04. Start, Amend, Complete, or Cancel Production

Every manufacturing order in Qoblex moves through a controlled sequence of statuses: Draft, In Production, Completed, and Canceled. The buttons you see on an order, and the actions you can take on the Manufacturing list, depend entirely on where the order sits in that sequence. Each transition also tells Qoblex to do something automatically to your stock, such as reserving components, consuming them, or increasing finished-product on-hand.

This article explains what each status means, which actions are available in each one, and exactly what Qoblex does behind the scenes when you start, complete, amend, or cancel a production order. After reading it you will know how to drive an order from a fresh draft through to a completed build, how to reopen an order to correct it, and how to cancel an order safely.

Order statuses

A manufacturing order is always in one of four statuses. The status is shown as a badge at the top of the order.

• Draft — the order is still editable. You can change the finished product, quantities, wastage, and costs. No stock has been reserved yet.
• In Production — the order has been started and component stock has been reserved (allocated) at the production location. On-hand stock has not moved yet.
• Completed — production is finished. Stock has been consumed and the finished product has been added to inventory. The order is final.
• Canceled — the order has been abandoned. No stock movement is reversed on cancel.

Draft

A newly created order starts as Draft, and this is the only status in which the order can be edited. From a Draft order you can:

• Change any field, including the finished product, quantity to produce, and production type.
• Edit wastage on component lines.
• Add or edit Labor / Overhead cost lines.
• Save the order.
• Start Production to reserve stock and move the order to In Production.
• Cancel the order.

Start Production

Select Start Production when the order is ready to reserve stock. On the Manufacturing list, the matching bulk action is Start Production.

Before starting, Qoblex checks that:

• A Bill of Material (finished product) is selected.
• A production location is selected.
• The yield quantity is greater than zero and not greater than the quantity to produce.
• The required component stock can be reserved at the production location.

When the checks pass, Qoblex saves the order and then reserves stock automatically:

• For assembly orders, Qoblex allocates each component at the production location, reserving the component quantity plus any wastage.
• For disassembly orders, Qoblex allocates the finished product itself (the quantity to produce) at the production location.

The order status then becomes In Production.

If a required component cannot be fully reserved, Qoblex returns an out-of-stock message and the order stays in Draft — it does not start.

In Production

An In Production order has stock reserved but not yet consumed. From this status you can:

• Complete the order.
• Amend the order (open it for edits).
• Edit the unconsumed quantity on component lines (assembly orders only).
• Edit Labor / Overhead cost lines.
• Assign lots or serials where tracked items are involved.

The yield quantity is not a directly editable field in this view. Qoblex sets it automatically to match the quantity to produce whenever you change Quantity To Produce while the order is in Draft.

An In Production order cannot be canceled directly. Amend it back to Draft first, then cancel it.

Complete Production

Select Complete when production is finished. On the Manufacturing list, the matching bulk action is Complete Production.

Before completing, Qoblex runs the same production checks as Start Production, and if any consumed component or the finished product is batch- or serial-tracked, it opens the Lots & Serial view (titled “Receive Batch”) so you can record which batches were produced and consumed under the Finished Product Batch / Serial numbers and Consumed Raw Materials Batch / Serial numbers sections, then choose Confirm.

When completion succeeds, Qoblex automatically:

• Releases all stock allocations for the order.
• Increases finished-product on-hand stock by the yield quantity at the production location (for assembly orders).
• Decreases each component’s on-hand stock by its quantity plus wastage, minus any unconsumed quantity (for assembly orders). Disassembly orders do the reverse: the finished product is decreased and components are increased.
• Records batch usage and posts the corresponding inventory-ledger entries. If you have a connected accounting integration, these entries sync as journal entries through the Manufacturing account rule — see Xero manufacturing settings or QuickBooks manufacturing settings.
• Clears the allocation cache and reloads the order.

The order status then becomes Completed.

Batch and serial assignments cannot be changed on a Completed order. To correct a batch on a completed order, use an inventory adjustment instead.

Amend

Select Amend to reopen an In Production order for edits. On the Manufacturing list, the matching bulk action is Open for Edits.

When you amend an order, Qoblex automatically:

• Releases all stock allocations for the order.
• Clears component batch reservations and removes any recorded batch usages.
• Recomputes the order’s stock status.

The order status returns to Draft, where you can edit it again. No on-hand stock is moved by amending.

Cancel

Cancel is available while the order is Draft or In Production. The Cancel button carries the tooltip “Cancel order, this action cannot be undone”, and choosing it shows the confirmation “Are you sure you want to cancel this order? This operation cannot be undone”.

Canceling does not reverse any stock movement. It simply sets the order to Canceled.

An In Production order cannot be canceled directly — Qoblex returns “Cannot cancel an ongoing order, consider opening the order for edits first.” Amend the order back to Draft, then cancel it.

To cancel an In Production order:

1. Select Amend to return the order to Draft.
2. Once the order is Draft, select Cancel and confirm.

Completed orders cannot be canceled.

Bulk lifecycle actions

You do not have to open each order individually. Select one or more orders on the Manufacturing list and use the bulk actions:

• Start Production
• Open for Edits
• Complete Production

Qoblex processes the selected orders and returns either a success message or a per-order message identifying any order that could not be processed (for example, one that ran short on stock).