Why can’t the SO line Required Date be freely changed?
The line item Required Date is a manufacturing date
The sales order line Required Date is solely for manufacturing purposes and is not designed to be used as a “wish date” by salespeople.
Each SO line has a Required Date and Expected Date
When a line item is entered, the program establishes a Required Date and an Expected Date, both of which have the same initial date.
•The Required Date is populated by the item’s Time to Shipment target and must be left as is because it is an internal MRP date that drives job generation and establishes job and shipping priority.
•The Expected Date is the customer communication date and can be freely changed without any effect on job generation or job and shipping priority.
Only change the Required Date for a scheduled order
The one instance where the Required Date should be changed is when the customer requests a scheduled order, as would be the case with a blanket sales order. See the following FAQ for more details.
Never use the Required Date as a “wish date”
Never use the Required Date as a “wish date” by salespeople. It is an MRP date that is established by the item’s planned Time to Shipment target and must be left as is for alignment with job finish dates.
Never move the Required Date out when it is past due
Never move the Required Date out when it is past due. Always leave it as is so that it remains visible as a late job dependency in the Job Schedule and so that it retains its priority in the Shipment Planner.
Do not change the Required Date for an unusually large order
Do not change the Required Date when an unusually large order for an item with a Stocking order policy is not covered by stock on hand as planned. Instead of moving the Required Date out, leave the date as is to maintain this order’s job and shipping priority relative to other orders that may exist for the same item. The shortage may be of minimal duration because a replenishment job may already be in progress. If a new job gets generated, it will automatically be expedited because it will receive highest priority in job release and work center queues.
Do not change the Required Date for a small order
Do not change the Required Date when a relatively small order is received for an item with a To Order policy that happens to be covered by stock on hand. Instead of moving the Required Date in, leave the date as is to maintain this order’s shipping priority relative to other orders that may exist for the same item. The Shipment Planner automatically allocates available stock to orders in Required Date order so that this order will be immediately shipped provided that another order does not have greater priority.
Use the Shipment Planner for Order Picking
Pick sales orders for shipment using the Shipment Planner so that available stock on hand is given priority to sales orders according to scheduled Required Dates.
The Shipment Planner, which is accessed from the SO No field in the Order Picking screen, lists open sales orders prioritized by earliest line item Required Date. Always pick the next ready-to-ship sales order listed first and sales orders will get fulfilled in the correct scheduled order.
The Expected date can be freely changed
The line item Required Date is accompanied by the Expected Date, which is the communication date for the customer. This date can be freely changed without any impact on MRP or the Shipment Planner. If the Job Schedule indicates that an dependent sales order is likely to be supplied later than planned, you can move the Expected Date out to reflect that reality.
