We listened to your feedback regarding the previous iterations of Direct Planning and we are proud to introduce the new features of version 3.2!
In addition to optimizing the functions you already use every day, it includes many innovative functionalities that will allow you to plan with even more efficiency.
Selecting and moving jobs
New selection modes
Various methods are available to select a set of jobs:
- You can still use the selection box as well as the Ctrl+click function to extend the selection.
- We have introduced shift clicking: After selecting a first job, shift click on a second job to select every job located between them (selection by range), as in the following example:
+ Shift click on the last job sharing the same material type (Type C):
Moving multiple jobs
We have brought the following changes for moving of a set of jobs (multiple selection):
- If the selected jobs are grouped, you can now be certain that they will remain together on the drop location:
Before movement
After movement: The jobs remain together
- If the selected jobs are not grouped, the moving function will automatically group them and align them with the leftmost job. This is very useful to position and group a set of jobs via a single drag and drop operation:
Multiple selection before movement
After movement: The selected jobs are grouped
- A context menu (right click) named “Cluster jobs of selection” also groups every selected job and aligns them with the leftmost selected job. This is particularly useful to group spaced out jobs:
Multiple selection before grouping
After grouping: Moved jobs are aligned with the leftmost job
For “long distance” movements, you no longer need to use the drag and drop function: You can now simply select your job, go to the drop location, do a right click on the planning background and click on “Move selection here”.
If you wish to move your selection to a location where the planning already includes jobs, you can still display this context menu by right clicking right above the job.
The addition of the “Move selection here” option replaces the Cut and paste function (and associated shortcut Ctrl+X) that was rarely used in Industry mode and Project mode because it broke the links.
Selected jobs are now more visible thanks to a grey box that sticks out from the job:
Regarding the selection of multiple jobs:
Route links for all selected jobs are now displayed:
- The green dotted vertical line represents the most binding of the earliest start dates among the selected jobs.
- The orange dotted vertical line represents the most binding of the latest end dates among the selected jobs.
- The context menu ”Gather the jobs of the route” is now available. From left to right for every selected job, it consecutively groups every respective route.
The vertical repositioning of the planning has been removed because it could be inconvenient during a drag and drop operation.
“Copy and paste” function
In the context menu of a job, we have retained the “Copy (Ctrl-C)” function.
The Paste shortcut (Ctrl+V) remains available to copy the selected job right behind it.
Right clicking on the planning background reveals a new option (“Paste here”), which is available to perform the copy in a specific location:
The former duplication action “Ctrl+Drag and drop” has been removed because it was too risky.
“Schedule via a list”
This brand new functionality is available from the ribbon and from various context menus (e.g. on the name of a machine on the left side of the planning).
You can also access it rapidly by selecting a job and pressing Ctrl+P.
This feature allows you to schedule jobs by dragging and dropping them vertically in a special list, in conjunction with scheduling via le the Gantt chart that you are already familiar with:
List of scheduled jobs and jobs to schedule colorized by material code.
The left side of this window displays some standard columns that cannot be changed. The right side allows you to customize the columns for this shop floor (with a right click on the column header). This way, you can view as columns the technical data that are useful for the scheduling.
For a given section, you can configure the background colour of the “End” and “Lock” columns, for example as per an important technical data for this section.
In these lists, you can select one or more jobs and drag and drop them to their desired location.
When you enter a column header filter (e.g. a material code) a background colouration allows you to identify the lines that match this criterion.
The lower part of this list displays the 
for this machine.
In the same section, the buttons 
allow you to switch between machines, for the scheduled jobs as well as for the jobs to schedule.
A click in the table also selects the job in the Gantt and conversely.
A double-click in the list allows you to refocus the Gantt, by bringing that job into focus.
In the list, a column of green pictograms allows you to view whether the jobs are grouped or not in the planning:
This list is not intended to be opened all the time because managing the list and the Gantt simultaneously has a negative impact on response times.
Machine-specific configurable lists
On the left side of the planning, a right click on the name of a machine now displays the configurable lists that are specific to that machine (as well as the general lists which do not filter any machine in particular):
Overall usability
Redesigned interface
We have reorganized and simplified the ribbon, including the “Home” tab:
Direct Planning 3.1
Direct Planning 3.2
as well as every context menu (right click):
Right click on a job in Direct Planning 3.1 (left) and Direct Planning 3.2 (right).
For display modes without flags, an inactivity area crossed by a job could be hard to spot.
Thanks to an increase of the line height, such jobs are now visible in all cases.
Keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts are now better indicated in menus.
If select a job on a machine, the “Alt+End” shortcut now takes you to the last job for this machine, whereas the “Alt+Home” takes you to the first “unfinished” job for this machine.
Offering the same functionality as the “+” and “-“ keys on the numeric pad, the new shortcut “Ctrl+Shift+Mouse wheel” allows increasing or reducing temporarily the scope of visualisation for the planning.
Highlighting
Job highlighting is now visually more pronounced:
Display mode configuration
In the edition of a display mode, under the “Job display” tab, deletion icons (
) are now displayed next to each data to display:
and the 
icon allows switching between two display lines:
Workload histogram
By default, the workload histogram now opens with a more relevant scope of visualisation: 3 weeks.
Calendars
For a faster access, the ”Calendars” tab now includes a button called “Calendar of time scale”:
As a reminder, it defines the periods of time to hide via the “Compact time scale” function.
Inactivity areas
A tooltip on each inactivity area now informs you about its start time and its end time:
Search and lists
From the search window, a double click on a job selects and centres the planning on that job. However, a little job could be hard to locate.
A more contrasted display of the selected job as well as an animated arrow now provide a clear visualisation of the location of the searched job:
In the search result, the right click menu now includes a new entry “Filter this value”. This action positions the current value in the column header filter, as in the following example:
In this column, the chosen filter is the “Customer designation”.
After clicking on “Filter this value”, we can notice that the filter “FORK AUSTRIA” is populated and applied.
Resources (machines) display in the planning
All the resources (the machines in Industry mode) of the planning are now displayed, even if the resource line does not contain any job. If you wish to exclude some resources, you can do it when you configure the display modes.
Various
In case of anomaly, the mail sent to the support now includes your Direct Planning version number in the subject line of your message.
