Available to Promise-Implementation setup

Jira Code: ME-130

Available to promise- Shows the expected ship date. Used with demand planning. The Available to Promise feature gives purchasing and sales departments visibility into the projected ship date of goods during the quote and order processes. It enables you to check item availability based on outstanding transfer orders, purchase orders, work orders, and sales orders.

For example, on April 1, a sales rep has a customer who wants to place an order for 100 widgets and the rep needs to know how soon the order can be fulfilled. Using Available to Promise, the sales rep checks item availability to find out the soonest date that all 100 widgets will be available in stock. According to NetSuite calculations, by April 15 only 50 widgets will be available, but by May 1, all 100 items on the order can be fulfilled. This information enables the sales rep to have confidence when assuring the customer that he can receive the items he needs on the date promised.

To determine availability, NetSuite examines the following:

  1. Quantity of items expected to be received on purchase orders, work orders, transfer orders based on their expected receive date.
  2. Quantity of items expected to be fulfilled on sales orders and transfer orders based on their expected ship date.

The Available to Promise feature is accessible only when you have enabled the Demand Planning feature.

A user must have the Check Item Availability permission for their role to use the Available to Promise feature. The View setting is the default for this permission.

Check Item Availability Page

Use the Check Item Availability page to review the supply and demand of an item based on the projected receipt and ship date of outstanding sales orders, work orders, and transfer orders.

For example, a customer requesting a quote or placing an order may ask about the projected shipment date. The sales rep can access the Check Item Availability page to provide the customer with the soonest date that the full quantity of the item will be available.

Check Item Availability Popup

The Check Item Availability popup can be accessed from a quote, opportunity, sales order, or item record. The popup displays the same data as the Check Item Availability page.

Available to Promise Methods

On item records, you can choose the Available to Promise (ATP) method used to calculate the available date for the item. You can choose one of the following:

  • Discrete ATP
  • Cumulative ATP with Look Ahead

1) Discrete ATP

The discrete ATP method reviews the amount available in each supply order and provides an available date for the specific quantity.

Non-posting purchases are considered to be “buckets” and sales orders fill those buckets. The quantity that is available for an item is based on the quantity available within an individual purchase bucket.

Based on these sources of supply, NetSuite develops “buckets” for inventory calculations. Next, demand sources are counted against these buckets based on the following:

  • Expected ship date for sales orders and transfer orders
  • Production start date for work orders

The quantity that is available on a certain date is based on the supply and demand calculated for each bucket.Using the Discrete ATP method, the quantity available is based on the discrete buckets. If you anticipate that your sales order quantities will always be greater than the supply quantities, you should consider the Cumulative ATP with Look Ahead method to handle inventory shortages.

2) Cumulative ATP with Look Ahead

Using the Cumulative ATP with Look Ahead method, supply estimates are cumulative based on all outstanding orders within a horizon. This enables you to account for shortages that may occur in the future.

These supply calculations are based on future-dated non-posting transactions: purchase orders, sales orders and work orders.

For example, you can build a maximum of 50 widgets per week based on current capacity. Widget Mart places an order of 200 units to be delivered a month from now. You must accumulate inventory for the next month to fulfill this Widget Mart order. This means that any new sales orders must have a delivery date of over one month from now.
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To set up an item record for Available to Promise:

  1. Go to Lists > Accounting > Items > New.
  2. Click Edit next to the name of an inventory or assembly item.
  3. On the item record, click the Purchasing/Inventory subtab.
  4. In the Default ATP Method field, select a method. Out of the two methods.
  5. In the ATP Lead Time field, you can enter a lead time to always use in Available to Promise calculations.
  6. The ATP lead time is used as a planning horizon for supply and demand considerations in the ship date recommendation calculations. The ATP lead time is also used to provide a ship date on an order when no inventory is available based on future supply and demand.
  7. If you use the Multi-Location Inventory feature, the Locations subtab shows an ATP Lead Time column. You can enter a distinct ATP lead time for each location in the fields in this column.
  8. Enter additional data in fields as necessary.
  9. Click Save.

Note 1: ATP Lead Time can only be assigned on the Item record. If the ATP Lead Time is null, NetSuite uses ninety (90) days when you check the item availability of the Item with null ATP Lead Time and the items.

Note 2: When users enabled the Available to Promise feature, they can check the future availability of an item. User needs to assess the availability of the item first before the expected ship date will be populated. If you have enabled this feature the expected ship date will not be populated here. If user wants the expected ship date to be populated automatically without checking each line item, they can just disable the feature.

Note 3: However, similar to any projection the system uses a certain interval in the calculation process. This is controlled by the ATP Lead Time. The ATP lead time is used as a planning horizon for supply and demand considerations in the ship date recommendation calculations. Therefore, if the Expected Receipt Date of the Purchase Order or the Expected Shipped Date of the Sales Order falls outside the ATP Lead Time, then these transactions will not be considered in the calculation.

Item availability calculations use the following assumptions:

  • The current item availability check is available only for assembly and inventory items.
  • Recommended purchases or work orders in a supply plan are not considered for availability calculations because these orders are not yet firmed.

You can check item availability in the following ways:

  • Using the Check Item Availability Popup on Transactions
  • Using the Check Item Availability Page

1) Using the Check Item Availability Popup on Transactions

To view recommendations based on available supply:

  1. Open a sales orders, opportunity, or quote.
  2. On a line-item for an assembly or inventory item, click the Expected Ship Date field.
  3. The Check Item Availability icon shows next to the field.
  4. Click the Check Item Availability icon.
  5. The item availability popup opens and displays the following data about the item.
    1. Primary Information
      • Location
      • Item name
      • Quantity shown on the transaction
      • Line quantity shipped – Quantity shipped on the transaction line
      • Line quantity committed – Quantity committed on the transaction line
      • Quantity remaining – Quantity that is neither shipped nor committed on the transaction line
      • Unit of Measure
      • Earliest Available Date – This is the soonest date that the remaining quantity on the transaction line will be available.
    2. Item Information
      • ATP Method
      • Quantity on hand
      • Quantity available
      • Quantity committed
      • Lead time
      • Safety stock level
  6. Enter a new quantity in the popup.
  7. When you click OK, the new quantity populates the transaction.
  8. The bottom portion of the popup displays the quantity available of the item based on future dates. The supply, demand and balance quantities are shown for each date.
  9. Close the popup by clicking one of the following:
    1. Click Close to close the popup without updating any data on the transaction.
    2. Click OK to close the popup and to update the transaction with new data entered in the popup.
2) Using the Check Item Availability Page

The Check Item Availability page can be used to verify availability of assembly and inventory items.

To check item availability:

  1. Go to Transactions > Inventory > Check Item Availability.

Primary Information

  1. Select a location.
  2. Select an item.
  3. After you have selected an item and location, the general availability data shown below populates the form.
  4. The page also displays the following data about the item.
    • Primary Information
      • Location
      • Item name
      • Quantity shown on the transaction
      • Line quantity shipped
      • Line quantity committed
      • Quantity remaining
      • Unit of Measure
    • Item Information
      • ATP Method
      • Quantity on hand
      • Quantity available
      • Quantity committed
      • Lead time
      • Safety stock level
  5. If a unit of measure is set for the item, it is displayed. You can optionally select a different unit.
  6. Note that to show an availability date, you must enter a specific quantity.
  7. Enter the quantity required.
    • The date shown in the Earliest Available Date field is the soonest date the full quantity is available.
    • The Earliest Available Date changes based on the quantity being requested.
  8. For each date shown, the Supply column displays the quantity to be added to the available total. The Demand column displays the quantity to be removed from the available total.
  9. You can click a quantity in either column to open the Check Item Availability Detail window.
  10. The detail window lists all transactions that affect the totals for that date.
    • The supply detail shows existing purchase orders and work orders that add inventory on that date.
    • The demand detail shows existing sales orders and transfer orders that deplete inventory on that date.
  11. You can click on the transaction number in the detail window to open the transaction form.
  12. To check availability for additional items, make new selections in the Location, Item, and Quantity fields.

Reference

Suiteanswer video regarding Available to promise: 21345.


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