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Requirements Planning

In this section, you will find settings that apply to requirements planning.

General grace period (creates time shortage instead of material shortage)

This setting allows you to determine the general duration of a period in working days for parts. This period is called "days of grace" or "grace period". The system will then consider the grace period when performing requirements calculations in the Requirement Calculation and Run Netting procedures. What happens is that the system will enter a re-scheduling suggestion for an existing order that can cover a requirement or need that originates within the duration of grace period that was entered here, instead of always setting up a new order suggestion to cover any needs that suddenly arise. The default value here is 99 days.

It is also possible to enter a grace period per part with lot sizing rule L, F or P (Lot-for-lot, Fixed quantity or Period requirement) under the Planning tab in the Update Part procedure. The grace period that is entered directly for a part will always override this general grace period.

Sales forecast from forecast register is deducted...

You can use this setting to decide whether the sales forecast deduction from the forecast register should be done from the lead time (present time + lead time) for the part, or just from present time. As lead time for the part the "Lead time to cust." is primarily used, secondarily the lead time in planning parameters and thirdly the throughput time including the material procurement is used. It is also possible to select to Never deduct the sales forecast.

The selection you make here will affect the entire requirement calculation. It will affect the order window in Part Info as well as the procedures Requirement Calculation and Run Netting.

Create order suggestions in past time?

When you check this option, you can place the order suggestion (which is created from the procedures Requirement Calculation and Run Netting) in past time for reservations that create part shortages in past time. The system will then always place an order suggestion to cover the remaining reservations for a part when it occurs. If it is in past time, then the order suggestion will also be created in past time.

This means, for instance, that a purchase order that was generated from such a suggestion will get both an order period and delivery period in past time, which of course is impossible for a supplier to fulfill. However, in some situations it may be useful to configure this setting, in order to find these remaining reservations and replan them.

By unchecking this alternative, all the purchase order and manufacturing order suggestions in past time will automatically be moved ahead by default, with the order/start period as of today's date and the delivery/finish period according to the lead time/throughput time.

You can also configure this alternative in the Requirement Calculation procedure, under the Info menu in the list. In the Run Netting procedure, this Setting alternative is always applied.

Create DB optimization statistics after Netting and Requirement calculation?

This setting will reset the database's own optimization statistics after each run. In some cases, you can considerably decrease the performance of the database when you repeatedly run this kind of calculations, if you have not checked this setting.

However, during normal circumstances, you should not reset the database’s optimizer statistics. These statistics are used so that the database server can optimize how it performs different tasks in the system. If you find that your netting runs and requirement calculations seem to be very slow, you can configure this setting, but only after consulting with the Support Center at Monitor ERP System AB.

Split Safety stock and Reorder point?

This setting will determine whether the Reorder point and Safety stock should be in separate fields in the part's planning info, or whether they should be merged as one single quantity.

Show annual budget/volume and EOQ with current daily pace?

Here you can choose whether to show the annual budget, annual volume and EOQ in the "daily pace" (current pace) and as an annual value. This setting is not checked by default, this means that it will only be displayed as annual value.

The daily pace value is used when planning in order to calculate the stock levels and EOQ, as a basis when planning purchases and manufacturing based on the short-term requirements. The annual value describes these values on an annual basis, and is used for long-term planning and as a basis for pre-calculations.

The following applies if you check this setting:

Show max. quantity

If you activate this setting you can enter a maximum quantity for the part in the Planning tab in the Update Part - Inventory procedure. If a max. quantity has been entered for a part, you can create several manufacturing orders with the maximum quantity to fulfill the requirement. The Run Netting, Requirement Calculation and manually registered manufacturing orders will then consider the part's maximum quantity. Order suggestions and manufacturing orders will never exceed the max. quantity. If the requirement is larger the current order will be divided into several manufacturing orders with the max. quantity as the largest order quantity. The start and finish periods on the divided orders will be distributed evenly during the period. This to avoid that loading and material requirements will be created against the same finish time. Example: The requirement is 100 pcs (pieces) and the max. quantity for the part is 20 pcs. This means that you need 5 manufacturing orders to fulfill the requirement. (Applies to the part types S and M.)

Linked requirement/supply planning for M-part (Lot-for-lot)

If this setting has been activated, each individual new requirement that arises becomes linked to the customer order or service order that has caused the requirement. This applies for M-parts with the lot sizing rule L (Lot-for-lot). This means that a manufacturing order suggestion will be created with the same part quantity as the requirement. Then the requirements planning will not consider the available balance - it focuses on each requirement and the supply that might already exist for the requirement.

If this setting is activated it will affect a few procedures as explained below (also see the settings for P-part below):

In the Manufacturing Order Suggestion procedure a new column shows the causing requirement. If you try to make a suggestion against forecast, you will receive a warning that it is not suitable. That order will lack a requirement to link to. (Project coding may come from the manufacturing order's project, if any.)

If the supplement Warehouse Management has been installed, then a stock order can be both a supply (an asset) and a causing requirement when it is used for order oriented parts. In the Register Stock Order procedure you will only see information about the supply to which a stock order row is linked.

Please Note! When you activate this setting it means that the existing manufacturing orders and available balances for M-parts with the lot sizing rule L (Lot-for-lot) will not be taken into consideration in the requirements planning. This setting is not activated by default. Then one manufacturing order suggestion is created per day, which covers all requirements for that day if there is more than one requirement for that day.

Linked requirement/supply planning for P-part (Lot-for-lot)

If this setting has been activated, each individual new requirement that arises becomes linked to the manufacturing order, customer order or service order that has caused the requirement. This applies for P-parts with the lot sizing rule L (Lot-for-lot). This means that a purchase order suggestion will be created with the same part quantity as the requirement. Then the requirements planning will not consider the available balance - it focuses on each requirement and the supply that might already exist for the requirement.

If this setting is activated it will affect a few procedures as explained below:

In the Purchase Order Suggestion procedure a new column shows the causing requirement. If you register a purchase order for a part that is order oriented (lot sizing rule = Lot-for-lot) you will receive a warning that it might not be suitable. That order will lack a requirement to be linked to. It will not be a supply in the requirement planning. A manual link can be made but it should be done on the causing requirement (material requirement row, customer order row). Purchase order that has been created from a suggestion will become linked to the causing requirement. This is shown in e.g. Register Purchase Order procedure.

On a material requirement row of a manufacturing order there is information about which purchase order row it belongs to and it can be viewed in the Order Info. In the Adding / Replanning procedure you can change the link to a purchase order, that is, you can link/unlink a purchase order row.

The Material Clearance manages and displays information in another way. The balance will be crossed out and a so-called tooltip shows that available balance is not used. The Material Clearance procedure considers the reported quantity on the linked order. The stock balance does not have to be divided for each delivery, a location does not have to be marked for a certain requirement. The pick list displays all locations if the reported quantity is sufficient. If it is not - no locations will be shown. The alternative to only show material shortages in the Order Info's and Priority Planning's BOM lists, works in a corresponding way as the Material Clearance to show shortages or not.

The procedures Delivery List in Sales, Pick List in Manufacturing and Flow Analysis in Manufacturing, Purchase and Sales also manages this link between requirement and supply in a similar way as the Material Clearance does.

Please Note! When you activate this setting it means that the existing manufacturing orders and balances for P-parts with the lot sizing rule L (Lot-for-lot) will not be taken into consideration in the requirements planning. These will then have to be linked manually to the causing requirement. This setting is not activated by default. Then one purchase order suggestion is created per day, which covers all requirements for that day if there is more than one requirement for that day.