This function is used to allocate the products managed in stock to service an order. It is also used to modify allocations previously carried out.

The stock allocation is a stage before delivery for products managed in stock. This stage is mandatory before all use of the automatic delivery and automatic invoicing functions (of orders with direct invoicing). On the other hand, the manual delivery function or the manual invoicing function (for orders with direct invoicing) can be used without previous allocation.

An allocation can be global or detailed:

Global - this concerns a quantity reservation for a Product-site pair (globally allocated stock).

Detailed - this concerns a reservation for a stock line, that is to say a Lot, Sub-lot, Serial number, Status, Location (detailed stock allocation) association.

It can be carried out at different stages:

Before the order and, in this case, the allocation can only be global, it is a reservation. (See the Customer reservations documentation).

During order entry, in either global or detailed fashion, according to the choice made in the order. (See the Orders documentation).

After the order and, in this case, two functions can be used:

  • Automatic allocation, to carry out the allocation of a series of orders and products (See Automatic allocations documentation).
     
  • Allocation by product, to carry out the allocation of all types of orders or to modify the allocations previously carried out. This is the function described in this documentation.
     
    In that case, the order must be Totally signed when the approval circuit is managed and the SOHAPPALL - Unsigned order allocationsetup is set on: No.
    However, if this setup is set to Yes but the WIP generation for the products managed is stock is forbidden for unsigned orders (SOHAPPORD setup set to No), the order will not be taken into account too.

Prerequisite

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Screen management

Two screens are necessary to carry out this type of allocation. The first screen is used to enter different information necessary to the selection of orders to be allocated. The second is used to present the order lines to be allocated that correspond to the selection.

Entry screen

Selection screen

All the fields in this screen have optional entry. This screen is broken down into four distinct sections in which the following selections are found:

Selection criteria

Shipment site

The shipment site code entered must correspond to a storage site. When no value is entered in this field, the processing takes into account all the storage sites that exist for which there are orders to be automatically allocated.

Shipment date

The shipment date entered is used to filter the orders to be taken into account in the processing. In fact, only those orders which shipment date is lower than or equal to the entered date are taken into account.

Whether the field is assigned or not, the orders are processed:

If they concern a purchased product, which shipment date is prior to the processing date plus the purchase lead-time and the preparation lead-time.

If they concern a manufactured product, which shipment date is prior to or equal to the processing date plus the production lead-time and the preparation lead-time.

NB:

The purchasing lead-time comes from the Product-Site record and is expressed in calendar days. The production lead-time and the preparation lead-time also come from the Product-site record and are expressed in working days.

Setups

Partial allocations

When set to Yes, this flag is used to carry out, without warning messages, partial allocations on orders with the Complete order or Complete lines shipment method.

Client reservation consumption

This flag is used to decide whether the allocation process should take into account any customer reservations held on the system. It is initialized according to the value of the USERERBPC setup.

Generation of shortages

This flag is used to decide whether the allocation processing must generate a shortage if the stock is not available. It is initialized according to the value of the GENSHT setup.

Recognition of totally allocated lines

This flag is used to select the order lines that are already allocated in order to modify them.

Start/End ranges

For the following fields, it is necessary to enter a selection start/end range. This type of selection can be carried out for information such as the order number, the ship-to customer and/or the product reference.

Additional criteria

If required, it is also possible to add additional filters in the order headers and the order lines in order to refine the selection. The formula editor available by a right click is used to facilitate this selection.

Selection by route number code

This field can take the values Yes or No. If a selection on the route number code is required, it is necessary to enter the required route number code and only the orders concerning this route number will be processed.

 

Following confirmation of the information entered in this screen, a warning message is displayed if no order line corresponds to the selection carried out . The order lines managed by direct orders and the completed order lines are ignored by this function.

Allocation screen

The allocation is carried out product by product. If the user does not wish to process the product proposed, he/she can move to the next product in the selection by using the key designed for that purpose in the principal menu or at the bottom of the screen.

For each product to be processed, all the order lines are proposed in this screen, displayed in a grid, and corresponding to the selection made and sorted by shipment date.

The customer authorized credit status calculation is carried out for each order in order to update the credit status flag in the order header. The orders which credit status flag takes the value Blocked are not selected (Authorized credit blocked or pre-payment not made and the LOKORD setup is set to Yes (order blocked if pre-payment not made)), on the other hand, those orders where this flag has the value Authorized credit or Pre-payment not made are selected and proposed with a null quantity to be allocated by default.

Most of the fields that are used to identify the order line are simply displayed and cannot be modifiable. The following information is mentioned:

The order number

The order line shipment date

The order quantity expressed in sales unit

The sales unit

The quantity already allocated in sales unit

The shortage quantity in sales unit

The quantity to be allocated in sales unit

The shipment site

The quantity already shipped

The sold-to customer

The shipment address

The order credit status

The partial shipment authorization flag (Authorized, Complete line, Complete order)

Only the quantity to be allocated can be modified. This proposed quantity is the sum of the quantity already allocated, the remainder to be allocated and the shortage quantity. This information is in red when quantities to be allocated remain for the order line. It is possible to enter a quantity to be allocated that is greater than the ordered quantity, a warning message is then displayed to confirm this choice.

If the quantity entered is greater than the available stock, the unavailable quantity will then automatically generate a shortage quantity after the order line has been allocated. This is on the condition that the GENSHT setup authorizes the generation of shortage quantities and that this choice has been confirmed in the launch window.

During the entry of the quantity to be allocated, a warning message will be systematically displayed if shortage quantities already exist (for other orders) for the product being processed.

If the quantity entered is lower than the ordered quantity and the order has a shipment mode of Complete order or Complete lines (the Partial allocations setup not having been specified on launching this function, it is then necessary to confirm this choice after the display of the warning message.

At the bottom of the screen, the stock situation information is displayed for the selected product and site currently being processed. This information is displayed for each order line which the user selects. The following information is mentioned:

The physical stock in sales unit with the sales unit

The available stock in sales unit with the sales unit

The conversion factor between the sales unit and the stock unit

The physical stock in stock unit with the stock unit

The available stock in stock unit with the stock unit

The stock shortage in stock unit with the stock unit

 

Specific case of sales kits and sales BOMs:

Sales kits:  the allocations on the parent product and the components cannot be disassociated. This signifies that if a parent product is allocated, the components will be allocated to the level of the quantity to be allocated to the parent product. If the stock is insufficient for certain components or for the parent product, shortages will automatically be generated irrespective of the value of the GENSHT setup (shortage generation). For a component, the sum of the Quantity allocated + Shortage quantity / Link quantity is always equal to the sum of the Quantity allocated + Shortage quantity for the parent product.

When allocating the kit by using this function the following cases may appear:

If the order line kit is not allocated, only the parent product will be proposed. If the parent product is not managed in stock, it will only be possible to modify the quantity to be allocated by right click on the automatic allocation function. If the parent product is managed in stock, it will also be possible to access via right click to the manual allocation function to select the stock lines. The allocation of the parent product triggers the automatic allocation of the components. The result of these cascading allocations will be mentioned in the log file on exiting the function.

If the kit for an order line is partially allocated, the parent product and the components will be proposed. It will not be possible to modify the quantity to be allocated for the components (the allocation of components must be proportional to the parent product). For each component, it will be possible to allocate any shortage quantities or to modify the allocated stock lines, by the Manual allocation function accessible by right click on the line. It will also be possible to modify the parent product allocation. If the parent product quantity to be allocated is increased or decreased, the associated component lines will then be impacted by this modification. If the parent product is managed in stock, it will be possible to access the Manual allocation function where the stock lines can be selected.

If the parent product is totally allocated but if shortages exists for certain component lines, these will then be proposed (the parent product and the totally allocated components will not be proposed, except if the selection option allocated lines is chosen). For these components, it will not be possible to modify the quantity to be allocated. It will be possible to allocate the shortages or to modify the allocated stock lines using the Manual allocation function accessible by right click on the line..

If the parent product and the components are totally allocated and the totally allocated lines are selected (option during the function launch), the parent product and the components will be suggested. For the components, it is not possible to modify the quantity to be allocated. Only the allocated stock lines can be modified using the Manual allocation function. The parent product can be de-allocated if necessary. In this case, the components can also be de-allocated (the component de-allocation will be mentioned in the log file).

Sales BOMs: contrary to the sales kits, the links between the parent product and the components are not strict. This signifies that it is possible to allocate in an independent manner the parent product or the components (if they are stock managed). The allocation of the parent product by this function does not trigger the allocation of the components and it will be possible, for a component to be allocated, to have a quantity different to the link quantity related to the parent product.

 

The functions described below trigger the immediate allocation to a selected order without it then being necessary to use the allocation button at the bottom of the screen. They are used to intervene selectively on an order line in the grid.

Other conditions

Automatic allocation rules

The allocation of selected order lines or delivery requests depends on the allocation type specified in the order line or delivery request.

If the allocation is of the global type, a reservation will be carried out according to the available stock for the product and to the global allocation rule for the product category. This rule is used to determine by major status groups those that are authorized for the allocation.

If the allocation is of the detailed type, a reservation will be carried out on the stock objects (Lot, Sub-lot, Serial number, Status, Location, Packing unit) following the detailed allocation rule for the category to which the product belongs. Those filters that have been entered on the order lines or delivery requests will also impact the result of the detailed allocations. Two exclusive filters can be entered. These are a filter on the lot number and the status (see the Orders or Delivery requests documentations). In the allocation algorithm, if no stock object corresponds to these exclusive filters, a shortage will be generated. A preferential filter can be entered. This is for the preferential location (see the Orders or Delivery requests documentations). It is used to adjust the allocation by specifying that the stock objects must be taken as a priority from this location. If there is no corresponding stock object in this location, the system will then continue its search to allocate the stock objects according to the allocation rule.

Specific Buttons

Allocation

This button is used to process the order lines to be allocated. All the order lines where the quantity to be allocated is different from the quantity already allocated are taken into account. The allocation attempt is then made on the difference between these two quantities following the automatic allocation rule (see earlier in this document). If this difference is positive, it is an new allocation or an addition, if it is negative, it is an allocation cancellation or a reduction in the allocation.
A processing report is displayed at the end of the processing. In this report, for each order line processed, the following data are displayed: order number, customer code and product reference.
When an allocation has been correctly carried out, the allocated quantity is also shown as well as any shortage quantities. Conversely, an error message is displayed under the order references. This report can be printed or deleted.

Cancel

This button is used to cancel the modifications made on the selected lines for a given product. The quantities to be allocated are then recalculated. However, the allocations made by the functions available via the right click are saved. All the allocations already saved for the previous products are kept.

Previous product

This button is used to access the order lines to be allocated for the product previously processed (if there are still lines to be allocated).

Next product

This button is used to access the order lines to be allocated for another product (the products to be processed being sorted in alphabetical order). Provided that there are still products to be processed.

Site Stock

This button is used to access the different stock totals for the product being processed at the shipment site of the order line. This stock inquiry is also used to access the different stock information such as the Detailed stock, the Globally allocated stock, the Detailed allocated stock, the Stock shortage and the Available stock

Error messages

In addition to the generic error messages, the following messages can appear during the entry :

XXX: this site is not a warehouse

This message appears during the shipment site entry in the selection screen when the code entered does not correspond to a stock site.

Criterion too long

This message appears when the expressions entered in the additional criteria exceed the capacity of the field.

In the process report, for each order line processed and under the order references (Order number, Customer number, Product reference), the following messages can appear:

Credit status blocked

This message appears when the Credit status flag in the order has its value set to Blocked. The order lines in this situation will not be suggested, but this error message will identify them in the log file.

Pre-payment not made

This message appears when the order status has the value 'Pre-payment not made' and the LOKORD setup blocks the order. The order lines in this situation will not be suggested, but this error message will identify them in the log file.

Tables used

SEEREFERTTO Refer to documentation Implementation