Meet Ubuhle Seedlings, a fictional forestry nursery group with three nurseries growing pine, eucalypt and wattle for 35 of its own plantations. Follow order O-2025-0326 from a forester's estimate to plants in the ground, on the real screens.
A forester for the KZN Midlands region opens their plantations in the customer portal. Compartments due for harvest in FY2027 show the plants they need. They add them to projected orders: Grandis eucalypt clones, due October 2026.
OperoNMS routes the lines to South East Nursery, the closest nursery that grows the clone.
Customer · in the portalThe nursery manager at South East Nursery sees it on Home under "Orders to accept", checks availability and accepts. It is now committed demand: the daily cover check will make sure it is grown.
Nursery managerUbuhle has switched on the optional annual order cycle, so this order started as an estimate. The projected window closes on 9 January, the adjusted window on 31 March. The forester could still reduce or delay for free; increases would have been change requests. After 31 March it is an actual order: locked, planned and grown.
With the cycle off, the default, the order would have been firm from the moment it was placed, and the story would go straight to chapter 4.
Optional · divisional manager runs the cycleThe daily order-cover check finds that projected clones won't cover the order, and that setting must start soon. It proposes batches with the start quantity, trays and latest setting week, and checks space for every phase.
The manager accepts one proposal on 10 April. Another is declined, with a reason: the recipe still carried last season's rooting figures.
Nursery manager decidesAccepting the proposal created a draft batch from the released recipe. Released, it now feeds the production schedule and sales availability, and its phases wait to be placed on beds. Its QR label is printed from the batch record.
Nursery managerThe supervisor places each phase: the rooting tunnel first, then the shade camp, then hardening. OperoNMS shows how the trays lie on each bed, the metres used and left, and refuses anything that won't fit.
SupervisorOn the floor, the team scans B-26-0098's label to record counts and losses on the tablet, offline where the signal drops. Over the season 29,143 plants are recorded lost, each with a reason.
Every count recalculates what will be ready. Elsewhere in the group, a November hailstorm at Midlands and a July frost at Inanda trigger replacement proposals the next morning.
Floor team · on the tablet| Date | Type | Detail | Plants | Recorded by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Aug 2026 | Count | Harden off · full count · tablet TAB-SEN-03 | 69,545 | Nandi Dube |
| 11 Aug 2026 | Loss | Below grade (culled) · QC rework | −1,820 | Sibusiso Khumalo |
| 02 Jul 2026 | Loss | Water stress · photo attached | −4,310 | Nandi Dube |
| 19 Jun 2026 | Count | Wean · sample of 400, scaled | 75,675 | Nandi Dube |
| 22 May 2026 | Loss | Rooting failure | −21,180 | Thabo Mthembu |
Fourteen days before the due date, delivery requests open. On 25 September the forester raises PRQ-2026-0189 in the portal, for delivery on 10 October to the plantation depot.
Customer · in the portalThe dispatch schedule shows the request and its days left. A quality banner warns that six batches for open requests have no valid pass. Supervisors sample them against the dispatch specification: pass, rework or fail.
SupervisorBatches are picked against the order and scanned onto the truck on the tablet. The manifest reconciles; departure checks every batch's quality pass with the server; the delivery note prints with each batch's quality result.
Dispatch clerk & floor teamThe forester confirms receipt in the portal: plants and trays received, any shortage or damage, and photos if there is a problem. Trays go back within 30 days, to any nursery in the group, through the tray ledger.
Customer & clerkThe management dashboard counts the delivery against plan and on-time-in-full. The recipe's Actuals Feedback compares planned with actual rooting and timing from finished batches: the evidence for updating the recipe, so next season's proposals start from the truth.
Managers| When | Nursery manager | Supervisors | Clerks & dispatch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every morning | Home reminders; orders to accept; late proposals | Scan and count on the tablet | Delivery requests to deliver; overdue dispatches |
| Monday | Production plan and space utilisation for the weeks ahead | Weekly set-up list; place new phases on beds | Truck & trolley planner |
| Before dispatch | Concessions if needed | Inspect batches due within two weeks | Pick, load, delivery note, confirm departure |
| Friday | Decide holds and write-offs | Last counts of the week on the tablet | Receive and wash trays; tray stock count |
| Month end | Dashboard; surplus board; order cycle progress | Hedge cut records complete | Export tray charges; scheduled reports go out |
They request a hold of up to three months in the portal; the manager approves or rejects, and the plan moves with it.
Re-allocate the order to another nursery, or to a partner nursery through a purchase request.
The surplus stock board: publish, claim, accept, and deliver straight to the claimant's customer.
A production proposal, flagged late or overdue if sowing should already have started.
Rework, cull as a recorded loss, or dispatch under a concession the customer agrees to.
Record the loss with a photo; tomorrow's check proposes replacement batches, and related batches can go on hold.
Reminders in the portal, then charges to the cost centre or invoice after 60 days.
A write-off approved by a manager; the plants go to the surplus board.
We work closely with a small group of nurseries to set up OperoNMS on their sites. You get hands-on setup and training, your own nursery's layout and recipes loaded with you, and a direct say in what we build next.
