Open the standard BC Production Order Card directly from the Gantt
- • Work Center Filter: Click any work center in the sidebar to filter the view
- • Grid View: Toggle to a tabular view for scanning, sorting, and bulk operations
4. Drag-and-Drop Rescheduling
Reschedule production orders by dragging bars on the Gantt chart. Changes are validated in real-time and written directly to standard Business Central tables.
Horizontal Drag: Move an order left or right to change its start and end dates.
Vertical Drag: Move an order up or down to reassign it to a different work center or machine center.
Validation on Drop: When you release the bar, the engine checks finite capacity at the target resource, material availability at the new start date, and frozen horizon compliance.
Confirmation Dialog: A dialog shows before and after utilization percentages so you can confirm or cancel the change.
Undo: Revert the last drag action with a single click.
Note: Only Firm Planned and Released orders can be dragged. Planned and Finished orders are locked. Orders within the frozen horizon cannot be moved.
5. Capacity Management
SmartFlow APS calculates finite capacity for every work center using your shop calendar, shifts, holidays, and efficiency factors. Capacity utilization is displayed as color-coded heatmaps throughout the interface.
Capacity Heatmap Colors
The capacity sidebar shows utilization bars for every work center with drill-down to machine center level. Conflicts are automatically detected and logged when any resource exceeds 100% capacity.
6. Material Availability
Before rescheduling any order, SmartFlow APS checks whether all BOM components will be available at the new start date. The material checker analyzes multiple supply sources.
Supply Sources Checked
- • Current on-hand inventory
- • Expected purchase order receipts (by promised delivery date)
- • Expected production order outputs from sub-assemblies
- • Competing demand from other production orders
- • Safety stock and safety lead time parameters
Material status is shown as colored indicators on each Gantt bar: green (all available), amber (partially short), or red (critical shortage). Hover over warning icons to see which specific components are short and by how much.
7. Sequence Optimization
SmartFlow APS includes a two-tier sequence optimization engine that minimizes changeover times by intelligently ordering production runs based on product attributes and constraints.
Quick Optimizer (Built-in)
Runs entirely within Business Central with no additional infrastructure. Groups orders by constraint profile and sorts by color (light-to-dark), priority, and earliest due date. Delivers instant results — typically 60–70% of optimal benefit.
SmartFlow Engine (Cloud / Optional)
Cloud-based advanced optimization engine for multi-constraint scheduling. Supports allergen compatibility, color transitions, halal/kosher/organic certification boundaries, and any custom constraint type you define. Typically achieves 40–60% setup time reduction.
Review Workflow: Both optimizers follow a Propose → Review → Accept/Reject workflow. You see a before-and-after comparison with KPI improvements before committing any changes.
Changeover Matrix: Define asymmetric From→To setup times in the changeover matrix. For example, switching from a dairy product to a nut-free product might take 60 minutes, while the reverse takes only 45 minutes.
8. What-If Simulation
Create schedule snapshots to test alternative scenarios without affecting your live production data.
Create Snapshot: Capture the current schedule state as a named snapshot.
Simulate Changes: Drag and drop in simulation mode — changes are saved to snapshot tables, not live BC data.
Compare Scenarios: View side-by-side KPI comparisons between original and simulated schedules.
Apply or Discard: Commit the simulation to live tables or discard it entirely.
9. KPI Dashboard
An always-visible metrics strip at the top of the scheduler provides real-time production KPIs that update after every action.
Tracked Metrics
- • Active Orders: Total production orders with status breakdown
- • Released Orders: Count of orders released to the shop floor
- • Average Completion %: Progress across released orders
- • Material Alerts: Number of orders with component shortages
- • High Priority: Count of high-priority orders requiring attention
- • On-Time Delivery: Projected on-time delivery percentage
- • Capacity Utilization: Overall utilization across all work centers
10. Setup & Configuration
Configure SmartFlow APS through the APS Setup page and related configuration pages.
APS Setup Options
- • Frozen Horizon: Number of days from today during which orders cannot be rescheduled
- • Capacity Thresholds: Warning (default 70%) and critical (default 90%) utilization levels for color-coding
- • Planning Horizon: How far forward and backward the scheduler loads data
- • Optimizer Endpoint: URL and API key for the optional SmartFlow Engine cloud service
- • Solver Time Limit: Maximum seconds for cloud optimization runs
Constraint & Changeover Configuration
- • Constraint Types: Define categories such as Allergen, Color, Cleaning Level, or any custom type
- • Product Attributes: Map items to constraint types and values (e.g., Item FG-CUP-CHOC = Allergen: Dairy+Cocoa, Color: Dark)
- • Changeover Matrix: Set From→To setup times for each constraint value pair
- • Attribute Values: Define the valid values for each constraint type
11. Role Center
SmartFlow APS includes a dedicated role center for production scheduling specialists, as well as extensions to the standard Manufacturing Manager role center.
Role Center Features
- • Activity cues showing open orders, capacity alerts, and material warnings
- • Quick action to open the APS Scheduler directly
- • Headline part with scheduling summary
- • Navigation to all SmartFlow APS pages (setup, conflicts, constraints, optimization results)
- • Manufacturing Manager role center extended with SmartFlow APS actions and widgets
12. Permissions
The extension includes two permission sets for role-based access control:
| Permission Set | Description | Typical Users |
|---|---|---|
| BDP APS Full Access | Full read/write access to all APS tables, rescheduling, optimization, and setup | Production Planners, Manufacturing Managers |
| BDP APS View Only | Read-only access to view the schedule, KPIs, and conflict log | Shop Floor Supervisors, Sales, Executives |
13. Support
If you need help or have questions about BDP SmartFlow APS, our support team is here to assist you.