Getting a warning when new demand jeopardizes projected availability?

How can I get a warning when entering a sales order so I am aware that this demand jeopardizes availability for other demands? That is the Avail. Check Warning functionality. Nothing new. But, I would like to bring focus to this functionality to emphasize the relevance it has.

There are two parameters in Company Information which are relevant here:

  • “Check Avail. Period Calc.”: this defines the period from demand due date where availability calculation will take place. As an example, if this is a sales order, it will check “Shipment Date” + “Check Avail. Period Calc” to determine what is the availability within that period. If availability goes negative, a warning will then arise.
  • “Check Avail. Time Bucket”: this defines the bucket of this period. As an example, if we define Month, availability will be rounded to first date of next month when determining the availability period.

Based on this two, together with the demand due date (ie. “Shipment Date” in the Sales Order), the availability calculation is executed to determine if there would be any availability issue in the future when this new demand is entered (ie. projected inventory goes negative). If so, warning arises. This is an indication to the user for action:

  • Should we go ahead and create the demand as is?
  • Should we try to promise (ATP or CTP) this or any of the other demands ahead to remove negative projected availability?

This warning should be considered as a tool to anticípate issues before planning is run. If we let planning to resolve this issue we might end on these undesiderable scenarios:

  • Lead time does not allow us to react and planning shows an exception (ie. we might require to consume safety stock to address this demand)
  • Demand is now on the frozen zone and this might mean negative stock in the starting date which is shown as an emergency action

We don’t want to run into exception or emergencies in our business. Of course, it might well be the case that planning is able to provide a meaningful action line for our business (ie. this availability issue is later enough that we can react within our lead times and create new replenishment). But, I would still encourage the user to be proactive and check availability when Avail. Check Warning arises.