Topic overview

Material requirements planning determines secondary and primary requirements, among other factors. Secondary requirements include all materials (items) that are necessary for the production of primary requirements (production items).

This demand can be covered:

• Internally, through production processes, which require semi-finished goods (i.e. materials which are production elements themselves) – additional production recommendations are generated
• Internally, by the company itself – distribution recommendations are generated
• Externally, by suppliers – purchasing recommendations are generated

This document describes how purchasing recommendations are generated based on a calculated demand for purchases within material requirements planning.

The result of material requirements planning, i.e. the generated purchasing recommendations, can be displayed and further processed in the Purchasing recommendations application in the Purchasing framework.

Application description

The application Generate purchasing recommendations is composed of the identification pane and of the work pane. Searching criteria are entered in the identification pane.  The searching criteria allow selecting items and other characteristics, based on a specific material requirement planning for which the system is to generate purchasing recommendations.

The application window is divided into two areas:

• Identification pane – allows for selecting data for which the process of generating purchasing recommendations is to be executed
• Control parameters – allows for defining material requirement planning and reception warehouse

Identification pane

In the identification pane, besides the standard buttons, there are the following fields and buttons:

• [New] – allows for generating new purchasing recommendation.
• [Generate purchasing recommendations] – opens Generate purchasing recommendations dialog window, which allows for defining the date of recommendation calculation and the settings of the batch job.

• Item – allows for specifying items for which purchasing recommendations should be generated
• By date – here, it is necessary to specify the end date until which production recommendations will be generated
• Supplier – allows for defining one or more suppliers. On the basis of calculated purchasing requests, purchasing recommendations are generated only for those items that have main suppliers assigned in the Items application.
• Scheduler – allows for defining the person responsible for planning. The scheduler is assigned in the Items application, in the Planning view.
• Classification 1 – classification can be entered as a selection criterion Classification from the category Purchasing item classification 1 are admissible.
• Classification 2 – classification can be entered as a selection criterion Classification from the category Purchasing item classification 2 are admissible.
• Classification 3 – classification can be entered as a selection criterion Classification from the category Purchasing item classification 3 are admissible.
• Classification 4 – classification can be entered as a selection criterion Classification from the category Purchasing item classification 4 are admissible.
• Classification 5 – classification can be entered as a selection criterion Classification from the category Purchasing item classification 5 are admissible.
• Site (mandatory field) – in this field, it is necessary to indicate the site of the firm for which production recommendations will be generated. As a  result, in the case of multi-site planning the generation of purchasing recommendations is limited to one  site.

Control parameters

The control parameters are used to select the underlying material requirements planning.

• Warehouse (required) – select one of the warehouses existing in the system. Purchasing recommendations will be generated with this warehouse as the planned receipts warehouse.

• Material requirements planning – select the material requirements planning for which purchasing recommendations are to be generated. Note that it is only possible to process the material requirements planning to which the user is assigned as the editor.

Instructions: Generate a purchasing recommendation

Below, all steps that should be performed in order to generate a purchasing recommendation, are described:

1. Application Generate purchasing recommendations
2. Use the [New] button to create empty application form.
3. Filter recommendation generation, e.g., according to fields available in the identification pane.
4. In the Site field, define the site for which the purchasing recommendations are to be created.
5. In the Warehouse field, select the warehouse for which the purchasing recommendations are to be generated.
6. In the Material requirements planning field, select material requirements planning on whose basis the system will generate the purchasing recommendation. Material requirements planning is defined in the application Material requirements planning.
7. Use the [Generate purchasing recommendation] button.
   Dialogue box Generate purchasing recommendation is opened.
8. Define initial date, from which the recommendations are to be generated.
9. Start purchasing recommendation generation by clicking on [In batch] button.
10. Generated purchasing recommendations can be displayed in Planning module, in the Purchasing recommendations application.

Application-related actions

All items corresponding to the selection are considered. Purchasing  recommendations are generated, provided planned demands exist for them.

The Generate purchasing recommendations dialogue box is opened after clicking on the [Generate purchasing recommendations] button. In the Parameter tab, the following fields are available:

• By date setting – the following options are available for setting the purchasing date:
  • Use execution date – the Day offset field is selected.  The execution date plus the day offset will be used.
  • Use specified date – the Day offset field is cleared. The date specified in the By date will be used.
• Day offset –  if this is selected, the execution date is incremented  by this number of days at runtime, and the result is  used for By date.

The status is set to Entered. The system provides you a confirmation message with the number of generated purchasing recommendations. The result can be viewed in the Purchasing recommendations application.

Influence of the Replenishment lead time field on the planning process

For requirements quantities, purchasing requirements/demands are generated for those planning periods that fall within the time horizon By date + Replenishment lead time. The value of the replenishment lead time is retrieved from the following locations:

• If a main supplier is specified for the item, the replenishment lead time is taken from the Items application (Supplier view)
• If a main supplier is not specified and the item has planning data configured, the replenishment lead time is taken from the Items application (Planning view)

The generation of purchasing recommendations is noted within the planning data set. In order to generate new recommendations, delete the previously generated recommendations and run a new planning cycle.

The planning period date is entered as the due date of the purchasing recommendation. The planning recommendation quantity is rounded to the purchasing lot size of the main supplier, provided this is specified. The resulting difference quantity relative to the actual demand is credited against the following purchasing recommendations.

If a main supplier is specified for the item, the purchasing recommendation is suggested for this supplier.

Purchasing recommendations are generated only for items with purchasing data defined in the Items application.

If an editor is specified in the material requirements planning, only this editor can generate the resulting purchasing recommendations.

Customizing

No settings need to be made for the Generate purchasing recommendations application in the Customizing application.

Business entities

There are no relevant business entities for the Generate purchasing recommendations application.

Authorizations

Authorizations can be assigned by means of authorization roles, as well as by assigning an organization. The authorization concept is described in the Authorizations article.

Special capabilities

The Generate purchasing recommendations application has no special capabilities.

Organizational assignments

A person can only use the Generate purchasing recommendations application if an organization that is linked to at least one of the following organizational structures has been assigned to him or her in the partner master data:

• Inventory Management

Special features

Purchasing recommendations can only be generated by an employee who is assigned as the editor in the respective material requirements planning.

Authorizations for business partners

The Generate purchasing recommendations application is not released for business partners.