A planning process is one of the key processes in manufacturing companies. Especially there where there are purchase and sales processes included in order to provide for harmonic and synchronized business.

Normally, planning is done in hierarchic plannign cycles leading from strategic to operative stage.

Management is the one that creates a long-term plan, according to which it can be foreseen what will be manufactured, where and how. It should be noted that the long-term plan is usually done years ahead.

Based on it product managers create a middle-term (aggregate) plan. Here is foreseen how many individual products will be produced and when. Plus, who will supply raw materials and how many employees will be required on a monthly basis.

The aggregate plan serves as basis using which you can issue the master production schedule (in short MPS). Using it you can issue production as can clearly be observed from its name: planning the number and type of individual products, quantity and supply of raw materials, availability of capacities and employees. It is a basis from which you can start work in the PANTHEON manufacturing module.

Using MPS you can issue work orders, work slips, requisitions and any other work documentation which is required for monitoring manufacturing. The latter is not plan in the trues sense of the work. It's purpose is more for monitoring plan execution.

	Normally, you plan the last two levels (that is, the main production schedule (MPS) and work orders including work documentation).
	For a detailed treatment of how you can set document types used in plannig see document types used in planning.