---
alias: user-guide-plan-index
description: "A Plan defines production quantities across time and manufacturing units"
---

# Plan

:lock: Plan.**Show**

## Overview

A **Plan** is the central entity for the fulfillment of a specific production demand. A Plan represents a matrix of quantities indexed by:

* A manufacturing unit (**Product** or **Product Group**) called Plan Item.
* A set of time periods called Time Frames.

This matrix will be associated to a Critical Manufacturing MES Plan Item level (**Area**, **Facility**, **Site** or **Enterprise**) and the **Plan** is used to hold the definitions and actual quantities that are planned to be produced on a specific manufacturing level and within a given time frame.

The system entities associated with these concepts are the following:

* **Plan** - the core object, which defines the matrix of (Time Frames, Manufacturing Unit and Plan Item Level). A **Plan** can also reference a parent **Plan**.
* Plan Item - responsible for specifying the items that will be included in the **Plan** as well as referencing the **Steps** where this Plan Item will be counted as actual volumes contributing to the planned production.
* Plan Step - the **Step** where the volumes are counted toward the planned volume of a **Plan**.
* Plan Time Frame - an aggregating entity for the Plan Time Frame Items, materializing the temporal planning horizon..
* Plan Time Frame Item - a list of target and actual Values per Plan Item and Plan Time Frame.

The **Plan** will be used under two different capacities:

* Effective Plan - The original **Plan** which maintains the actual quantities for volume calculations.
* [Plan Scenario](plan-scenario/index.md) - Theoretical **Plans** created at any point in time based on the current Effective Plan, which can released and update the Effective Plan.

## Tying Everything Together

```mermaid
graph TD
    Main2[Parent Plan] === Main[Plan]   
    Main === L1[Plan Time Frame] === L2[Plan Time Frame Item]
    Main === L3[Plan Item] === L2
    Main === L4[Plan Step] --- A1[Step]
    L3 --- A2[Product]
    L3 --- A3[Product Group]
    subgraph Manufacturing Level
    A4[Enterprise] ---- Main
    A5[Facility] ---- Main
    A6[Area] ---- Main
    A7[Site] ---- Main
    end 

classDef mermaid_businessdata color:#000, fill:#65CDE8, stroke:#65CDE8, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_entity color:#000, fill:#FB9F53, stroke:#FB9F53, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_entitylinked color:#000, fill:#FCD5B5, stroke:#FCD5B5, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_context color:#000, fill:#B9CDE5, stroke:#B9CDE5, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_nonbusinessdata color:#000, fill:#B7DEE8, stroke:#B7DEE8, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_optional color:#000, fill:#B7DEE8, stroke:#65CDE8, stroke-width:1px, font-size:100%, stroke-dasharray: 5 5;

class Main,Main2 mermaid_entity
class A1,A2,A3,A4,A5,A6,A7 mermaid_businessdata
class L1,L2,L3,L4 mermaid_entitylinked

click Main "../../business-data/plan"
click Main2 "../../business-data/plan"
click A1 "../../business-data/step"
click A2 "../../business-data/product"
click A3 "../../business-data/product-group"
click A4 "../../business-data/enterprise"
click A5 "../../business-data/facility"
click A6 "../../business-data/area"
click A7 "../../business-data/site"
```

## Sequence Of Steps

The necessary steps for correctly using a **Plan** are the following:

1. Create the **Plan**.

!!! info
	For more information, see the [Plan](../../../tutorials/modules/advanced-planning-and-scheduling/plan.md) tutorial.

{{ generate_index() }}