Getting Started with MES in ShopPulse: Operator Guide
Overview
The ShopPulse operator dashboard is your interface for managing jobs and submitting labor tickets on MES-enabled machines. This guide covers everything you need to work confidently: understanding your dashboard, signing in, setting up and running jobs, submitting labor tickets, handling corrections, and signing out.
Your primary job is simple: do the work, make sure it's landing against the right job, and submit the labor ticket when you're done. Most tracking happens automatically — you're the quality check that keeps the data accurate.
Note: If your machine is configured as ERP Driven, job management happens in the ERP, not ShopPulse. Contact your administrator if unsure which mode your machine uses.
Feature Availability
Before you begin, make sure:
- The MES Package is active on your account and MES is enabled on your individual machine (your administrator handles this when enabling MES on the machine)
- Your machine's ShopPulse device is authorized by your account Manager or Executive
- Your operator profile is configured in Settings → Operators
- If the job queue is not visible in ShopPulse, contact your administrator
The Most Important Thing to Understand
While a labor ticket is unsubmitted, everything about it can be fixed — the job, the activity, how it's split, whether it's merged with another ticket, or whether it exists at all.
The one exception is the ticket that is still running. It can be submitted or merged, but it can't be deleted, moved to another job on its own, or have its counts edited while the program is going. Stop the program first, or use Re-assign job to move the whole run.
Submitting is what changes that. It closes the ticket in your ERP and makes it read-only in ShopPulse. After that, corrections have to be made in the ERP.
This is why you shouldn't worry about getting things perfect on the first try. Fixing an unsubmitted run costs nothing.
Your ShopPulse Dashboard
The ShopPulse dashboard displays key production details for setup and production activities. Based on your company settings you may also have access to other screens dedicated to downtime, alarms, and other metrics, but this screen is the fundamental place to monitor your work.
- The resource being viewed
- The operator signed in to the resource
- Displays job details
- The currently running production order
- The currently running part operation
- The currently running activity
- Current status of the resource with duration
- Additional tabs display unique views and will vary based on your company's configuration
- Open the utility menu
- Control bar actions for the current context
- Categorize downtime events
- Sign out the current operator
The tabs displayed on your ShopPulse dashboard are configurable by your company administrator, so the tabs you see may differ from what other companies use. There are a number of predefined tabs available — including Utilization and OEE — and your company can also add custom tabs. On machines using program-based job selection, the Total Jobs tab is always present and cannot be hidden. On machines that run one job at a time, Total Jobs is not shown and Part Count is the view that can't be hidden. This guide focuses on those two tabs.
Total Jobs Tab
This is the job queue — your primary MES workflow view. Here you see:
- All jobs on the machine in the order they appear in your schedule
- The state of each job (In Setup, Ready for Production, Matched, Suggested, No Match Found, Confirmed, Paused, Blocked)
- Job details at a glance: work order, operation, part name, quantity, parts made
Job cards are for reading, not for acting. Tapping a card opens that job's run overview, which is where every action lives. See Where the Actions Live below.
Part Count Tab
This tab shows a focused view of your currently active job. You'll see:
- Parts made so far — how many you've completed. This figure includes rejects; only order progress excludes them
- Parts expected — based on expected cycle time and time elapsed
- Order progress — your completion status against the total quantity
- Estimated time remaining — calculated based on your current pace
- Pace indicator — shows whether you're ahead or behind schedule (for example, "5 Ahead")
When the machine is in Setup mode, this tab becomes your setup view — showing setup elapsed and expected time instead of part counts.
Everything updates automatically. Switching between tabs doesn't affect your tickets or data.
Resource Status
The dashboard header is color-coded to show the current state of your resource at a glance. Where several conditions apply at once, the one highest in this list wins:
| Status | Color | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Not Reporting | Gray | The resource is not communicating with MachineMetrics. Because the data is unavailable, this overrides everything else. |
| In Fault | Red | The resource is in a fault state. |
| Inspection states | Orange / Teal / Green / Red | Shown on a single-job machine while its first article is being inspected. See First Article Inspection. |
| In Setup | Yellow | The machine is in Setup mode. The status line shows the setup session time rather than Active/Idle, because execution normally fluctuates during setup. |
| Active | Green | The resource is running production or has no job and is currently active, with no fault present. |
| Idle | Blue | The resource is running production or has no job and is currently idle, with no fault present. |
Key Concepts for Operators
To work confidently in ShopPulse, you need to understand these terms.
Which Kind of Machine You're On
Your machine's "Jobs selected by" setting determines how much of this guide applies to you, so it's worth knowing which one you have. Your administrator sets it.
| Single-job (Jobs selected by = Operator) | Multi-job (Jobs selected by = Program) | |
|---|---|---|
| How many jobs at once | One | Several concurrently |
| Choosing work | Start job | Select jobs, while in Setup mode |
| Labor ticket in your ERP | Opens when you start the job; submitting closes it | Created when you submit |
| Moving between setup and production | Through the labor ticket — no mode control | Enter Setup / Enter Production in the control bar |
| Finishing setup | Submitting the setup ticket as Complete moves the machine into production and opens a production ticket on the same job | Submitting the setup ticket as Complete queues the job as Ready for Production |
| Total Jobs tab | Not shown | Always present |
| First Article Inspection | Available | Not available |
Everything else — job states, ticket states, submitting, splitting, merging, reassigning, pulling a job — behaves the same either way.
Setup Mode and Production Mode
Your machine is always in one of two modes.
- Setup mode — where jobs get prepared. You choose what you're setting up; automatic program matching is paused because you, not the program, are deciding what's being worked on.
- Production mode — where parts get made. Automatic program matching identifies jobs from the running program.
The mode is what MachineMetrics reports to the ERP as the activity on each labor ticket.
On a multi-job machine you move between the modes with the mode control in the control bar. On a single-job machine there is no mode control — the machine follows the labor ticket.
Labor Ticket
A labor ticket is a record that tracks your work — the hours you spent, how many parts you made, which job you worked on, and whether you were doing setup or production. Submitting a ticket closes it out in the ERP so managers and planners can track progress. On a single-job machine the ticket is opened in the ERP when you start the job; on a multi-job machine it is created there when you submit.
A job can have more than one unsubmitted ticket at a time — for example after a split, or after a program stops and restarts.
Draft, Confirmed, and Submitted
Every ticket is in one of three states:
- Draft — not yet submitted, and nobody has attested to the job. Fully editable, including the job. Submittable.
- Confirmed (unsubmitted) — someone has attested that this is the right job. Still unsubmitted, still fully editable including the job. Submittable.
- Closed (submitted) — submitted and closed in your ERP. Read-only in ShopPulse.
The practical takeaway: draft and confirmed are both editable. Confirmation is a record that someone verified the job, not a lock. Submission is the lock.
How a Job Becomes "Confirmed"
There's no Confirm button. A job becomes Confirmed as a side effect of you doing something that asserts it's the right job:
- Submitting labor against it.
- Picking it as a destination — reassigning a run to it, resolving an Unknown Job to it, or choosing it as the destination of a split.
The only time you're explicitly asked is on a Suggested match, where a dialog appears when you submit so you can verify the job or pick a different one.
Burden Hours
Burden hours are the time a job occupies your machine. The system tracks this automatically from the moment a match is made — you don't need to start or stop timers. Burden time accrues on unsubmitted tickets regardless of whether they're draft or confirmed.
Activity Mode vs. Activity
Activity mode is Setup or Production — the machine's mode, and what gets reported to the ERP.
Activity is the finer classification within a mode. Which activities your shop offers is configured by your administrator. You can change a ticket's activity freely as long as it's unsubmitted, and the picker only offers activities within that ticket's own mode — so changing an activity can never move work between Setup and Production. That's a machine mode change.
Dispatch Schedule
Your dispatch schedule is the list of jobs scheduled for your machine, sourced directly from the ERP. This is where you find jobs when you're selecting them. Jobs are ordered by their schedule position, and you can search or browse to find what you need.
Signing In
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Open ShopPulse on your machine's device
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Tap Sign in in the control bar at the bottom
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Identify yourself. Depending on how your account is configured, you'll either pick your name from a list of operators — with a search field if the list is long — or enter your employee ID on a keypad.
- If your name isn't listed, contact your administrator — your profile needs to be configured in Settings → Operators
-
Your job queue loads, showing all jobs on your machine with their current states
Clock Out Flow: If Clock Out Flow is enabled on your account, you'll go through a structured clock-in and clock-out experience. It is also the prerequisite for Shift Handover.
Shift Handover: If Shift Handover is enabled on your machine, you'll see a two-panel welcome screen before your job queue loads. The left panel shows your assigned work for the shift; the right panel shows handover notes from the previous operator (or "No notes from previous shift." if none were submitted). Dismiss the screen to begin work. See Shift Handover for details.
Where the Actions Live
Everything you can do to a job happens on its Production run overview — tap the job's card to open it. (This guide calls it the run overview for short.) The control bar there offers:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Submit all | Open the submission flow for this run's unsubmitted work |
| Edit run | Split the run, merge it into another job, or delete it |
| Pull job | Take the job off the machine while leaving it as open work |
| Re-assign job | Change which job this run belongs to |
| Assign job | On an Unknown Job — identify what actually ran |
| Ignore program | On an Unknown Job — discard the run entirely |
| Resume Setup | On a parked job, while the machine is in Setup mode — pick setup back up |
The run overview also lists the run's labor tickets. Selecting one or more tickets brings up a second set of actions for them specifically — change their activity, move them to a different job, split, merge, or delete. Ticket actions and Edit run are separate: Edit run works on the whole run, ticket selection works on the tickets you picked.
When an action isn't available it appears disabled with the reason attached rather than disappearing — so you can always tell why something can't be done.
Setting Up a Job
Setup is where you prepare a job to run. In Setup mode, you pick the work rather than letting the program decide.
- On a multi-job machine, make sure it's in Setup mode — if it's in Production, use the mode control in the control bar and confirm. On a single-job machine there's nothing to switch.
- Tap Select jobs (on single-job machines this is Start job).
- Pick the job from the selection screen.
- Setup labor starts accruing immediately, and the job shows as In Setup.
Selecting a Job
The job selection screen displays jobs assigned to your resource, ordered by the schedule.
- The next scheduled job on the resource is highlighted and pinned to the front of the queue, followed by the rest in schedule order
- Turn off Scheduled jobs only to also see jobs that haven't been scheduled yet — these appear after scheduled jobs, sorted by job number
- For companies that don't use the MachineMetrics Production Schedule, jobs are organized as "Assigned" and "Unassigned"
- If you don't see the job, use search to look across all released production orders
Searching Jobs
Search and browse share one screen — the header morphs into a search field, and the Scheduled jobs only toggle stays available throughout.
You can search by order number, part name, operation number, or resource.
Choosing an Activity
If your shop has configured additional activities for the mode you're in, you'll be asked which one you're starting. If there's only the mode's standard activity, the job starts immediately with no extra step.
Setting Up Several Jobs at Once
On machines that carry multiple concurrent jobs, you can have several setups running at the same time. Each gets its own setup labor ticket, and the header shows how many setups are active.
Setup time is divided across whichever setups are active at each moment — so a job you started on its own keeps the time it accrued alone, and time spent while three setups were open is shared between them. The per-job figures always add up to the machine's total setup time.
Performing Setup
The setup interface helps you stay on track, offering real-time insight into progress and flagging when things take longer than expected.
Setup Overview
The setup dashboard displays:
- Total number of parts counted during the current setup
- Total number of parts rejected during the current setup and the total number of parts not yet submitted
- Total time spent on the current setup
- Total setup progress and remaining expected setup time
- Chart showing parts produced since the start of the current job or the most recent operator login, whichever is later
- Total setup time expected for this part operation
Expected Setup Timer
The "Expected Setup" configuration defines the total amount of time that it is expected to set up a specific part operation. When running a part operation that is configured with an expected setup time, the interface shows a visualization of how much time has progressed, how much time is remaining, and whether or not the expected setup time has been exceeded. When a part operation has no expected setup time configured, the block shows setup elapsed without a target.
Custom Setup Activities
If your company has added custom activity types, you will see an Activity button in the control bar that allows you to change the current activity, allowing for more granular understanding of setup steps in MachineMetrics.
Finishing Setup
- Tap Submit work in the control bar
- Enter your counts and set the setup status to Complete
- Submit
What happens next depends on your machine:
- Single-job machine — the setup ticket is closed out in the ERP, the machine moves into production, and a new production ticket opens on the same job. Submitting the completed setup ticket is the transition; there's nothing further to tap.
- Multi-job machine — the setup ticket is closed out to the ERP and the job moves to Ready for Production. No production ticket is created yet — production begins when you enter Production mode.
Stepping Away Mid-Setup
If you need to stop before setup is finished, set the setup status to Incomplete instead. The ticket is submitted for the time you've spent, and the job parks as Paused:
- It stays on the machine — parking isn't the same as pulling
- It keeps its parts
- No new ticket is created
When you come back, open the run overview and tap Resume Setup. That's what starts the fresh setup ticket.
First Article Inspection: On a single-job machine with FAI enabled, submitting a setup ticket as Complete prompts you to send the first piece for quality inspection or skip. Your header colour reflects the inspection status while you wait, and approval submits your setup ticket for you — which releases the job into production. See First Article Inspection.
Starting Production
On a single-job machine this already happened: submitting your completed setup ticket moved the machine into production on the same job.
On a multi-job machine, use the mode control in the control bar to enter Production, and confirm.
If any setup labor is still open, you'll be walked through submitting it first — entering Production requires open setup work to be resolved, because setup creates labor that has to land somewhere.
Once the machine is in Production, automatic program matching takes over: as programs run, jobs are matched and labor tickets open automatically.
Going the other way is unrestricted. On a multi-job machine, entering Setup mode from Production doesn't require you to submit anything. Whatever was running stops cleanly, its labor ticket stays open and unsubmitted, and the job parks as Paused with its parts intact. This is deliberate — the person setting a machine up isn't always the person who owns the production labor.
Running Production
Once production starts, the dashboard switches to the production interface. This view supports you as you work through a job, offering real-time insight into part counts, goal progress, and overall performance.
Production Overview
The production dashboard displays:
- Total number of parts counted — Part counts start when the operator signs in. If a job is already running, counts begin at sign-in. If the operator starts the job after signing in, counts begin when the job starts. The "Unsubmitted" count shows parts made during the current labor ticket and resets when a new one begins. If no operator is signed in, counts start at the beginning of the current shift.
- Total number of parts rejected and the total number of parts not yet submitted
- Total parts produced for the current job, including work from previous shifts
- Current parts goal for the current job
- Expected number of parts (based on expected cycle time and time elapsed)
- Estimated time remaining to complete the job, based on expected cycle time
A note on counting: every "made" figure includes rejects. A run of 100 with 3 rejects reads as 100 made, 3 rejected. Only order progress counts good parts, since that's what the order actually needs.
Understanding Parts Goal
The "Parts Goal" metric measures production output against the expected cycle time. It calculates the percentage of parts produced during an operation compared to the number expected if the operation met its cycle time standard.
Your organization has set thresholds to track whether the operation is on track, ahead, or behind its goal, with "warning" and "failure" thresholds indicated by colors in the performance wheel.
| Indicator | Meaning |
|---|---|
| At Goal (green, checkmark) | The operation is meeting its parts goal and has produced exactly the amount of parts expected. |
| Ahead (green, up arrow) | The operation is exceeding its parts goal and has produced more parts than expected. |
| Behind (orange, down arrow) | The operation is behind its parts goal and has produced fewer parts than expected. |
| Very Behind (red, down arrow) | The operation is very behind its parts goal and has produced significantly fewer parts than expected. |
When there's no goal data to compare against — or when the machine isn't reporting — the wheel shows the part count without a goal indicator.
Understanding Job States
The state on each job card tells you where that job stands:
| State | What It Means | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| In Setup | You're setting this job up. Setup labor is accruing. | Do the setup, then submit the setup ticket. |
| Ready for Production | Setup is finished and submitted, and the job is queued. Multi-job machines only. | Nothing — it starts when you enter Production mode. |
| Matched | Automatic matching identified this job with high confidence. | Nothing. Work it and submit when you're ready. |
| Suggested | A likely job was found but confidence is lower — often because several open work orders share the same part operation. | Nothing right away. You'll be asked to verify when you start a submission. |
| No Match Found | The running program couldn't be identified. It's tracked as an Unknown Job so nothing is lost. | Identify it with Assign job, or discard it with Ignore program if it wasn't production work. |
| Confirmed | Someone has attested this is the right job. | Finish the work and submit. |
| Paused | The job was interrupted — usually by the machine entering Setup mode, or by setup being submitted Incomplete. It stays on the machine with its parts. | Resume Setup to pick it back up, or let production resume it. |
| Blocked | The job was closed in your ERP while it still had open labor tickets here. | Delete the stuck tickets, or move them to another job. |
A card's label also reflects the machine's current mode. On a multi-job machine, a job that has finished setup reads Ready for Production in Setup mode and Confirmed once the machine is in Production mode; a parked job reads Paused in Setup mode and shows its underlying match state in Production mode.
Working a Matched Job
Nothing is required to accept a match. A Matched job is already accruing burden and parts against the right work order. Work it, and submit at a natural stopping point.
Verifying a Suggested Match
Suggested means a likely job was found but confidence was lower — most often because several open work orders share the same part operation, so the part number matches perfectly but which order you're running is ambiguous.
Suggested doesn't block anything — burden and parts accrue exactly as they would on a Matched job. Work it normally. When you start a submission:
- A Confirm match dialog appears first, showing the job and the running program.
- If it's correct, confirm — and the submission form opens.
- If it's wrong, choose Select a different job and pick the right one. The submission then continues against the job you picked.
Tip: When in doubt, use search. The offered candidates are a filtered set; search reaches every open job.
Resolving an Unknown Job
When the running program can't be identified, the work isn't lost — it becomes an Unknown Job with its own labor ticket, accruing the parts that actually got made.
An Unknown Job is real, persistent work. It stays as a card even after the program stops or changes, and you can identify it at any point afterward — you don't have to catch it while it's running. Several can exist at once, one for each unidentified program that ran.
- Tap the card to open the run overview. The job number and estimates read Unknown, and the program that ran is shown.
- Tap Assign job and pick the correct job. That identifies the work and confirms the job in one step.
- If the program wasn't production work at all — a warmup, a test, a probe cycle — tap Ignore program instead. This discards the run and its labor ticket, and cannot be undone.
An Unknown Job's ticket can't be submitted until you've identified the job, since there's no work order to submit against. If you try, you'll be sent to the job picker first.
Downtime Events & Categorization
When a resource is detected as idle, the dashboard header changes to blue indicating an active downtime event. New downtime events are classified as "Uncategorized," but you have the opportunity to categorize the reason for the downtime.
The alert bubble on the Categorize button in the control bar indicates how many uncategorized downtime events are logged on this resource for the current shift.
Idle time while the machine is in Setup mode isn't surfaced for categorization — it's understood to be part of setup.
How to Categorize Downtime
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Tap Categorize in the header or the control bar
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You'll see the total number of events being categorized along with the total time for all events
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Select a primary category from the list (Machine, Job, Operator, General, Other, etc.)
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If subcategories are available, select the appropriate subcategory
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Review your selection and tap Done categorizing to submit
Changing the Activity
Activity is a property of the labor ticket, so you change it by selecting tickets — not from the job card.
- Tap the job card to open the run overview
- Select one or more unsubmitted labor tickets from the list
- Tap Change activity and pick a different activity
The picker only offers activities within the ticket's own mode, so this can never move work between Setup and Production. Moving between those is a machine mode change.
Submitted tickets can't have their activity changed.
Tracking Your Progress
You have two ways to track progress — choose whichever view works best for you:
From the Run Overview
Tap a job card to see:
- Parts made and burden time for the run
- The run's labor tickets, including any already submitted
- Every action available on the run
From the Part Count Tab
This tab shows detailed progress on your currently active job:
- Parts made vs. parts expected
- Order progress against the total quantity
- Estimated time remaining based on your current pace
- Visual pace indicator — shows whether you're ahead or behind schedule
Both views update automatically. Switching between tabs doesn't affect anything — your tickets keep running in the background.
Submitting a Labor Ticket
When you're done with a job, or reach a natural stopping point, you submit your labor ticket. This closes it out in the ERP.
The Submission Form
Labor tickets drive the progress of a job from setup to production to completion and can be submitted at any time.
The form captures:
- Total parts — total parts made, including rejects
- Rejects — rejected parts, with a reject reason required if there are any
- Setup status or Job status — Incomplete or Complete
- Comments — optional
- Prior submissions — what's already been submitted on this job
- Totals — for the current ticket, and cumulative for the job
Alongside Submit, the form also offers Split — to divide this ticket — and Delete, to discard it.
Basic Submission Steps
- Tap Submit work in the control bar. If exactly one job has unsubmitted work, its form opens directly; if several do, a review sheet opens first
- Enter your total parts made
- If you're reporting rejected parts, enter the quantity rejected and select a reject reason
- Choose your status:
| Status | What Happens |
|---|---|
| Complete | Ticket is closed out to the ERP. Job is removed from your queue. If good parts are below the required quantity, you'll be asked to confirm first. |
| Incomplete | Ticket is closed out to the ERP. A new ticket opens automatically with the same job and activity, so work continues. |
Complete is only offered on a job's most recent unsubmitted ticket. Earlier tickets are limited to Incomplete, with a note pointing you at the current one.
Setup Submissions Behave Differently
This is the part most worth knowing:
| Submission | What Happens |
|---|---|
| Setup — Complete, single-job machine | Setup ticket is closed out in the ERP, the machine moves into production, and a new production ticket opens on the same job. |
| Setup — Complete, multi-job machine | Setup ticket is closed out to the ERP. The job moves to Ready for Production. No production ticket is created — production begins when you enter Production mode. |
| Setup — Incomplete | Setup ticket is closed out to the ERP. No new ticket is created. The job parks as Paused and stays on the machine. Resume Setup starts the fresh setup ticket. |
Taking a Job Off the Machine
Pull job, on the run overview, is for when you're done working a job but the job itself isn't finished. It removes the job from the machine and your queue while leaving it as open work — it stays on the schedule, stays selectable, and can be matched again later.
That's what separates it from Complete, which finishes the job for good and takes it off the schedule.
- Open the run overview and tap Pull job
- If the job has unsubmitted labor, you'll be asked to submit it first — the confirmation reads Submit & pull and takes you through the submission form. Cancelling the form cancels the pull
- Confirm
If you pull the job the machine is currently running, you'll get a warning first: because the program is still loaded, matching will pull that job right back onto the machine as soon as the next part is made. To take it off and keep it off, stop the machine first — or if the work really is finished, mark it complete instead.
Submitting Several Jobs at Once
- Tap Submit work while two or more jobs have unsubmitted work. The Unsubmitted work sheet opens, one row per job, showing each job's time range and parts made
- Either tap a single row to submit just that job, or select rows and use the action bar — which also offers Split (with one row selected), Merge (with two or more), and Delete
- Tap Submit all or Submit selected
- You'll get one submission form per job, in sequence. Fill in and submit each one
Any Unknown Jobs in your selection are identified first. Any Suggested jobs show their Confirm match dialog before their form.
Important: each form commits when you submit it. If you stop partway through — closing a form or a dialog — everything you already submitted stays submitted. There's no undo for the batch. The sheet reopens with whatever is left.
Tip: Work through your queue before end of shift rather than leaving it all for the sign-out flow.
Reassigning a Job
You can change the job on any run that hasn't been submitted — draft or confirmed.
- Tap the job card to open the run overview
- Tap Re-assign job
- Pick the correct job. Picking confirms it
Browsing is scoped to jobs sharing the same part operation, which is almost always what you want. Search reaches every open job — if you pick something outside that scope, you'll get a warning with the details and can proceed anyway.
If you pick a job that already has an open run on this machine, the two are merged: this run's time and parts move onto that job, with a confirmation step first. Merging runs requires that neither side has any submitted tickets.
After Submission
Once a ticket is submitted its job is fixed. Re-assign job stays visible but disabled, with an explanation. Corrections have to be made in your ERP.
Viewing Current Job Details
You can view more information about the currently running job by tapping View job in the ShopPulse header.
Splitting
Splitting is useful when time or parts on one run need to be divided — for example if two different jobs ran back to back without a program change, or if part of a run belongs to the next shift.
Splitting is available on anything not yet submitted. You can reach it from the submission form, from a single selected ticket, or from Edit run. If part of the run has already been submitted, split the individual unsubmitted ticket rather than the whole run.
- Open the split sheet
- Choose the split point — by time, or by part count. It's pre-filled at the point where the run satisfies what the order still needs, which is usually the right answer
- For a run split, pick the job for the second portion. Until you do, the new segment reads No job selected and you can't confirm
- Review the two result cards — they update live as you move the split point — and confirm
Both halves inherit the run's activity. A split can divide time alone, so a run with no parts on it is still splittable — useful when you're correcting burden hours rather than moving parts.
Merging Labor Tickets
Separately from merging runs, you can combine two or more unsubmitted tickets on the same job into one — useful when a run got fragmented by program restarts.
- Open the run overview
- Select the tickets you want to combine
- Tap Merge and confirm
The earliest ticket survives and keeps its start time; parts, rejects and elapsed time are combined, and the merged ticket takes the latest end time. Nothing is submitted — you can still edit or split the result.
Tickets have to share the same job, machine, activity, program and operator to be mergeable. If your selection mixes any of those, Merge is disabled and tells you which.
Viewing Submission History
You can see previously submitted tickets for a job while that job is still active.
- Tap the job card to open the run overview. Submitted tickets are listed alongside open ones
- You'll see the activity, part count, burden hours, and the name of the operator who submitted each
- Submitted rows are read-only
- Once the job is marked Complete and leaves your queue, the history is no longer accessible from ShopPulse
If a Job Shows as Blocked
Blocked means your ERP closed the job while it still had open labor tickets in MachineMetrics. Those tickets can't be submitted, because there's nothing left in the ERP to submit them to.
Two ways out, both on the run overview:
- Delete the stuck tickets, or
- Change job to move them onto a different job
Submitting, pulling and resuming stay disabled until it's resolved. The machine keeps running and time keeps counting in the meantime — being blocked only stops the write-back to the ERP.
Signing Out
When you're ready to leave your machine, tap Sign out in the control bar.
You'll be asked whether you're leaving for the day:
- No — you sign out of this machine only.
- Yes — you're clocking out. Any unsubmitted work is resolved first: nothing open goes straight through, one job opens that job's submission form, and two or more open the review sheet so you can work through them in sequence.
Shift Handover: If Shift Handover is enabled on your machine, choosing Yes opens the handover flow after your work is submitted — shift analytics, an optional note, and an AI-generated summary for the incoming operator. See Shift Handover.
Anything still in the queue when you leave — parked jobs, unidentified work, unconfirmed matches — stays visible for the next operator.
Job Handoffs
Smooth handoffs keep your job flowing from one shift to the next.
Handing Off Mid-Run
- Open the run overview and tap Submit all
- Enter your part count so far
- Select Incomplete
A new ticket is created automatically with the same job and activity. The incoming operator picks up from there without losing continuity.
Handing Off Unfinished Setup
Submit the setup ticket as Incomplete. The job parks as Paused and stays on the machine — the next operator uses Resume Setup to continue it.
Handing Off Work You Won't Return To
Use Pull job. The job comes off the machine but stays on the schedule as open work, so whoever picks it up next can select it normally.
Waiting for Work, Waiting for Operator & Unknown Jobs
ShopPulse shows a full-screen message when there's no active job to display:
- Waiting for Work — nothing is running on the machine.
- Waiting for Setup — the machine is in Setup mode but you haven't selected anything to set up yet.
- Waiting for Operator — a job is running but nobody is signed in. Sign in to pick it up.
- Unknown Job — the machine is running a program that couldn't be identified. Tap Assign job to identify it.
One case that surprises people: if you mark a job Complete while its program is still loaded and running, you'll see Waiting for Work even though the machine is clearly active. That's correct — the job that program was running is finished, so nothing further is attributed to it. Matching resumes when a different program loads, when you select a job manually, or when the machine stops and starts again.
Utility Menu
Access additional settings and features by tapping the utility menu icon in the control bar.
- Add new job — add a job to set up (Setup mode only)
- Switch machine — switch to a different resource without signing out
- Shift Handover — reopen the handover notes from the previous shift (when Shift Handover is enabled)
- Quick start guide — access the quick start guide
- Select language — change the display language
- Workflows — trigger automated workflows
Using the ERP Kiosk
If your facility provides an ERP kiosk, you can clock in and out directly at the kiosk rather than using ShopPulse.
The kiosk connects to your ERP system, allowing you to log your time before beginning work in MachineMetrics.
When clocking out, you can also submit any open labor tickets from all resources you're signed into. This will automatically sign you out of those resources as well.
Tips & Best Practices
- Don't be afraid to fix things. An unsubmitted ticket can still be changed however it needs to be. Correcting a run is always better than leaving bad data in it.
- Resolve Unknown Jobs while you still remember what ran. They persist indefinitely and nothing is lost, but identifying a program is much easier the same shift.
- Use Incomplete submissions for shift handoffs. It maintains continuity and keeps the job moving.
- Know the difference between Pull job and Complete. Complete finishes the job and takes it off the schedule. Pull leaves it as open work for whoever picks it up next.
- Stop the machine before pulling the job it's running, or matching will pull it straight back.
- When a Suggested match looks wrong, use search. The offered candidates are filtered; search gives you every open job.
- On a multi-job machine, Setup-Complete doesn't start production. The job waits at Ready for Production until you enter Production mode. On a single-job machine it does start production, on the same job.
- Watch the Part Count tab for pacing. The pace indicator shows whether you're ahead or behind — adjust if needed.
- Categorize downtime promptly. The sooner you log the reason, the more accurate your organization's downtime data will be.
FAQs & Troubleshooting
Q: Where's the Confirm button? A: There isn't one. A job becomes Confirmed when you submit labor against it or pick it as a destination. The only prompt you'll see is the verification dialog on a Suggested match.
Q: Why is my job "Suggested" instead of "Matched"? A: Several open work orders share the same part operation, so the part number matches perfectly but which order you're running is ambiguous. You'll verify it when you submit.
Q: Can I change the job after it's Confirmed? A: Yes. Confirmation doesn't lock anything — only submission does. Use Re-assign job.
Q: I submitted by accident — can I undo it? A: No. Submitted tickets are closed in your ERP and read-only in ShopPulse. Contact your ERP administrator.
Q: I completed my setup but production didn't start. A: On a multi-job machine that's expected — Setup-Complete moves the job to Ready for Production and it waits there until you enter Production mode. On a single-job machine production should have started automatically on the same job; if it didn't, check that the setup ticket actually submitted.
Q: My job went to Paused and I didn't do that. A: Something interrupted it — usually the machine entering Setup mode, or a setup ticket submitted as Incomplete. The job is still on the machine with its parts. Use Resume Setup.
Q: Where did "Pause setup" and "Stop job" go? A: They're gone. Submitting Incomplete now commits straight from the form. To pause setup, submit the setup ticket Incomplete — the job parks and you resume it later. To take a job off the machine, use Pull job on the run overview.
Q: Can I split a ticket after it's confirmed? A: Yes, as long as you haven't submitted it.
Q: A new ticket appeared that I didn't add — what happened? A: Automatic matching added it based on a program running on your machine. Check its state and carry on.
Q: The machine is running but it says "Waiting for Work." A: The job that program was running was marked Complete, so matching is on hold. It resumes on a program change, a manual job selection, or the machine stopping and restarting.
Q: Why does it say "Waiting for Operator"? A: A job is running but nobody is signed in. Sign in to pick it up.
Q: I can't see the job queue. A: MES may not be enabled on your machine yet, or you may not have signed in. Contact your administrator.
Q: My name isn't in the operator list. A: Your operator profile needs to be set up. Contact your administrator — they can add you in Settings → Operators.
Q: Why is my dashboard header blue? A: Your machine has been detected as idle, indicating a downtime event. Tap Categorize to log the reason.
Q: Why is one of my jobs Blocked? A: Your ERP closed the job while it still had open labor tickets here. Delete those tickets or move them to another job.
Q: Why am I seeing an inspection prompt when I complete setup? A: First Article Inspection is enabled on your machine. See First Article Inspection.
Q: Why do I see a two-panel welcome screen when I sign in? A: Shift Handover is enabled on your machine. The left panel shows your assigned work; the right shows notes from the previous operator. See Shift Handover.
Related Articles
- Auto Production Monitoring (APM)
- Getting Started with ShopPulse
- How to Use ShopPulse on MES-Enabled Machines
- MES Settings
- Configuring a Machine's Production Settings
- Getting Started with MES: Administrator Guide
- First Article Inspection
- Shift Handover
Need Help?
Start with your supervisor or MachineMetrics administrator. For additional support, contact support@machinemetrics.com.