> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bold-factory.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Assignments and operation groups

> Understand how Bold assigns operations to stations, tools, employees and execution groups.

**Assignments** prepare an operation for execution. They indicate where, when and with which resources it will run.

**Operation groups** bring together several operations for execution as an operational block when they share a work context.

## Assignments

An operation meets the minimum planning requirements when it has a workstation, a target date and any required tool. Stock status separately indicates material availability.

| Data | Use |
| - | - |
| Workstation | Place where the operation runs. |
| Target date | Reference for planning and prioritization. |
| Required tools | Auxiliary resources needed when the operation requires a characteristic. |
| Stock status | Indicates whether expected materials are available. |

The station, date and tool can come from a manual action, sequencing or an applied production plan. The plan does not assign employees: an employee's operational assignment is recorded when starting work or assigning them to a group.

## Operation groups

An operation group lets you work on several operations together. It is useful when they share a station, employee, materials, setup or pace of progress.

| Case | Why use a group |
| - | - |
| Several orders run in the same setup. | Avoids starting and pausing operations one by one. |
| An employee works on a batch of similar operations. | Centralizes progress and pauses. |
| Several operations share material availability. | Helps you review stock and checks together. |
| The shop floor works in cells or work queues. | Better reflects how actual work is executed. |

A group does not remove individual operations. Each operation retains its traceability, progress, consumption and checks.

Group actions do not apply individual start and quantity restrictions, including when executed from work mode. Creating the group or adding operations requires manufacturing order write permission; the operator can then work with the existing group. When creating a group or adding an operation, review the conditions shown in the dialog before confirming. Grouping is a management decision about how to execute that work together.

You need at least two operations to create a group. All must be **Planned** or **Paused**, have a pending quantity, belong to the same station and not belong to another group.

## Common statuses

| Status | Meaning |
| - | - |
| **Planned** | The group exists and can be prepared for execution. |
| **In progress** | Work has started. |
| **Paused** | Work is temporarily stopped. |
| **Finished** | The group has ended, and operations retain their history. |

Group statuses help you operate on the shop floor. Each operation's statuses continue to explain its actual progress.

Read [Manufacturing statuses](/en/concepts/manufacturing/manufacturing-statuses) to compare groups, operations, orders and plans.

## Relationship with work mode

In [Work mode](/en/concepts/work-mode), the operator sees active, recent or available operations according to the employee, station, area and assignments.

When they start, pause, resume or record progress, Bold updates execution and preserves who performed each action.

If work stops, record a [pause reason](/en/concepts/manufacturing/pause-reasons-and-interruptions) to explain the interruption.

## Design rules

* Assign a station before executing the operation.
* Select tools when the operation requires specific characteristics.
* Group only operations your team actually executes together.
* Review checks and stock before starting critical work.
* Do not use groups to hide operations that should be measured separately.

## Related

* [Operations and restrictions](/en/concepts/manufacturing/operations-and-restrictions)
* [Manufacturing statuses](/en/concepts/manufacturing/manufacturing-statuses)
* [Resources](/en/concepts/manufacturing/resources)
* [Tools and characteristics](/en/concepts/manufacturing/tools-and-characteristics)
* [Pause reasons and interruptions](/en/concepts/manufacturing/pause-reasons-and-interruptions)
* [Sequencing](/en/concepts/manufacturing/sequencing)
* [Prepare workstations and machines](/en/guides/manufacturing/prepare-work-centers-and-machines)
* [Execute operations on the shop floor](/en/guides/manufacturing/execute-shop-floor-operations)


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.