Edit a production routing

A production routing is the ordered set of steps a job travels through on its way to completion. A job is one unit of production work, and each step is normally tied to a resource — a workstation, machine, or work centre where the step is carried out. The job stores its assigned routing and revision directly; its process instruction is a separate choice and does not supply or imply the routing.

Editing a production routing lets you change that step sequence for one specific job: add a step, remove a step that has not started, reconnect steps, or reconfigure a step. The change is scoped to the job you are editing, so the shared template and every other job stay exactly as they were.

Use this when a single job needs to deviate from the standard route — for example a customer asks for an extra treatment, a job needs a rework loop, a planned step is no longer needed, or the routing simply no longer matches what the shop floor will actually do for this job.

Before you start

You need the following in place:

• Permission to edit jobs. Making and saving routing changes requires the production_jobs.update permission. In the default roles this is included in Super user, Entity admin, and Operator. Roles that can only view jobs can open the job, but the Edit routing action does not appear for them.
• A job that can be edited. A job's routing can be edited only while the job is active. Completed, cancelled, and awaiting-approval jobs cannot be edited, and neither can a job that is locked by a submitted or issued invoice. If any of these apply, the editor opens to a This job cannot be edited message instead of the canvas.
• The right plant selected. Routing edits are scoped to the entity (plant) that owns the job. Work in that plant. If you open the editor while a different plant is selected, Bulk shows This job routing is not available in this entity.

Open the routing editor

1. Go to Production and open Jobs, then open the job you want to change. See Review production orders and jobs for how orders break down into jobs.
2. On the job's top bar, select the Job actions button — the three-dots menu at the top right.
3. Choose Edit routing. Bulk opens the routing editor for that job.

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What you see on the screen

Header. The top bar shows a Back to job control, the title Job followed by the job number, and a small version pill. The pill reads custom once the job's routing has been customized, otherwise a template version such as v3, or job. A Routing tab shows the current step count, and a status line reads Unsaved changes while you have pending edits or a Saved time (for example, "Saved 2h ago") when everything is saved.

Header actions. On the right you may see:

• A locked indicator, such as "3 locked", when some steps cannot be changed (explained below).
• A Discard button, which appears once you have unsaved changes and reverts the canvas to the last saved routing.
• A Save Changes button, which commits your edits.

Canvas. The main area is the same visual builder used for master-data routings. Steps appear as connected cards flowing from a start point to an end point. A floating dock at the bottom lets you add steps — pick a resource for a normal step, or add a Conditional Split (a decision that branches the routing), a Repeat Group (a block of steps that repeats), or an Invoicing step. Drag a component from the dock onto the canvas to add it, drag between step handles to connect two steps, and double-click a step to open its configuration. If anything is invalid, a validation panel appears in the top-right corner listing what to fix.

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Which steps you can change

Not every step can be edited. A step is locked when it is already completed, in progress, or loaded onto an asset — and every step upstream of a locked step (any step that feeds into it) is locked too. Locked steps show a lock and a reason such as Completed, In Progress, Loaded, or Upstream of in progress step, and they count toward the "locked" indicator in the header.

You cannot move, edit, remove, or reconnect a locked step, and you cannot draw a new connector to one. In practice this means you edit the part of the routing that has not started yet — the tail of steps after the work currently underway.

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Make and save your changes

1. Add, remove, reconnect, or reconfigure the steps that are not locked. Drag a component from the dock to add a step, connect it into the flow, and double-click it to set it up.
2. Review the header status line — it switches to Unsaved changes as soon as you edit something.
3. Select Save Changes. This button is enabled only when you have unsaved changes and the routing passes validation. When it is disabled, hovering it explains why, with hints such as Fix validation errors first or No changes to save.

When the save succeeds, Bulk reconciles the job's steps to match the new routing and confirms with Routing updated and a short summary such as "1 steps added, 0 steps removed". Added steps are the new ones you inserted; removed steps are pending steps you deleted, which are unwound from the job. Every routing change is written to the job's audit trail.

Example: adding a treatment mid-job at Leeds Fabrication Plant

Granite Peak Manufacturing runs a bracket-fabrication job at its Leeds Fabrication Plant. This job was assigned the standard bracket routing Laser Cut → Deburr → Weld → Inspect. Laser cutting and deburring are done, and welding is now in progress.

The customer asks for a passivation treatment before final inspection on this one job. Priya, an Operator, opens the job, selects the Job actions menu, and chooses Edit routing. In the editor she sees Laser Cut and Deburr locked as "Upstream of in progress step" and Weld locked as In Progress; the header reads "3 locked". Only Inspect — the step that has not started — is editable.

Priya drags a resource step for the passivation cell onto the canvas, connects it so the flow runs Weld → Passivation → Inspect, and selects Save Changes. Bulk confirms Routing updated with "1 steps added, 0 steps removed", and the version pill switches to custom. The rest of the plant's bracket jobs still follow the standard four-step route; only this job now includes passivation.

Expected result

After a successful save, the job's remaining steps follow your new sequence. The header status line shows a fresh Saved time, the version pill reads custom, and the step count reflects any steps you added or removed. Downstream stations pick up the updated routing when they next load the job. Completed and in-progress steps are unchanged — you only ever altered the not-yet-started part of the route.

If something looks wrong

• "This job cannot be edited." The job is completed, cancelled, awaiting approval, or locked by a submitted or issued invoice. Resolve the approval or invoice first; a job in a terminal state cannot have its routing changed. Use Back to Job to return.
• "This job routing is not available in this entity." You are working in a different plant from the one that owns the job. Switch to the job's plant, then reopen the editor. Use View Jobs to go back to the jobs list.
• Save Changes stays greyed out. Either you have not changed anything yet, or the routing has validation errors. Check the validation panel in the top-right corner and fix each flagged step, then try again.
• "Failed to update routing." The change broke a rule — for example an invalid placement of an Invoicing step — or the job became locked (awaiting approval or invoice-linked) while you were editing. Read the message, adjust the routing, and save again. Nothing is saved when this appears.
• A step will not move or delete. It is locked because it is completed, in progress, or loaded, or because it sits upstream of such a step. This is expected; edit the pending steps that follow instead.

Feature state and limits

This editor is generally available. A few things are worth knowing:

• Edits are scoped to the single job you open. They never change the master-data routing template or other jobs.
• Locked steps — completed, in progress, or loaded steps, and everything upstream of them — are read-only. You can only edit the steps that have not started.
• Jobs that are awaiting approval or locked by a submitted or issued invoice cannot be edited until that state is resolved.
• Save Changes requires both unsaved edits and a routing that passes validation; there is no partial or draft save.

Related guidance

• Review production orders and jobs — how orders break down into the jobs you edit here.
• Complete a phase — how operators work through a job's steps on the shop floor.
• Manage routings — edit the master template that new jobs start from, and learn the full routing builder.
• Production overview — the wider shop-floor workflow.