Schedule dates are all dictated by your item settings
All dates in the master schedule are dictated by your item settings. SO line required dates are dictated by item order policies and Lead Days and Job Days allocations. Job start and finish dates are dictated by item Lead Days and Job Days allocations. PO line due dates are dictated by item Lead Days allocations.
Target dates express your planning strategy
The overall schedule translates your item settings into an action plan that expresses your planning strategy for times to shipment, inventory, and production and procurement allocations.
SO line required dates are the drivers of MRP
SO required dates always reflect the MRP planning dates and are derived from item order policies and allocations. The SO line required date ignores current stocking levels and always comes in based on the order policy rule.
For example, if an item has a To Order policy, the required date is always forward scheduled by the item’s Lead Days and Job Days allocations, even if the order can be covered by stock on hand, contrary to what is expected by the item’s order policy. The required date remains consistent with the order policy for these reasons:
Stock on hand rarely deviates from planned inventory
When you use consistent order policies over time, stock on hand conforms to your strategic objectives and will rarely deviate from planned inventory except for these minor exceptions:
•It an item has a stocking order policy (Demand Driven or Manual Reorder Point), the system expects stock to be on hand and therefore makes the sales order required date equal to the current date. If stock is not on hand due to a temporary shortage, any job in progress for this item automatically receives high priority to minimize late shipment time. These items will show up in the Late Supply screen and help you manage the expected ship date and customer communications on progress.
•If an item has a To Order policy, the system never expects stock to be on hand and therefore always forward schedules the SO required date by the item’s Lead Days and Job Days allocations. If by some fluke the order can be covered by stock on hand, MRP will not generate a job. The item will be allocated and available to ship in the Picking Manager screen.
Using consistent dates avoids conflicting priorities
Using consistent dates that reflect item order policies avoids conflicting priorities when multiple orders exist for the same item. Each order is not an isolated event. Open orders may already exist for the same item and new orders could be entered tomorrow, the next day, and so on. New supply may have arrived yesterday, today, or may arrive tomorrow. It is not logical for a new order to get a higher priority required date than an older order. Consistent dates avoid this problem altogether.
Items with conflicting priorities should be made to stock (Demand Driven)
If you commonly receive multiple orders for the same item, the way to avoid conflicting priorities altogether is to make the item to stock instead of to order. Any item with consistent and predictable demand should be made to stock because it requires very little inventory to do so and all orders can then be shipped immediately without delay. Additionally, job quantities will be more efficient and fewer jobs simplify the master schedule.
The Expected Ship date is your customer communication date
By default, the SO line Expected Ship date starts out equal to the SO line item required date (MRP driver). If an item is running behind schedule you can update the expected ship date and notify the customer of this new date. The Sales > Late Supply screen is a very important tool that helps you manage your expected ship dates and customer communications.
Do not co-opt item order policies for cross-purposes
Do not co-opt item order policies for cross-purposes where you sometimes plan an item to order and sometimes you plan it for stock. The only proper use of item order policies is for each item to always be planned to order or to always be planned for stock (Demand Driven). Consistent and proper use of item order policies is essential for the following reasons:
•Consistent dates are essential to avoid conflicting priorities among multiple sales orders for the same item.
•Consistent dates are essential to provide multi-level date alignment within MRP generation.
•Using consistent order policies avoids introducing anomalies between planned inventory and stock on hand. When an item is planned for demand driven stock, the system expects stock to be available. When an item is planned to order, the system does not expect any stock to be on hand.
•Using consistent order policies avoids introducing distortions into M item Lead Days allocations. Items with To Order policies always contribute to M item Lead Days allocations, regardless when stock on hand exists.
