What is the need for the OASIS Production Planning and Scheduling (PPS) Specification?
PPS provides a common XML schema and business process specification for collaborative planning and scheduling in manufacturing industries. The collaboration gives manufacturers the ability to react to unexpected and dynamic changes in the market.
Why should planning and scheduling software collaborate?
Production planning software, such as ERP/MRP, assists manufacturers in making vital decisions on relatively long-term and enterprise-wide issues. On the other hand, real market and shop floors changes are dealt with by schedulers that adjust reactively. Agile manufacturing requires a concurrent view of both planner and scheduler.
What kind of information is shared by planning and scheduling software?
Data on production planning orders, inventory levels, resource capacity, and scheduled or in-progress operations are all used in bi-directional communication between planning and scheduling software.
Who should be involved in this development?
The work of the OASIS PPS TC will be used by system integrators and software vendors focusing on production planning and scheduling issues for manufacturing industries. Database designers and planning/scheduling application engineers for ERP and FCS packages are especially welcome. Input from industrial specialists who appreciate the real challenges of production planning and scheduling is also valuable.
Who will benefit from PPS and how?
PPS will offer systems integrators alternatives and lower costs for configuring planning and scheduling software packages. Manufacturers will also benefit, as PPS will reduce the expense and increase the speed and flexibility involved in developing new planning and scheduling systems, particularly for applications that include multi-vendor products or legacy systems.
How does this work compare with related efforts at other standards organizations?
The OASIS PPS TC focuses on an application-domain-specific area of manufacturing. Outside of OASIS, standards organizations such as RosettaNet and OAG are working on related issues. The PSLX consortium (http://www.pslx.org) will contribute its PSLX-04 specification to the OASIS effort.
