Distribution Resource Planning (DRP)

 

Overview

The goal of the Distribution Resource Planning (DRP) functionality is to allow users of commercial editions of xTuple to be able to generate planned Transfer Orders between Sites either manually or using netting logic contained in the Material Resource Planning (MRP) and Master Production Schedule (MPS) algorithms. Users will be able to manage and release planned Transfer Orders using the same tools that are currently provided to do these activities for other Planned Order types.

Planned Order functionality and the MRP algorithm previously resided in the Manufacturing Edition of xTuple. As of version 3.3.0, this scheduling capability has been moved to the Standard Edition--including all related capabilities except Master Planning Schedules (MPS) and multi-level explosion. This means that MRP used for Purchase Order planning and single level Work Orders is now available in xTuple Standard Edition.

New Terms and Definitions

  • DRP

    • Distribution Resource Planning - An aspect of the MRP and MPS Planned Order generation process that nets demand at a Site per planning settings and generates planned Transfer Orders for a designated supply Site.

  • Planned Transfer Order

    • An order record that may be created manually or by MRP and MPS runs recommending a Transfer Order of inventory from one Site to another.

    Transfer Order Status

    • A Transfer Order may be in "Unreleased","Open" or "Closed" status. Unreleased means the order is eligible to be appended to by the releasing of planned Transfer Orders, but may not be shipped or received. A Transfer Order may be released to "Open" status at which point it is eligible for shipping and receiving.

User-Level Functionality

Users have the ability to designate Item Sites as being supplied by other Sites. MRP or MPS will generate planned Transfer Orders based on the planning parameters and netting of the demand Item Site. Planned Transfer Orders and real Transfer Orders, in turn, may themselves be seen as demand by supplying Sites, which may, in turn, also generate Planned Orders.

Transfer Orders may also be released from the Released Planned Orders window or the Planned Orders by Planner Code and by Item windows. When releasing a Planned Order, the system will either create a new unreleased Transfer Order, or attach the items to existing unreleased planned Transfer Orders if any exist with the same from and to Sites. This makes it possible to aggregate multiple planned Transfer Orders on a single Transfer Order.

Transfer Order

In order to make releasing planned Transfer Orders practical, we have provided a mechanism for releasing multiple Planned Order records to the same Transfer Order. The pre-existing paradigm for Purchase Request release provides the model for how this is being handled for Transfer Orders. When you release a Purchase Request to purchasing, the application checks to see if there is an unposted Purchase Order for the selected Vendor, if so it prompts the user whether they want to add the item to that existing Purchase Order. In this way users can build a single Purchase Order from several independent Purchase Requests. In order for Transfer Orders to offer the same functionality, we have introduced a header status to designate whether Transfer Orders are in a unreleased or open status.

On the Transfer Order header, there is an "Order Status" option having the hard-coded statuses of "Unreleased", "Released", and "Closed". The default status for a new Transfer Order is unreleased, with the user having the option of being able to change the order to any status if they have appropriate privileges. The privilege ReleaseTransferOrders is required to change the status to released. Changing the order status to closed will close all line items.

You can see the Order Status option on the following screenshot:

transferOrder.png

List Transfer Orders

The List Transfer Orders screen may be filtered on all statuses--or selected statuses that may include open or unreleased orders. A button and right click option allow users to select and release orders.

Release Transfer Orders by Agent

A new has been added to the Inventory > Transfer Order menu that allows users with ReleaseTransferOrder privileges to release Transfer Orders in batches according to agent criteria selection.

Issue Stock to Shipping, Ship Shipment and Inventory Receipt

Transfer Orders in an unreleased status may not be shipped or received. Checks have been added to the issue stock to shipping, ship shipment, and order receiving windows to ensure that Transfer Orders can only be transacted when in an open status.

Configure Schedule

This screen was formerly only available in the Manufacturing Edition, but is now available in Standard Edition. However, the option to "Enable Constraint Management" will continue to only be available in the Manufacturing Edition and will be hidden in Standard Edition.

Site

A new option labeled "Schedule Sequence" has been added to the Site window. This sequence number will determine the order in which Sites are processed when MRP or MPS is run against all Sites.

Item Site and Update Item Site by Class Code

The Item Site and Update Item Site by Class Code windows have been modified in several ways to accommodate the ability to specify Item Sites that receive supply from other Sites. The redesigned "Planning" tab is shown in the following screenshot:

The "Planning" tab is used to aggregate all settings related to, but not limited to, MRP and MPS. The "Planning System" combo box has been moved from the Item screen to the Item Site screen. This enables users to specify MPS planning at one Site, and MRP planning at another. However, the MPS option is only made available in the Manufacturing Edition of the product. The planning system option will always default to "None." If the planning system is changed from MRP or MPS to None, all Planned Orders should be deleted for that Item Site. A new group "Create Planned Transfer Orders" will be added to designate that planned Transfer Orders from another Site will be created rather than purchase or Work Orders for this Item Site. When this option is selected, users must select an existing supply Site for the item.

Item and Item Sites

These screens will run a pre-check when deleting an Item Site to make sure that the Item Site being deleted is not referenced by another as a default Transfer Order supply source.

Planner Code

The Planner Code window has been modified to remove or hide the options related to "Automatically Explode Planned Orders" except on the Manufacturing Edition of xTuple.

Scheduling Menu

Currently the scheduling menu is only available in the Manufacturing Edition of xTuple. The menuSchedule.cpp file will need to be updated to allow this menu and its contents to be available in the Standard Edition with the exception of the following items which will remain exclusive to the Manufacturing Edition:

  • Production Plan

  • Scheduling > Run MPS

  • Constraint Management
  • Capacity Planning

  • Reports > MPS Detail

  • Reports > Rough Cut Capacity Plan

  • Reports > Time phased Rough Cut Capacity Plan

  • Master Information > Site Week

  • Master Information > Site Calendar Exceptions

  • Master Information > Work Center

Run MRP by Planner Code and Run MPS

The queries run by these windows should be altered to ensure that warehouse are processed in the order dictated by the Site sequence settings.

Planned Order

The Planned Order window, used to manually generate Planned Orders, will be altered to allow users to define what supply type the Planned Order will be.

The enabled state and default type selection should be based on a combination of item and Item Site settings as follows:

  • The type group will disabled until an item and Site are selected.
  • Purchased will be enabled as an option if the item type is purchased, an outside process or manufactured and the selected itemSite is flagged to allow items to be purchased. Otherwise it will be disabled.
  • Work Order will enabled as an option if the item type is purchased or manufactured and the selected Item Site is flagged to allow items to be manufactured, otherwise it will be disabled.
  • Transfer Order will be enabled if valid Item Sites exist from which the item may be transferred, otherwise it will be disabled. The from Site will only be enabled if Transfer Order is selected. The from Site should default to the be the same as the demand Site when it is disabled.
  • Purchase Order will be selected as the default option for purchased items unless the Item Site is flagged to create Transfer Orders.
  • Work Order will be selected as the default option for manufactured items unless the Item Site is flagged to create Transfer Orders, or is not a designated manufacturing Item Site.
  • Transfer Order will be selected as the default option for Item Sites which have been flagged to create planned Transfer Orders. The default Transfer Order supply Site will be selected as the default when enabled.

The Planned Order window will also become a window used to edit Planned Orders which may include changing the order type, date or quantity. As such the "Create" button will be relabeled to "Save." Underlying code changes will need be made at the developer's discretion to support the notion of editing a Planned Order from this window.

Planned Orders by Planner Code and Item Displays

The Planned Order release process for Transfer Orders will behave very much like other Planned Orders. The Planned Orders by Planner Code and by Item displays will need to modified so that the existing "Site" column is re-labeled as "To Site." A new column will be created labeled "From Site." All pre-existing order types will have both columns populated with the same Site information while planned Transfer Orders will specify corresponding from and to Sites.

Right click options on the Planned Order list will be as follows:

  • "Firm Order..." will firm the order, the same as it does today.
  • "Change Order Type" will be replaced by "Edit Order" which when selected will open the Planned Order in edit mode as described in the Planned Order section above.
  • "Released Order" will look for existing unreleased Transfer Orders with matching from and to Site information. If it finds one or more it will prompt the user asking them whether they would like to append to the existing order or create a new one. After the user makes their choice, he or she will be prompted with a Transfer Order item window automatically populated. When the user clicks save the Transfer Order window will open populated by the Transfer Order that was created or appended to, the Planned Order will be deleted and the Planned Order window refreshed. This behavior is modeled after the process flow of releasing purchase requisitions which should be used as a reference.
  • "Delete Order" will operate as it does today.

Release Planned Orders By Planner Code

The Release Planned Orders by Planner Code window provides a mechanism to release Planned Orders in batches. With regards to the release of Transfer Orders it will follow the same rules as the manual process above by aggregating all planned Transfer Orders specifying the same from and to Site on to a single Transfer Order. In the manual process the user is prompted with an option as to whether to append to an existing unreleased Transfer Order if one is found. In this window that option will be handled by a new check box added to "Append planned Transfer Orders to existing unreleased Transfer Orders." If the option is checked the release process will first check to see if any unreleased Transfer Orders exist for a given from and to Site combination. If one is found, planned Transfer Orders will be appended as line items to that order. If not, or if the option is not selected, a new Transfer Order will be created for which all items on the given from/to Site combination will be appended.