What Is an Actuals Entry Source in Shop Floor Tracking? EDGEBIC Definition
User Solutions TeamAn actuals entry source records where a logged actual value came from, so a planner can tell a figure a person typed from one the system estimated. The three sources are User, entered by a planner or operator; system auto-filled from plan, back-filled by the engine when a downstream step is closed before an upstream one; and ERP import, pushed from an external system. It is the provenance stamp on every actual. It answers who produced the number, which is a different question from the entry mode, which answers whether hours or pieces were recorded as the truth for that day.
This entry is part of the EDGEBIC by User Solutions glossary series; for the broader vocabulary of planning, see the manufacturing glossary. For the related but distinct format question, see what is an actual entry mode.
How an Actuals Entry Source Works
Every logged actual, a day's hours or pieces on a step, carries a source alongside the value. The source is not the number itself; it is a label describing how the number came to exist.
The common case is User: a planner or operator typed the figure, for example seven and a half hours in the Log Actuals dialog. That is a measured value, entered by someone who was there.
The interesting case is system auto-filled from plan. Actuals are supposed to be logged in order, but the floor does not always oblige, and a later step sometimes gets closed before an earlier one has any actuals. To keep the sequence coherent, the engine can back-fill the earlier step's actuals from the plan. Those values are estimates, so they are stamped as system auto-filled rather than left to masquerade as typed figures.
The third source is ERP import: actuals pushed in from an external system. Labeling these separately lets a planner see that a figure arrived from a feed rather than being keyed at a kiosk.
A Concrete Example
An operator finishes step three and closes it, but step two was never clocked in the system, the operator ran it earlier and forgot to log it. Step three's actuals now exist with nothing behind them for step two, and the sequence looks broken.
The engine back-fills step two's hours from the plan so the job's history is coherent again, and it stamps those hours with the system auto-filled source. In the Log Actuals grid, step two's days now show an auto-filled badge, the timesheet row marked estimated by the system, not typed by a person.
The planner reviews the badged rows against what really happened. When they correct step two's Tuesday figure by typing the real hours, the badge disappears on the spot, because the source flips to User the instant a person overwrites the estimate. The provenance stamp did its job: it flagged the estimate, prompted a review, and cleared itself once a human took ownership.
How EDGEBIC Uses It
The actuals entry source is a field on each logged actual, and it drives how the record is presented and trusted:
- User actuals are values a planner or operator typed, the measured baseline of the record.
- System auto-filled actuals are back-filled from the plan when a downstream step is closed before an upstream one, and they surface as an auto-filled badge in the Log Actuals grid so planners know to review them. The badge clears live when the value is edited.
- ERP import actuals are values pushed from an external system, labeled so their external origin is always visible.
The source is provenance; the actual entry mode is the convention behind the number, whether hours or pieces led. Read them together for the full shape of a logged actual, and see how to backfill actuals for earlier steps for the workflow that produces the auto-filled source.
An actuals entry source records where a logged actual value came from, so a planner can tell a typed figure from a system estimate. In EDGEBIC the three sources are User, entered by a planner or operator; system auto-filled from plan, back-filled by the engine when a downstream step was closed before an upstream one; and ERP import, pushed from an external system. It is the provenance stamp on every actual, distinct from the entry mode, which is about whether hours or pieces are recorded as the truth for that day.
Because a value typed by the person who ran the job carries more weight than one the system estimated to fill a gap. When an operator closes a later step before an earlier one, the engine may back-fill the earlier step's actuals from the plan so the sequence stays coherent. Marking that value as system auto-filled tells the planner it is an estimate, not a measured figure, so they can review and correct it rather than treating it as gospel.
They answer different questions. The actual entry mode is the convention a shop adopts for which measure it records as the truth on an operation: hours, pieces, or both captured independently. It is expressed through the Auto Calc Hours control when a day is logged, not by a per-machine setting. The actuals entry source is about where the entry came from: a person, a system back-fill, or an import. One is the shape of the measurement; the other is its provenance. A single logged day has both.
Expert Q&A: Deep Dive
Q: The Log Actuals grid shows an auto-filled badge on a couple of days. What does that mean and should I fix it?
A: The auto-filled badge means those days' hours were back-filled by the system from the plan, not typed by a person, because a downstream step was closed before its upstream step had actuals. The source on those rows is system auto-filled from plan. They are estimates the engine used to keep the sequence coherent, so it is worth reviewing them against what really happened. If you edit the value, the badge disappears live, because the source becomes User the moment a person types over it.
Q: If I import actuals from a file, how are they marked?
A: Imported actuals carry the ERP import source, distinguishing them from values a person typed or the system back-filled. That provenance stamp lets a planner see at a glance that a figure came from an external feed rather than being keyed at the kiosk. Keeping imported values labeled means you can always trace an actual back to whether a person, the engine, or an outside system produced it, which matters when a number looks off and you need to know who to ask.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to Transform Your Production Scheduling?
User Solutions has been helping manufacturers optimize their production schedules for over 35 years. One-time license, 5-day implementation.
User Solutions Team
Manufacturing Software Experts
User Solutions has been developing production planning and scheduling software for manufacturers since 1991. Our team combines 35+ years of manufacturing software expertise with deep industry knowledge to help factories optimize their operations.
Share this article
Related Articles
The EDGEBIC Scheduling Glossary Index
A themed index to the EDGEBIC glossary: scheduling engine, capacity and calendars, materials and planning, shop floor, reporting, quoting, and data import terms, defined in plain language.
What Is the Critical Chain in Manufacturing Scheduling?
The critical chain is the longest dependent path through a plan once shared machine contention is counted, not just step precedence. Here is how it differs from the critical path.
What Does Finite Capacity Mean in EDGEBIC?
Finite capacity means the scheduler refuses to book more hours on a machine than that machine actually has. See exactly how EDGEBIC enforces it, day by day and shift by shift.