(MRP – Order Policy Review)
Use this screen to evaluate To Order items that have supply in excess of total system demand. Consider assigning a Demand Driven order policy to these items.
Order Policy Review
(MRP - Order Policy Review)
This screen is used to identify and fix To Order policy items that are falsely contributing lead time and should be reassigned to the Demand Driven order policy.
To Order items are lead time contributors
If your intent is to always buy or make an item prior to each parent job or sales order, assign it to the To Order policy, which contributes lead time to two dynamically calculated settings -- the pre-job Lead Days of parent M items or to its own Time to Shipment. Lead time contribution is a unique DBA innovation for determining when jobs can be started and when make to order items can be shipped.
Demand Driven items do not contribute lead time
If your intent is for an item to be on hand for most demand scenarios, assign it to the Demand Driven order policy, which does not contribute lead time, and specify a Potential Demand amount and Supply Days interval.
What is false lead time contribution?
When a To Order item is actually being planned for inventory instead of to order, it falsely contributes lead time to the pre-job Lead Days of parent M items or to its own Time to Shipment, which distorts item reorder points, item action windows, job start dates, and SO required dates.
Fixing the problem
This screen lists To Order policy items with Excess Supply, whereby stock on hand and on order exceeds all existing demand from jobs and sales orders, which indicates the items are being planned for inventory instead of to order. To eliminate false lead time contribution, review each item and reassign it to the Demand Driven order policy, which matches your actual planning behavior.
NOTE: If you do not wish to use the Demand Driven order policy and its dynamically calculated Reorder Point and Min Order quantity, use the Manual Reorder Point order policy as an alternative (which also does not contribute lead time) and specify your own Reorder Point and Min Order quantity.
Do not use until all items have a Lead Days or Job Days allocation
Do not use this screen until all P items have a realistic (non-fictional) Lead Days allocation and all M items have a realistic (non-fictional) Job Days allocation. Do not allocate lead times incrementally or in pieces because lead time settings are interconnected and MRP only works properly when all lead time allocations are fully in place.
Too many P items? Think suppliers, not items.
It may seem a daunting task to assign a realistic Lead Days allocation to potentially thousands of P items. The number of suppliers, however, is a much smaller number and many suppliers have the same lead time for most, if not all their items. If you filter the MRP Settings screen to one supplier at a time, you can rapidly enter or import a realistic Lead Days value to each set of items. The whole process can easily be done in a single day and will immensely improve your planning and system throughput.
Fictional lead times are disastrous!
The worst thing you can do to your DBA system is to co-opt the Lead Days and Job Days settings with fictional numbers, which has a disastrous effect on other workflow processes and drives up inventory levels.
NOTE: If your objective with fictional lead times is to expand P item planning periods, replace all fictional settings with realistic lead time allocations, then go to MRP - Setup - MRP Defaults and specify Extra Days in the Item Planning Period panel.
Screen Details
By default, the screen automatically displays all To Order policy P items with Excess Supply, whereby stock on hand + on order exceeds all existing demand from jobs and sales orders, which indicates the items are being planned for inventory instead of to order. To eliminate false lead time contribution, review each item and reassign it to the Demand Driven order policy, which matches your actual planning behavior.
Buttons
Refresh
Each time you change your filtering criteria, this button flashes yellow and must be clicked to refresh the grid contents.
Output
Click this button to output the grid contents in Excel, CSV, HTML, PDF or Printer format.
Reset
Click this button to reset the filters within the Mfg or Purchased item type to their default settings.
Search
Use this field to enter a search string, which limits the grid to items containing that string in any of the following fields – Item ID, Description, Item Category, Default Supplier.
Filters
Mfg or Purchased
You have the option of displaying manufactured items or purchased items. When the screen is launched, purchased items are selected by default.
Item Category
By default, all item categories are displayed, but you can limit the grid to a single item category.
Default Supplier
This filter is only visible against purchased items. By default, all default suppliers are displayed, but you can limit the grid to a single default supplier.
Number of Decimals for Qty
This option enables you to specify the number of decimals displayed in all the quantity fields, which are rounded according to your decimal preference. By default, purchased items are displayed with 2 decimals and manufactured items with 0 decimals.
Excess Supply > Min Order or Order Multiple or Spare Stock
This checkbox is selected by default. When selected, the Excess Supply must exceed the highest value among the item’s Min Qty, Order Multiple, or Spare Stock settings. This ensures that the Excess Supply cannot be attributed to one of these settings.
NOTE: The Min Order and Order Multiple settings are not compatible with To Order policy planning and should be reviewed and reassigned where applicable to the Demand Driven order policy.
Grid Fields
Item ID, Description, UM
These fields identify the item.
(Stock Status)
Click the magnifying glass icon to drill down to the single item Stock Status inquiry, which provides demand and supply details inside and outside of the item Planning Period action window.
+ Qty OH
This is the item’s current stock on hand quantity.
- Demand
This is the total demand from all parent jobs and sales orders, regardless of time period.
+ On PO
This field is only visible against purchased items. It is the total non-received quantity on open purchase orders, regardless of time period.
+ On Job
This field is only visible against manufactured items. It is the total non-received quantity on open jobs, regardless of time period.
= Excess Supply
This is total supply in excess of total demand, which is calculated as follows:
Qty OH - Demand + On PO or On Job + (if selected for inclusion) the Min Order or Order Multiple or Spare Stock (whichever has the highest value)
Excess Supply indicates that the item is being planned for inventory instead of to order, which causes false lead time contribution that distorts item action windows, item reorder points, job start dates, and SO required dates. The item should be reviewed and changed to the Demand Driven order policy, which matches your actual planning behavior.
Item Category
This field identifies the item’s category and can be used for filtering purposes.
Default Supplier
This field is only visible against purchased items. It identifies the item’s default supplier and can be used for filtering purposes.
Change Order Policy
This icon launches the item Order Policy screen, which is pre-filled for the Demand Driven order policy. Specify a monthly Potential Demand amount and a Supply Days interval.
NOTE1: Do not start assigning the Demand Driven order policy until all P items have a realistic (non-fictional) Lead Days allocation and all M items have a realistic (non-fictional) Job Days allocation. Do not allocate lead times incrementally or in pieces because lead time settings are interconnected and MRP only works properly when all lead time allocations are fully in place.
NOTE2: If you do not wish to use the Demand Driven order policy and its dynamically calculated Reorder Point and Min Order quantity, use the Manual Reorder Point order policy as an alternative (which also does not contribute lead time) and specify your own Reorder Point and Min Order quantity.
NOTE3: After changing the Order Policy and returning to the Order Policy Review screen, the Refresh button will be flashing yellow. When clicked, the item will be dropped from the grid.
Pagination
Pagination status is found in the lower left-hand portion of the screen.
NOTE: Column sorting and output options will only work on the dataset displayed per page.
•To remove pagination and display all records, right click on the page and uncheck the Paginate option.
•To change the page size, right click on the page and select Edit Page Size.
