What is advanced planning and scheduling (APS) software?

APS software plans and sequences production against every real constraint at once (machine hours, labor and skills, tooling, shifts and material) and recalculates when an order, a machine or a delivery changes. It replaces the infinite-capacity assumption in most ERP and MRP systems with a schedule the plant can actually run.

How is APS different from ERP scheduling?

Most ERP scheduling and MRP modules plan to infinite capacity with fixed lead times, so they will accept a plan the plant cannot meet. APS schedules to finite capacity, models setups, alternates and skills, and lets you compare what-if scenarios before committing. BAE Systems discontinued its ERP planning module for this reason and planned in RMDB, the engine behind EDGEBIC, instead.

How much does APS software cost?

Most APS vendors do not publish prices. Enterprise APS is typically an annual per-seat subscription or a project quoted at $50,000 and up before services. EDGEBIC by User Solutions publishes its price: $25,000 for EDGEBIC APS and $35,000 for EDGEBIC Complete, as one-time perpetual licenses with updates included and no per-seat annual fee.

Does EDGEBIC include optimization?

Yes, in the base edition. EDGEBIC has a two-layer optimizer: a best-of-N multi-run search that is never worse than your current schedule, and Google OR-Tools CP-SAT mathematical optimization with a proven optimality gap. The planner reviews each result and accepts it or not.

Which ERP systems does EDGEBIC work with?

Any ERP that exports Excel, CSV or database tables. Integration guides cover SAP, Oracle, Epicor, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics, QuickBooks, Sage, JobBOSS, Infor, Acumatica, Odoo, Fourth Shift, SYSPRO, Global Shop Solutions, Plex, IQMS/DELMIAworks and Made2Manage. The ERP stays the system of record; EDGEBIC is the scheduling layer.

How long does an APS implementation take?

Enterprise APS projects commonly run for months with consultants. EDGEBIC implementations typically take days to weeks: Plastilite Corporation had a complete optimized schedule with two-way ERP integration in 5 days.

Is EDGEBIC the same as RMDB?

EDGEBIC is RMDB 2.0: the current generation of Resource Manager DB (RMDB) by User Solutions, Inc., of South Lyon, Michigan, founded 1991. It keeps the RMDB finite capacity engine used from the USS Nimitz to Cummins and adds the graphical routing designer, what-if scenarios, the optimizer and MRP. RMDB customers are still supported.

Advanced Planning and Scheduling Software With a Published Price

Advanced planning and scheduling (APS) software plans and sequences production against every real constraint at once (machines, labor, tooling, shifts and material) and replans when something changes. EDGEBIC (RMDB 2.0) by User Solutions is APS for discrete manufacturers: finite capacity scheduling, what-if scenarios and a mathematical optimizer in one installed application.

Built for small and mid-size plants that have outgrown spreadsheets or an ERP scheduling module, without a months-long enterprise APS project. $25,000 one time, not a subscription.

Last updated September 24, 2026

EDGEBIC planning board showing a finite capacity schedule of operations across work centers — Planning Board: every operation on every machine, rescheduled to finite capacity when you drag one

APS, MRP and ERP Scheduling: What Each One Decides

The three get used interchangeably and they are not the same thing. What separates them is the question each one answers, and what it assumes about the hours in your week.

	What it decides	What it assumes about capacity
MRP	What to buy and make, and when, from the bill of material and demand	That the hours exist. It applies a fixed lead time per level and does not check
ERP scheduling module	A date for each work order, usually by working back from the due date	Usually infinite: the work center is treated as always available
APS	Which job runs on which resource, in what order, and what moves when something changes	Finite: it places an operation only when the machine, the operator, the tooling and the material are genuinely free

What sequencing is worth, in hours

The part an ERP date cannot give you is order. Take twelve jobs on one machine across three setup families, four jobs in each, with a 45 minute changeover whenever the family changes. Run them in the order the orders arrived and you can hit a family change at every one of the eleven transitions: 495 minutes, a little over eight hours of the week spent changing over.

Group them by family and there are two family changes instead of eleven: 90 minutes. The same twelve jobs, the same machine, the same people, and 405 minutes back, near enough a full shift. That is one machine and one week. Multiply it by the number of constrained work centers you run, and sequencing stops looking like a detail.

EDGEBIC holds this as a sequence-dependent setup matrix, so the schedule charges the real changeover between each pair of families rather than an average. Going deeper: what advanced planning and scheduling means, how APS differs from an ERP scheduling module and MRP compared with APS.

What Makes EDGEBIC Real APS

An APS system earns the name by modelling the constraints an ERP leaves out. These are all in EDGEBIC APS, the $25,000 edition.

Forward and backward finite capacity scheduling
Machines, labor, tooling and material constrained at the same time
Theory of Constraints anchoring around the bottleneck
Parallel work centers, true alternates and machine pools
Sequence-dependent setup matrix with setup families
Lot streaming with transfer batches and overlap
Operator skills, certifications and shift rosters
Two-layer optimizer with Google OR-Tools CP-SAT
What-if scenarios and quoting, compared before you commit
Shop-floor kiosk for operator punches and piece counts
Reports for OEE, utilization, on-time delivery and earned value
MRP, inventory, purchasing and material pegging in EDGEBIC Complete

EDGEBIC optimizer workbench building a what-if variant with weekend work, longer days, added machines or outside operations — Optimizer Workbench: test a what-if variant in memory and compare it with the plan you run today

EDGEBIC setup matrix showing from-family to-family changeover times in minutes — Setup Matrix: sequence-dependent changeovers charged at their real length

Retired the ERP planning module for finite capacity planning

BAE Systems / Ordnance Systems, Inc.

BAE Systems / Ordnance Systems had an ERP with MRP and capacity requirements planning, but it let planners enter a master schedule that exceeded available capacity and gave little warning when they did. The team stopped using it for production planning.

After sending sample data from its ERP for review, it selected RMDB, the engine behind EDGEBIC, and had most of its bills of resource, inventory items and work centers loaded in a very short time. Marc Phillippi, ERP Systems Manager, called it a vital tool in the plant's production planning and scheduling.

Read the BAE Systems story

EDGEBIC vs ERP Scheduling Modules, Spreadsheets and Enterprise APS

Where EDGEBIC sits among the options. It does the finite capacity work of enterprise APS at a price and implementation time a mid-size plant can absorb.

	Spreadsheet	ERP scheduling module	Enterprise APS	EDGEBIC APS
Capacity model	Whatever you build by hand	Usually infinite capacity with fixed lead times	Finite, deep constraint modelling	Finite across machines, labor, tooling and shifts
Setups and alternates	Manual	Fixed setup times, limited alternates	Yes	Setup matrix by family, parallel and alternate work centers
Optimization	None	Rarely	Yes, often an extra module	Included: multi-run search plus CP-SAT
What-if scenarios	Copy the file	Rarely	Yes	Yes, run in memory and compared side by side
Works with your ERP	Manual re-keying	It is the ERP	Pre-built connectors to major ERPs	Any ERP that exports Excel, CSV or database tables
Implementation	Hours	Part of the ERP project	Months, usually consultant-led	Days to weeks (Plastilite: 5 days with ERP integration)
Pricing	Free	Included or an add-on module	Annual per-seat subscription or a $50K+ project	$25,000 one time ($35,000 with MRP)

Comparing APS Vendors

The APS field for discrete manufacturing includes PlanetTogether, Siemens Opcenter APS (Preactor), Epicor, Asprova, DELMIA Ortems and EDGEBIC. EDGEBIC differs on published one-time pricing, implementation in days, ERP independence and optimization included in the base edition. Head-to-head comparisons:

New to the category? Start with what advanced planning and scheduling is, APS vs ERP scheduling and the best APS software compared.

EDGEBIC Pricing: Published, One-Time

Two editions of EDGEBIC by User Solutions, both perpetual licenses with updates included and no per-seat annual fee. EDGEBIC is an installed Windows application, not a subscription service. See EDGEBIC pricing and editions or how this compares with the market.

Edition	What it includes	One-time license
EDGEBIC APS	Finite capacity scheduling and optimization: graphical routing designer, forward and backward scheduling, Theory of Constraints anchoring, parallel work centers, sequence-dependent setup, lot streaming, operator skills, and a two-layer schedule optimizer.	$25,000
EDGEBIC Complete	Everything in EDGEBIC APS plus MRP, inventory, purchasing and material pegging, so material availability constrains the schedule alongside machines and labor.	$35,000

Works Alongside Your ERP

Keep your ERP as the system of record. Orders, routings, work centers and actuals come into EDGEBIC from Excel, CSV or database tables, and finite capacity schedules and realistic dates go back out. No middleware and no custom API project. Step-by-step integration guides: