Locations represent places where work happens, such as an assembly station, inspection area, workshop, or service point. Next Plus connects locations to users, workflow steps, and tracked units to help people find relevant work orders and understand where the next operation belongs.
Where locations are used
Users: location assignments narrow the work-order list and home dashboard to relevant work.
Workflow steps: a location identifies where the step should be performed and appears with its instructions.
Stock records: a location can identify where a tracked unit or batch has pending work.
Work orders: current locations combine information from sessions and associated stock records. They can also provide context for location-based reporting.
How locations affect what users see
Location filtering is controlled through each user’s location assignments. Creating locations for your organization does not automatically filter every user’s work-order list.
Configuration | Work-order visibility |
Your organization does not use locations | No location-based filtering. |
Your organization uses locations, but the user has none assigned | No location-based filtering for that user. |
The user has one assigned location | Work orders whose current locations include that location. |
The user has several assigned locations | Work orders matching any of those locations. |
The user opens the Closed Work Orders list | Location filtering is removed. |
Other filters and permissions still apply. If a user has assigned locations, a work order without a matching current location is excluded from their location-filtered list.
Location assignments organize visibility; they are not access permissions. They do not, by themselves, prevent a user from opening a work order through another route. Use permissions and group configuration to manage access.
How locations guide work-order navigation
A workflow step can have a location assigned under Enrichment → Location. The location appears with the step’s instructions, including for users who are not assigned to that location.
As work progresses, Next Plus updates the work order’s current locations using its sessions’ upcoming steps and associated stock locations. This can bring a work order into a user’s filtered list or remove it when it no longer matches.
For example, a process has an Assembly step followed by an Inspection step. When the upcoming work is at Assembly, the work order can appear for users assigned to Assembly. As the process advances to Inspection, it can appear for users assigned to Inspection.
A work order may have several current locations when it includes multiple sessions or tracked units. It can therefore appear in more than one location’s list at the same time.
Workflow connections and routing rules determine which step comes next. Locations indicate where the work belongs; they do not change the process sequence or assign the work order to a specific person.
What are stock locations?
Next Plus uses Stock records to track individual units or batches. A stock location can be derived from the unit’s first unfinished operation by matching its work-center name to a Next Plus Location.
For example, if a unit’s first unfinished operation belongs to the Inspection work center and a matching Location exists, Inspection can become the stock’s location. That location contributes to the work order’s current locations.
This represents where pending work belongs. It does not necessarily confirm the unit’s physical storage position.
Setting up locations
Create the locations your organization needs in the location catalog.
Assign locations to workflow steps where operators need guidance about where to work.
Assign one or more locations to users who should have a focused work-order list. Leave the assignment empty for users who need visibility across locations, subject to their permissions and other filters.
If you use operation work centers, keep their names aligned with the corresponding Next Plus Location names.
If a work order is missing from a user’s list
Check the user’s assigned locations, the upcoming workflow-step locations, and any stock-operation work-center mapping. Confirm that at least one current work-order location matches the user’s assignments. Also check the selected work-order view, other active filters, and access permissions.
Locations may be called stations in your organization. These process locations are separate from licensed stations, which relate to terminal licensing.