What Is a Planned Start Pin in Scheduling? EDGEBIC Definition
User Solutions TeamA planned start pin is a durable planner note that fixes the intended start of a not-yet-started operation, without pretending the operation has begun. It is written by the Gantt's Planned Start Only drag mode, and it records intent rather than fact: no actual dates are written, so the step stays unstarted. On the next scheduling run the engine schedules the pinned step forward from the pinned date. It is the difference between penciling a plan onto the board and clocking in.
This entry is part of the EDGEBIC by User Solutions glossary series; for the broader vocabulary of planning, see the manufacturing glossary. To choose the drag behavior that writes one, see how to change the drag mode on the Gantt.
How a Planned Start Pin Works
The Gantt's drag has three modes that decide what a dragged bar writes on apply. Two of them write actuals: one records both an actual start and end, the other just an actual start for an in-progress step. The third, Planned Start Only, writes neither. Instead it stamps a durable planned-start date on the operation, a pin that says this is when I intend this step to begin.
Because a pin writes no actuals, the step remains unstarted, and the engine keeps full freedom to schedule around it, with one addition: it schedules the pinned step forward from the pinned date rather than from wherever it would otherwise fall. Downstream steps then follow from the pinned step's new placement.
The pin is durable, so it survives reschedules and keeps steering the step run after run. In the engine's direction-precedence order it sits above backward and plain forward scheduling but below actuals, which means a pin governs an unstarted step, and any real actual dates take over the moment the work actually begins.
A Concrete Example
A planner wants a finishing operation to plan for Thursday morning. The material will be staged by then, and Thursday is when the finishing cell has a clean run. But nobody has touched the part yet, so recording an actual start would be a lie the schedule would carry forward.
Instead the planner switches the Gantt to Planned Start Only, drags the finishing bar to Thursday morning, and applies. That writes a durable planned start pin and no actuals. On the next run the engine schedules the finishing step forward from Thursday morning, and the steps after it fall into place behind it. It is a plan, penciled on the board, not a punch, and the schedule treats it exactly that way.
How EDGEBIC Uses It
A planned start pin is written through the Gantt and consumed by the engine:
- The Planned Start Only drag mode is the way to create one. Dragging a bar in that mode writes the pin and leaves the step unstarted, distinct from the two drag modes that write actuals.
- The engine schedules forward from the pin on every run and re-applies it across reschedules because it is durable, not a one-time move.
- Actuals outrank the pin. As soon as the step gets a real actual start, direction precedence hands control to the actuals, and the pin steps aside.
A pin is the intent-side counterpart to an actual date, which records fact and freezes the step. Reading the two together clarifies why one steers an unstarted step while the other locks a started one, the target level records whether a target date was set on the whole job or on a single operation, and how to change the drag mode on the Gantt shows how to pick which one a drag writes.
A planned start pin is a durable planner note that fixes the intended start of a not-yet-started operation, without recording that the work has actually begun. In EDGEBIC it is written by the Gantt's Planned Start Only drag mode, and the engine then schedules the pinned step forward from that date on the next run. No actuals are written, so the pin expresses intent, this op should start Thursday morning, rather than fact, this op started at eight.
A planned start pin says when you intend a step to begin; an actual start says when it really began. The pin writes no actuals and leaves the step unstarted, so the engine treats it as a forward-scheduling hint it can still plan around. An actual start, by contrast, is a fact that makes the step immutable to the rescheduler. Use a pin to steer a future operation and an actual start to record work the floor has genuinely begun.
Yes. A pin is durable, not a one-time nudge, so it persists across reschedules and continues to anchor the step's forward scheduling from the pinned date. It sits in the direction-precedence order above backward and plain forward scheduling but below actuals, meaning a pin steers an unstarted step, while any real actual dates on that step take over once work begins.
Expert Q&A: Deep Dive
Q: I want a step to plan for Thursday morning but it hasn't started. How do I tell the schedule that?
A: Switch the Gantt to Planned Start Only drag mode, then drag that operation's bar to Thursday morning and apply. That writes a durable planned start pin without recording any actuals, so the step stays unstarted. On the next scheduling run the engine schedules the step forward from Thursday morning, and downstream steps follow. Because it is a pin and not an actual, you have not falsely claimed the work began; you have penciled in a plan the engine will respect.
Q: Will a pinned step block me from logging actuals later?
A: No. The pin only sets the intended start while the step is unstarted. Once the operator actually begins the work and you log an actual start, the actuals rule outranks the pin in direction precedence, so the engine schedules from the real start instead. The pin quietly steps aside as soon as reality arrives, which is exactly how a plan should behave once the work it planned for is underway.
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