SNB Production Workflow

SNB Production WorkflowGuideHow a job moves

How a job moves

One sign, from the customer's first phone call to the day it is installed — and which part of this manual covers each step.

How a job moves through SNB A request becomes a site visit, then a quotation and its deposit, then a project. Design runs alongside that rather than in it: it starts as soon as the survey exists and finishes at customer approval, so it does not wait for the quotation and does not hold it up. A rejected design goes back to the designer. Once both the project and the customer's approval are in place the job order is approved; a manager then checks the job and hands it to the factory, and only then can production start. Production draws material from the store. The finished sign is delivered and then invoiced. DESIGN RUNS ALONGSIDE — IT DOES NOT WAIT Project request a customer asks for something Site visit measured and photographed Quotation & deposit priced, accepted, deposit paid Project the job the company has won Design starts as soon as there is a survey, and carries on while the rest happens the survey Customer approval they see a simulation rejected both, before anything starts Job order approved nothing may start before this Handed to the factory a manager checks it and releases it Production a chain of tasks, department by department, driven from the kiosks The store material issued Delivery taken to site and installed Invoice the job is billed and closed Solid arrows are the normal path. Dashed lines come from elsewhere, or go back.

1A customer asks for something

A job starts as a project request: somebody wrote down what a customer asked for. Sales raises it at a desk, or an inspector raises it from a phone while standing in front of the customer.

2Somebody goes and looks

Most requests book a site visit. An inspector measures and photographs what is there. Repeat orders skip it.

That survey is the moment the job becomes drawable.

3Design starts, and keeps going

Design is not a step the job waits at. It begins as soon as there is a survey to draw from, and carries on while the quotation is being priced and the project is being set up. It finishes at customer approval.

Why it works this way

This is the part of the picture most often got wrong, which is why design is drawn beside the spine rather than in it.

A designer can be working on artwork while Sales is still agreeing a price. Waiting for the quotation before starting would add its whole duration to every job for nothing — the measurements do not change while the money is being discussed.

What design does gate is the job order. It does not hold up the quotation; it holds up the factory.

4It is priced, and the deposit is paid

Quotation is the price going out. It can be revised more than once, and every revision is kept.

The step is not finished when the customer says yes. It is finished when the deposit is in — acceptance and payment are one step here because that is what the company treats as the job being won. An accepted quotation becomes a project, and that is the only way a project is ever created.

5The customer approves the design

The customer sees a simulation and either approves it or sends it back. A rejection returns the work to the designer and is counted against the job.

This is where the design lane ends and rejoins the main line.

6The job order is approved

Both things have to be true before the factory may start: the project exists, and the customer has approved the design. The job order approval is the gate that says so — which is why the two lines join before it and not after.

Until it is given, no task can be started on any factory screen — the buttons are there and they refuse.

7Somebody hands it to the factory

Approval is not the handover. A factory manager checks the job’s production flow — a template is a starting guess, and a galvanized-steel sign needs no paint job — plans a start date, and releases it.

Why it works this way

These are two decisions made by two people, and the manual used to show one.

The job order says the company may build this. The release says the factory is taking it on now, in this shape. Between them, the work exists and is on no screen at all — which is exactly the gap somebody notices when a job they approved this morning is nowhere on the floor this afternoon.

8The factory builds it

Production is a chain of tasks, one per department, generated from the project’s workflow template. The floor drives it from touchscreens and pulls material from the store as it goes.

9It is delivered, then billed

Then delivery — taken to site, installed and signed for — and finally the invoice, which closes the job.

What happens next

Every box above has its own pages. This is where to find them.

Step In this manual
Project request Sales → Project Requests, and Inspection → Raising a request for the phone
Site visit Inspection — the office’s three screens and the inspector’s four
Design, approval Design — open jobs, the list, the workspace, the queue
Quotation & deposit Sales → Quotations
Project Sales → Projects
Job order approval Settings → Reading permissions covers who may give it
Handed to the factory Sales → Projects — generating, reviewing the flow, and releasing
Production The factory screen — nine pages, one per button
Material Inventory — material issue notes, transfers, counting
Delivery Delivery
Invoice Sales → Invoices, and Credit Notes to undo one
Note

This page is the shape of the process, not the detail of any screen. Every box above has its own pages, and they are where the fields, the buttons and the mistakes to avoid are written down.