Beacon how-to · October 2026

New this week

These changes went live in Beacon between Oct 7 and Oct 10 (v2.141.0 to v2.149.0). Each section is one task, with a picture for every step.

New words

On the tablet, CLOSE PO is now WRAP UP PO. It means the line is done with that PO for today. “Close” now always means something is finished: Close order (the order is done) or closing a line.

1. Export your steps to Excel

Use this to review every step outside Beacon, then fix them in Beacon or upload the corrected file back.

Get the file

  1. Go to Material Master → Steps.
  2. Click Export to Excel. You get one file with every movement step, every build step and every group, whichever list is showing.
The Steps tab in Material Master, showing movement steps and the Export to Excel button at the top right.
Fig. 1The Export to Excel button on the Steps tab.

The Export button at the very top of Material Master exports materials, not steps.

What is in the file

TabWhat it holdsWhat you can change there
InstructionsHow to use the file, plus anything to fix before uploading it backNothing. Read it first.
Time_ObservationsEvery step: code, name, description, cycle times, build stageName, description, cycle times, Pre-Build or Post-Build
One tab per groupThe steps that group runs and how oftenFrequency, and which steps are on the list

Send corrections back

  1. Make your changes in Excel and save. Keep the tab names and column headings as they are.
  2. In Beacon, go to Material Master → Materials and click Seed data.
The Material Master header with the Export, Standard rates, Seed data and Add Material buttons.
Fig. 2The Seed data button.
  1. Click Choose File, pick your file, then click Import. A preview shows every change before anything is saved.
The Import seed data window with Choose File, Download template, and Cancel and Import buttons.
Fig. 3The Import seed data window.

The upload does not change role, driver, Case or Pallet, or Active. Change those on the Steps tab.

Careful: a group tab replaces that group’s whole step list. Delete a row and that step leaves the group. To leave a group alone, delete its whole tab from the file.

2. Close out the day in Shift Review

The coordinator does this at the end of the shift. It posts the day’s units and hours to Beacon.

Before you start: each line captain wraps up their POs on the tablet (WRAP UP PO) and then taps END SHIFT.

  1. Open Shift Review. If anything is still open, a short list sits above the table: 2 to close before you can submit. There is one row per line, and each row has its own button.
Shift Review with a list above the table: line 1A has a PO not wrapped up with a Reopen & close button, and line 1B is still running with a Close & adjust here button.
Fig. 4The list of what to close, above the review table.
  1. Fix each row with its button.
    • Line still running → click Close & adjust here. Check the headcount, then click Confirm Close Out. This also wraps up any PO still open on that line.
    • PO not wrapped up · line already closed → click Reopen & close. The same window opens with the crew already filled in. Nothing changes until you click Confirm Close Out.
The Close Out window: units and pallets today, active time, and headcount by role with 4 assemblers entered. The Close Out window opened from Reopen & close, with 77 units and a suggested crew of 3 assemblers already filled in.
Fig. 5Left: the Close Out window. Right: Reopen & close uses the same window, with units and crew filled in.
  1. When everything is closed, the list disappears. Check the table: units, crew and hours for each line.
Shift Review with no list above the table; both lines show Closed.
Fig. 6All clear: no list, just the review table.
  1. Under the table, enter how many people worked the whole shift in each role. Read the yellow note under the total. It tells you when your count does not match what the lines reported.
Shift headcount by role: line captain, material handler, assembler, QA / gate keeper and temp, a shift total of 10, and a note reading 2 short of reported line headcounts.
Fig. 7Shift headcount by role. Floaters (people moved between lines) are shown but never double-counted.
  1. Click Submit Shift Review. The Build Schedule gets the units built, the hours are logged, and the labor planner marks the day as posted.
The Submit Shift Review button.
Fig. 8The Submit Shift Review button.

When it is done, a receipt stays at the bottom of the page: who submitted, then one line per PO that posted, with its units, hours and where the Build Schedule stands. It is still there if you come back later.

The receipt: Shift review submitted, then one line per PO with units, hours and Build Schedule progress, and a link to Analytics → History.
Fig. 9The receipt after Submit.

Posted days are listed under Analytics → History (the link is on the receipt). They do not appear on the Hour Tracker screen, which is only for typing in a day by hand.

Close finished orders

  1. Right after Submit, a short list appears under the review: Close finished orders? Every order posted today is on it. Orders built to their full quantity are already ticked.
Close finished orders? with one order ticked because it is fully built, one unticked because it is short, and Close selected and Not now buttons.
Fig. 10The fully built order (6 of 5) comes ticked. The short one (77 of 500) does not.
  1. Tick any other order you are finished with, then click Close selected. To leave everything open, click Not now. Beacon closes the ticked orders, takes their blocks off the rest of this week’s plan, then tells you what it did.
The confirmation after closing: both orders closed, and one order's remaining Friday block removed from the plan.
Fig. 11Both orders closed; the short order’s Friday block was removed from the plan.

A PO shared by two orders shows no checkbox. Close those from Customer Orders: click … on the row, then Close order.

3. Mark an order Allocated (material on the floor)

Do this once an order’s material has been pulled to the floor. That material is no longer in the stock snapshot, so Beacon stops counting the order as needing stock, and later orders for the same items stop showing short because of it.

  1. Go to Build Schedule → Customer Orders and find the order. Click … at the end of its row, then Edit.
Customer Orders rows with the row menu open: Edit, Close order, Delete.
Fig. 12The row menu with Edit. Item descriptions blurred.
  1. Set Status to Allocated, then click Update Order.
The Status dropdown open with Open, Pending, Allocated, In Process, Completed, Closed and On Hold; Allocated highlighted.
Fig. 13Status set to Allocated.
  1. The Materials Status column now shows Allocated. The order drops off the Coverage tab. It stays in Customer Orders, the labor planner, Checkpoint Live and Shift Review.
A Customer Orders row whose Materials Status reads Allocated.
Fig. 14Materials Status shows Allocated.

Only mark an order once its material is on the floor. Marked too early, it hides a real shortage. To see every allocated order, filter Customer Orders by Status → Allocated. To undo, set it back to Open. Only Allocated works this way: In Process still counts against stock.

4. This week and Next week

Orders now belong to a week, from their due date (weeks run Monday to Sunday). This keeps this week’s orders safe while next week is loaded and planned.

  1. Customer Orders opens on This week: orders due this Monday to Sunday, plus open orders that are past due. Next week shows next Monday to Sunday. All is the full list. The counts are on each tab.
Customer Orders on the Next week tab, with This week 17, Next week 2 and All 21 counts, summary tiles, and two order rows.
Fig. 15The Next week tab, with its count. Item descriptions blurred.
  1. Load next week’s schedule as usual with Import Schedule. It only changes orders in the weeks your file covers, and never touches this week’s orders. Do not delete this week’s orders to make room.
  2. Coverage now only counts orders due next week or later against the stock file. This week’s material is already on the floor, so this week’s orders no longer make next week’s look short.
  3. In the labor planner, the order tray lists the week you are looking at. To see every open order, turn on Show all open orders at the top of the tray.
The order tray header with the Show all open orders switch, showing 2 of 19 open orders.
Fig. 16The tray on next week: 2 of 19 open orders.

The due date decides the week. If an order shows in the wrong tab, fix its due date (Edit). A past-due order stays in This week until you close it or roll it.

5. Labor planner: posted days and closed orders

Nothing to do differently. Once a day is posted in Shift Review, the planner shows how each order did that day, in the week view and the day view alike:

  • Built: the line built what was planned, or more.
  • N units short: the line built less than planned.
  • Never ran: the day was posted but this order wasn’t built.
  • Not posted: nobody posted that day yet.
A lane on Thursday after posting: one order marked 423 units short, one marked Built.
Fig. 17Thursday after posting: one order 423 units short, one built.

An order that has been closed shows Closed on its blocks for days not yet posted, so its mark no longer disappears.

Roll the balance to the next day

  1. Double-click a block to open its panel. This block shows the units in this block, and Running total shows how much of the order is planned through this day.
The block panel: window, hours, this block 1,000, running total 1,000 of 8,000, and buttons including Roll balance to next day.
Fig. 18The block panel with Roll balance to next day.
  1. Click Roll balance to next day. The block you clicked stays where it is. Beacon plans the rest of the PO on the next working day, on the same line after what is already there, as much as fits that day. A message says how much it placed and how much is still to plan.
  2. To keep going, open the new block on the next day and click it again. From the last working day of the week, it goes to next week’s first working day after you confirm (that also saves this week’s plan).

6. Labor planner: order tray tiles

Nothing to do differently. When the tray held more orders than fit on the screen, the tiles were squeezed flat and the text overlapped. Now every tile keeps its full size and the tray scrolls.

Before: the order tray on the left with many tiles squeezed into thin overlapping strips, next to the planner lanes.
Fig. 19Before: tiles squeezed flat. Tile text blurred.
After: the order tray with full-size tiles and a scrollbar.
Fig. 20After: full tiles, tray scrolls. Item descriptions blurred.

If descriptions are cut off with “…”, drag the tray’s right edge to make it wider.

7. Make users choose their own password

Do this for anyone who was given a temporary password, such as line captains set up with a shared one.

  1. Go to Admin → User Management. Click … on the person’s row, then Edit.
  2. Tick Must change password at next sign-in, then click Update User. New users you add have it ticked already.
The Edit User window with Must change password at next sign-in ticked. Tenant and email cleared.
Fig. 21The Edit User window with the box ticked. Tenant and email removed.
  1. The next time that person signs in, Beacon asks them to choose a new password before anything else. They enter the temporary password, then their new one twice (at least 8 characters, different from the old one). After that, Beacon works as normal.
Choose a new password: current password, new password, confirm new password, and Save new password.
Fig. 22What the person sees.

It takes effect the next time they sign in or reload the page; it does not interrupt someone who is already working. Anyone can also change their own password any time under their name → Profile.

8. Add Order: Work Center fills itself

Nothing to do differently. When you pick a material in Add Order, the Work Center field fills in from the material’s group, using the same work-center name your schedule uploads use. You can type over it, and it never replaces something you typed.

Add Order custom fields with Work Center filled in after picking a material.
Fig. 23Work Center filled in after picking a material.