Open the Order Planning window.

Provides a tool for manual supply planning that displays all new demand along with availability information and suggestions for supply. It provides the visibility and tools needed to plan for demand from sales lines and component lines and then create different types of supply orders directly. Although Order Planning uses the program's MRP logic to find and prioritize demand, it is a simplified alternative to automated supply planning that is designed for manual decision making, for example:

Level-by-Level

Unlike the planning and requisition worksheet, the Order Planning window only considers one product level at a time. Therefore, it will only propose to create production orders for one production BOM level at a time, and if those new production orders introduce new demand, the plan must be recalculated (Calculate Plan) to pick up that second-level demand. A complete planning flow for a sales order for a produced item with two production BOM levels could be as follows (purchased components not shown):

First calculation run: The sales order creates sales demand.

Second calculation run: The production order creates production demand for the first BOM level.

Third calculation run: The production order creates production demand for the second BOM level.

Caution
Because only one item level is planned at a time, items that have Make-to-Order in the Manufacturing Policy field will not be planned correctly if they have derived production demand for underlying sub-assemblies.

Demand Considered

The Order Planning tool does not consider demand from:

Recommendations

The level-by-level principle and the high degree of flexibility mean that the Order Planning tool should be used according to certain rules to avoid generating unnecessary dependent demand.

While the presence of multiple lines in the Order Planning window demands certain care, it also, on the other hand, offers an opportunity to make consolidated planning based on the overview provided. For example, in case of multiple demand lines for identical items within the same (or proximate) demand date, you have the opportunity to overview the total needed quantity of several lines and consolidate them in one supply order.

Note
If an item has the Blocked check box selected, when you run the Calculate Plan function for Order Planning, it will not process orders that contain that blocked item. Instead, the batch job stops, sends an error message, and is not completed. To continue, remove the demand orders that include blocked items before calculating the plan.

Refer to related tasks below for more instructions about using the Order Planning window.

Quick guides for manufacturing are available in a document that you can edit and print in Microsoft Office Word. The file, called Quick Guides - Manufacturing Foundation.doc, is installed in the documentation folder of your client installation.

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See Also