Distribution offers a number of alternatives to allow you to meet the delivery requirements of your customers. The following alternatives are available:
- Sourcing policy – Always active and is utilised if the user does NOT manually enter a warehouse during sales order entry. It is used to find the first warehouse where the item is active.
- Auto source – You can turn it on or off. If YES, it is used to search for available quantity in all warehouses in the sourcing policy, else create a Back to Back order. If NO, use availability check functionality.
- Automatic fulfilment – You can turn it on or off. If YES, use advanced rules if auto source did not work. These rules are dictated by the Order line fulfilment rule (OFR) code for the customer. See Order line fulfilment rule below.
- Availability check – may be used on its own or together with Auto source. What happens during sales order entry depends on how the system was set up. You can, however, change some of the set up parameters to meet the delivery requirements of the customer. See Availability check functionality below.
Note: For the handling of Alternative, Substitute or Replacement items, see Working with alternative, substitute, replacement items.
Order line fulfilment rule
This rule denotes the customer’s demands on ordering and delivery. Valid OFR codes are:
Note: For codes 1, 3 and 4 more than one order line could be created if Split on warehouse is YES. See description for that field below. Note: Split on different warehouses will not be performed if a warehouse was manually entered for the sales order line.
| OFR code | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Requested quantity on requested date (customer needs everything on requested date). One order line will be created if requested quantity is available on requested date. If not, no order line will be created and the user will be stopped at manual order entry. |
| 2 | Requested quantity on adjusted date (delay shipment until everything is available, customer is willing to wait). One order line will be created. If the requested quantity is not available on requested date, the date will be adjusted to a date when the whole quantity can be dispatched. |
| 3 | Adjusted quantity on requested date (customer needs what is available now). One order line will be created if anything can be dispatched on requested date. If the requested quantity is not available on requested date, quantity will be adjusted to what is possible to dispatch on requested date. If nothing is available on requested date, no order line will be created. |
| 4 | Split on several order lines (customer needs what is available now and send rest later). Create one order line for requested date with anything that is available for dispatch and one line (note: only one additional line and no further split) when remaining quantity is available for dispatch. Note: The result can be that only one line is created. Note: A split is not valid or performed for sales orders that are created from Requests and Returns.
Note: If the user changes the quantity on a line that has already been created, no split line is created if there is insufficient quantity in the warehouse. When the pick list is confirmed a backordered line will be created but it will not go through the same order fulfilment rules or the sourcing policy search. |
Availability check functionality
The following codes govern the availability check for an item if the Automatic fulfilment functionality is not used.
| Code | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Yes, a check should be performed. Entry will not be allowed if the available quantity (according to the time axis) is lower than the ordered quantity at the given date. |
| 2 | Yes, a check should be performed. Allow entry, but with an on-line warning. |
| 3 | No check, allow all entries. Note: This code will exclude items from sales order re-planning. |
Fields in Sales order entry
The sourcing alternatives during sales order entry depend on how the system was set up. Most of the fields are defaulted with codes retrieved from the set-up locations, but you have the possibility to override most of these codes
All the sourcing related fields during sales order entry are categorised and listed in the sub-sections below. Should a customer’s delivery requirements not be met, you can always force a manual lost sale tracking by choosing function 35 from the Function list.
Order lines panel (DMR30201)
| Field | Description | Maintainable |
|---|---|---|
| OFR | Manual entry for a new line only. Only complete this field if you want to override the OFR code that will be applied to the line once it is created. If you do not manually enter a code here the code on the Order header, retrieved from the Customer file, will apply. See valid codes under Order line fulfilment rule above. Note: The OFR logic is only performed when the order line is entered. Split on warehouse is NOT performed if the quantity is increased on an existing line. Automatic fulfilment has no impact on backorder line creation during pick list confirmation or invoicing. | YES |
Order line, main info panel (DMR30701)
| Field | Description | Maintainable |
|---|---|---|
| Sourcing pol | Displays the Sourcing policy defined for any of the following and searched/picked in the following order:
|
NO |
| Backlog | Displays the backlog code from any of the following:
Indicate if a backorder is allowed for this order line. If set to YES, the order line will become a backorder at pick confirmation or at invoicing. If set to NO, a backorder will not be created even if the order line is not delivered in full. This code, however, can be overridden during Pick list confirmation. |
YES |
| OFR used | Displayed for informational purposes only and does not have any influence when an existing line is changed or re-planned. The first part of this field displays the OFR code retrieved from the order header for the customer. If the OFR code was manually entered when creating an order line, to override the code retrieved from the order header, the second part of this field will display the manually entered code. See valid codes under Order line fulfilment rule above. | NO |
Order header, main info panel (DIR30101)
These are the parameters that govern how the item is to be sourced on an order line.
| Field | Description | Maintainable | Other info |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auto source | Retrieved from the Sales order type table. Indicate if the system should search through all warehouses in the sourcing policy to find the requested quantity.
If you set this field to YES and requested quantity cannot be found, the result depends on settings in the system and occurs in the order outlined:
If you set this field to NO, the system retrieves the Sourcing policy only to search for the first active warehouse in which the item is stored. If that warehouse does not have enough stock available, a message will be displayed. |
YES | |
| Auto fulfil | Mandatory entry. Indicate if the system should automatically control some advanced rules when sourcing an item during sales order entry. The YES/NO code stated here is populated to the Sales order header when an order is created and can be changed on order level.
If you set this field to YES, the system will apply the Order fulfilment rule logic to find the requested quantity. Note: This logic is only performed when the order line is entered. Split on warehouse is NOT performed if the quantity is increased on an existing line. Automatic fulfilment has no impact on backorder line creation during pick list confirmation or invoicing. If you set this field NO, the system will use the Availability check functionality when finding requested quantity. |
YES | |
| Order fulfil | Mandatory entry. Defaulted from the Customer file. Indicate how you want the system to source requested quantity on each order line. See valid codes under Order line fulfilment rule above. | YES | |
| Complete del | Mandatory entry. Defaulted from the Customer file. Indicate if a complete delivery of the entire order is required. If you set this field to YES, the Date adjust and Avail chk pp fields must also be set to YES.
The following validations/conditions exist for this field:
Note: If a complete order shipment is required, the order will not be suggested for picking and no pick list will be printed unless the entire order can be fully delivered. |
YES | Combining complete delivery and a sourcing policy that allow Split on warehouse is contradictory. When Split on warehouse is set to YES it may lead to dispatches from several warehouses which is not allowed for an order with complete delivery. |
| Date adjust | Defaulted from the Sales order type table. This field is only valid for sales orders that have more than one sales order line. Indicate if you want the system to adjust all sales order lines to the latest dispatch date. This will allow all of the sales order lines to be dispatched in the same shipment.
Note: This field must be set to YES if Complete del is YES. |
YES | OFR codes 1, 3 and 4 in combination with Date adjust set to YES are contradictory. You will be flagged with a warning with any of these combinations, giving you more information. It will not stop the line from being processed but it can lead to an unfavourable result.
Example of why they are contradictory: OFR = 4 and Date adjust = Y are contradictory since OFR may lead to split on several order lines with different dispatch dates while Y for date adjustment denotes that the customer wants the whole order in one delivery. The date adjustment flag will get priority over the OFR code meaning that dispatch date will be adjusted to the latest and all goods will be delivered in one shipment but with the same item split on several lines on the invoice. |
| Print unfulf | Mandatory entry. Defaulted from the Customer file but can be overridden here. Indicate if you want to print the unfulfilled supply information on the order documents. See Print unfulfilled supply information on order documents for more information. | YES | |
| Avail chk oe | Indicates if the item availability check will be performed at order entry. This value is defaulted from the Sales order type table. | Not if Auto Fulfilment = YES. | |
| Avail chk pp | Mandatory entry. This value is defaulted from the Sales order type table for the sales order type on the order. This is an extra security measure to prevent pick lists from being printed when item is not available. It could be that goods are available during the sales order entry, but a stock take was performed before the pick list was printed, thus some goods could have discrepancies or were scrapped. Indicate if you want the system to consider the OFR code (the Order fulfilm rule field) defined in the Customer file during pick list print. If NO, there will not be any type of availability check applied during pick list print (i.e. the OFR code will be ignored. Instead, print any pick list line regardless of available quantity in stock). | YES | |
| Warehouse | This value is defaulted from the Sourcing policy defined for the customer in the Business partner file/Customer file. | Not if:
|
|
| Default whs | Indicate if the warehouse code defined in the Warehouse field on this panel is to be used as the default warehouse on the order lines. If you set this field to NO, you can either enter a warehouse manually on the order line or let the system automatically retrieve a warehouse from the Sourcing policy. | YES | |
| Backlog | This code is defaulted at order creation according to the note below. Indicate if a backorder is allowed for this order line. If you set this field to NO, a backorder will not be created even if the order line is not delivered in full. This code, however, can be overridden during Pick list confirmation.
Note: The Backlog field on the sales order header will be defaulted with YES only if the sales order type allows backlog. Otherwise, NO will be defaulted. |
YES | |
| Blog at pick | Indicates if a back order creation of order lines should be performed after Pick list confirmation or during Invoicing, and cannot be changed. | NO |
Related topics
- Send 2 dispatches from 2 warehouses to fulfil customer’s requested quantity on requested date
- Adjust dispatch date from customer’s original request but keep requested quantity
- Adjust requested quantity but not requested date
- Send 1 dispatch with available quantity on requested date and dispatch remaining quantity when available
- Empty small quantities from warehouse
- Force a manual lost sale tracking
- Print unfulfilled supply information on order documents
- Use availability check for stocked items
- Use availability check for non-stocked items
- Setting up the item sourcing functionality
- Working with alternative, substitute, replacement items