Product reference

The product reference is the detailed, task-by-task documentation for every part of Bulk. Where the getting-started guides get you signed in and the workflow guides walk you through end-to-end journeys, the product reference is where each module — and each thing you can do inside it — is documented in full. When you need the exact steps for one screen, the meaning of a field, or the rules behind a feature, this is where to look.

What the product reference is

Bulk is a manufacturing execution system (MES) — the software your plant uses to run day-to-day production and the work around it. The product reference is its canonical guide:

• One page per task. Each thing you can do in Bulk is written up once, in full, with the exact current labels and controls.
• Grouped by business area. Related modules are gathered into five stable areas, so the tools you use together sit together — regardless of exactly where they appear in the app's left navigation.
• The single source of steps. The workflow and by-role guides link here rather than repeat instructions, so any given step is written and kept up to date in exactly one place.

When to use the product reference

Reach for the product reference when you want the full detail of a single feature or screen. Choose a different entry point when your need is broader:

• Use Workflows when you want a complete journey that crosses several modules, such as taking customer work through production.
• Use Browse by role when you want the handful of pages that matter most for your job.
• Use Getting started if Bulk is new to you and you need to sign in, choose a plant, and learn the interface first.

How the reference is organized

The reference is grouped into five business areas. Open the one that matches what you are doing:

• Work management — the everyday tools for planning and tracking your own work: Tasks, Projects, and Files.
• Operations — running production and the materials and money around it: Inbound (capturing incoming documents), Production (orders, jobs, and the shop-floor workstations), Scheduling, Inventory, and Finance (invoicing and credit notes).
• Improvement and compliance — keeping quality and safety under control and evidenced: Quality, Safety, and Audits (5S, pre-use, and compliance checks).
• People and training — managing your team and their skills: People and Training.
• Insights and visual management — seeing how the plant is performing and sharing it: Analytics, KPIs, Dashboards, Teamboards, Boards, Atlas, the Digital Twin, and the Whiteboard.

Each area page introduces its modules and links to the individual task guides beneath them, so you can drill from a business area, to a module, to the exact task in two steps.

What you can open depends on your access

The reference documents all of Bulk, but what you can actually open in the app depends on two things:

• Your role. Your role — for example Operator, Manager, or an administrator role such as Entity admin — sets which modules and actions you can use. Two people signed into the same organization can see different menus.
• Your plant access. A plant (Bulk also calls these sites or entities) is a single site you operate. You only see the plants an administrator has added you to.

Because of this, your own left navigation may show fewer modules than are listed above. That is expected, not a fault.

Feature states you will see

Reference articles that are not yet fully released carry a small feature-state badge just beneath the page title. Check for one before you rely on a feature:

• Available — generally available and fully supported. Most of Bulk is here, and these pages show no badge.
• Beta — shown with a Beta badge. The feature works but is still being refined, and its screens and behavior may change. Bulk marks these areas Beta in the app, and the reference labels their articles Beta too — for example Atlas and the Digital Twin in Insights and visual management, the planning board in Scheduling, and the non-conformance tools in Quality (NCRs, CAPAs, Holds, and 8D reports). Treat Beta areas as previews, not finished features.
• Verification required — shown with a Verification required badge. The feature is documented, but its behavior is still being confirmed. The Dynamics 365 integration setup is in this state.

Do not assume a Beta or verification-required feature behaves like a fully released one. The badge — or, for available pages, its absence — on each specific article is the authority for that page.

An example at Granite Peak Manufacturing

Granite Peak Manufacturing, a UK precision-fabrication company, runs Bulk at its Leeds Fabrication Plant. A production supervisor there wants to know exactly how to split one job across two workstations. Rather than read a whole end-to-end workflow, they open Operations → Production in the reference and go straight to the single task page for running multiple stations.

Across the same week, other Granite Peak roles use different areas of the reference for their own tasks:

• the plant's quality lead opens Improvement and compliance → Quality to check how a non-conformance report (NCR) is raised;
• a finance clerk opens Operations → Finance to confirm how a credit note is allocated against an invoice;
• the training coordinator opens People and training → Training to see how a saved skills-matrix layout works.

Each person goes directly to the one page that documents their task, without wading through material meant for someone else.

Expected result

Once you know how the reference is organized, you can find authoritative guidance for any Bulk feature in a couple of clicks: pick the business area, open the module, then choose the task. If a page you open is marked Beta or verification required, you will know to treat its behavior with care.

Related guidance

The product reference is one of several ways into the same material. Use whichever fits what you are doing:

• Getting started — create or access your account, sign in, choose your plant, and learn to navigate Bulk.
• Workflows — end-to-end journeys that string individual tasks into a complete process.
• Browse by role — the workflows and reference pages that matter most to each role.
• Administration — how administrators configure the organization, plants, master data, access, and other settings behind these modules.
• Integrations — how to connect Bulk to other systems, such as the REST API and Microsoft Dynamics 365.