The procedure involved in process order management can be divided into the following steps:

• Process planning

• Process order execution/process management

• Order closing

Process planning comprises all activities that are performed during the creation and release of a process order. Important steps in process planning are:

• Order creation

• Scheduling

• Capacity requirements planning

• Material availability check

• Order release

The release of the process order represents the end of process planning and is the prerequisite for carrying out the business functions for process order execution and process management.

In process management the process instructions maintained in the order are bundled into control recipes. The control recipes are either transferred to a process control system via a specific interface or they are displayed in natural language in the form of a PI sheet which can be maintained by the line operator.

Process order execution comprises:

• Withdrawal of required material components from the warehouse

• Confirmations on the order processing status

• In-process quality inspections for the inspection lot

• Goods receipt from production

• Sending of actual process data to different destinations using process messages, for example for documentation or evaluation purposes

In PP-PI, the activities of order execution are carried out using process messages. In return to the transfer of control recipes, process management receives process messages from the process control level and passes them on to different destinations.

Order closing comprises the following activities:

• Process order settlement

• Process data documentation

• Reorganization of process orders (archiving and deleting)