Product Allocation in Sales Order Entry

Product allocation is incorporated into the sales order process as follows:

Step 1: An order line item is entered for a material currently on allocation.  This is determined by reading the material master and identifying that an allocation procedure is assigned.

Step 2:  An ATP check is then carried out to see if and when the requested quantity can be confirmed.  An ATP check is not, however, a prerequisite for product allocation.

Step 3:  If the order quantity unit is different than the planning unit of measure, the order quantity will be automatically converted prior to the allocation validity.  Secondly, if a conversion factor has been established to represent a constrained component, this factor will be used to calculate the proper allocation requested quantity prior to the allocation check against the planning data.

Step 4:  First, based upon the date in the allocation information structure activation rule, one of three dates (delivery date, material availability date, or planned goods issue date) from the sales order is used to validate the allocation quantity for the requested period. Secondly, depending upon the method selected and the allocation interval, quantities are cumulated and the future proposal dates are determined.

Step 5:  If, after performing the allocation checks, the ATP schedule lines determined above need to be modified to concur with the allocation data, a dialog message is issued to the user to inform them of the change due to allocation.  Then the user will be taken to the availability control screen to verify these altered schedule lines.  From this screen, the user can branch to the product allocation detail screen (Go to -> Product Allocation) to investigate the changes further.

Step 6: Upon acceptance of the delivery proposal, the corresponding allocation quantities are reduced to reflect the consumption of the allocated inventory.  Subsequent orders will then recognize these updated figures. This is accomplished by using the real-time updating capabilities of LIS, which insures that product is not over-allocated.

The allocation check in sales order entry is capable of reading allocation quantities at multiple levels in the LIS planning hierarchy. Allocation would first check to see if planning was done at the most detailed level of the hierarchy.  If so, the planned quantity at this level is used for the validation.  If not, the system continues to read subsequent levels of the hierarchy until a record is found.