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Master Scheduling/MRP/SCP

Materials requirements planning, referred to by the initials MRP, is a technique which assists a company in the detailed planning of its production. Recall here that the master production schedule sets out an aggregate plan for production. MRP translates that aggregate plan into an extremely detailed plan

MRP Principles        To order "As Late and As Little"

MRP concentrae on two parameters

  • Timing - when to order
  • Quantity - how much to order

With respect to the timing decision we always ordered as late as possible, but never planned a stockout. This is a driving principle in MRP, never order before you need to, never plan to stockout.

With respect to the quantity decision we always ordered as little as possible, i.e. just enough to avoid a stockout. This is known as the lot for lot rule, sometimes called LFL or L4L or LL rule. This quantity decision rule can be varied in MRP and some other rules are:

  • fixed order quantity rule (sometimes called FOQ or FO) - the quantity ordered is an integer multiple of the same fixed amount each time an order is made
  • fixed period requirements rule (sometimes called FPR) - the quantity ordered should be enough for a fixed number of periods

MRP has several objectives, such as:
      Reduction in Inventory Cost: By providing the right quantity of material at right time to meet master production schedule, MRP tries to avoid the cost of excessive inventory.
     Meeting Delivery Schedule: By minimizing the delays in materials procurement, production decision making, MRP helps avoid delays in production thereby meeting delivery schedules more consistently.
     Improved Performance: By stream lining the production operations and minimizing the unplanned interruptions, MRP focuses on having all components available at right place in right quantity at right time.

MRP System:
A simple sketch of an MRP system is shown in figure. It can be seen from the figure that an MRP system has three major input components:
   

      Master Production Schedule (MPS): MPS is designed to meet the market demand (both the firm orders and forecasted demand) in future in the taken planning horizon. MPS mainly depicts the detailed delivery schedule of the end products. However, orders for replacement components can also be included in it to make it more comprehensive.
   
      Bill of Materials (BOM): BOM represents the product structure. It encompasses information about all sub components needed, their quantity, and their sequence of buildup in the end product. Information about the work centers performing buildup operations is also included in it.
   
       Inventory Status File: Inventory status file keeps an up-to-date record of each item in the inventory. Information such as, item identification number, quantity on hand, safety stock level, quantity already allocated and the procurement lead time of each item is recorded in this file.

After getting input from these sources, MRP logic processes the available information and gives information about the following:

        Planned Orders Receipts: This is the order quantity of an item that is planned to be ordered so that it is received at the beginning of the period under consideration to meet the net requirements of that period. This order has not yet been placed and will be placed in future.
   
      Planned Order Release: This is the order quantity of an item that is planned to be ordered and the planned time period for this order that will ensure that the item is received when needed. Planned order release is determined by offsetting the planned order receipt by procurement lead time of that item.
 
      Order Rescheduling: This highlight the need of any expediting, de-expediting, and cancellation of open orders etc. in case of unexpected situations.

The netting process:
  • Creates and reschedules planned orders
  • Assigns sources to the planned orders, according to rank and sourcing percentages
  • Generates dependent demand across multiple organizations

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Forecasting

You can estimate future demand for items using any combination of historical, statistical, and intuitive forecasting techniques. You can create multiple forecasts and group complimenting forecasts into forecast sets.

  • Forecasts are done in inventory organization level.
  • Forecasts are consumed each time your customers place sales order demand for a forecasted product.
  • You can load forecasts, together with sales orders, into master demand and production schedules, and use the master schedules to drive material requirements planning.
Forecast Set
Before you define a forecast, you first define a set. Forecast sets:
• Group complimenting forecasts that sum together to a meaningful whole
• Group forecasts that represent different scenarios

Forecast Set Examples
Forecasts by Region
You have three forecasts named FCA, FCB, and FCC within a forecast set. Salesperson A, responsible for the Eastern region, maintains FCA. Salesperson B maintains FCB for the Midwest. Salesperson C maintains FCC for the Western region. In this situation, FCA, FCB, and FCC each represent a part of the whole forecast. Together, their sum represents the total forecast.
Forecast Scenarios
You have three forecast sets named SETA, SETB, and SETC. These forecast sets  represent different scenarios. SETA is the forecast for the bestcase scenario year of sales, while SETB is the planned scenario year of sales. SETC shows the worst-case scenario year of sales. You may want to maintain all three forecast sets simultaneously, so you can compare and contrast the effect each has on your material plan.

Define a forecast set

 
1. Enter a unique name.

2. Select a bucket type to group forecast entries by days, weeks, or accounting periods.

3. Select the level that determines how forecasts in the set are defined and consumed.
In addition to designating the minimum level of detail for which the forecast is defined, the forecast level also serves as a consumption level. You can define the forecast level with or without the demand class that also controls the consumption of forecasts. You can define the following consumption levels for a forecast set:
  • Ship - To: Item, customer, and shipping identifier
  • Bill - To: Item, customer, and billing identifier
  • Customer: Item and customer ; When you define a forecast for the forecast set with level at customer, you need to mention the customer Name in the forecast and consumption 'll happen only when a SO is created for the customer item cumbination.
  • Item: This is the only option available if you are not using Oracle Order Management or Oracle Receivables.
While attempting to consume a forecast, the consumption process looks for a forecast containing an item that corresponds to the sales order information. When it finds an entry, it checks the forecast using the criteria you defined for the forecast level. For example, if you define the forecast level to be ship to, the forecast consumption process searches the forecasts for the customer/ship–to address associated with the sales order.

4. Select consumption options.
If you turn consumption on, sales orders you create consume forecast entries in this set.
The outlier update is the maximum percentage of a forecast entry that a single sales order can consume.
Forward and backward days describe the number of work dates from the sales order schedule date that forecast consumption looks backward or forward for a forecast entry to consume. Non - workdays are not counted in these calculations.

Forecast
Defining a Forecast



A forecast shows predicted future demand for items over time.
You can assign any number of items to a forecast, and use the same item in multiple forecasts. For each item you enter the days, weeks, or periods and the quantities that you expect to ship.
A forecast entry with a forecast end date specifies the same quantity scheduled for each day, week, or period until the forecast end date. A forecast entry without a forecast end date is valid only for the date and time bucket specified.

Defining Forecast Details
You can also review and update forecast information in the Items Forecast Entries window. This window displays the same information as the Forecast Entries window – with the difference that it contains a listing of the all the items in a forecast set. From here you can access bucketed and consumption details.

When you create a SO for a forecasted item consumption happens when you book the sales order and current quantity in forecast detail form is reduced by the sales order line quantity.

If you create a forecast after entering the sales order then click on the consume button on forecast set to run the concurrent program Consume Forecast Set which 'll check the forecast and existing sales order dates and initiate the consumption process.

The consumption information can be seen in consumptions form.


 

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Generating Forecasts

Forecast can be manually entered in forrecast detail or can be generate it automatically based on historical demand information, such as inventory transactions. You can then load these forecasts into another forecast or into a master schedule.

Methods of generating forecasts
The two methods of generating forecasts are:
1. Focus forecasting – which produces only single period forecasts.
There are many ways to forecast future demand based on the past. It is sometimes difficult to decide which forecasting method to use. Focus forecasting decides the optimal method for compiling your forecasts.
The focus forecasting technique simulates alternate forecasting methods on prior periods for which the actual demand is known. It then chooses the forecasting method that would have produced the most accurate forecast for that period.

2. Statistical forecasting – which you can use to forecast any number of periods into the future.
Statistical forecasting methods provide an alternate method that is based on a more mathematical model called exponential smoothing forecast (ESF) or alpha smoothing forecast. The statistical forecasts available are:
• Exponential smoothing forecast (ESF)
• Trend–enhanced forecast (TEF)
• Season–enhanced forecast (SEF)
• Trend and season–enhanced forecast (TSEF)

Defining Forecast Rules
Before you can generate a focus or statistical forecast, you first define a forecast rule in Oracle Inventory. Forecast rules define the bucket type, forecast method, and the sources of demand. If the rule is a statistical forecast, the exponential smoothing factor (alpha), trend smoothing factor (beta), and seasonality smoothing factor (gamma) are also part of the rule.


1. Enter a unique name for the rule.

2. Indicate whether the bucket type is days, weeks, or periods.

3. Determine the transaction types to use as demand sources. The quantities associated with each source are used when calculating historical usage:
Sales Order Shipments: Includes sales order issue quantities.
Issues to WIP: Includes WIP issue quantities.
Miscellaneous Issues: Includes quantities issued with user–defined. transaction sources, account numbers, and account aliases.
Inter–Org Transfers: Includes quantities issued to other organizations.

4. Indicate the forecast method to use:
Focus: Uses focus forecasting algorithms to forecast demand for the item. This procedure tests the selected items against a number of forecasting techniques and chooses the best one, based on history, as the technique to forecast future demand.
Statistical: Uses exponential smoothing, trend, and seasonality algorithms to forecast demand for the item
Additional Information for Statistical Forecast Rules If the forecast rule is statistical, some additional information may be
required:
  • alpha smoothing factor
  • beta smoothing factor, if the forecast is trend–enhanced
  • gamma smoothing factor, if the forecast is season–enhanced
  • initial seasonality indices, if the forecast is season–enhanced
  • number of past periods to use in forecast calculations

Generating a Forecast

Select an overwrite option:
All Entries: Deletes everything on the forecast before loading new information.
No: Deletes nothing and adds new entries to existing entries during the load. Schedule entries are not combined. You can get multiple forecast entries for the same item on the same day.
Same Source Only: Deletes the entries that have the same source as those you load. You can replace entries on the forecast that were previously loaded from the same source without affecting other entries on the forecast.

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Copying/Merging Forecasts

You can copy forecasts from within your own organization, from any other organization, or from any focus or statistical forecast.

You can modify existing forecasts while merging them into new ones.
This allows you to forecast (for simulation purposes) the same collection of items, but with altered forecast rates and percentages, using a series of modification factors and/or carry forward days. When copying from existing forecasts, you have the option to copy original or current forecast quantities. When you merge a forecast, you can selectively overwrite the existing forecast, or you can consolidate forecasts by not overwriting previous forecast entries.

If you load source forecasts with one demand class into a destination forecast with a different demand class, Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning warns you that the demand classes are different. It associates the new entries in the destination forecast with the demand class of the destination forecast.


Usage of Copy/Merge : Production Forecasts
You can define and maintain forecasts for any item, at any level on your bills of material. You can forecast demand for products directly, or forecast product families and explode forecasts to individual products through planning bills. You can forecast demand for option classes, options, and mandatory components directly. You can also explode forecasts for models and option classes, through model and option class bills, to selected option classes, options, and mandatory components.

Forecasting Planning Bills
In Oracle Bills of Material, you can define multilevel planning bills, with multiple levels of planning items, to represent groups of related products that you want to forecast by family.
Typically, you can order components of a planning bill, but not the planning item itself.
The planning item is an artificial grouping of products that helps you to improve the accuracy of your forecasting since, generally, the higher the level of aggregation, the more accurate the forecast.

When you use the Load/Copy/Merge window to load a planning item forecast into another forecast, you can choose to explode the aggregate forecast for the planning item into detailed forecasts for each of the components defined on the planning bill. The forecast quantities exploded to the components are calculated by extending the planning item forecast by the component usages and planning percents defined on the planning bill. You can also choose to explode forecasts when you load a planning item forecast into a master schedule.

Forecasting Models
You can use the Bills of Material window in Oracle Bills of Material to define model and option class bills with multiple levels of option classes, options, and mandatory components to represent your complex configure-to-order products. You can then use forecast explosion to explode model and option class forecasts the same way you explode forecasts for planning items.

The logic for exploding models and option classes is the same as the logic used to explode planning items. You can choose to explode model and option class forecasts, just as you can choose to explode planning item forecasts when loading forecasts into other forecasts or master schedules.

Planning Models and Option Classes
Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning lets you master schedule any planned item on your master schedules, including models and option classes. With the twolevel master scheduling approach, you typically master schedule your key subassemblies your options and mandatory components since they are the highest level buildable items in your model bills.

Although models and option classes are not buildable items, you may want to master schedule them so that you can calculate available-to-promise (ATP) information for promising order ship dates by model or option class. You might also want to master schedule your models and option classes so that you can perform rough cut capacity checks by model and option class. This is particularly valid when different configurations of your models have very similar capacity requirements.
Note: Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning does not support planning for picktoorder models and option classes.

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Forecast Consumption

Forecast consumption replaces forecasted demand with actual sales order demand. Each time you create a sales order line, you create actual demand. If the actual demand is already forecasted, the forecast demand must be decremented by the sales order quantity to avoid counting the same demand twice.

The Planning Manager is a background concurrent process that performs automatic forecast consumption as you create sales orders. Forecast consumption relieves forecast items based on the sales order line schedule date. When an exact date match is found, consumption decrements the forecast entry by the sales order quantity. Other factors that may affect the forecast consumption process are backward and forward consumption days and forecast bucket type. When you create a new forecast — especially from an external source — you can also apply consumption that has already occurred for other forecasts to the new one.

Consumption within a Forecast Set

Consumption for an item and its corresponding sales order demand only occurs once within a forecast set. For example: Item A, belongs to both forecasts within the set. Some possible scenarios and how consumption would work are:
• If the sales order quantity is less than the forecast quantity of each forecast, only one of the forecasts for Item A is consumed.
• If one of the two forecasts for Item A were on the same day as the sales order line schedule date, that forecast would be
consumed first.
• If the forecast for Item A is for the same day in both forecasts, the forecasts are consumed in alphanumeric order by forecast name.
For example, if each forecast for Item A is for a quantity of 100 and you place sales order demand for 20, the consumption process would decrement only Forecast #1 to 80. However, if the sales order quantity is for 120, Forecast #1 is decremented from 100 to zero and Forecast #2 is decremented from 100 to 80.
Consumption Across Forecast Sets

Consumption can occur multiple times if an item appears in more than one forecast set. For example:
Forecast Set #1 contains Forecast #1 and Forecast Set #2 contains Forecast #2. The same item, Item A, belongs to both forecasts within each set.
When you create a sales order, both forecasts for Item A in Forecast Set #1 and Forecast Set #2 are consumed. This is because consumption occurs against each forecast set, and Item A exists in both forecast sets.

For example, if each forecast for Item A is quantity 100 and you place sales order demand for 20, the consumption  process would decrement each forecast in each set from 100 to 80

Note: In this example, Forecast Set #1 and Forecast Set #2 are most likely alternative scenarios —two different sets for
comparison purposes, so that consumption occurs for the same item in both sets. If you want to consume an item only once, define all forecasts for an item within a single set.
Backward and Forward Consumption Days
When you define a forecast set, you can enter backward and forward consumption days. This creates a forecast consumption “window” of time that consists of the backward and forward consumption days added to the sales order line schedule date. In other words, the consumption days define the period of time that a forecast entry covers.

Consumption days are used when an exact match between the sales order dates and the forecast dates is not found, or when a match is found and the quantity is not sufficient to cover the sales order quantity. In both of these situations, consumption first moves backwards in workdays, looking for a forecast quantity to consume. If that search is unsuccessful, consumption moves forward in workdays. If a suitable forecast entry to consume is still not found, or the sales order quantity has not been completely consumed, an overconsumption entry is added to the forecast set.

Consumption and Demand Classes
You can assign a demand class to a forecast. When you create a sales order with a demand class, consumption searches for forecasts that have the same demand class. Consumption attempts to consume these forecasts first. If it does not find matching entries, it tries to consume forecasts that do not have a demand class.

For sales orders without an associated demand class, consumption attempts to consume forecasts that match the default demand class for the organization first, and then consumes forecast entries that have no demand class defined.

Overconsumption
When consumption cannot find an appropriate forecast entry to consume, it creates, for information purposes only, a new forecast entry at the forecast set level. This entry has a zero original quantity and a negative current quantity equal to the unconsumed demand. The entry is marked with an origination of overconsumption and is not loaded into the master schedule.
Attention: Only overconsumed items are shown when you access the Forecast Set Items window through the Forecast Sets window. However, all the items within a forecast set are shown – including overconsumption – when this window is accessed in the view mode through the Inquiry menu.

Unconsumption
When you decrease the order quantity on a sales order line item, Master Scheduling/MRP and Oracle Supply Chain Planning
unconsumes (increments) the appropriate forecast entry, according to the criteria described for consumption. This process is also called deconsumption.
This process attempts to remove overconsumption entries at the forecast set level first, before searching for an appropriate forecast entry to unconsume.
Attention:
1. Return Material Authorizations (RMAs) do not trigger the unconsumption process. If you change a sales order line schedule date, Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning unconsumes the sales order quantity based on the old schedule date and reconsumes the sales order quantity based on the new schedule date.
2. You can create sales orders with due dates beyond the manufacturing calendar to express future demand that has uncertain due dates. Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning consumes the forecast on the last valid
workday in the manufacturing calendar. When the sales order schedule date is changed, it unconsumes on the last workday
and reconsumes on the sales order line schedule date.

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More on consumption

Consumption with Daily Buckets



Consumption with Weekly Buckets


Consuming New Forecasts
Automatic forecast consumption, as controlled by the Planning Manager, consumes existing forecasts with each sales order created. New forecasts you create are consumed only by the sales orders created after forecast creation. You can, however, apply sales orders already consumed by other forecasts to the new one.


Outlier Update Percent
This controls the effects of abnormal demand with a maximum percent of the original quantity forecast that a single sales order can consume.
Example
You have several customers. Each typically orders 100 units in a given period. One of the customers is having a special promotion that could increase demand significantly. Use the outlier update percentage to ensure that these "one time" sales orders do not overconsume the forecast. Select a number of sales orders within the demand time fence to include. Including only sales orders from today forward is useful if your forecast begins today, and/or if the forecast begins on the first day of a period, rather than in the middle of a period.

In the above example, daily forecast exists for 20 on the 2nd and the 9th with an outlier update percent of 50 on each forecast. When you place sales order demand for 50 on the 9th, the forecast consumption process attempts to consume on the sales order line schedule date only, since the forecast is stated in daily buckets and no backward consumption days exist. Because an outlier update percent of 50 exists on the forecast, the consumption process consumes only 50% of the forecast. The outlier update percent applies to how much of the original forecast quantity, not the sales order, the
consumption process can consume. In this example, the consumption process consumes 50% of the forecast
(10) and the rest of the sales order quantity (40) is overconsumed. If there were a backward consumption days of 5, 50% of the forecast on the 2nd would also be consumed, and the overconsumed quantity would be 30.
 
Using the same example, if another sales order for 50 is placed on the 9th, it consumes 50% of the original forecast quantity (10) and the current forecast quantity on the 9th becomes zero. Overconsumption is increased by an additional 40 to a new total on the 9th (80).

 

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Master Scheduling

Master scheduling is used for:

  •  demand management
  •  scheduling production
  •  validating the production schedule
  •  managing the production schedule
You use the schedules generated by master scheduling as input to other manufacturing functions, such as material requirements planning and rough–cut capacity planning.

Master Demand Schedule (MDS)
The MDS is a statement of demand and contains details of the anticipated shipment schedule. You can consolidate all sources of demand into a master demand schedule to represent a statement of total anticipated shipments. The master demand schedule provides an extra level of control that allows you to view and modify your statement of demand before creating a detailed production schedule.

You can use the time–phased master demand schedule as input to the master production scheduling process or the material requirements planning process. Some of the demand types that the MDS considers are:
• item forecasts
• spares demand
• sales orders
• internal requisitions
Supply Chain Planning users can also manage interorganizational demand and create distribution requirements plans (DRP) from an MDS.

Master Production Schedule (MPS)
The MPS is a statement of supply required to meet the demand for the items contained in the MDS. The master production schedule defines the anticipated build schedule for critical items. An effective master production schedule provides the basis for order promising and links the aggregate production plan to manufacturing by specific items, dates, and quantities. You can use the MPS to level or smooth production so that you effectively utilize capacity to drive the material requirements plan.



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Schedule Management

Automatic MDS Relieve (Shipment & Production Releif)
You can monitor your master demand schedule as customer shipments occur by utilizing the MDS relief process.


For master demand schedules, all sales order shipments relieve the appropriate schedule entries (shipment relief). For master production schedules, when you create discrete jobs, flow schedules, purchase orders, or purchase requisitions, you relieve schedule entries (production relief). If you associate a demand class with your schedule, the relief process updates those schedule entries whose demand class matches a sales order, discrete job, flow schedule, purchase order, or purchase requisition.

Shipment Relief

Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning relieves(updates) MDS schedule quantities when you ship sales order items. Shipment (MDS) relief prevents the duplication of demand that could result if you load sales orders into the master demand schedule, but do not relieve the master demand schedule upon shipment. Without relief, you would need to reload and replan your master schedule just before planning material requirements each time to obtain an accurate
picture of supply and demand for your independent demand items.

Shipping a sales order item relieves each MDS name for which you set the check Relieve. You set shipment relief when you define the master schedule name—before you define or load a schedule for that name. If you associate a demand class with your MDS, the shipment relief process relieves the MDS entries that correspond to the demand class associated with the sales order

Reduce MPS
You can automatically maintain your master production schedule with the auto–reduce MPS attribute you specify for the item in the item master in Oracle Inventory. For each item, you can specify a point in time after which you no longer want the item to appear on the MPS. This point in time can be the demand time fence, the planning time fence, or the current date depending on your business practices.

You can maintain credible priorities or schedule dates and update your master production schedule either manually or automatically through the MPS relief process. You can report and implement the MPS by exception, only for those items that require attention. Various reports and inquiries are available to give you detailed information on your master schedule status.

Production Relief
Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning relieves (updates) MPS schedule quantities when you create purchase orders, purchase requisitions or discrete jobs—whether you define the purchase requisitions or jobs manually or load them with the Planner Workbench.
Production (MPS) relief prevents the duplication of supply. Without relief, you would need to replan your master schedule just before planning material requirements each time to obtain an accurate picture of supply and demand for your MPS planned items. Creating a purchase order, purchase requisition, or discrete job relieves each MPS name for which you check Relieve. You set production relief when you define the master schedule name—before you enter or load a schedule for that name. If you associate a demand class with your MPS, the production relief process relieves the MPS entries that correspond to the demand class associated with the discrete job.

Planning Manager and Schedule Relief
The Planning Manager is the background process that manages shipment and production relief.

For shipment relief, the Planning Manager first looks for the specific sales order entry to find a specific schedule entry to relieve. If it does not find an entry for that exact sales order date, the Planning Manager begins at the oldest schedule entry for the item and moves forward in time, decrementing schedule entry quantities until is reaches the sales order shipment quantity.
For example, suppose you have MDS entries of 10 each on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. If you ship a sales order for 25 on Tuesday, the relief process deducts 10 on Tuesday (leaving 0), deducts 10 on Monday (leaving 0), and deducts the remaining 5 on Wednesday (leaving 5). Thus, the new master schedule entries are quantity 0, 0, and 5 on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, respectively.

For production relief, the Planning Manager first looks at the discrete job due date to find an MPS schedule entry to relieve. It then looks backward, up to the first schedule entry, and then forward until it finds enough schedule quantity to relieve.
For example, suppose you have MPS entries of 10 each on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and you specify the MRP: MPS Relief Direction profile option as Backward, then forward. If you create a discrete job for 25 on Tuesday, the relief process deducts 10 on Tuesday (leaving 0), deducts 10 on Monday (leaving 0), and deducts the remaining 5 on Wednesday (leaving 5). Thus, the new master schedule entries are quantity 0, 0, and 5 on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday,
respectively.

Master Scheduling by Demand Class
You can optionally associate a demand class to a master demand schedule or master production schedule when you define the master schedule name. When you ship a sales order or create a discrete job, that sales order or discrete job relieves the master schedules that are associated with the demand class of the sales order or discrete job. You can load a subset of the sales orders into your master schedule for a specific demand class.

MPS Explosion Level
For MDS entries, this defines the lowest level at which an MPS planned part appears in the bill of material structure for the item. When you generate an MPS plan, the process does not explode beyond this level. This reduces MPS processing time.
The default value comes from the Max Bill Levels field in the Bill of Materials Parameters window. Enter a value in the Master Demand Schedule Items window to override the default. This value must be an integer and cannot be greater than 60.
Attention: You should be extremely cautious when entering a value here. If you are unsure of the lowest level that an MPS part exists, use the default value. The explosion process explodes through the entire bill of material.

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Defining & Loading Schedules

Before you enter details of a master schedule manually or load a schedule from another source, you first define a name. You can also set several options for each name.

Defining MDS
Enter a name, description, demand class and enable relieve if required.



Defining MPS
Enter a name, description & demand class.


1. Check Relieve to relieve schedule entries.
For master demand schedules, all sales order shipments relieve the appropriate schedule entries (shipment relief). For master
production schedules, when you create discrete jobs, flow schedules, purchase orders, or purchase requisitions, you relieve
schedule entries (production relief).If you associate a demand class with your schedule, the relief process updates those schedule entries whose demand class matches a sales order, discrete job, flow schedule, purchase order, or purchase requisition.
2. In the MPS window check Inventory ATP. You can optionally include your MPS plan as available supply when you calculate
available to promise information in Oracle Inventory.
3. In the MPS window, check Production to enable a plan to auto–release planned orders.
4. In the MPS window, check Feedback to monitor the quantity of the planned order that has been implemented as discrete jobs, purchase orders, or purchase requisitions. This provides the planner visibility of the status of the plan at any point in time.

Defining Schedule Entries Manually
A schedule entry is a unique relationship between an item, date, and quantity on a master schedule. You define schedule entries by adding items to schedule names, then defining detailed date and quantity information for each item.

Enter an item with an MRP planning method of MPS Planning. Enter a different MPS explosion level, if you want to change the default. Choose Detail to open the Master Demand Schedule Entries window or Master Production Schedule Entries window.

 

    

1. Enter a date. For MDS, this is the date of shipment. For an MPS, this is the completion date of production. For repetitive items, whether MDS or MPS, this is the start date of production.
2. For repetitive items, enter an end date of production.
3. Enter a current quantity.
This also becomes the original quantity and the total. Schedule reliefs reduce the current quantity. Schedule reliefs plus the current quantity equals the total.
4. Check Reliefs if you want this entry to be decremented when you create purchase orders, purchase requisitions or discrete jobs—whether you define the purchase requisitions or jobs manually or load them with the Planner Workbench.


Loading a Master Schedule from an Internal Source

You can load a master schedule from any of the following internal sources:

  • specific forecast
  • interorg planned orders
  • sales orders only
  • specific MDS or specific MPS
  • source lists

Loading a master schedule in Supply Chain Planning involves extra steps.

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Material Requirements Planning

The purpose of the planning process is to derive an MPS, DRP or MRP that meets schedule dates while maintaining inventory levels within your “material” policies. You can validate a material plan against available capacity using rough cut capacity planning (RCCP) or detailed capacity requirements planning (CRP).

Material requirements planning (MRP) calculates net requirements from gross requirements by evaluating:

  • the master schedule
  • bills of material
  • scheduled receipts
  • on–hand inventory balances
  • lead times
  • order modifiers
It then plans replenishments by creating a set of recommendations to release or reschedule orders for material based on net material requirements. These planned recommendations are stated in:
  • discrete quantities, with due dates
  • repetitive build rates, with first and last unit start dates.
Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning assumes infinite capacity is available to meet the material requirements plan. However, you can use capacity planning to verify that sufficient capacity exists to support your material plan. Supply Chain Planning users can also generate  distribution requirements plans (DRP) and manage their material requirements across multiple, interdependent organizations.


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Plan Generation

The Oracle planning process explodes through the bill of material to generate component requirements by evaluating:
# bills of material
# scheduled receipts
# on–hand inventory balances
# lead times
# order modifiers
It then calculates time–phased material requirements. Each item may have different attributes that affect the recommendations generated by the planning process.

MPS Plan Generation
You can launch the planning process for an MPS plan from a master demand schedule. This generates an MPS plan for all your MPS planned items. Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning also plans any MRP planned items that have an MPS planned component. This ensures that all derived demand is correctly passed down.
Once you have generated an MPS plan, you can make a copy of the plan that is identical to the original. You can then view, implement, and replan either copy, discarding the altered plan at any time and preserving the original data.

Plan Options


Overwrite
All: For an MPS plan, overwrite all entries and regenerate new MPS entries based on the source master demand schedule.
For an MRP, overwrite all planned orders and MRP firm planned orders for MRP items. This option is displays when you generate a plan for the first time.
Outside planning time fence: For an MPS plan, overwrite all MPS entries outside the planning time fence.
For an MRP, overwrite all planned orders and firm planned orders outside the planning time fence.
None: Do not overwrite any firm planned orders for MPS or MRP plans and net change replan.

Append Planned Orders
Check Append Planned Orders to append new planned orders in the following situations:

If the MPS plan name has an existing schedule associated with it and you enter None as the overwrite option, the planning process does not recommend rescheduling or suggest new planned orders before the end of the existing MPS (the last planned order) even if so indicated by new demand from the master demand schedule. This is analogous to firming your master production schedule. By not overwriting, the master scheduler is taking responsibility for manually planning items. For an MRP plan name, this option creates planned orders where needed, considering existing MRP firm planned orders.
Note: If you want to add firm planned orders using net change replan, set the overwrite option to Outside planning time fence or None.

If the plan name has an existing MPS or MRP associated with it and you enter None as the overwrite option and do not check this, the planning process reports the instances where the plan is out of balance with the source master schedule. It does not recommend any new orders. Instead it lets you manually solve any problems in the process. This gives maximum control to the master scheduler and/or material planner.

If the plan name has an existing MPS or MRP associated with it and you enter All as the overwrite option, the planning process deletes all previous planned entries and creates new planned orders based on the source master schedule.

If the plan name has an existing MPS or MRP associated with it and you enter Outside planning time fence as the overwrite option, the planning process deletes all planned entries after the planning time fence and creates new planned orders after that date. In this case, since you are overwriting after the planning time fence, you are also appending new planned orders after that date.

Check Snapshot Lock Tables
Check Snapshot Lock Tables to indicate whether tables are locked during the snapshot process to guarantee consistent data. This option temporarily prevents other users from processing certain transactions.

Demand Time Fence Control
Check Demand Time Fence Control to indicate whether the planning process considers any demand from forecasts within the demand time fence. The planning process does not consider demand from forecasts within the demand time fence, but considers demand from sales orders.

Check Planning Time Fence Control
to indicate whether the planning process violates planning time fences for items. For discrete items, the planning process does not create planned orders or recommend to reschedule in existing orders within the planning time fence of the item. The planning process can still recommend to reschedule orders out.
For repetitive items, the planning process can vary the suggested schedule from the optimal schedule, within the planning time fence, by the acceptable rate increase and/or decrease you specified for the item.

Net WIP
Check Net WIP to indicate whether the planning process considers standard discrete jobs, non–standard discrete jobs, or repetitive schedules when planning items during the last plan execution.

Net Reservations
Check Net Reservations to indicate whether the planning process considers stock designated for a specific order when planning the items during the last execution of the plan.

Net Purchases
Check Net Purchases to indicate whether the planning process considers approved purchase requisitions when planning the items during the last execution of the plan.

Plan Safety Stock
Check Plan Safety Stock to indicate whether the planning process calculates safety stock for each item during the last plan execution.

Planned Items
Specify which planned items or components you want included:

  • All planned items Include all planned items in the planning process. You would chose this option to be certain that all item are planned, such as those you add to a job or schedule that are not components on any bill.
Note:
i. You may want to plan using this option to avoid missing items you want to plan. For items you do not want to plan, define them with an MRP planning method of Not planned when you define an item in Oracle Inventory.
ii. Note: If you are launching the planning process for a master production schedule, you cannot edit or enter data in MDS/MPS components fields.
  • Demand schedule items only
  • Supply schedule items only
  • Demand and supply schedule items

MRP Generation
You can launch the planning process for an MRP plan from a master demand schedule or a master production schedule. This generates planning recommendations for all planned items. Once you have generated an MRP plan, you can make a copy of the plan that is identical to the original. You can then view, implement, and replan either copy, discarding the altered plan at any time and preserving the original data.

From a Master Demand Schedule
If you do not need to smooth production or otherwise manually manipulate a master production schedule, you can generate a plan directly from a master demand schedule. The planning process overrides the MRP planning method and treats MPS planned items as MRP planned items, DRP planned items, or DRP/MRP planned items. As a result, the planning process generates planned orders and reschedules recommendations for your MPS, MRP, and DRP planned items.

From a Master Production Schedule
You can also generate an MRP plan from a master production schedule. For each MPS planned item, the planning process considers projected gross requirements, current orders for the item, the master production schedule, and on–hand quantities over time. The planning process calculates the projected quantity on hand and generates exception messages to signal any potential imbalances in the material plan. By default, the planning process generates firmed planned orders for MPS planned items.

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Defining/Launching MRP

By defining multiple MRP names, you can define any number of material requirement plans. You can use multiple plan names to simulate MRP for different sets of data. Supply Chain Planning users can also define DRP and multi–organization MRP.


Launching the MPS/MRP Planning Process
You can launch the planning process for a material requirements plan (MRP) or a master production schedule (MPS). The planning process involves three phases for defining the MRP or MPS. It uses the input from a master demand schedule or master production schedule to determine the quantities and timing of the items to be manufactured or purchased.
Attention: If you’re using the Drop Shipment feature of Order Entry and Purchasing, you’ve set up logical orgs for P.O.
receipts. Do not use these logical orgs for planning purposes.

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Item and Bill of Material Attributes

Planning recommendations are created based on many different bill of material and item attributes. Shrinkage rates, component yield and safety stock are some examples of attributes that affect the outcome of the planning process. There are various bill of material and item attributes that you can use to adjust the planning recommendations so that they conform to your manufacturing policies.

Standard Bills and Routings Only
For planned orders, only standard bills and routings are planned. Alternate bills or routings are not considered. For a discrete job, you may specify an alternate bill and/or routing. The planning process sees component requirements of the alternate routing for that job.

Phantom Bills of Material
A phantom bill (also known as a phantom assembly) describes a normally non–stocked assembly or subassembly. One purpose of a phantom bill of material is to allow you to manufacture and stock the assembly when necessary. You can use phantoms, for example, to build and stock occasional spares for field service requirements. When you implement planned orders for the parent of the phantom, Oracle Work in Process blows through the phantom and creates requirements for its components, ignoring any on–hand quantities of the phantom. Typically you set the lead time of the phantom to zero to
avoid any additional lead time offset for the components.

Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning uses the bill of material attribute to determine a phantom. Instead of passing the parent’s planned orders to the phantom, netting the phantom and passing requirements to the phantom’s components, the engine blows through the phantom to create component planned orders. Using the bill of material attribute to determine phantoms has two advantages: it allows for more flexibility, since a component can be a phantom in one bill and not another, and it makes treatment of phantoms in Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP consistent with Oracle
Work in Process.

Manufactured or Purchased
Three item attributes are evaluated to determine if planned orders are generated and implemented into discrete jobs, repetitive schedules, or purchase requisitions. Supply Chain Planning users can supplement and refine this behavior with sourcing rules and bills of distribution. See: Sourcing Rules and Bills of Distribution.

Make or Buy
This item attribute determines how the item is planned. The planning process looks at the Make or Buy item attribute to determine whether to generate component requirements. The attribute can have a value of Make or Buy and is directly related to the Build in WIP and Purchasable item attributes.
When implementing orders via the Planner Workbench, the make or buy attribute is used as the default for the type of planned order you can implement, either purchased or manufactured.

Build in WIP
This item attribute establishes if the item can be manufactured.

Purchasable
This item attribute allows you to establish whether the item can be placed on purchase orders or requisitions.

The following table illustrates the impact of these item attributes on the planning process:



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Time Fence Control

Time fence control is a policy or guideline you establish to note where various restrictions or changes in operating procedures take place. For example, you can easily change the master production schedule for an item beyond its cumulative lead time with little effect on related material and capacity plans. However, changes inside the cumulative lead time cause increasing difficulty, reaching a point where you should resist such changes because of their effect on other plans. You can use
time fences to define these points of policy change. Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning offers three types of time fences:

  • planning time fence
  • demand time fence
  • release time fence

Planning Time Fence
For discrete items, you can recommend that an order be rescheduled out or cancelled, but cannot recommend reschedule in messages or create new planned orders within the planning time fence for an item.
For repetitive items, you can limit the changes Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning can recommend within the planning time fence by the acceptable rate increase or decrease.
The planning time fence does not apply to purchase requisitions or internal requisitions.

Demand Time Fence
If you specify demand time fence control when launching the planning process, the planning process only considers actual demand within the demand time fence specified for an item (such as forecasted demand is not considered).

Release Time Fence
If you define a release time fence attribute for your item, and you specify release time fence control when defining a DRP, MPS or MRP name, you can automatically release planned orders as WIP jobs.
Planned orders for purchased items are released as purchase requisitions. The planned orders must meet the following auto–release criteria:
  •  new order placement date within the auto–release time fence
  •  must not have compressed lead time
  •  must be for standard items (the planning process will not automatically release models, option classes, and planning items)
  •  the orders are not for Kanban items

    • Auto–release Planned Orders
    Instead of implementing and releasing planned orders by hand, you can enable the planning process to automatically release planned orders. During the planning run, all qualifying planned orders that fall within the release time fence will be released. Unlike manual release, you cannot modify order dates and quantities or the default implementation details.

    Before the planning process can release planned orders automatically, you must:

  • Define an employee, associate a user name to the employee entry, and associate the employee to the application user.
  • Define a planner or planning entity and associate this planner with items you want controlled by the auto–release function.
  • Supply Chain Planning users must define a material planner, supply chain planner or planning entity for the current organization and assign them to inventory items at the organization level.
  • Define Default Job Status and Job Class values for a user on the Planner Workbench Preferences window. These settings are in theSupply/Demand region and are used as defaults in the process of automatically releasing planned orders.
In addition, the planned orders must meet the following auto-release criteria:
  • The new due date lies within the auto-release time fence and the release time fence option is defined as anything other than Do not auto-release, Do not release (Kanban), or Null
  • The lead time is not compressed.
  • The orders are for standard items (will not release models, option classes, and planning items).
  • The orders are not for Kanban items.
To enable the auto-release function:
1. Use release time fence.
2. Navigate to the DRP, MPS, or MRP Names window and Check Production to enable a plan to auto-release planned orders.
3. Select Yes to enable the Memory-based Planning Engine. You must enable the Memory-based Planning engine to use the auto-release function.
Auto-release of repetitive schedules is not applicable to repetitively planned items. No material availability check is performed before WIP jobs are released.

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Overview of Demand Classes

Demand classes allow you to segregate scheduled demand and production into groups, allowing you to track and consume those groups independently. A demand class may represent a particular grouping of customers, such as governmental and commercial customers, or it may represent sales channels or regions. Demand classes may also represent different sources of demand, such as retail, mail order, and wholesale.

Defining Demand Classes
You can optionally define demand classes to group similar customers or sales orders. You can use demand classes as a means of forecasting different sources of demand separately.

Associate Demand Classes to Customer Demand
You can associate a demand class to a customer ship to address in Oracle Receivables and to an order type in Oracle Order Entry. Oracle Order Entry automatically assigns a demand class to a sales order line using either the demand class associated to the customer ship to address or the order type.

Assign an Organizational Demand Class
You can assign a default demand class to your organization. Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning uses this demand class during forecast consumption, and shipment and production relief.

Forecasting by Demand Class
You can optionally associate a demand class to a forecast when you define the forecast name. When you place sales order demand, the forecast consumption process consumes the forecast with the same demand class. If the forecast consumption process does not find a forecast, it consumes entries that have no demand class. If you place sales order demand that does not have an associated demand class, the forecast consumption process attempts to consume forecast entries associated with the organizational default demand class first, and then consume entries that have no demand class defined.

Master Scheduling by Demand Class
You can optionally associate a demand class to a master demand schedule or master production schedule when you define the master schedule name. When you ship a sales order or create a discrete job, that sales order or discrete job consumes the master schedules that are associated with the demand class of the sales order or discrete job. After consuming master schedules with the same demand class as the sales order or discrete job, Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning consumes master schedules with no demand class.

You can load a subset of the sales orders into your master schedule for a specific demand class.

Planning by Demand Class
You can limit the netting of discrete jobs, repetitive schedules, reservations, and subinventories when planning a master production schedule. If you are planning a master production schedule that has an associated demand class, it only nets discrete jobs and repetitive schedules that have the same demand class. You can segregate your subinventories and reserved inventory by demand class and selectively net them when launching the planning process.


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Supply Chain Planning

Oracle Supply Chain Planning is a powerful tool that integrates manufacturing and distribution into a single planning process. In a single step you can schedule and plan material and distribution requirements for multiple organizations, or centrally plan the entire enterprise. You can also include customer and supplier inventories in the supply chain planning process.


 
 
  • Oracle Supply Chain Planning lets you plan finished products, as well as intermediate assemblies and purchased items, for all facilities in your supply chain.
  • Material plans for feeder plants and distribution centers automatically consider requirements originating from any number of other facilities. You can load planned order demand from multiple using-organizations into the master schedule of supplying organizations.
  • In addition to planning the material requirements of your supply chain, you can plan the requirements for your distribution network. This includes all warehouses, distribution centers, and any location that ships products.
  • You can use these distribution requirements plans (DRPs) as input for your material plans. You can combine centralized distribution and material planning, for items with significant interorganization supply or demand, with decentralized planning, where you prefer autonomous, local planning. Output from the central plan can go into plant–level material plans and vice versa.
     
 

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The Multiple Organization Model

Large manufacturing and distribution enterprises, often made of a complex and interdependent network of separate inventory locations and business entities, require flexible, modular, and easily maintained plans. By consolidating enterprise-wide planning activity into a single process, Oracle Supply Chain Planning automates much of the implementation and control of material policies, reducing the need for labor-intensive monitoring and manual control of the planning process. Read the below example carefully to underastand how SCP is a better solution than MRP in muti netwok organization.

In Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP, the planning process satisfies requirements for multiple inventory locations, but within a single network. For example, demand is passed down from Org 1 (SAC) to Org 2 (AUS) and a Org 3 (SFO), and the supply is replenished in the opposite direction.


 
The disadvantage is that this model requires at least two planning runs, as each organization plans its own specific requirements. It also requires significant human intervention to ensure that information generated by one organization is passed to the other. If, for instance, SAC wanted to replenish its workstations from an additional organization (NYC), SAC would have to maintain a separate set of plans, and manually coordinate the supply coming from both.
 
Oracle Supply Chain Planning makes it possible to support a much more diverse and flexible enterprise. Demand for an item may be met through one or more networks of replenishment organizations. These organizations may be geographically remote, clustered into interdependent groups, but remain semiautonomous within the enterprise; they may also be members of a supplier's or customer's enterprise.
 
In the supply chain model, SAC produces final assemblies, which it distributes through SFD and NYD. SAC is replenished by AUS, which supplies one purchased component and one assembled component.

 
The advantage is that all this planning occurs with a single planning run, with attendant gains in runtime and consistency. Requirements of different organizations are planned transparently and seamlessly. You no longer need to load interorg planned orders separately. The enterprise-wide distribution requirements have been incorporated into the planning process. Sourcing strategies, formerly controlled manually by a planner implementing planned orders, can now be automatically assigned to the correct source, whether that is an internal organization or a supplier.
Oracle Supply Chain Planning also allows you to expand your planning capability as your enterprise expands. SAC can easily incorporate NYC and Supplier 3 into the global plan.
 

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Supply Chain Supply and Demand Schedules

Oracle Supply Chain Planning employs an advanced planning logic to enable you to systematically and simultaneously generate distribution and material requirements plans across the supply chain in a single planning run. Oracle Supply Chain Planning can also support regional, decentralized planning activity.
Owning organizations may be responsible for certain links in the supply chain.

  • For each organization controlled by the plan, the planning engine loads firm planned orders, supply and demand schedules, and sourcing information. Planned order demand from one organization automatically and immediately appears in the schedules of the supplying organization. The controlling plan can combine the demand from multiple organizations, make rescheduling recommendations, and generate exception messages on their behalf.
  • The netting process nets supply and demand for all items in your schedules, for all organizations in your plan. In addition to creating and rescheduling planned orders, the netting process assigns sources to the planned orders and generates dependent demand. You can assign multiple sources to an item or category of items, with split percentages, and these assignments can be phased in and out over time.
  • DRP plans include intransit lead times when creating time–phased demand and create the corresponding demand in the shipping organization.

Demand Schedules
Demand schedules in Supply Chain Planning includes the master demand schedules, and by extension all valid sources of demand.

Supply Schedules
Supply schedules can include MPS/MRP/DRP plans. If you include one of these supply schedules in your supply chain plan, firm planned orders (along with orders for their components) from the supply schedule will be treated as supply in the plan. Material plans generated by the controlling organization can produce net requirements for all organizations controlled by the plan. Distribution plans include distribution requirements for all included items across multiple organizations. Included items can be DRP planned, DRP/MPS planned, or DRP/MRP planned.

Sourcing and Replenishment Network
You can define the rules that govern the movement of goods throughout your supply chain. This network is the backbone of your material flow, but you can further control its behavior by defining a time-phased replenishment strategy. Oracle Supply Chain Planning does this with sourcing rules and bills of distribution. Sourcing rules and bills of distribution both describe sourcing supply; i.e., for any organization, they answer the question "where do I get part A from?". (They never say "where do I send part A to".)
Sourcing rules apply the answer to one organization or all the organizations in your enterprise. Bills of distribution define this behavior across multiple organizations (not just one or all).

Setting Up and Implementing Sourcing Strategies
A sourcing strategy allows a supply chain planner to gather all possible replenishment scenarios and apply them globally, or to any item, category of items, or organization. This allows the enterprise, or an individual organization, to adopt the most efficient method of fulfilling net requirements.
Oracle Supply Chain Planning minimizes the effort required to set up, implement, and maintain this strategy with sourcing rules and bills of distribution.
 

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Forecast Explosion

Forecast explosion is the process that explodes forecasts for planning items, models, and option classes to selected components on your planning, model, and option class bills. Forecast explosion calculates exploded forecast quantities by extending parent forecast quantities using the component usages and planning percents defined on your planning, model, and option class bills.

You can associate alternate bills of material to multiple forecasts for the same item. This lets you explode the same forecast using different components, usages, and planning percents. You explode forecasts by choosing the Explode option when loading a forecast into another forecast or a master schedule.

 
Exploding Forecasts from Using Assemblies
The following table illustrates when forecast explosion explodes forecast from a parent item to its components. 'Always' means 'Always explode forecasts from this item', and 'Never' means 'Never explode forecasts from this item.'
 
  • Notice Forecast explosion doesnt happen neither for standard items nor for ATO standard items.
  • You can create a forecast for Model/Option class and the coyp/merge the same forecast from the same source(i.e both destination and source forecasts are same and that forecast contains the forecast information of model/option class) with the explosion Yes. The system would do the explosion and put the child item forecast details in the same forecast.
Forecast Consumption for Models
Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning automatically consumes forecasts for product families, configurations, models, option classes, and options when you place sales order demand for configurations. By default, forecast consumption consumes forecasts by item. If you want to consume your forecasts by distribution channel, customer type, or order type, use demand classes to control forecast consumption. You can also choose to consume your forecasts by one of the following forecast consumption levels:
• item
• customer
• customer bill-to address
• customer ship-to address
 
Forecast consumption takes place both before and after the AutoCreate Configuration process creates a configuration item, bill, and routing for a configuration. Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning ensures that forecast consumption is consistent before and after the creation of the configuration item.

Forecast Consumption: Before AutoCreate Configuration
When your customers order configurations, Oracle Order Management places sales order demand for all ordered models, option classes, and options.
Note: Under normal circumstances, no sales order demand is placed for mandatory components. You can also generate derived sales order demand for selected mandatory components, since forecast consumption generates derived sales order demand for all items where you have set Forecast Control to Consume or Consume and Derive. This lets you define and maintain forecasts for key mandatory components as well as models, option classes, and options.

Before you run the AutoCreate Configuration process, forecast consumption uses actual sales order demand for models, option classes, options, and derived sales order demand for selected mandatory components, to consume your forecasts.

Forecast Consumption: After AutoCreate Configuration
The AutoCreate Configuration process replaces sales order demand for ordered models,option classes, and options with sales order demand for the newly created configuration item. This prompts forecast consumption to unconsume forecasts for the models, option classes, options, and selected mandatory components, and consume forecasts for the new configuration item and its components.

When creating the configuration item, the AutoCreate Configuration process also creates a single level bill of material for the configuration item. The single level bill includes all ordered options, all mandatory components of all ordered models and options classes, and each ordered model and option class. The models and option classes appear on the configuration bill as phantoms, and are only there to consume forecasts and relieve master schedules. They are not used by the planning process or Oracle Work in Process since all mandatory components from the model and option class bills are also included directly on the single level bill.

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Overview of Plan Control

You can reduce the nervousness of your material plan by using time fences, firm orders, and other item attribute settings. These controls allow you to minimize the action messages and reschedule recommendations that the planning process creates.

Acceptable Early Days Delivery
You can define a number of days that you allow orders to arrive before they are needed. The Acceptable Early Days item attribute is defined in Oracle Inventory. Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning does not generate a reschedule out recommendation if the number of days the order is going to arrive early is less than the acceptable early days delivery. This allows you to reduce the amount of rescheduling activity within a material plan. You can make a business decision that it is acceptable to temporarily carry more inventory to reduce the nervousness of the material plan.

For example, suppose you define 2 days as acceptable for early delivery, and the current date of an order is Day 2. If the planning process determines that the actual due date should be Day 3 or Day 4, the planning process does not suggest rescheduling of the order. Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning suggests rescheduling only when the new need date is Day 5 or later.

Note: Acceptable early days delivery only has an effect on orders that are due to arrive earlier than they are needed. Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning always generates a reschedule in message if an order is scheduled to arrive later than it is required.

Although the planning process may suggest rescheduling some scheduled receipts and may not suggest rescheduling others because of the acceptable early days limit, it does not violate the order of the current scheduled receipts. In other words, if one scheduled receipt is not rescheduled (because it falls within the acceptable early days delivery) and the planning process wants to suggest rescheduling another scheduled receipt out past the first scheduled receipt, Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning does not suggest rescheduling either.
For example, if the material plan for an item looks as follows:


Discrete job A is due on Day 3 and discrete job B is due on Day 5.

If you have defined acceptable early days delivery to be zero, Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning recommends that the discrete job B be rescheduled from Day 5 to Day 7, and that discrete job A be rescheduled from Day 3 to Day 6.

If you have defined acceptable early days delivery to be 2 days, Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning does not recommend either scheduled receipt to be rescheduled. Rescheduling the discrete job B to Day 7 does not occur because Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning would only be recommending a reschedule out message of 2 days, which is equal to the acceptable early days delivery. In the previous example, Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning recommended that the discrete job A be rescheduled to Day 6. In this case, however, Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning would only recommend rescheduling discrete job A to Day 5 to preserve the original order of the scheduled receipts. However, rescheduling from Day 3 to Day 5 is a reschedule out recommendation of only 2 days, that equals the acceptable early days delivery. Therefore, in this scenario, Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP and Supply Chain Planning would not recommend either job be rescheduled.

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Overwrite & Append Planned Orders

When you launch the planning process, you generate new planned orders and suggested repetitive schedules to meet your net requirements. Since you can firm a DRP, MPS, or MRP planned order, you may not want the planning process to overwrite any firm planned orders. You can use the Overwrite and Append plan level options to limit how the planning process reacts to firm planned orders and to stabilize the short term material plan.

When you enter All in the Overwrite field, the planning process overwrites all entries, planned and firm planned, from the current material plan.
When you enter Outside planning time fence in the Overwrite field, the planning process overwrites all entries from the current plan, planned and firm planned, outside the planning time fence, and overwrites only planned orders inside the planning time fence. It does not overwrite any firm planned orders within the planning time fence.
When you enter None in the Overwrite field, the planning process does not overwrite any firm planned orders. It does, however, overwrite any suggested planned orders that are not firm.

The planning time fence can be different for each item, so the planning process looks at the planning time fence for each item when choosing what to delete.

Append Planned Orders
When you enter No in the Append Planned Orders field, the planning process does not append any planned orders to the current plan. Additional demand does not cause planned order recommendations. Instead, the projected quantity on hand may go negative in response to demand that was not met by a suggested planned order. When you enter Yes in the Append Planned Orders field, the planning process appends additional planned orders after the last entry on the current material plan to meet any additional demand.

Overwrite All,  Append Planned Orders Enabled
This option allows you to create a new material requirements plan for the plan name you specify, deleting all previous planned and firm planned entries while regenerating new planned orders. You can use this combination the first time you run your plan or if you want your plan to reflect all sources of new demand.

 
Firmed Planned Orders: All are delated
Planned Orders: All are delated and new are created as per the latest MDS/MPS.
 
Overwrite Outside Planning Time Fence,Append Planned Orders
This option allows you to create an extension to the material requirements plan for the plan name you specify, deleting planned and firm planned orders outside the planning time fence and deleting all planned entries inside the planning time fence for each item.
The planning process creates (appends) new planned orders after the planning time fence date. In this case, since you are overwriting after the planning time fence, you are also appending new planned orders after that date. You can use this combination to stabilize the short-term plan and allow the long-term plan to react to new sources of demand.

Note: If an item has no time fence specified and this option is chosen, all planned and firm planned orders are overwritten.
 
Firmed Planned Orders: Within planning time fence remain as it is
                                 Outside planning time fence are deleted
Planned Orders: All are delated and new are created as per the latest MDS/MPS after the planning time fence. No Planned orders are created within time frence.
 
Overwrite None, Append Planned Orders
When you choose not to overwrite an existing plan, the planning process does not overwrite existing firm planned orders, but deletes any suggested planned orders. The planning process then creates (appends) new planned orders after the planning time fence date. This is analogous to firming sections of your short-term material requirements plan. You can extend the plan horizon without altering existing firm planned orders.

For example, if an existing MRP has the following suggested planned orders for an item:
 
Firmed Planned Orders: All firmed orders remain as they are.
Planned Orders: All are delated and new are created as per the latest MDS/MPS after the planning time fence. No Planned orders are created within time frence.

Overwrite None, Do Not Append Planned Orders
In this case, the planning process does not overwrite existing firm planned entries, but deletes any suggested planned orders. In addition, it does not append additional demand to the end of the plan. Instead, it reports the instances where the material requirements plan is out of balance with the master demand schedule, and allows you to solve these problems by manipulating the plan manually. This gives maximum control to the material planner. For example, if an existing material plan has the following orders:
 
Firmed Planned Orders: All firmed orders remain as they are.
Planned Orders: All are delated and No new planned orders are created and as the append option is disabled.
Only Firmed Planned orders remains and all the planned orders are deleted.

Overwrite Outside Planning Time Fence, Do Not Append Planned Orders
Firmed Planned Orders: Firmed orders within time fence remain as they are.
                                 Firmed orders outside the time fence are deleted.
Planned Orders: All are delated and No new planned orders are created and as the append option is disabled.
Only Firmed Planned orders with in time fence remains and all the other orders(firmed planned orders outside planning time fence/planned orders)are deleted.

Overwrite ALL, Do Not Append Planned Orders
Firmed Planned Orders: All firmed orders are deleted.
Planned Orders: All are delated.
ALL Firmeed Planned orders and non firmed planned orders are deleted and there wont be any new suggestion from MRP.
 

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Firm Order Planning

Oracle Manufacturing provides three types of firm orders:
Firm MRP Planned Order

A firm MRP planned order represents a planned replenishment that is "firmed" using the Planner Workbench for MRP planned items. This allows the planner to stabilize portions of the MRP without creating discrete jobs or purchase requisitions. Unlike a firm scheduled receipt described below, a firm MRP planned order does not implicitly create a time fence for an item unless you set the MRP:Firm Planned Order Time Fence profile option to Yes.

Depending on the overwrite options you choose when launching MRP, you can either allow the planning process to delete firm MRP planned orders, or restrict it from making any recommendations against them.

Firm MRP Implemented Order
An order can be firmed during the load process into WIP when releasing implemented planned orders via the Planner Workbench, or you can use forms provided by Oracle Work in Process and Oracle Purchasing to firm discrete jobs and purchase orders individually. An order is firmed so that the planner responsible for the item can take manual control of the material replenishments. Once a firmed implemented order is released, the planning process treats it as a firm scheduled receipt.

A firm status on a discrete job or purchase order automatically creates a time fence for an item if it exists beyond the predefined planning time fence.

Firm Scheduled Receipt
A firm scheduled receipt represents a replenishment order that is not modified by the planning process. It may be a purchase order or discrete job for a DRP (for Supply Chain Planning users), MPS or MRP planned item. A firm scheduled receipt is not subject to the overwrite options you choose when launching a plan. An order can be firmed during the load process into WIP when releasing implemented planned orders via the Planner Workbench, or you can use forms provided by Oracle Work in Process and Oracle Purchasing to firm discrete jobs and purchase orders individually.

Note: If a job is released and firmed, and the component requirement is past due - the due date of the order is moved to the plan date.

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Gross to Net Explosion

Gross to net explosion is the process that translates using assembly requirements into component requirements, taking into account existing inventories and scheduled receipts.

Component due dates are offset from the due date of the using assembly by the lead time of the assembly. The gross to net explosion process determines, for each item, the quantities and due dates of all components needed to satisfy its requirements.

 

In the following diagram, the suggested planned orders for the end assembly are offset by the lead time, one period, and passed down to the component during the planning
process.

The planned order for the end assembly in period 2 becomes the gross requirements for the component in period 1.
In period 1, the gross requirements (100) and the safety stock level (50) represent the total demand. The scheduled receipts (110) and quantity on hand (20) represent the total supply. The net requirements, total demand (150) minus total supply (130), equals 20. The planning process suggests a planned order in period 1 of 20 to meet the net requirements. There is no recommendation for safety stock in each period unless the demand in that period is driven less than the safety stock level. Note: Planned orders in period 4 are not suggested since the projected on hand is at the safety stock level.

 

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Phases of the Planning Process

You calculate material requirements by launching the planning process from the Launch Planning Process window. The phases of the planning process that calculate material requirements are the:

  1. Maintain repetitive planning periods phase
  2. Snapshot phase
  3. Planner phase
  4. Auto-release
Maintain Repetitive Planning Periods Phase
When you specify a new anchor date, the maintain repetitive planning periods phase uses that date as its new starting point for calculating repetitive planning periods.

Snapshot Phase
The snapshot phase:
  • Determines the component usages of the assemblies included in the planning process, beginning at the top level of the assemblies and working down through the product structure.
  • Calculates low-level codes and checks for loops in your bill of material structures.
  • Collects inventory on-hand quantities and scheduled receipts.
  • Stores this information for further use.
  • Captures sourcing rules, bills of distribution, and master demand schedules for supply chain planning
  • Captures resource information that is used for capacity planning.

Planner Phase
The planner phase:

  • performs the gross-to-net explosion, calculating net requirements from gross requirements, using on-hand inventory and scheduled receipts, exploding the requirements down through the bill of material
  • suggests the rescheduling of existing orders and the planning of new orders based on the net requirements
  • calculates the resource requirements for supply orders Note: This step is performed if Capacity Plan is enabled.

Auto-Release Phase
The auto-release phase:
releases planned orders for items whose order date falls within their release time fence
Note: This step is performed for plans that have the Production flag enabled. The recommendations generated by the planning process feed the capacity requirements planning, shop floor control, and purchasing activities of the organization.
 

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Locking Tables within the Snapshot

The snapshot takes a copy, or "snapshot", of all the information used by the planning process so that the planning process can operate on a picture of the data frozen at a point in time, and report against that "snapshot" at any future time.
You can choose to lock tables during the snapshot process to guarantee consistent data.

Locking tables controls the degree of read consistency. With unlocked tables, you can still get a high level of data consistency. However, if you feel you must lock tables, tables lock for only a brief period, reducing inconvenience to users.

Example
Consider a situation where you have a subinventory with a quantity of 100 units, and a discrete job for 25 units. Between the time the snapshot reads the inventory information and the time the snapshot reads the discrete job information, 10 units are completed from the job. If you ran the snapshot and choose to lock tables, you would guarantee that the snapshot would read either 100 units in the subinventory and 25 units outstanding on the discrete job, or 110 units in the subinventory and 15 units outstanding on the discrete job.

If you ran the snapshot and selected not to lock tables, there is a chance the Snapshot would read 100 units in the subinventory and 15 units outstanding on the discrete job. The chances of inconsistencies caused by launching the snapshot without locked tables is remote. The results you get from locked tables are better than those you get from the unlocked tables. However, you can still choose to run the Planning Engine with unlocked tables.

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Master Production Schedule


The MPS is a statement of supply required to meet the demand for the items contained in the MDS. The master production schedule defines the anticipated build schedule for critical items. An effective master production schedule provides the basis for order promising and links the aggregate production plan to manufacturing by specific items, dates, and quantities.

You can use the MPS to level or smooth production so that you effectively utilize capacity to drive the material requirements plan.

Order Type :
Manual MDS – Demands in negative quantity
Planned Orders – Orders suggested by the MPS system

Action :
Demand – shows total demand (forecast + sales)
None (colored) – Planned orders released manually
None – Planned orders with in release time release time fence and automatically released by the system

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