Actions

Use this function to match or link business processes with specific types of business transactions, or entities. The resulting matched, or linked business process plus transaction or entity is given the general term "Action". Each "action" should reflect a "process" commonly carried out within your organization.

Actions are used with the Sage X3 Quality management functionality:

  • The Change control functionality uses "actions" in the preparation and delivery of controlled and audited design and production "changes".
  • The Non-conformances functionality uses "actions" in the preparation and delivery of controlled and audited corrective or preventive actions against "deviations".

"Actions" effectively become the "what" and "how" of quality management planning schedules guiding implementation of a design or production "change", or corrective, or preventive actions. They’re the tasks carried out by specialist teams or key personnel on specific types of transactions or entities. The "what" are the transaction types to be delivered. The "how" are the tasks or actions to be accomplished.

For example, if your company returns faulty purchased components, a business process associated with returns could be "Return to supplier" and "Purchase orders" a type of business transaction or entity. Other examples could be that the "Sales orders" entity are canceled or the customers entity need to be consulted description. Project managers will append actions to their planning schedules to deliver a requested "change".

Your system is supplied with a predefined list of actions or business processes commonly used by businesses in the distribution and manufacturing sectors. Review and change these to reflect your particular business "processes". The following are some of the actions provided:

  • The Purchase orders entity or transaction type is matched with the Return to supplier description or process.
  • The Purchase orders entity is also matched with the Cancel description.
  • The Routing entity is matched with the Add operations description.
  • The Routing entity is also matched with the Modify operations description.
  • The Work orders entity is matched with the Block description.
  • The Work orders entity is also matched with the Delay description.
  • The Stock entity is matched with the Move to spares description.

You can add to or change these values to suit your organization.

Every linked action, the combination of entity or transaction type plus description or process, has an Action ID as a unique identification reference. It’s the Action ID that's used in the planning schedules.

You assign an Action ID manually when creating new actions as this gives you complete control and flexibility over your identification codes. To link multiple descriptions or processes with a single entity or transaction type, you simply assign a unique Action ID to each linked entity plus description.

Example

Your organization frequently sends products through the postal system. It’s imperative, therefore, that any product packaging is strong and secure. Your customers, however, regularly return goods damaged as a result of defective packaging.

Your warehouse manager creates a change request to review the design of the packaging. In the event that your company’s "change board" approve a redesigned format, an action plan will have to be put together to deliver the "change".

For this scenario, you might consider creating an "action" that links a task or process such as "delay" with a sales order transaction type or entity. This would enable the project manager to include an action in the plan to hold or delay shipments until the new redesigned packaging is available. If your company returns faulty components to the supplier, the predefined action code A501 (Purchase orders Entity plus Return to supplier Description) might be sufficient.

You could consider creating "catch-all" or "include-all" actions using the predefined entity values All and Other. For example, you could match the Block description with the All entity. These associations would give project managers unlimited or unrestricted scope in terms of your business setup or your business activities for their planning schedules.

See also Change control management planning (Change control > Plan)

Prerequisites

See also  Refer to documentation Implementation

Screen management

The Actions function displays existing actions in a grid, or a table.

Each line of the table represents a business process that has been matched or linked with a business transaction or entity. The unique identification reference, the Action ID, is used in Sage X3 Change control action plans.

Action ID (field ACTIONID)

The "action" code.

An action is the general term for a business process that has been matched, or linked with a type of business transaction or entity.

Enter a value which needs to be unique.
Description (field TRANACTION)

The standard business process that's commonly carried out in your organization for a specific type of transaction or entity.

For example, if your company disassembles faulty products to reuse the component parts, select the value Disassemble.

To create the "action", an entity or transaction type plus description, you could match or link the value Disassemble with the Work orders entity.

The resulting action should be a "process" carried out in your organization when processing the specific type of transaction.

The list of descriptions is defined in the 2032 local menu.
Entity (field TRANTYPE)

The type of business transaction (entity) which is commonly carried out in your organization.

For example, if your company returns faulty goods to the supplier, select the value Purchase orders.

To create the "action", an entity or transaction type plus description, you could match or link the value Purchase orders with a "returns" description such as Return to supplier.

The resulting action should be a "process" carried out in your organization when processing this specific type of transaction.

The list of entities is defined in the 2039 local menu.

Action panel

Create

Select the Create action to create or add a new "action" to match or link a business process with a specific type of business transaction.

Select the quick Edit icon on the individual lines to change an existing value to suit your organization.

Error messages

In addition to the generic error messages, the following messages can appear during the entry:

The Entity field must contain a value

You cannot leave the Entity field blank.

The Description field must contain a value

You cannot leave the Description field blank.

Tables used

See also  Refer to documentation Implementation