--- title: "Capacity Load Planning" slug: "capacity-load-planning" updated: 2026-10-23T11:04:15Z published: 2026-10-23T11:04:15Z canonical: "docs.abakion.com/capacity-load-planning" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.abakion.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Capacity Load Planning ## Feature Overview Capacity Load Planning shows how loaded your work centers, and optionally machine centers, are for a period. On **Shop Floor Overview**, **Update Capacities** calculates one period from **From Date** to **To Date** and fills **Capacity Load Lines** with the effective capacity, the allocated capacity, the load percentage and the number of operations that overlap, start or end in the period. **Export Capacity Load to Excel** calculates the same figures for up to 12 consecutive periods and opens them in an Excel workbook, with cells coloured green, yellow or red according to the load percentage. Both use the calculation **Calculate Capacity Need**, which reads standard capacity need data from production orders and, optionally, from planning worksheets. The calculation is driven by each user's own line in **Capacity Load Setup**, so planners can keep their own periods, thresholds and colour limits. Administrators can add a company-wide **Fixed Work Center Filter** on Shop Floor Setup that always applies. This page explains how the figures are calculated and which settings affect them. Setting up the overview itself is described in the Shop Floor Mobile overview. | Key Fact | Detail | | --- | --- | | Pages | Shop Floor Overview (Capacity Load Lines), Capacity Load Setup, Shop Floor Tablet role center | | Actions | Update Capacities, Export Capacity Load to Excel (Shop Floor Overview); Update Capacity Load (Shop Floor Tablet role center) | | Calculation | Calculate Capacity Need | | Load source | Production order capacity need, planning worksheet capacity need, or both | | On-screen period | One period, From Date to To Date | | Excel periods | Start Date, Period Length, Number of Periods (maximum 12) | | Colour limits | Colour Green Limit, Colour Yellow Limit, Colour Red Limit (defaults 40, 70, 95) | | Company-wide filter | Set Fixed Work Center Filter on Shop Floor Setup | ## Getting Started 1. Open **Shop Floor Overview** once so your Capacity Load Setup line is created with default values. 2. Open **Capacity Load Setup** and, on your line, check **Start Date**, **Number of Periods**, **Period Length**, **Show Greater Than Qty**, **Show Greater Than Pct** and the three colour limits. 3. Make sure **Show Capacity**, **Show Workload** and **Show Workload Pct** are turned on. 4. On **Shop Floor Overview**, set **Status**, **From Date** and **To Date**, and optionally **Work Center Filter**. 5. Choose whether to include load with **Include Load from Orders** and **Include Load from Journals**, and turn on **Show Machine Centers** if you also want machine center rows. 6. Choose **Update Capacities** and review **Capacity Load Lines**. 7. Choose **Export Capacity Load to Excel**, check the values on the request page and choose **OK** to open the workbook. ## Related Features Capacity load uses standard Business Central capacity need, which is created when production orders are refreshed or when planning worksheet lines are calculated, and effective capacity from work center and machine center calendars. The **Total operations**, **Operation starts** and **Operation ends** counts open the matching operations, which you can then work with in Operation Lines and My Operations. The date range and work center filters on your Capacity Load Setup line also decide which operations are shown in Operation Lines. ## User Stories ****Calculating the load for a period on screen**** **As a** production planner **I want to** calculate capacity and load per work center for a date range **So that** I can see which work centers are overloaded in that period **Setup:** 1. On **Shop Floor Overview**, set **Status**, **From Date** and **To Date**. 2. Choose **Update Capacities**. On the Shop Floor Tablet role center, choose **Update Capacity Load** instead. 3. Review **Capacity**, **Allocated capacity** and **Load Pct.** in **Capacity Load Lines**. > **Note:** Each calculation replaces your previous lines. Your lines are only visible to you. The on-screen calculation always uses one period from From Date to To Date. If To Date is blank, the period runs from From Date for one Period Length. ****Understanding how capacity, load and load percentage are calculated**** **As a** production planner **I want to** know what the capacity figures mean **So that** I can trust the numbers when I discuss them with the team **Setup:** 1. **Capacity** is the effective capacity of the work center or machine center in the period, from its calendar. 2. **Allocated capacity** is the load in the period. For a work center, it is the allocated time of the capacity need on the work center, including operations on its machine centers. For a machine center, it is the needed time of the capacity need on that machine center. 3. **Load Pct.** is Allocated capacity divided by Capacity, multiplied by 100 and rounded to a whole percentage. > **Note:** When a work center or machine center has no effective capacity in the period, Load Pct. is shown as -100. Concurrent Capacities and Efficiency are copied from the work center or machine center card for reference. ****Drilling into the operations behind a load figure**** **As a** production planner **I want to** open the operations that make up a work center's load **So that** I can decide which jobs to move **Setup:** 1. After **Update Capacities**, look at **Total operations**, **Operation starts** and **Operation ends** in **Capacity Load Lines**. 2. Choose a value to open **Prod. Order Routing** with the matching operations. > **Note:** Total operations counts operations that overlap the period, Operation starts those that start in it and Operation ends those that end in it, for the selected Status. The counts include operations planned directly on that work center or machine center. Operations on a work center's machine centers are counted on the machine center rows. ****Hiding work centers with little or no load**** **As a** production planner **I want to** leave out work centers below a load threshold **So that** I only look at the bottlenecks **Setup:** 1. On **Capacity Load Setup**, set **Show Greater Than Qty** and **Show Greater Than Pct** on your line. 2. Choose **Update Capacities** or **Export Capacity Load to Excel**. > **Note:** A row is shown when its load is above Show Greater Than Qty or its load percentage is above Show Greater Than Pct in at least one period. With the default value 0 for both, work centers with no load are hidden. The thresholds apply to both the on-screen calculation and the Excel export. ****Including machine centers in the capacity view**** **As a** production planner **I want to** see machine centers under their work center **So that** I can balance load between machines **Setup:** 1. On **Shop Floor Overview**, turn on **Show Machine Centers**. 2. Optionally enter a **Machine Center Filter**. 3. Choose **Update Capacities**. > **Note:** Machine center rows are added for the machine centers of each work center in the calculation. The machine center load is based on needed time and, in this version, is not limited by the Status, Include Load from Orders or Include Load from Journals settings. Compare machine center rows with each other rather than with the work center row. ****Choosing between production order load and planned load**** **As a** production planner **I want to** choose whether the load comes from production orders, planning worksheets or both **So that** I can compare committed load with planned load **Setup:** 1. On **Shop Floor Overview** or **Capacity Load Setup**, set **Include Load from Orders** and **Include Load from Journals**. 2. Choose **Update Capacities** or **Export Capacity Load to Excel**. 3. When you export with only journal load selected, you can enter **Worksheet Name** and **Batch Name** on the request page to use a single planning worksheet. > **Note:** At least one of the two must be selected, otherwise the calculation stops with an error. With both selected, load from production orders and planning worksheets is added together. ****Exporting a multi-period load plan to Excel**** **As a** production planner **I want to** export the load for several periods to Excel **So that** I can share a load plan with colleagues **Setup:** 1. On **Shop Floor Overview**, choose **Export Capacity Load to Excel**. 2. On the request page, set **Start Date**, **Period Length** (for example 1W or 1M) and **Number Of Periods** (1 to 12). 3. Set **Production Order Status Filter**, **Work Center Filter** and **Show Machine Centers** as needed, and choose **OK**. > **Note:** The workbook has one column per period, with the start date of the period in the first header row and the end date in the second. Each work center gets a name row followed by Workload, Capacity and Workload % rows, depending on **Show workload**, **Show capacity** and **Show workload %**. Machine centers are indented one column under their work center. Values you change on the request page are saved to your Capacity Load Setup line. ****Colour-coding the load in Excel**** **As a** production planner **I want to** colour periods by load percentage **So that** overloaded periods stand out at a glance **Setup:** 1. On **Capacity Load Setup** or on the Excel request page, set **Colour green limit**, **Colour yellow limit** and **Colour red limit**. 2. Choose **Export Capacity Load to Excel**. > **Note:** A period is coloured red when its load percentage is above the red limit, yellow when above the yellow limit, and green when above the green limit. Periods at or below the green limit are not coloured. The colour is applied to all the rows of that work center or machine center for the period. Colours are only used in the Excel export. ****Limiting the capacity calculation to certain work centers**** **As a** production administrator **I want to** restrict the capacity calculation to the work centers that matter on the shop floor **So that** planners are not distracted by other work centers **Setup:** 1. On **Shop Floor Setup**, choose **Set Fixed Work Center Filter**. 2. Define the filter on work center fields, for example **Work Center Group Code**, and choose **OK**. > **Note:** The fixed work center filter applies to both Update Capacities and Export Capacity Load to Excel for all users, on top of each user's Work Center Filter. It does not filter Operation Lines. Clear all conditions in the dialog to remove it. ****Calculating capacity for one location**** **As a** production planner at a multi-site company **I want to** calculate capacity only for work centers at my location **So that** the load picture matches my site **Setup:** 1. On **Capacity Load Setup**, set **Location Code** on your line. 2. Choose **Update Capacities** or **Export Capacity Load to Excel**. > **Note:** Location Code limits the work centers and machine centers included to those with that location code. It also filters Production Order Lines and Operation Lines on Shop Floor Overview. ****Keeping different settings for on-screen and Excel views**** **As a** production planner **I want to** use a short period on screen and a long horizon in Excel **So that** I can steer today's work and plan ahead with the same setup **Setup:** 1. On **Shop Floor Overview**, set **From Date** and **To Date** for the on-screen period. 2. On **Capacity Load Setup**, set **Start Date**, **Period Length** and **Number of Periods** for the Excel export. > **Note:** From Date and To Date are only used by the on-screen calculation and the order and operation lists. Start Date, Period Length and Number of Periods are only used by the Excel export. Show Capacity, Show Workload and Show Workload Pct affect both, so keep them turned on to see all three values on screen. ## Field Reference | Field name | Where to find it | What it does | Default value | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Status | Shop Floor Overview, Capacity Load Setup | Production order statuses whose load is included. | Firm Planned and Released | | From Date | Shop Floor Overview, Capacity Load Setup | Start of the on-screen capacity period. | Blank | | To Date | Shop Floor Overview, Capacity Load Setup | End of the on-screen capacity period. | End of current year | | Work Center Filter | Shop Floor Overview, Capacity Load Setup, Excel request page | Limits the calculation to these work centers. | Blank | | Machine Center Filter | Shop Floor Overview, Capacity Load Setup | Limits the machine center rows when Show Machine Centers is on. | Blank | | Show Machine Centers | Shop Floor Overview, Capacity Load Setup, Excel request page | Adds machine center rows under each work center. | No | | Include Load from Orders | Shop Floor Overview, Capacity Load Setup, Excel request page | Includes capacity need from production orders. | Yes | | Include Load from Journals | Shop Floor Overview, Capacity Load Setup, Excel request page | Includes capacity need from planning worksheet lines. | Yes | | Location Code | Capacity Load Setup | Limits work centers and machine centers to one location. | Blank | | Start Date | Capacity Load Setup, Excel request page | First date of the Excel export. | Start of current year | | Number of Periods | Capacity Load Setup, Excel request page | Number of period columns in the Excel export, 1 to 12. | 12 | | Period Length | Capacity Load Setup, Excel request page | Length of each Excel period. | 1M | | Show Greater Than Qty | Capacity Load Setup, Excel request page | Hides rows whose load never exceeds this value, unless the percentage limit is exceeded. | 0 | | Show Greater Than Pct | Capacity Load Setup, Excel request page | Hides rows whose load percentage never exceeds this value, unless the quantity limit is exceeded. | 0 | | Colour Green Limit | Capacity Load Setup, Excel request page | Load percentage above which Excel cells are green. | 40 | | Colour Yellow Limit | Capacity Load Setup, Excel request page | Load percentage above which Excel cells are yellow. | 70 | | Colour Red Limit | Capacity Load Setup, Excel request page | Load percentage above which Excel cells are red. | 95 | | Show Capacity | Capacity Load Setup, Excel request page | Calculates and exports the capacity values. | Yes | | Show Workload | Capacity Load Setup, Excel request page | Calculates and exports the workload values. | Yes | | Show Workload Pct | Capacity Load Setup, Excel request page | Calculates and exports the load percentage. | Yes | | Worksheet Name | Excel request page | Planning worksheet template to read load from when only journal load is included. | Blank | | Batch Name | Excel request page | Planning worksheet batch to read load from when only journal load is included. | Blank | | Fixed Work Center Filter | Shop Floor Setup (Set Fixed Work Center Filter) | Company-wide work center filter applied to every capacity calculation. | Blank | | Capacity | Capacity Load Lines | Effective capacity in the period. | 0 | | Allocated capacity | Capacity Load Lines | Load in the period (allocated time for work centers, needed time for machine centers). | 0 | | Load Pct. | Capacity Load Lines | Allocated capacity as a percentage of Capacity, or -100 when there is no capacity. | 0 | | Total operations | Capacity Load Lines | Number of operations overlapping the period. Drill down to see them. | 0 | | Operation starts | Capacity Load Lines | Number of operations starting in the period. Drill down to see them. | 0 | | Operation ends | Capacity Load Lines | Number of operations ending in the period. Drill down to see them. | 0 | | Concurrent Capacities | Capacity Load Lines | Capacity value from the work center or machine center card. | 0 | | Efficiency | Capacity Load Lines | Efficiency from the work center or machine center card. | 100 |