action messages on planning worksheet

kar100

Hi all,
Trying to decipher action messages created by Navision. For example, under what circumstances will the system suggest you cancel an existing Purchase order and raise a new one with new due date instead of rescheduling the existing order? also, sometimes the system will suggest a 'cancel' and 'new' for the same item instead of 'Resched. and chg qty'. Any information greatly appreciated.

themave

This comes from the planning functionality white paper

Balancing/Managing Supply Events
The core of the planning system involves balancing demand and supply by means of suggesting user actions to revise the supply events in the case of imbalance. This takes place per combination of variant and location (and in version 2.60, also the bin).
Imagine that each inventory profile contains a string of demand events (sorted by date) and a corresponding string of supply events. Each event refers back to its source type and identification. The rules for counterbalancing the item are straightforward. Four instances of matching demand and supply can occur at any point of time in the process:
1. No demand or supply exists for the item => the planning has finished (or should not start).
2. Demand exists but there is no supply => supply should be suggested.
3. Supply exists but there is no demand for it => supply should be cancelled.
4. Both demand and supply exist => questions should be asked and answered before we can ensure that demand will be met and supply is sufficient.

If the timing of the supply is not suitable, perhaps the supply order can be rescheduled:
a. If the supply is placed earlier than the demand, perhaps it could be rescheduled out so that inventory is as low as possible, but we can use any possible surplus anyway.
b. If the supply happens to be later than the demand, perhaps it can be rescheduled in. Otherwise, the planning system should create a suggestion for some new supply.
c. If the supply meets the demand on the date, the planning system can proceed to investigate whether the quantity of the supply can cover the demand.
Once the timing is in place, the adequate quantity to be supplied can be calculated:
a. If the supply quantity is less than the demand, it is possible that the supply quantity could be increased (or possibly not, due to a maximum lot size).
b. If the supply quantity is more than the demand, it is possible that the supply quantity could be decreased (or possibly not, due to a minimum lot size).
At this point, either of two situations exists:
a. The current demand can be covered, in which case it can be closed and planning for the next demand can start.
b. The supply has reached its maximum, leaving some of the demand quantity uncovered. In this case, the planning system can close the current supply and proceed to the next one.

Then the procedure starts all over with the next demand and the current supply or vice versa. The current supply might be able to cover (more or less) this next demand as well, or the current demand has not yet been fully covered.
Rules Concerning Actions for Supply Events
When the program performs a top-down calculation of a plan in which supply shall meet demand, the demand is taken as a given—it lies outside the control of the planning system. However, the supply side can be managed. Therefore, the planning system will suggest user actions to create new replenishment orders, reschedule existing ones and/or change order quantity. In the case of an existing replenishment order becoming superfluous, the planning system will suggest that the user cancel it.
If a user wants to protect an existing replenishment order from the suggestions for change, he can state that it has no ‘planning flexibility.’ Then, excess supply from that order will be used to cover demand, but no action will be suggested whatsoever.
In general though, all supply has a planning flexibility that is limited by the conditions of each of the suggested actions:
1. Reschedule out—an existing supply can, in principle, be scheduled out to meet the demand due date unless:
* it represents inventory (always on day zero).
* it is linked directly (order-to-order link, see section 4.6.2) to some other demand.
* it lies outside the reschedule window defined by the Reorder Cycle.
* there is an even closer supply that could be used.

Finally, rescheduling could be ruled out because:
* the supply has already been tied up to another demand on a previous date.
* the rescheduling is so minimal that the user has defined it as negligible.4
*
2. Reschedule in—an existing supply can be scheduled in unless:
* it is linked directly (order-to-order link, see section 4.6.2) to some other demand.
* it lies outside the reschedule window defined by the Reorder Cycle.2
When using a reorder point policy of planning for an item, the supply can always be scheduled in if necessary. This is the nature of the forward-scheduled reorder point replenishment orders. The planning system would not suggest to decrease/cancel an existing reorder-point order and then create a new one.

3. Increase quantity—the quantity of a replenishment order can, in most cases, be increased to meet the demand. The exceptions are when:
* the supply is linked directly (order-to-order link, see section 4.6.2) to some other demand.
* it is a reorder point that has caused the situation (see section 0 for a detailed description).
Note: According to these rules, even though it is possible to increase the supply, it may nonetheless, be limited due to a defined maximum order quantity.

4. Decrease quantity—if the current existing supply has a surplus quantity compared to the current demand, it can be decreased to meet the demand unless:
· the rescheduling is so minimal that the user has defined it as negligible.
Note: Even though the quantity could be reduced in principle, there may still be some surplus compared to the demand due to a defined minimum order quantity or order multiple.

5. Cancel supply—as a special incident of the decrease quantity action, the supply could be cancelled if it has been decreased to zero.
6. New replenishment order—if no supply exists beforehand, or an existing one cannot be manipulated to meet the necessary quantity on the demanded due date, a new replenishment order is suggested.

themave

rather post the whole white paper, the basics come down to, the system is looking at due dates of PO's, expected ship dates of Sales orders, production schedules and trying to find the best match between that supply and demand.

For us, we can not cancel existing PO's or change quantities, so we have made the default Planning Flexibility to be "None" on PO lines, this removes them from the requisition planning calculation as being able to change/cancel. Makes orders much simpler.

This is very complicated to figure out, but once you get it, it does make some since. Good luck.