How to use Timeline Factory Manager offline: 27 video lessons

In this video: Company name, country and formats, then an empty factory or sample data.

1. Step 1, Your company: type the company name and, if you like, your own name.
2. Step 2, Country and formats: search for your country by typing. Choosing a country fills in the usual currency, date format, number format and paper size (A4, or US Letter in countries such as the United States, Canada and Mexico).
3. Step 3, How to start: choose "Start with an empty factory" when you are ready to add your own materials, products and customers.
4. Or choose "Explore with sample data". It loads a made-up furniture workshop with orders, work orders and stock, so you can try everything.
5. With an empty factory, follow the four first steps on the dashboard. Each has a button, and the app ticks them off as you go, until your first sales order or work order exists.

Good to know: You can change the country, currency, formats and paper size later in Settings. A backup of the empty file is made before the sample data is loaded, so you can clear the sample later from Settings, Backups.

In this video: The sidebar groups, collapsing the menu and themes.

1. Start at Dashboard, the first item in the sidebar.
2. Use the Sales group for Sales orders, Delivery notes and Customers.
3. Use the Production group for Work orders, Daily production and Products.
4. Use the Stock group for Raw materials and Finished goods. Raw materials shows a count when materials are low.
5. Use the Purchasing group for Purchase orders, Goods received and Suppliers. Reports, Settings and About come last.
6. Collapse the sidebar with the button at the top left to show icons only. Hover an icon to see its name.
7. Choose a theme in Settings: Light, Dark, or Same as computer.

Good to know: On narrow windows (tablet size) the sidebar becomes a slide-out menu.

In this video: What each number and list on the dashboard means.

1. Read "Made in the last 7 days", with rejects, and the bar for each of the last 14 days.
2. Check the counts: open sales orders (and how many are late), work orders (planned and running) and open purchase orders.
3. Look through the lists: In production now (with progress), Ready to deliver, Due in the next 7 days or late, Low stock, and Late sales orders. Each list shows up to 8 items.
4. Click the link on a list to open the full list.
5. Use the quick buttons for the daily jobs: New sales order, New work order and Record production.

In this video: Search, sort, pages, columns, the row menu and CSV export.

1. Type in the Search box. Press / or Ctrl+K to jump to it.
2. Click a column heading to sort by that column.
3. Choose pages of 10, 25, 50 or 100 rows.
4. Show or hide columns. Your choice is remembered on that computer.
5. Open the row menu (the three dots) for actions such as View, Edit, Print and Delete.
6. Click Export CSV to open the list in Excel.
7. Use the arrow keys to move through the rows, and Enter to open one.

In this video: Product details and the materials needed to make one unit.

1. First add the raw materials the product uses, in Raw materials: name, code, unit, unit cost, reorder level, notes and opening stock.
2. Open Products in the Production group and start a new product.
3. Enter the name, code, unit, sale price and notes, and the opening stock if you already have some.
4. Fill in the bill of materials: each raw material and the quantity needed to make one unit, for example 6 m of steel tube and 0.2 litre of paint per gate.
5. Save. The app works out the material cost per unit from the bill of materials and each material's unit cost.
6. Open the product page to see stock, quantity in production, quantity on customer orders and the full stock history.

In this video: Add or remove stock with a reason, and read the running balance.

1. Open Raw materials in the Stock group and open the material.
2. Read the four numbers: on hand, reserved (held by running work orders), available, and on order (on open purchase orders).
3. Use Adjust stock to add or remove stock. Enter the date and a reason.
4. Read the stock history. Every change is one line, with a running balance.
5. Follow the link on a line to open the document that caused the change.

Good to know: On hand and available stock can never go below zero. An action that would do this is refused with a message saying what to do.

In this video: The low stock list and one purchase order for everything that is low.

1. Give each raw material a reorder level.
2. Look at the sidebar. Raw materials shows how many materials are low. The dashboard also has a Low stock list.
3. On Raw materials, click Order low stock and choose a supplier.
4. The app makes one purchase order for all low materials, with enough of each to bring it back to twice its reorder level, counting what is already on order.
5. Edit the order if you need to before you send it.

Good to know: Order low stock makes one purchase order when you click it, to the supplier you choose. The app does not place orders by itself.

In this video: Stock, quantity in production, quantity on orders and shortfall.

1. Open Finished goods in the Stock group.
2. Read the stock of each product.
3. Compare it with the quantity in production and the quantity on customer orders.
4. Check the shortfall. It shows where orders need more than you have or are making.
5. Click Print for a stock list when you count stock.

In this video: Reserve materials and see exactly what is short.

1. Open the planned work order and click Start.
2. The app reserves the materials from the bill of materials.
3. If there is not enough available stock, starting is refused and each short material is named, so you know what to buy.
4. Buy what is short: click Order low stock on Raw materials, or make a purchase order, then Receive goods when it arrives (lessons 10, 20 and 21).
5. Start the work order. Then print a Job card and a Material issue slip for the shop floor.

See a sample job card (PDF), made by the app.

In this video: Made and rejected counts for every running work order.

1. Open Daily production, or click Record production on the dashboard.
2. Enter the made and rejected counts for each running work order.
3. Click Save all.
4. Check the list of recent entries. It has search and a date range.
5. Edit or delete an entry if it is wrong. You can do this while the work order is running.

Good to know: Recording production shows progress on the dashboard and on work orders. Stock moves when the work order is completed.

In this video: Use the materials and add good units to finished goods.

1. Open the running work order and click Complete.
2. Read the totals made and rejected so far.
3. Add a final count for anything made since the last daily entry. Leave it at 0 if all production is recorded.
4. Confirm. The materials used, for everything made and rejected, are taken out of stock.
5. The good units are added to finished goods, ready for a delivery note.

In this video: Edit entries, reopen a completed work order or cancel one.

1. A wrong daily entry: edit or delete it in Daily production while the work order is running.
2. Completed by mistake: use Reopen to undo the completion. This works while its goods are still in stock.
3. A work order you no longer need: cancel it, as long as no production is recorded on it.
4. Production already recorded: complete the work order instead of cancelling it, so the materials used are accounted for.

In this video: Production, material use, order status and stock value.

1. Open Reports.
2. Choose the period: this month, last month, last 30 days, this year, or any dates.
3. Production report: made, rejected and reject rate by product, with a breakdown by day.
4. Material use report: used, received and adjusted per material, with the cost of what was used.
5. Order status report: every open sales order with ordered, in production and delivered quantities, and late orders.
6. Stock value report: raw materials at unit cost; finished goods at material cost and at sale price.
7. Export any report to CSV. You can print the Production report, and print a stock list from the Stock value report.

See a sample production report (PDF), made by the app.

In this video: The seven printable documents and saving them as PDF.

1. Open the page of the thing you want to print: a work order for the Job card and the Material issue slip, or a purchase order, goods received note or delivery note.
2. Click the print button on that page, or use Print in the row menu on the list.
3. A preview window opens with Print and Save as PDF.
4. Choose Print for paper, or Save as PDF to keep the file.
5. For the Production report, open Reports, Production and click Print report. For a stock list, click Print on Raw materials, Finished goods or the Stock value report.

Good to know: Each document shows your company name, address, contact details, tax number and logo from Settings. Long documents run over several pages, and table headings repeat on each page. Every page ends with a small Timeline Digital bar with the website and email.

In this video: Bring in products, materials and customers from a CSV file.

1. Click Import CSV on the Products, Raw materials or Customers list.
2. Not sure of the columns? Click Save a template for a file with the right headings.
3. Save your spreadsheet as CSV from Excel and choose the file.
4. Read the preview. It shows which columns were recognised and which rows have problems.
5. Confirm. Nothing is saved until you do.

Good to know: Column headings are matched loosely: "Sale price", "price" and "selling price" all work. Comma and semicolon files are both read, and semicolon files use decimal commas (2,5). A row whose code matches an existing record updates it, and empty cells leave existing values alone. The Name column is always needed. Opening stock can be included for new products and materials.

In this video: One order followed from sales order to delivery note.

1. Add the customer, the raw materials, and a product with its bill of materials. You do this once.
2. Enter a sales order for the customer.
3. On the sales order, click Make work orders.
4. If the app says a material is short, click Order low stock on Raw materials (or make a purchase order), then Receive goods when it arrives.
5. Start the work order. Materials are reserved. Print a Job card and a Material issue slip for the shop floor.
6. Each day, enter what was made and rejected in Daily production.
7. Complete the work order. Materials used are taken out of stock and good units go into finished goods.
8. On the sales order, click Create delivery note, then print it and send the goods.