Question 1

What is an ERP scheduling add-on?

Accepted Answer

An ERP scheduling add-on is a dedicated finite capacity scheduler that runs beside your ERP rather than replacing it. The ERP stays the system of record for orders, inventory, purchasing and accounting. The add-on takes the open orders, routings, work centers and actuals, builds a schedule against real machine, labor, material and tooling capacity, and writes achievable dates back. You keep the ERP you have already paid for and gain the one capability it lacks.

Question 2

Why do ERP systems need a scheduling add-on at all?

Accepted Answer

Most ERP systems were built for transaction processing, and their scheduling modules plan with infinite capacity: they assume a work center is always available and apply a fixed lead time, so the dates they produce are not achievable. BAE Systems bought an ERP with MRP and CRP, was not satisfied with its capacity constraint recognition, and discontinued the ERP scheduling module in favour of RMDB while keeping the ERP itself.

Question 3

Is an ERP scheduling module or a standalone scheduler better?

Accepted Answer

An ERP module wins on data proximity: it is already connected. A standalone finite capacity scheduler wins on the thing that decides whether a schedule survives the week, which is whether it respects real capacity, and on how fast you can re-plan when the floor changes. In practice the add-on pattern gives you both, because the ERP keeps the data and the scheduler does the scheduling. There is a fuller comparison on our ERP scheduling module versus standalone scheduling software page.

Question 4

Which ERP systems does it integrate with?

Accepted Answer

Any ERP that can export Excel, CSV or database tables, which in practice is all of them. Proven integrations include Fourth Shift (Plastilite Corporation), Macola and Exact Software (INCON Incorporated) and AS400 (Cummins Engine), plus SAP, Oracle, Epicor, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics, QuickBooks, Sage, JobBOSS, Infor, Acumatica, Odoo, SYSPRO, Global Shop Solutions, Plex, IQMS and Made2Manage. The Fourth Shift ERP vendor itself recommended RMDB as its scheduling add-on.

Question 5

What data moves between the ERP and the scheduler?

Accepted Answer

In: open orders with due dates and quantities, items, bills of material, routings with run and setup times, work centers with shift calendars, and actuals from the floor. Out: operation-level start and finish dates, realistic promise dates for quoting, work center load and free capacity, and the named bottleneck. The exchange is file or table based, so there is no middleware to buy and no custom API project.

Question 6

How long does an ERP scheduling integration take?

Accepted Answer

Days to weeks, not months, because nothing is migrated. Plastilite Corporation went from raw ERP data to a complete optimized schedule with full Fourth Shift integration in five days, Monday to Friday. The long pole is normally the accuracy of your routings and run rates, not the connection.

Question 7

Will it disrupt our existing ERP workflows?

Accepted Answer

No. Purchasing, inventory and accounting carry on exactly as they are. RMDB reads your open orders, bills of material and routings, applies the finite capacity logic the ERP lacks, and writes updated dates back. Nothing is removed from the ERP and no process has to be rebuilt.

Question 8

How much does an ERP scheduling add-on cost?

Accepted Answer

EDGEBIC by User Solutions, the current generation of RMDB, is a one-time perpetual licence: $25,000 for EDGEBIC APS and $35,000 for EDGEBIC Complete, which adds MRP, inventory, purchasing and material pegging. Updates are included and there is no per-seat annual fee. An ERP vendor will normally quote a scheduling module as part of a wider project; enterprise APS is typically an annual per-seat subscription or a project from around $50,000 before services.

Question 9

Is EDGEBIC the same as RMDB?

Accepted Answer

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 behind every result on this page and adds a graphical routing designer, a drag-and-drop planning board, what-if scenarios, a schedule optimizer and MRP. RMDB customers are still supported.

Direction	What	How
ERP to EDGEBIC	Open orders with due dates and quantities, items, bills of material, routings with setup and run times, work centers and shift calendars, actuals from the floor	Excel, CSV or a database table, via a saved import mask
EDGEBIC to ERP	Operation-level start and finish dates, achievable promise dates, work center load and free capacity, the named bottleneck, what-if variants held outside the live plan	Excel, CSV or a database write, on the schedule you approve

	Your ERP scheduling module	A spreadsheet beside the ERP	Enterprise APS	EDGEBIC as the add-on
Capacity model	Usually infinite, with a fixed lead time per item	Whatever you built by hand	Finite, deep constraint modelling	Finite across machines, labor, materials and tooling
Where the data lives	In the ERP	Re-keyed from the ERP	In the APS, often a second master	Stays in the ERP; the schedule reads and writes back
Replaces the ERP	It is the ERP	No	Sometimes, in part	No, by design
Time to live	Part of the ERP project	Hours, then forever	Months, usually consultant-led	Days to weeks (Plastilite: 5 days with Fourth Shift)
When the floor changes	Rerun the regen, often overnight	Rebuild the sheet	Replans	Drag one operation and everything downstream re-plans
Pricing	Included or quoted as a module	Free, and it costs you the week	Annual per-seat subscription or a $50K+ project	$25,000 or $35,000, one time

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

ERP Scheduling Add-On

Why ERP Scheduling Produces Dates the Floor Cannot Hit

ERP Scheduling Module or a Standalone Scheduler?

What moves between the two systems

RMDB and EDGEBIC: The Scheduling Layer Your ERP Is Missing

Four Ways to Schedule Around an ERP

An ERP scheduling module bought, evaluated and discontinued in favour of RMDB

ERP Add-On Results

How an ERP Scheduling Integration Actually Runs

EDGEBIC Pricing: Published, One-Time

Works Alongside Your ERP

Frequently Asked Questions

ERP Scheduling Add-On Success Stories

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