- Draft. The order is created naming the product, its BOM, the target quantity, the warehouse components will be drawn from and the warehouse finished goods will land in (§10.6). A draft commits nothing and costs nothing; it is a plan on paper.
- Release. Releasing does the order's real setup work. The BOM is exploded for the target quantity — through every level, down to the components the business actually buys — and the result is snapshotted onto the order as its requirement lines: each component, the quantity needed (scrap allowance included), in that component's stocking unit. The explosion also prices the plan, and its unit cost is snapshotted as the order's standard cost — the value each finished unit will be booked at, whatever happens next. Release refuses, by name, an order whose product has no active BOM or is not a manufactured product.
- Production. While released, materials are issued and output is received (§10.5, next section) — in as many rounds as the work takes.
- Complete. When production is done, the order is completed: no more materials may be issued to it. Output can still be received against it — the last batch off the line is not refused entry because the paperwork closed first.
- Close. Closing settles the order's account with itself: whatever WIP balance remains — materials issued, less output received at standard — is posted to the manufacturing variance account, favourable or unfavourable, and the order becomes finished history (§10.5, WIP).
- Cancel. A draft or released order can be cancelled from its page. Cancelling releases the stock the order had committed, so the components are free for other work again. Once any materials have been issued or any output received, cancellation is refused, with the reason named — an order with real production behind it is completed and closed instead, so its story stays in the books.
Every journal the order posts carries the work order's code in its lines, so the WIP account can be taken apart order by order — the record's GL Postings action lists them (§10.7).