This article describes how Automatic Location Assignment works along with Supply Allocation
When allocating inventory to sales order lines, the Supply Allocation feature considers both current and future inventory. The Automatic Location Assignment (ALA) feature works with the Supply Allocation feature to accelerate and enhance the order fulfillment process:
- ALA calls Supply Allocation to determine which locations have the available supply and when this supply is available.
- If there is supply available before the requested ship date, Supply Allocation returns a list of locations and dates when this supply is available. These calculations are based on the allocation strategies defined on sales order lines or the Available to Promise (ATP) Lead Time set for the item record location. The allocation strategy considers different options such as the type of inventory (current and future) and the allocation period restrictions.
- If there is no supply available before the requested ship date, Supply Allocation considers locations that have supply arriving after this date or that have an ATP Lead Time.
- After Supply Allocation provides a list of locations and dates, Automatic Location Assignment then chooses the best location according to the ALA configuration and rules. If Supply Allocation cannot provide a list of locations, ALA sets locations on sales order lines provided there are backorder rules defined in the configuration.
- After Automatic Location Assignment assigns locations to sales order lines, Supply Allocation allocates the supply and sets the expected ship dates.
