Comparison

Linetrack vs.
detailed scheduling system

Detailed scheduling and APS systems do something similar to Linetrack: they pull the hours from the ERP and break them down onto resources and staff in the departments. The difference lies in what they are built for. This comparison shows where a detailed scheduling system is strong, where it becomes cumbersome for long-running projects, and when it remains the right choice.

Linetrack compared with a detailed scheduling system for capacity planning of departments and staff

In short

A detailed scheduling system and Linetrack work from the same basis: the hours from the ERP. The detailed scheduling system spreads them in detail across machines, workstations and staff of one department, typically production, for the next days and weeks. Linetrack spreads them across projects and departments over the entire project duration: with tasks, dependencies between departments, a critical path and a capacity histogram across all projects. In series production, the detailed scheduling system is the right tool. For long-running projects that pass through many departments, you need the project view, and the department heads plan their share in it themselves.

400+

Excel lists and planning tools
replaced

39 %

of customers with a live interface
have connected their ERP

1512+

industrial projects
managed in parallel

10 days

median to the first
self-planned project

*Every figure on this page comes from a full survey of all live Linetrack implementations, as of August 2026.

Starting point

What detailed scheduling systems were built for

Detailed scheduling and shop-floor control systems, often grouped under the term APS, schedule production. Orders, operations and standard times come from the ERP. The system spreads them across machines, workstations and staff and, depending on the system, takes shifts, qualifications and sequences into account. In series and variant production this is an established tool.

The basic idea is the same as in Linetrack: hours from the ERP are broken down onto real capacity. The difference is the planning object. The detailed scheduling system plans operations within one department; Linetrack plans tasks in projects that pass through several departments. How the other system categories fit in is covered in the software comparison.

Planning levels

Where the detailed scheduling system sits in planning

Industrial projects are planned on three levels: project planning with a resource forecast, detailed and staff scheduling in the departments, and task tracking by staff. The detailed scheduling system works on the middle level. There it loads the machines, workstations and staff of one department, usually production, and does so very precisely.

Upwards it lacks the project plan: production only notices that design is three weeks behind when the order arrives late. Departments without a detailed scheduling system plan their staff in Excel sheets anyway. Linetrack connects the three levels: the project manager's forecast becomes department planning, staff scheduling becomes the task, feedback becomes the actual status. A production scheduling system can remain alongside. The Resources and capacity page describes how Linetrack plans departments and staff.

Sales and project management
Project planning and resource forecast
A schedule across the project duration and a forecast of which department needs how many hours, and when.
Typically used:
- MS Project
- Primavera P6
- Excel
Cost side:
- ERP project module
The forecast goes to the departments as resource demand.
Department heads
Detailed and staff scheduling
Each department plans its share in detail and assigns staff a few weeks before the work starts.
Typically used:
- Detailed scheduling system (this comparison)
- Excel sheets
Staff scheduling becomes the task: person, activity, due date.
Staff
Task tracking
Work through the tasks and report back. The feedback turns the planned status into an actual status.
Typically used:
- Trello
- Asana
- Monday.com
- Stackfield
- Microsoft To Do
The actual status goes back into project control: plan vs. actual, scenarios, rescheduling.

Linetrack connects all three levels on one data basis

The forecast lands directly in department planning
Staff scheduling creates the tasks
Feedback via the app updates the plan
Plan vs. actual and scenarios in project control

Today each level often works in its own system, reconciled by email, meetings and Excel sheets.

Breaking point

Where detailed scheduling reaches its limit

The limit is not computing power. It is the point where production orders turn into long-running projects that pass through many departments one after another.

None of this is a flaw in detailed scheduling. It is built for production. For complex, long-running projects, though, it quickly becomes an administrative burden. How Linetrack plans the capacity of departments and staff is described on the resources and capacity page.

Detailed scheduling knows its department, not the project. It schedules production precisely. That production is waiting on an engineering phase three weeks behind plan only becomes visible when the order arrives late.
Well-maintained master data is a prerequisite. Routings, standard times and resources have to be fully maintained, otherwise the system calculates with wrong values. In project business, however, many work steps only emerge during engineering.
Dependencies across departments are rarely provided for. Only a few detailed scheduling systems are built to schedule and keep track of large projects with their dependencies across departments.
Operation is geared to planning specialists. Detailed scheduling systems are powerful and correspondingly hard to use. Project management and departments outside production therefore rarely work in them.
Full detail across the whole horizon costs upkeep. Planning a twelve-month project at operation level means planning a lot that will change before then. For the long horizon, a coarser plan per department that gets finer as the date approaches is enough.

Core argument

Same hours, different planning object

Detailed scheduling systems and Linetrack are often set against each other because both do the same thing: spread hours from the ERP across resources and staff. When it comes to loading in production, a detailed scheduling system goes deeper than Linetrack claims to.

The difference is the planning object. Detailed scheduling spreads operations across the machines and staff of one department. Linetrack spreads the tasks of a project across the departments it passes through, and shows where projects get in each other's way.

The test: if a project's engineering slips by two weeks, what happens to the start of assembly and to the other projects in assembly? Production scheduling cannot answer that, because engineering is not in it.

In Linetrack, project management plans at a coarse level and department heads plan their share in detail down to individual staff, both on the same data foundation. How dates and capacity relate is described on the scheduling and capacity planning page.

From ERP hours to staff

ERPHours and ordersHour budgets, orders, master data
LinetrackProject and department planningTasks with dependencies, coarse to fine
DepartmentStaff and tasksLoad per employee, feedback via app

A production scheduling system can stay in place alongside.

Side by side

Detailed scheduling system
versus Linetrack

Seven points where the difference in scope shows up day to day. This is not about feature lists but about what each system is built for.

In one respect detailed scheduling is ahead: detailed loading of machines and workstations at operation level. Linetrack does not claim that. The other rows are a question of scope, production versus project. The wider frame is described on the multi-project management page.

Aspect	Detailed scheduling system
Planning object	Operation on a machine, workstation or person	Task in a project, assigned to a department and employee
Reach	Usually one department, typically production	All departments and projects on one data foundation
Horizon	Days to weeks in detail	Entire project duration, coarse to fine
Hours from the ERP	Standard times from routings	Hour budgets, spread across tasks and departments
Dependencies	Sequences within production	Task relationships across departments, critical path
Master data	Complete routings and resources as a prerequisite	Planning per department possible before every work step is known
Who plans	Production control and planning specialists	Project management coarse, department heads fine, staff report back via app

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Encrypted in transit and at rest

Data transmission via TLS 1.2/1.3, storage secured with AES-256 encryption.

Multi-tier backups

Hourly, daily, and monthly backups with a typical recovery time of under one hour.

Honest boundaries

When a detailed scheduling system remains the right choice

In these four cases Linetrack adds nothing over detailed scheduling:

Pure series production. Anyone producing series only, without a project character, needs strong production scheduling out of the ERP rather than project planning. Linetrack only becomes relevant once development projects come in.
Machine loading is the bottleneck. If the problem lies in set-up times, sequences and machine utilisation within production, it belongs in detailed scheduling.
Master data and detailed scheduling work. If reliable routings and standard times exist and detailed scheduling is actually used in operations, there is no reason to replace it.
Project business with its own series production. Then both often make sense: Linetrack for projects and departments, detailed scheduling for loading in production.

Capacity planning of departments and staff in Linetrack across several parallel projects

The case where Linetrack makes the difference: long-running projects that pass through engineering, purchasing, production and assembly one after another while sharing staff. How the hour budgets from the ERP are taken over for that is shown in the comparison with the ERP project module.

Working together

How Linetrack works alongside detailed scheduling

Linetrack uses the same basis as detailed scheduling: orders, project numbers, cost centres and master data from the ERP, plus the hour budgets. Actual hours and absences from time tracking flow into capacity planning, so the calculation uses the time that is actually available.

Department heads plan their share down to individual staff; employees see their tasks and report back via web and mobile app. Which systems get connected is set out under interfaces and integrations.

Task assignment at employee level in Linetrack with feedback from the shop floor

The median time between kick-off and the first self-planned project is ten working days, regardless of company size. The process is described on the implementation page.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Still have questions?

Book a meeting with our team.

What is the difference between a detailed scheduling system and Linetrack?

Both spread hours from the ERP across real capacity. A detailed scheduling system plans operations on machines, workstations and staff of one department, usually production, for the next days and weeks. Linetrack plans tasks in projects across all departments and the entire duration, with dependencies, a critical path and capacity across all projects.

Does Linetrack replace a detailed scheduling system?

Not in series production. Where machine loading and sequences in production are the core task, detailed scheduling remains the right tool. In project business, departments plan their capacity in Linetrack, and production scheduling can stay in place alongside it.

Can Linetrack plan down to individual employees?

Yes. Project management plans at a coarse level with dates and resource requirements; department heads plan their share in detail: work steps, staff at employee level and task assignment. Employees report back via web and mobile app.

Why are detailed scheduling systems often too cumbersome for projects?

They need fully maintained master data and are geared to detailed loading in production. In project business, many work steps only emerge during engineering, and dates depend on departments that are not part of detailed scheduling.

Does Linetrack reschedule automatically?

No. Linetrack calculates a shift through the chain of linked tasks, marks the critical path and shows the effect in the capacity histogram. Decisions are made by people; Linetrack does not resolve an overload by itself.

Where do the hours Linetrack plans with come from?

From the ERP: orders, project numbers, cost centres and master data are kept in sync, together with the hour budgets. Actual hours and absences come from time tracking. Neither is a prerequisite for getting started. Details are on the ERP integration page.