Press your job below. It shows you the screens you use and the buttons you press. The question box under this only knows a set list of how-to topics and a few selected read-only lookups. Want to see every place an order can be, and what moves it on? Open Orders and admin below.
This box is a fixed topic guide, not a general AI assistant. It is not the same as Ask Winky. It finds the written how-to answer that best matches your words. It can also do selected stock and board-count lookups from live data. Always check the date it shows, because an answer can be new while the data behind it is old. It cannot change anything and it cannot answer every question.
Press the one that matches what you do. It takes you straight to your part.
The next part is for everybody, whatever your job.
Everybody signs in the same way. There is no password. You only need your 3-digit employee number.
It is in the email PhoenixOS sent you. If you cannot find the email, a level 4 sign-in can look up your number on the People list in Administration.
It is the only thing needed to sign in as you. Everything done under it goes down as your work. Treat it like a password.
On the floor your sign-in ends at midnight. So the tablet asks for your number again each morning. That is normal. In the office a sign-in lasts 30 days on that device.
If your screen jumps back to Sign in by itself, just sign in again. You come back to the same screen. Nothing you already tapped is lost.
When you are signed in, the top bar shows your name and a LOG OUT button. On a shared tablet, the name tells everyone whose screen it is.
The wall TV and the shared truck tablet show no name and no LOG OUT. They are screens to look at, not a person's sign-in.
Everyone has a level from 1 to 4. Your level decides which screens you can open and what you can change. Home only shows screens you can use. So if you see fewer tiles than someone else, that is correct.
| Level | Screens you can open | What you can change |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | My station (the machine you pick), the TV wallboard, Deliveries and collections, Pallets | Work jobs at your machine, record a final count, record pallets going out or coming back. |
| 2 | All of level 1, plus Factory, Hand Work and Wastage | All of level 1, plus confirm a delivery and who signed for it, move a job to another station, and correct a final count. |
| 3 | All of level 2, plus Stock, Goods In, Find a job, and Administration (look only) | All of level 2, plus stock movements, stocktakes, groups and stock held for an order. |
| 4 | Every screen, including Orders, Purchasing, Photo Create, Products and prices, Reports, and Machine flows and rates | Everything else, like processing orders, reorder settings, machine queue order, holds and routing, delivery planning, purchasing and staff. A few Administration changes are kept for certain people only, whatever their level. |
Most screens show only the buttons your level can use. A button you cannot use is simply not there. On Factory Operations the queue order, hold and routing buttons stay on each card but grey, and the card says underneath which level they need.
If you open a screen above your level, it says Your sign-in can't open this screen. Signing in again will not help. If you need that screen for your work, a level 4 sign-in can change your Access level on the People list in Administration.
If your level is changed, you see the change next time you sign in.
Home is the start page. It has a tile for each work area you can open. Orders opens the Order Book. Its tabs across the top are the lists of orders at each stage.
You can pick the screen you see first after signing in.
It is saved for this browser only. A tablet set up for one machine or for the dock always opens that machine or the dock, whatever you choose.
Before a tablet can sit at a machine or the dock, it has to be set up once. It needs a setup code made for that tablet.
Setting up a tablet tells PhoenixOS which machine or dock it is at. It does not say who is using it. So each person still signs in with their own employee number before doing any work, and presses LOG OUT when they leave. The wall TV and the shared truck tablet are for looking only. To record handing goods over, use your own driver sign-in.
Scanning a card on a tablet that is already set up just opens its usual screen. It does not move a Flexo tablet to another machine. If a tablet is set up for the wrong machine, it needs setting up again with a new code. Setup, expiry and log out still need checking on the real tablet when it is set up.
You are looking at practice data, not the real factory. Nothing you do is
recorded. Look at the web address. If it ends in ?demo or ?live,
delete that part and reload.
Practice mode follows you to every link until you fix the address. One shared link can keep a whole shift on practice data.
Either way, the screen may be out of date. Tell the office. Do not think a job has gone just because you cannot see it.
Your sign-in ran out. Sign in again and nothing is lost. On the floor this usually happens first thing in the morning, because floor sign-ins end at midnight.
That screen is above your level. Signing in again will not help. If you need it for your work, a level 4 sign-in can change your Access level on the People list in Administration.
It has an open query. The order stays on New orders, greyed out, with a note saying who has the query. It cannot be processed until the query is answered. You can also find it on the Order Book's Queries tab.
That is on purpose. An order on In deliveries also shows on the tab for its stage, like Awaiting board, In production or Ready to deliver. It is the same order in both places, not a copy.
Stop and tell someone. Do not press more buttons to fix it. The office can put most things right, like bringing back a removed order, moving a job back to a machine, or moving a delivery to another run.
Two things cannot be undone from any screen. Finishing an operation on the wrong job, and marking the wrong order delivered. A person can still fix both, so say so straight away.
This part is for you if you run a machine on the floor, like die cutting, stripping, laminating or Solarco. Your jobs come to you in a queue, one after another.
You have your own 3-digit employee number. Nobody else has it. You never type an email address or a password.
On a machine's own tablet you go straight to that machine's jobs. On a shared tablet you pick your machine first (see below).
It is the only thing needed to sign in as you. Every tap goes down under your name. If you think someone else has used it, tell the office.
Your sign-in lasts until midnight. Next morning the tablet asks for your number again. That is normal.
On a shared tablet you see Which machine do you want to work on today?
To change machine, tap Change machine on that line and pick again. You can also get to the chooser from the Factory tile on Home, or Work on a machine if you look after a section. A tablet fixed to one machine says so on that line instead.
Each job in your queue is one card. From the top down
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Job number | Quote this number to anyone about this job. |
| A short code beside it | The customer's short code. |
| PRIORITY | The office has put this job at the top. Do it first. |
| REWORK (maybe with a number) | This card is work being done again, not the first go. |
| #3 in queue | Its place in the queue. The office sets the order on purpose, so work down the list. |
| The description | The item you are making. |
| Qty, or To make | How many to make. To make shows when less board came than was ordered. |
| Due | When this job must be finished here. It is not the day it ships. |
| Step 2 of 5 | Which step of the job this is, and the next step. Last step means it is the final one. |
Under that are small grey boxes, the references, for the drawing, artwork, knife, pallet and any notes. If a box is blue, tap it to open the document. Check the knife and the drawing before you set up.
If the card says No production route recorded, the tablet will not let you tap it. That is on purpose. If a card says On hold, do not start it either. Tell your supervisor and go to the next job.
The card has two halves, Setup and Manufacturing. The button you need next is always the yellow one.
The line in the middle of the card tells you where you are. It says Waiting to start setup, then Setup in progress, then Manufacturing in progress. A paused job says Paused setup or Paused manufacturing and the reason.
After a pause, the yellow button says Resume setup or Resume manufacturing. It takes you back to the same part you stopped in.
Just press the one you are up to. If you never pressed Start setup, the job still finishes. PhoenixOS just does not know how long setup took, and it will not make a number up. Tell your supervisor.
The extra buttons below (QA check, Quantity / waste, Report issue, Create rework job, Pause) show once you have started setup.
Record a fail honestly. The job is put on hold at your machine and shows up on the office board straight away. You cannot restart it yourself. A manager lifts the hold. Do not keep running product you have just failed.
You can do this while the job is running.
Record a few times through the shift. That is better than one guess at the end. The totals for Good, Waste, Rework and Latest QA show at the bottom of the card.
The final count is how many good boxes are packed at the end of the job. The customer is sent and charged for this number. So count, do not guess.
On a job's last step the card says Last step - Done asks for the count of good boxes. When you press Finish operation (on Hand Work it is DONE), a box asks How many good boxes are packed? Give the total, including earlier shifts.
Owed counts are listed under Counts owed at the top of Hand Work. Press Enter count on the row to fill one in. The card then shows Counted and the number.
A count far above or below the order is still saved, and nobody has to approve it. Counted wrong? Tell your supervisor. A level 2 or above sign-in can press Correct the count on the job's card on Factory or Hand Work. On Hand Work, jobs counted there wait under Counted and not yet delivered until they go out.
The old count, the new count, who changed it and the reason all stay on the job.
Pause whenever work really stops. Paused time is not counted against your machine. If you go to lunch without pausing, your machine looks slow.
When you start again, press the yellow Resume button on the card.
Use this when something is wrong but you are not stopping the job.
Your last few issues stay at the bottom of the card, so the next person on the machine sees them.
Typing a safety issue into the tablet is not enough. If something is unsafe, stop, make it safe and tell your supervisor in person. Then record it.
Use this when work has to be done again at your machine.
It makes a new job for this one step and puts it in your queue. It has a REWORK badge and the same job number. The first job is not changed or undone. Rework is extra work and is recorded as extra work.
You may see up to three times. They are never added together.
| Time | What it is |
|---|---|
| Setup total | Time spent setting up. |
| Run total | Time spent running. |
| Waiting between machines | Time the job sat waiting, not at any machine. That is not your time. |
While you work you also see a live clock, like Setup 25m on the clock. That clock keeps ticking through lunch and overnight. The totals only count working time. So a job left overnight shows a big clock but a sensible total next day. Both are right.
Buttons go grey while saving. Wait for the answer. Before you tap again, check the job and step to see what saved.
Nothing on this screen can be taken back. Not a tap, a QA result, a quantity or a rework job. If you record something wrong, or on the wrong job, tell your supervisor straight away. They can fix it properly. Do not try to cancel it out with another entry.
If the connection drops, your tap may still have saved. Get the connection back, refresh, and look at the job before you repeat anything. If you still cannot tell what saved, do not tap again. The job's Activity log on Factory shows who did what, and when. It needs a level 2 sign-in.
A green message means it saved. A red message needs reading. It does not always mean nothing happened.
Your name is at the top of the screen with LOG OUT next to it. Press it at the end of your shift, or any time you walk away from a shared tablet.
If you stay signed in and someone else uses the tablet, their work goes down as yours. Log out.
Hand work and gluing are done on the bench board. Open Hand Work. Each bench or gluer has its own column of jobs. Check the job, the step and whether it is on hold before you start.
While running you can press Record waste to record boxes wasted, with a reason. A job marked On hold or QA hold must not be started. Ask your supervisor about a wrong job or step. If the screen did not answer, refresh and check what saved before you tap again.
This is for booking in stock and board when a truck arrives. Open Goods In and sign in as yourself. Check the PO number, supplier, product and ordered amount against what is on the truck.
Always book in what really arrived, even if the paperwork says something else. Tell the office about the difference. Never press All here to make a short count match the paperwork.
It may or may not have saved. Press Check saved receipt. If it then offers Retry this same total, that sends the same total again. It does not add another delivery. Do not enter a new receipt just because you did not see a message.
Booking in updates stock. It does not prove the goods are at a machine, that a job is made, or that a customer got their delivery. If you booked in the wrong item or count, tell the office and do not delete anything.
This part is for you if you load the truck and do the deliveries.
Always sign in as you, not as "the truck". Every drop you confirm is saved with your name on it.
The tablet in the truck is only for looking at the run. Do not sign in on it and leave it in the cab. Sign in on your own screen, confirm your drop, then sign out.
Each drop shows the job number, the customer's short code, the product, how many units, and where it goes under Deliver to.
Confirming closes the order. You only get one go. A second confirm on the same drop is refused. So type the real name of the person who took the goods, at the drop. Never guess it. If you confirm the wrong drop, no screen can undo it. Do not confirm another drop to cover it. Tell the office straight away so it can be put right.
A grey card that says awaiting payment is not yours to confirm. It has no Confirm delivered button, because the office confirms that one.
You confirm drops. The office plans the runs. You cannot move a job to another day or another run, or change its delivery date. If a run looks wrong, the office fixes it with Move run or date on Plan delivery runs. Let them know before you load the truck.
The truck tablet shows customer short codes, not customer names. That is on purpose. The tablet gets passed around, so it only shows what you need to match a card to a pallet.
This part is for you if you decide what leaves the building and in what order.
The dock has its own tablet. It is not a machine tablet. Sign in on it with your employee number and it opens the Deliveries and collections screen, with the word Despatch across the top and big buttons.
This screen shows every order that is ready to go out, one card each. To open it, open Deliveries on Home and press Deliveries and collections in the links along the top.
| Tab | Shows |
|---|---|
| All | Everything waiting to go, any way it travels. |
| Truck | Going on our truck. |
| Courier | Going by courier. |
| Pickup | The customer is collecting it. |
Each tab shows how many cards it holds. A card that says No delivery method recorded needs chasing with the office. Do not load it yet.
If the screen says Nothing waiting to dispatch, nothing is ready. That is not a fault. Cards turn up by themselves.
Direct deliveries go straight from the supplier to the customer. Their cards are grey.
The docket is the paper the driver takes and the customer signs. Every card on Deliveries and collections and on Plan delivery runs has a Print delivery docket button.
Printing does not save anything. The order stays open until someone marks it delivered.
When an order is marked delivered, its card leaves both screens. You can still print its docket again with a level 4 sign-in.
A docket printed after delivery says COPY at the top.
A blank line on the docket means Phoenix has nothing saved for it, often the delivery address. Write it in by hand, then fix it on the order. A line can also be left blank because it holds something only the office should see. The docket tab tells you which lines. Correct the order and print again.
Phoenix then closes the order and puts today's date on it. The order moves to Ready to invoice for the office, with the name of the person who signed.
There is no undo. Marking the wrong card closes the wrong order, and fixing it has to go through the office. A second confirm on the same order is refused, so the first signature stays as the record.
Deliveries and collections shows what is ready. Plan delivery runs shows where it is going and on which day. Use both. Open Deliveries on Home to get to Plan delivery runs.
The board shows one week, Monday to Friday, one column per day. Each column heading says which run leaves that day.
Use the arrows to go back or forward a week. Press the week in the middle to pick a date. Press This week to come back. The tabs Complete List, Next 7 Days, Unassigned and one per run narrow the board. More ways to narrow the list holds All runs and Truck only.
A card with At risk of missing the delivery date is close to its date and not finished. Check it is really ready before you load it. A card with a green left edge is finished or delivered.
Courier, customer pick-up and direct delivery orders never go on our truck, so they are not on this board. Find them on Deliveries and collections. Courier and Pickup have their own tabs. A direct delivery is under All.
Only a level 4 sign-in sees these buttons. If you do not see them, your level cannot move deliveries. The move has to be made from a level 4 sign-in.
To move a truck delivery or change its date, on Plan delivery runs.
To put a courier, pick-up or direct order back on a truck, on Deliveries and collections.
A move you make stays put. Nothing moves it back behind you.
You can also open Factory on Home. It tells you how close a job is to being ready, not just whether it is ready.
Look at it the afternoon before a run. If three Newcastle jobs are still two machines away on Tuesday, you find out on Tuesday, not at 7am on Wednesday.
Every press adds a new movement. If you are not sure it saved, look under Movements before you press again. To fix a wrong entry, record the opposite movement with a note saying which one it fixes.
This part is for you if you run a section of the floor and watch what the machines do next.
Open Factory on Home (also called Factory Operations). Each machine is a column and each job is a card. It is the same board as the TV in the factory, in the same order, with extra office detail.
What you get here that the TV does not show.
The board scrolls sideways. It keeps your place when it refreshes.
A job with no routing has a Fix button. If one station, like Hand Work, covers more than one step, the card has a Check button. Phoenix cannot tell which of those steps is running. You can.
| Light | Means |
|---|---|
| Awaiting board | The board is not here yet. Nothing to run. |
| Board received | The board has arrived. The job is ready to work on. |
| On machine | It is being made on the machine in its column. |
| Complete | All its steps are done. It is heading to despatch. |
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Move to front | Puts the job first in this machine's queue. |
| Open job | Opens all the job's details. |
| Move to another station | Moves the job to another machine. |
| Put on hold | Stops the job. On a held job it says Release hold. |
| More job actions | Opens Move up one place, Move down one place and Edit routing. |
Who can press what. Changing the queue order, holds and routing are level 4 changes. Moving a job to another station needs level 2 or above. If your sign-in cannot make a change, the button is grey and the card says why under the buttons. You can still read every card, open the job and see who moved what. If a job needs moving and you cannot do it, tell the office.
Every change is saved straight away with the name of the person who made it. The TV picks it up on its next refresh.
A held job stays in its machine column. It is faded, it says On hold, and the card shows the reason.
A job held because it failed a quality check says QA hold instead. It has no Release hold button. It has Waive QA, and only level 4 can press it.
Your name, the time and the reason stay on the job for good. A re-check that passes does not clear a quality hold. Only the waiver does.
The machine operator's tablet shows that the job is held and which kind of hold it is, and locks its buttons. On a quality hold it also shows the note from the failed check. The reason the office typed is never shown on the floor.
This part is for you if you set up jobs, chase where they are, and keep the stock right.
Open Factory. Each machine is a column and each job is a card. The buttons on each card let you place, move, hold and route a job. See The buttons on a card above. Queue order, holds and routing need a level 4 sign-in.
The job moves to that column and stays there. Its place in the old queue is cleared.
Press Move to front to put a job first in its machine's queue. To move it one place at a time, open More job actions and press Move up one place or Move down one place. These go grey at the top and bottom of the column. The positions on every card update once it saves.
The card fades and says On hold. The reason is only for the office. The TV in the factory shows that the job is held, never why.
To start it again, press Release hold. A job held by a failed quality check shows Waive QA instead, and only level 4 can press it.
A card with a final count says Counted and the number. Level 2 and above see Correct the count on it. See The final count.
A routing is the list of steps a job goes through. A job counted under Routing to fix has no routing, or Phoenix cannot find where it is on the one it has.
For example, a job might run Setup Green D/Cutter, then Run Green D/Cutter, then Packing/Bundling. Use the same button to correct a routing that is wrong.
What you set stays set. The machine, the queue place, the hold and the routing are all saved with your name, and they stay until a person changes them. Nothing re-sorts your queue overnight.
Open Find a job. It has one row for each open job. The columns are Job number, Customer and product, Quantity, Dates, What is happening and Actions and notes.
In Dates, a material date that says From stock means the board is already here. A delivery date that has passed says Overdue. One that is close says Due today or tomorrow.
The What is happening column says each job's state in words.
| It says | What to do |
|---|---|
| Blocked | Something is stopping this job. Read the notes and sort it, or pass it to the person who can. |
| Needs attention | Not stopped, but it needs a look today. A date is tight or a quantity does not add up. |
| On track | Running as it should. Nothing to do. |
On a busy morning, read that column first. It shows you the few jobs that need you.
Open Stock. The page is headed Stock on hand. There is one row per product. The tabs above the table show one group at a time.
The columns are Product, Group, On the shelf now, On order from a supplier, Reorder settings and What is happening. Use Sort by to change the order and Reverse order to flip it.
Shelf stock and stock on order are never added together. Low stock with more on the way is a different problem from low stock with nothing coming.
The Group column on each row is a list you can pick from, like Stock Board, Stock Cartons or ECB. Misc is for anything that fits nowhere else. Level 3 and above can change it.
Rows a person has set say Linked by a person. Rows without it were guessed by Phoenix from the product name. If something is in the wrong group, just pick again, even back to Misc. Once groups are right, the tabs show just that stock.
This part is for office staff who work in the Order book all day.
Press Orders on Home to open the Order book. Every order is on this one screen, from the moment it arrives until it goes out the door. Click any row to open the order's detail panel.
Lost an order? Type into the Search orders box. It matches the customer, product, WO, job number, PO number or any other order detail. If the order is on a different tab, the search names that tab and gives you a Show button to jump there.
Each order sits on one tab, for the stage it is at. The number on each tab tells you how many orders are on it. An order only moves to another tab when somebody does something, or when a fact arrives (like the board turning up).
Along the top are New orders, Queries, Active orders and History. Press Active orders or History to see the tabs inside them.
| Tab | What is on it |
|---|---|
| New orders | Orders that have arrived and are not processed yet. An order leaves this tab only when you process it or remove it. |
| Queries | Questions people have raised about orders. |
| Awaiting board in Active orders |
Processed orders waiting on board or finished stock. |
| Awaiting supplier date in Active orders, inside Awaiting board |
Processed orders where the supplier has not given a date yet. They are counted in Awaiting board too, so that number is always the whole picture. |
| In production in Active orders |
Jobs the factory is working on, with the step they are up to. |
| Ready to deliver in Active orders |
Finished orders waiting to go on a delivery run. |
| In deliveries in Active orders |
Orders already on the delivery schedule. |
| Removed in History |
Orders taken off New orders before they were processed. You can bring them back. |
| Cancelled in History |
Jobs stopped after they were processed. These cannot be brought back. |
Under History there is also a Delivered - ready to invoice link. Delivered orders wait there until they are ticked as invoiced. Removed and Cancelled only show orders between the From and To dates, so widen the dates to see older ones.
Orders come in through the orders mailbox. A phone order is emailed there too, by whoever took the call. There is no blank new order button.
The AI reads each email and its attachments. It suggests the customer, product, quantity and other details. These are only suggestions. Open the email and attachments, check the customer and product, and fix anything wrong before you process. A likely product match is fine once you have checked it, and it can be fixed later. Never pick an account or join two products just because the names look alike.
A re-order starts from an earlier order. Check the new quantity, dates and source. Copying an old order does not mean a new purchase or supplier email is approved.
Processing is how a new order gets moved on to be bought, made or sent. You do it in the Process order pop-up, which this help also calls Process Order.
Stuck? Press Why can't I process this? at the bottom of the pop-up. It lists everything stopping the order and where to fix it. If the main button reads Save and check again, it saves what you typed and checks again without processing.
A customer order is for a finished sell product, taken from finished stock. It has no machine route, board prefix, supplier or supply method of its own. Every machine job is buy-side work. That means it is the work of buying or making the stock.
Look at two separate numbers. One is how many are on the shelf. The other is how many to order from the supplier because of this sale. The supplier buy quantity can be zero. Stock that is on order is not stock on the shelf yet. This sale must not quietly pay for what an older order still needs.
When stock has to be bought or made, check the separate linked supply work. The supplier, purchase units, material and route belong there. Pick the supplier from the list of active suppliers, never type a name. Use the lists for fixed choices. Type only free facts like a SKU. A fact you save as permanent is saved once, with your name on it. Changing the buy quantity for one order does not change the usual reorder settings.
The trigger says WHEN to buy. It fires only when stock drops below the trigger, not when it equals it. It is not a target stock level. The reorder quantity says HOW MUCH to buy. Phoenix uses the set amount, or more if this sale needs more. You can change the proposed buy quantity while processing.
If no reorder quantity is set, Phoenix compares the supplier's price breaks and picks the cheapest TOTAL cost. It only buys more when the total is cheaper. If two totals are the same, it picks the smaller quantity. MOQ means minimum order quantity, the least the supplier will sell. Going below it gives a warning for a person to confirm. For sheets, compare quantities in the supplier's units, not in finished boxes.
For example, there are 0 on the shelf, the sale is 3,000 and the MOQ is 4,000. Phoenix buys 4,000. The extra 1,000 stays on the shelf for later sales. Never make up a price or a conversion to get a proposal to work.
Looking at, searching or filling in a detail never sends an email. A sale with nothing to buy sends no supplier email. If the order says Already sent, it shows who it went to and when. Do not send your own copy as well.
A purchase order raised on its own on Supplier purchasing tools works differently. Follow what that screen asks for. Check the saved order and whether it was sent before doing anything twice.
If the reply was lost, or the order says the send outcome is unknown, do not send again yet. Check the saved order and the real mailbox with the office first. Do not raise a second PO or mark it unsent. A sent email does not prove the supplier read or accepted it.
The routing says which steps the factory will do. It does not say where the job is right now. It belongs to the supply work, never the customer order.
On linked supply work, the Routing Number list offers the numbers 01 to 123. Some forms show the stored code instead, which is the number plus 200. Pick 13 and the box reads 213. Pick 100 and it reads 300. If you type an old historical code, it is refused. An old route already saved on a job can stay. Do not change it just because it looks old.
Sometimes the refusal gives a new code instead. Sometimes it says the code is retired with no replacement. If no route fits, note the correction and raise it with the office.
Number Up counts how many pieces fit across a sheet. Pieces per box counts the pieces in one finished box. A base-and-lid box has 2 pieces per box. Use this when you check sheet quantities at Process Order.
Never type 0.5 into Number Up. If you do, the screen says "sheet_no_up must be a whole number of boxes per sheet - for a two-piece box set Pieces per box to 2".
Use this when the supplier tells you when the board will arrive.
Phoenix then works out the rest for you.
If the date has already passed, Phoenix works the two dates out from today instead. Point at the row to read the dates it used. When the board really arrives, the 7 and 2 days count again from that day. Phoenix never quietly overwrites a date that came from the supplier's own report.
Use this when an order has moved past New orders but has no supplier PO number on it.
This only records the number. It does not move the order or change any date.
Use a query when you need an answer from someone before you can process an order.
The order stays on New orders, greyed out. The row says who has the query and how long they have had it. Nobody can press Process order until the query is answered. See query on the row opens it.
The department answers on the Queries tab with Answer and return. The answer then shows on the order's row on New orders. You can process it, or ask another question.
Some emails are not real orders. They might be an enquiry, a price request or a duplicate. Remove takes them off New orders. Nothing is deleted.
The reasons to pick from are
For an email that is just an enquiry or quote request, press Not an order on the row. It removes it in one press, no pop-up.
The order moves to the Removed tab under History. It keeps the date, reason, note and who removed it. Removing an order with an open query closes the query too, and the pop-up tells you.
To bring an order back, press Restore on the Removed tab. The button changes to Confirm restore. Press it within a few seconds and the order goes back on New orders. If you wait, the button goes back to Restore and nothing happens.
Remove only works on New orders. A job that is already processed is stopped with Stop order instead. It moves to Cancelled and cannot be brought back.
This is about fixing the customer or product on an order. Use the order's customer and product buttons, and check against the original paperwork and history. If you are not sure of the customer or product, do not guess. Leave it marked as unsure. While the order is on New orders, raise a query on it so the right department decides. A customer sale does not acquire a board prefix or machine route to fix a wrong customer or product. Correct linked supply facts on the supply work.
If a processed order needs a fix the buttons cannot make, leave the order as it is. Keep the paperwork that shows what is wrong. Do not move a job just to make a card disappear.
Customer name not known? A flag chip shows on the row. Click the order to open its detail panel and press Add as alias... there. Pick the account the name belongs to and press Add alias. The order links to it within a minute.
First order from a new customer? An alias only works for a customer Phoenix already has. For a new customer, or a forwarded order, open the detail panel and press Set customer.
The code goes on the boards and on every product they order, so make it easy to read. The customer can only be set before the order is processed, because the job number starts with the customer's account number.
Filed under the wrong customer? In Process Order, press Change customer next to the account. Pick the right customer, or + New customer. Phoenix tells you what will change and asks you to confirm once. The old job number is retired for good, and the order gets a new one. A customer added with + New customer makes the order type New Customer, so the deposit is checked before processing. This works until the order is processed.
Every row tells you what is happening in words. You never have to remember what a colour means. Where colour is used, it only repeats the words.
Read these columns.
A waiting order says what it is waiting for.
Order received and a number of days, under the order number, is the day the order email arrived. It is not a delivery date.
Make it here shows on an Awaiting board row that was set up to buy the boxes in ready-made, when really we make them. Press it, pick the production route, check the board (or blank), the number up and the pieces per box, then press Make it here. The purchase order stays the same. It is not sent to the supplier again and its price does not change. The new job shows on the Factory screen as Unplaced, ready to go on its first machine.
Small chips on the row give extra facts. Point at a chip to read the full sentence. The ones you will see most are
For an email order, the AI can fill in the order for you to check. It reads the email, its attachments, the customer list and similar past orders.
If the draft is no good, open Other actions and press Don't use this AI review. Then fill in the order yourself. The line above the buttons says what each one will do.
If the review says Shadow mode, the draft is evidence only. Its fields are locked, nothing on it can be saved or applied, and the order is not changed. Read it, close it, and use the row's Process order button as normal.
When one email has several products, the review shows a card for each new order it will make. On every card, check the Phoenix product, the customer's words and the quantity. The customer's own item code shows only if they gave one, and it is never needed. Press Split into orders, check the list again, then confirm to make the separate orders.
The AI never processes an order. Applying a draft only fills in the New order. The AI cannot move an order or set a supplier date. Moving an order on is always a person's decision, taken in the Process order pop-up like every other order.
This is for you if you buy board and stock from suppliers, tick off invoices or keep the pallet records.
This is where you raise a purchase order (PO) and send it to the supplier. Open Stock and press Supplier purchasing tools at the top. The page is headed Buy from a supplier. It needs a level 4 sign-in.
Three tabs sort the customer orders on the page.
The Restock queue tells you how many restock purchases are waiting. They are raised or refused on New Orders, not here. Stock to reorder lists stock that dropped below its reorder trigger after an order used it. Raise those on New Orders too, or dismiss the line.
To type a PO yourself
You can also buy straight from a supplier's price. Open Buy against a recorded supplier offer. Pick the Product and type the Quantity required from the supplier. Press Check what this would buy, then Raise supplier PO.
To send a PO again, open it and press Send it again. To fix a PO that has not been sent, open it and press Cancel it and type it again, then Yes, cancel it. The lines go back into the form so you can fix them. Cancel this purchase order just cancels it. A PO that has already gone to the supplier cannot be cancelled with these buttons.
A PO is a promise to pay a supplier. If the screen does not say what happened, open the PO and check whether it says Sent. If it says the outcome is unknown, check the mailbox for the copy, then press Sent it or Not sent. Do not raise a second PO just to get it sent. That orders the board twice.
The Suppliers list is lower down the same page. It shows each supplier's name, Email on record, Default purchase-order recipient, Credit terms and Status. A blank credit term means nobody has recorded it. It does not mean the supplier has no terms.
On this list you can change where a supplier's POs go and its credit terms. You can also make a supplier active again.
Here is how to change where POs go.
Saving an address does not send anything. Before you send a PO, open it and read who it goes to.
Here is how to change the credit terms.
A supplier marked Not active is not offered when you raise a PO. To use it again, press Make active again on its row. It shows in the Supplier box straight away.
To add a new supplier, go to Add a supplier. Type the Supplier name as their paperwork spells it, their Email, and the Credit terms if you know them. Press Add the supplier.
This is where you tick off a delivered order once its invoice is in Xero. Phoenix never raises the invoice. You raise it in Xero yourself. Open Deliveries and press Ready to invoice.
The tabs across the top sort the rows.
| Tab | What is in it |
|---|---|
| Delivered not invoiced | Delivered, with no invoice recorded yet. |
| NEED TO INVOICE | Delivered two or more working days ago, and still no invoice. |
| Invoiced but still in warehouse | Invoiced, but the goods have not gone out yet. |
| Delivery needs invoice review | Marked delivered without a signed docket, or closed by hand. Check these with accounts first. |
A row on this screen is not proof that money is owed.
If an invoice covers only part of an order, keep track of the rest in the accounts records. The Invoice number box does not track partial coverage.
If the job was already closed by hand, recording its invoice leaves its closure, stock, proof, delivery quantity and dates unchanged. Do not reopen it or close it again.
Some deliveries will never be invoiced, like our own stock or a sample. On a Delivery needs invoice review row, type why in the Reason it will not be invoiced box and press Not to be invoiced. The row leaves the list. Your name, the time and the reason are saved.
Disputed work stays on the list until it is settled. Do not type "non-billable" or "disputed" as an invoice number. If a date is not known, leave it unknown, because a manual close date is not a delivery date.
This is where you record pallets going out to customers and coming back. Open Pallets under your own sign-in. Anyone can record a movement.
The top table shows what each customer holds in each pool. A pool is the pallet type, either CHEP, Loscam or plain. Holding is the number that went Out minus the number that came Back. An empty table does not prove that nobody holds pallets.
Every press creates a movement. If the screen does not answer, check Movements before trying again.
To fix a mistake, record the opposite movement. In the Note, say which line it fixes and why. This corrects the record. It is not a claim of a new physical trip.
There is no separate opening-balance or import button on this page. Before the old pallet records move across, the person who owns them agrees the starting numbers for each customer and pool. Then enter the old movements once, with their real dates and a note saying where they came from. If only a total is known and not the dates, ask the owner what to do, and do not invent a delivery date. Never record it as if it moved today.
From time to time, compare the holdings with the old records and what the customer says. Take any difference to the owner of the pallet records. Never change the numbers to match a guess. Recording pallets here does not charge the customer anything.
Reports shows figures about costs, stock, machines, suppliers and waste. Open Reports from Home. The screen is headed Analytics. The figures are worked out from time to time, not live. The time at the top says when.
Read the notes under each table. They say what the figures are based on and how many items were left out. The search box filters the table rows only. The headline figures always cover everything. Reports never raise a purchase and are not a stock count.
This is where you check what is on the shelf. Open Stock. The screen is headed Stock on hand. There is one row per product, with tabs for the groups across the top.
| Column | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Product | The stock code, with what it is underneath. |
| Group | Which group the item belongs to. Pick a different group and it saves straight away. An item put in its group by a person says Linked by a person. |
| On the shelf now | The physical count, and only that. A line nobody has counted says so. It never shows as zero. A counted zero shows as 0. |
| On order from a supplier | What has been ordered but has not arrived. It shows the quantity, the supplier, the PO and when it should arrive. It is never added to the shelf count. If the PO has no quantity, it says so instead of showing 0. |
| Reorder settings | Two numbers, and neither is a stock level. The reorder trigger says WHEN to order. It is not a level to fill back up to. The reorder quantity says HOW MUCH. Changing them needs level 4. |
| What is happening | Says in words whether the line is above or below its trigger, and what that was judged on. If it has never been counted or has no trigger, it says that, because there is nothing to judge it against. |
This is for you if you want to see how the business is going at a glance, and you answer the questions the office sends you.
Home shows the work areas your sign-in can use. You can choose which screen opens first after you sign in.
This only changes this browser, not everyone's. Assigned machine and dock screens take priority, so a machine or dock tablet keeps its own screen.
The TV wallboard has a row of counts across the top. It is only for looking at, so the counts are not links. Other screens do not have this row. Their top bar only shows a warning if the information stops updating.
| Count | What it counts |
|---|---|
| Open Jobs | Every live job. It is New Orders plus Awaiting supplier date plus Awaiting Board plus In Production, so it always adds up. |
| New Orders | Arrived, not yet processed. |
| Awaiting Board | Waiting on board. Awaiting supplier date shows smaller underneath. |
| In Production | On the factory floor now. |
| In Deliveries | Made and going out. |
| Stock lines | How many products the stock records hold. |
| DIFOT | Delivered In Full On Time. |
DIFOT is the share of jobs the factory made within seven days. The seven days start when the board arrives, not when it was ordered. So a late supplier does not pull the factory's number down. Jobs still inside their seven days are not counted yet. Until enough jobs have been measured, it shows a dash instead of a percentage.
To see the same numbers on your own screen, use the tabs on Orders. Each tab shows its own count.
Factory shows what the floor is doing right now. Each machine has a column of job cards. The cards show office details too, like customer names, hold reasons and late jobs. A level 4 sign-in can change the queue order, station, holds and routing from the card.
The TV wallboard is the same board made for the screen on the factory wall. It shows short codes only, with no customer names. Nothing on it can be pressed. If the information stops updating, it says so, so nobody trusts an old picture. To open it, go to Factory, press Factory tools, then Open TV display.
Under the work areas on Home are links to the office's reference screens. Products and prices and Reports are level 4 only, because they show margins and sell prices. Machine flows and rates is also level 4. It is under Factory tools on Factory.
Administration is where the office's master records are kept. That means supplier buy details like minimum order, lead time and price, sell families, stock links and customer accounts. It also keeps a journal of every change, with the person's name on it. Level 3 and above can open it and read everything. Some changes need a higher level, and a few are kept to named people.
Sometimes the office cannot go on with an order until someone answers a question. They send the order to a department. That is Operations, General Manager, Sales or Deliveries. The question then shows up for you on the Queries tab of the Order Book. The old Order Queries address brings you to this tab.
The department buttons across the top filter the list. Each one shows how many are waiting. You can bookmark the page with your department picked. Each card shows the order, what was asked, who asked and how long ago.
If the question is not yours, press Re-route. Pick the department in Send it to, add a reason if you like, and press Re-route.
| Age label | When it shows |
|---|---|
| Chasing | After 2 working days. |
| Overdue | After 4 working days. |
Re-routing does not restart the clock, so it cannot clear an Overdue label. While a query is open, the order stays on New Orders but greyed out. It shows who has the query, and Process order cannot be pressed. Answering the query is what lets the office move the order on.
This screen looks after Photo Create's stock at Glen Innes, and the truck that collects their orders. Open Photo Create.
Their stock comes in by itself every day from i4query. The date it was counted shows near the top, so nobody mistakes an old number for today's. The chip at the top of the stock table says Reorder mode or Forecast mode.
The stock table has one row per product. It shows Their stock, the Trigger (when to order) and the Order lot (how many finished boxes to order). Order coverage shows where the product stands.
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| ORDER | Their stock is at or below the trigger. Time to order. These go to the top. |
| GOOD | Above the trigger. Nothing to do. |
| NO DATA | The product was missing from the latest stock count. Phoenix will not guess a number. |
| FORECAST | The screen is in forecast mode. The numbers are still live, but no orders are made from them. |
When a fresh daily count is low, a normal customer Re-Order can appear in New Orders for the agreed order lot. This is not the supplier's minimum order. More low counts stay with the same order and do not make new ones. If a low product has no order yet, a Create order button shows on its row.
If the daily stock does not arrive, open Manual i4query upload fallback.
A file that is not ticked as today's complete stock is kept for checking only. It cannot create orders.
Photo Create sends its truck for eight collections a year. To plan one
Planning a load does not move any stock. The Orders for collection table shows what is still to go and what is Ready at Phoenix.
When the truck leaves, press Confirm collection. Enter what actually went, the Collected by / signed name and the Actual collection time. Anything left behind stays on the order for the next truck. Press Print manifest for the handover record. Record invoice reference links an invoice already raised for that load. It does not make or send an invoice.
Agreed details on a row fixes which Phoenix product it is and its agreed order lot. Coverage can pause a trigger, link an order that already exists, or let a new count be checked. Check the linked orders before you change coverage. Stock waiting at Phoenix for the truck has already been ordered.
This is the screen for the phone call that starts "where is my job?". Open Find a job. On Factory it is under Factory tools. It lists every open job, one row each, with its machine and dates. There are no tabs to choose between. Type a job number, customer or product in the search box to narrow the list.
Everything anyone does on any screen is saved with their name. It also saves what it was before and what it became. The Removed tab shows who removed an order and why. A query shows who asked it and who answered it. A stock item put in its group by hand says Linked by a person. Nobody has to remember what happened, and nobody has to be asked.