EDGEBIC + Genius ERP: The Complete Scheduling Integration Guide

Integrating Genius ERP with EDGEBIC means exporting the items, work centers, routings, and open jobs Genius already holds to CSV or Excel, mapping those columns once with a reusable import mask, and letting EDGEBIC schedule the work against finite capacity: real shift hours, real machine counts, and sequence-dependent setups. Executable dates then go back as Excel. There is no API project, nothing installed inside Genius, and no certified connector to version-match when either side updates.

EDGEBIC by User Solutions is the newest generation of a scheduling line that has integrated with ERPs this way since 1991. Across 35+ years the same file-based approach has fed schedules for the US Navy, GE, BAE Systems, and Cummins. This guide covers the Genius ERP case, which matters because Genius serves custom and engineer-to-order manufacturers whose routings are exactly the kind of data that trips up rigid connectors.

Why a custom-manufacturing ERP still needs a finite capacity scheduler

Genius ERP is strong at the make-to-order business record: quotes, engineering, purchasing, inventory, and the jobs that flow from them. What most Genius shops report is that the daily sequencing decision still happens in a spreadsheet, because the morning questions are finite capacity questions:

• Which of these open jobs actually fit on the two large machining centers this month?
• If this rush job jumps the queue, which promise dates move and by how much?
• Is the paint line loaded to 80 percent or 160 percent in week 6?

Those require modeling shifts, machine instances, changeover sequences, and operator availability against every open job at once. It is a different computational problem from recording transactions, which is why a dedicated finite capacity layer beside the ERP is the standard pattern. The general case is in finite versus infinite capacity scheduling.

The integration in one table

The EDGEBIC ERP integration architecture is identical for every ERP, Genius included:

An import mask is a saved recipe: it remembers the data type, the file format, whether the first row is headings, whether text values are quoted, and how each column maps onto an EDGEBIC field. You build it once by dragging column headings onto target fields, and every run after that is two clicks. Each row returns exactly one outcome, Created, Updated, Reused, or Failed, and a per-run log records every one.

Step 1: the four exports

Any Genius list or report that saves to CSV is a valid source.

1. Items. Identifier, description, and unit of measure, plus any cost or lead-time columns worth having visible. The identifier is the natural key, matched case-insensitively.
2. Work centers. Identifier, how many identical machines the center really holds, default setup hours, efficiency, and an hourly rate. A bottleneck flag rides in the same file.
3. Routings. One row per operation: end item, work center, sequence number, hours per unit, setup time, queue time.
4. Open jobs. Item, quantity, job reference, and due dates.

Step 2: map the columns once

Name each mask after the routine rather than the file, so Weekly Genius Jobs outlives jobs-week29.csv. Mandatory fields are flagged and the run refuses to start until they are mapped.

Two features carry most of the weight. Unit conversion applies a factor to any numeric column before storage, so minutes become hours with 0.016667 and a per-100-piece time becomes per piece with 0.01. Blank-cell preservation keeps an existing value when a cell is blank on an update run, so a partial refresh is safe, with the caveat that a zero is a value, not a blank.

Step 3: the routing import, and why it takes two passes

Routings are the hardest data to move, because operations reference each other: step 10 feeds step 20 feeds step 30. A row-by-row import cannot wire those links because step 20 does not exist when step 10 is written.

EDGEBIC's routing import runs in two passes. Pass one validates every row, auto-creates any missing work center or item, and buffers the steps. Pass two groups the rows by end item, sorts them by sequence, writes them, and wires the chain so the routing renders as one connected flow in the graphical routing designer. For custom work this is where a one-off routing becomes a real scheduled flow with no template required. Number sequences in gaps of 10, and keep all of one item's steps in one file so re-imports stay idempotent.

Step 4: jobs in, then run the scheduler

The job import maps item, quantity, reference, and due date. Imports never schedule anything: imported jobs sit as unscheduled demand until you run the scheduler, which states how many jobs are new and how many are being rescheduled before it plans. Data movement and planning stay separate on purpose.

Once the data is in, the full engine applies: finite capacity across multiple shifts and machine instances, work center groups that re-shop the machine pool on every reschedule, a sequence-dependent setup matrix, lot streaming, operator skills, and mathematical optimization with a proven optimality gap. The EDGEBIC product overview maps the engine.

Step 5: sending dates back

The return trip is Excel. The Job View grid exports the schedule as a workbook with colored cells and a legend, the work center schedule exports the same way, and every report exports to Excel or PDF using your saved column layout. Revised dates go back into Genius through your normal job maintenance path. There is no automated write-back, which keeps your ERP data under your team's control.

Test it with your own export

Export a routing file and this month's open jobs, then bring them to a demo. Mapping them live takes minutes. If you are comparing systems, the Epicor and Global Shop Solutions versions follow the same method, which is the point of a universal import layer.