SmartFlow APS User Guide
BDP SmartFlow APS is a production-scheduling extension for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (referred to as “Business Central” throughout the rest of this guide). It adds an interactive Gantt scheduler, a finite-capacity scheduling engine, and a sequence optimizer on top of your existing production orders, routings, and work centers — reviewed and applied inside Business Central, on data you already own.
This guide covers what’s in the product today. For the concepts behind the product — what finite scheduling means, why standard Business Central doesn’t do it by default, how changeover matrices work — see the Learn Center and the Business Central articles.
What’s in this guide
- The Gantt Scheduler — the interactive board: bars, zoom, the order-detail panel, and the Grid view.
- Drag-and-Drop Rescheduling — moving orders by hand, the frozen horizon, and Undo.
- Finite Scheduling: Generate, Review, Accept — the automated no-double-booking solve, and how to review it before anything writes back.
- Capacity Heatmaps and Material Availability — reading utilization color, and the material-ready wall on the Gantt.
- Sequence Optimization and Changeover — the standalone changeover-minimizing tool and its matrix.
- The Shop Advisor: Guided Setup and the Tuning Cockpit — the 2-minute wizard and the always-visible tuning dials.
- KPI Dashboard and Role Center — the metrics strip and the SmartFlow role center.
- APS Setup Reference — every configuration field, what it does.
- Snapshots and Undo Checkpoints — capturing and restoring a schedule state.
Getting started
1. Install the extension
Install BDP SmartFlow APS from Microsoft AppSource, or upload the .app file through Extension Management. SmartFlow requires Business Central 2024 release wave 2 (platform/application 26.0) or later, and your company must be running the Premium experience (Company Information → User Experience) — Work Centers, Routings, and Production Orders are hidden by Business Central itself on Essential, and SmartFlow’s setup page will warn you if it detects Essential.
2. Start your trial
Open BDP APS Setup and run Activate Extension. This validates your subscription with Microsoft and starts a 7-day free trial — the trial clock is tracked server-side, so it survives a reinstall. Until you activate, the Scheduler page shows a locked message instead of the Gantt board. When you’re ready to buy, Subscribe on AppSource opens the listing; Refresh Subscription Status pulls the live state immediately instead of waiting for the background poll.
3. Assign permissions
Assign a SmartFlow permission set to each user who needs the Scheduler — see Permissions below.
4. Configure setup (optional, but worth five minutes)
Open BDP APS Setup to review the frozen horizon, timeline window, and capacity thresholds — see the Setup Reference for every field. If you plan to use sequence optimization, also open Constraint Setup to declare your constraint types (Allergen, Color, or anything your shop tracks), tag items with attribute values, and fill in the changeover matrix — see Set Up Constraint Types, Product Attributes, and the Changeover Matrix. None of this is required to open the Scheduler and see a plan; it only matters once you want changeover-aware sequencing.
If you’d rather be guided through the scheduling weights specifically, run Guided Finite Setup from the Setup page instead — see the Shop Advisor.
5. Open the Scheduler
Search for BDP APS Scheduler, or use Open Scheduler from the SmartFlow role center or the Setup page. The Gantt loads your firm planned and released production orders automatically, scoped to the timeline window you configured.
Permissions
SmartFlow ships two permission sets:
| Permission Set | What it grants today |
|---|---|
| BDP APS Full Access | Full access to the Scheduler, Setup, Conflict Log, and every SmartFlow table and process — the permission set behind a paid subscription. |
| BDP APS View Only | Also grants full functional access to the Scheduler and its actions — this is the permission set behind the unlicensed/trial entitlement, not a reduced feature set. Its purpose is to make sure a trial user never hits a Business Central “permission denied” error while evaluating the product; it isn’t currently a read-only or supervisor-facing role despite the name. |
If your plan is to hand a genuinely read-only view to shop-floor supervisors or executives, don’t rely on BDP APS View Only for that today — build a narrower custom permission set from Business Central’s own permission tools, or ask support which SmartFlow objects are safe to grant Read-only.
Support
If you need help or have questions about BDP SmartFlow APS:
- Email: support@dynamicspro.ca
- Phone: 416-843-6575
- Hours: Monday – Friday, Eastern Time
- In product: the Setup page’s Help & Training Guide action opens this Learn Center directly; the Scheduler’s own Finite Scheduling Guide action deep-links to the finite scheduling guide.
Want to understand the concepts before you dive into the UI? Start with What Is Production Scheduling? or, if you already know Business Central is infinite-loading and want to know exactly what that means, Business Central Is Infinite-Loading.