refinement

README.md

@@ -26,13 +26,19 @@ Current completed foundation areas:
 - shipping foundation
 - branding, attachments, auth/RBAC, and PDF infrastructure
 
+Planned cross-module execution areas:
+
+- projects and program management
+- manufacturing execution
+- planning and gantt scheduling
+
 Near-term priorities:
 
 1. Purchase receiving flow and vendor-facing operational depth
 2. Sales and purchasing PDF templates
 3. Shipping labels, bills of lading, and logistics attachments
-4. Live manufacturing gantt scheduling
-5. Audit and operations maturity
+4. Projects and program management
+5. Manufacturing execution
 
 Revisit / deferred items:
 
@@ -42,6 +48,7 @@ Revisit / deferred items:
 - broader branded PDFs beyond company profile and packing slips
 - inventory transfers, reservations, and deeper stock controls
 - deeper audit-trail coverage
+- projects are not yet first-class records even though planning/manufacturing flows will need them
 
 Dashboard direction:
 
@@ -50,6 +57,34 @@ Dashboard direction:
 - new modules should add reusable dashboard cards/panels instead of replacing the whole layout
 - future additions should emphasize relevant metrics, next actions, alerts, and workflow shortcuts
 - richer recent-activity widgets and exception queues are a planned QOL follow-up, not a separate landing-page redesign
+- projects should eventually feed dashboard widgets for active jobs, overdue milestones, shortages, and shipment readiness
+
+## Projects Direction
+
+Projects should become the long-running program and delivery layer tying together commercial work, engineering context, purchasing, manufacturing, shipping, and customer-facing execution.
+
+Planned interactions:
+
+- CRM: each project should link to a customer account and relevant contacts
+- Sales: quotes and sales orders should be able to spawn or attach to projects
+- Inventory: projects should reference item/BOM scope and later expose shortages or allocations
+- Purchasing: project material demand should be visible to purchasing and receiving workflows
+- Shipping: shipments tied to project deliverables should be visible from the project record
+- Manufacturing: work orders should link back to projects without turning projects into the manufacturing module
+- Planning: project milestones and execution dates should feed gantt scheduling and dependency views
+- Dashboard: projects should contribute status, risk, backlog, and milestone widgets
+
+## Manufacturing Direction
+
+Manufacturing should remain a separate execution subsystem rather than being collapsed into Projects.
+
+Planned interactions:
+
+- Projects: manufacturing orders may belong to a project, but projects remain the higher-level long-running record
+- Inventory: manufacturing consumes components and produces stock
+- Purchasing: shortages and buyout demand should surface from manufacturing execution
+- Shipping: completed manufacturing should feed shipment readiness
+- Planning: manufacturing orders, routings, and work centers should drive capacity and schedule views
 
 ## Workspace