API

Application Program Interface

Chris Blythe FCA

“AVAILABLE TO PROMISE” STOCK

ATP & ATP2

“AVAILABLE TO PROMISE” STOCK

What is ATP?“Available to Promise”is the quantity of stock that we can

commit to sending to a customer (internal or

external) on a given date

Free Stock v. ATP Stock“Free” Stock =

Physical – Allocated - Backordered

Physical – Allocated OR

Physical – Allocated – Backordered – Forward Ordered

OR

NO! AND THRICE NO! NO!

FORWARD ORDERS

The whole point of a Forward Order quantity is

that it is “beyond our horizon of contemplation” i.e. Not required until so far in the

future that we can ignore it in normal planning decisions

FORWARD ORDERS

•Control Forward Orders with OPFWDDAYS•Set to 999 if you don’t want any Forward Orders•Make sure you run “Release Stopped Orders” regularly to bring them into the planning horizon

Free Stock

Physical – Allocated - Backordered

Free Stock allows us to promise ONLY what we have available at the time of processing the order

Free Stock v. ATP Stock

“ATP” Stock = Physical – Allocated – Backordered + Due In

“ATP2” Stock =

Physical – Allocated – Backordered + Due In before the required delivery date

ATP v. ATP2 Stock

“ATP” Stock Physical – Allocated – Backordered + Due InCan be read from the Stock Master File

“ATP2” Stock =

Physical – Allocated – Backordered + Due In before the required delivery dateRequires reading Works Order Header and PO Detail lines

ATP2 Stock

Now realistic due to hardware performance increases in recent years

Will require sensible and regular archiving policies for WOP and POP

ATP2 Stock

Allows us to promise not only what we’ve got, but also what we will have acquired (made or bought) in time to ship to the customer

“in time to ship to the customer”

So if the due date on a Works Order is Friday, and the customer wants it delivered on the same Friday, its no problem then. Oh look, there goes another flying pig!

So we have a System Key that introduces a “delay factor” in days between the required date on a Works Order being included in the ATP calculation result for a Sales Order

And if that delay is 1 day between a Wednesday and a Thursday, great. But what happens if the WO completion is on a Friday?We use the Telesales Company Calendar!

“Soft” v. “Hard” Allocations

“Soft” allocation takes place on the Sales Order Detail line and Stock Master files. It says “of the 100 we have in stock, I’m promising (allocating) 60 to this Sales Order. But I don’t care which 60 or what bin(s) they are in as long as you give the customer 60 on the day”

“Hard” allocation takes place on the Stock Batch queue and Stock allocation files. It says “I’m allocating THOSE SPECIFIC stock items in those bins to this Sales Order.”

Sage standard Soft Allocations

“Soft” allocation always takes place (up the amount of Free Stock) at Order Entry

Sage standard Hard Allocations(1)

“Hard” allocation always takes place (invisibly) at Order Entry for non-Batch tracked items. It is optional for Batch tracked items.

Sage standard Hard Allocations(2)

Any items NOT already hard allocated at Order entry stage can be Hard allocated when the picking list/Despatch Note is produced

Sage standard Hard Allocations(3)

Any items STILL not hard allocated at Despatch Confirmation are just despatched anyway – either by FIFO or by batch selection – at which point allocations are irrelevant anyway as they are removed!

Hard Allocations and ATP(1)

The whole point of ATP is to be able to promise something that is not here right now – therefore hard allocations and ATP are basically not compatible.

So Hard allocations are disabled at the point of order entry. We don’t want them. Unless you have a better idea in your circumstances, so we’ve made it flexible via a System Key whether hard allocations take place at order entry for both tracked and non-tracked items

Hard Allocations and ATP(2)By the time we are ready to print the Picker/Despatch Note, different businesses will have different policies at this stage. So use the Forms editor to set this to your preference.

Works Order lines

Works Order lines DO NOT ever do Hard Allocations (in spite of repeated promises by Tetra and the file structures being designed ever since 1987 to accommodate it)

Works Order lines do not therefore have any different effect on ATP Stock to Free Stock. They are just part of the Allocated Quantity, which is allowed for in both calculations

ATP Example

Chris Blythe FCA

“AVAILABLE TO PROMISE” STOCK