Available To Promise Inquiry

Application Overview

 This is a powerful tool that is fast and easy to use.  Order entry and sales people can use this inquiry to determine future item deliveries, the purchasing manager can use it to plan purchase orders, and light manufactures can use it for production planning.  Information for this inquiry comes from the ATP Open Item file, which merges order information from COP, IM, PO, and BOMP.

 This inquiry is available from both the I/M and COP Inquiry Menus.    It is also available via the F3 Function Key when doing Stock Status Inquires and in report format from the Inventory Reports Menu. 

 To use this feature, the Available to Promise enhancement must be enabled.  See Generate ATP File in the Utilities Section of this document.

 In Elliott V7.4, the ATP Inquiry screen will display four zones separated by the following three lines:

            (A) Today Line

            (B) Lead Time Line

            (C) Lead Time + Planning Period Line

Any ATP data before Line (A) is internal data maintenance issues.  For example, if there is an outstanding PO Line Item Request/Promise Date showing 10/01/07 and today’s date is already 10/15/07, it is obvious you cannot count on this 10/01/07 date since that date has come and gone and you have not received the goods yet.  In most situations, this is because your organization lacks an internal mechanism to follow up with the vendor to get a revised estimated date of arrival.  In order for ATP to work and provide valuable information, we must make sure the date is accurate.  Therefore, any ATP records displayed before Line (A) – Today Line is an indication that those records should be revised.  This Line (A) provides better visibility for management to spot problems and effectively direct the staff to follow up with their work in a timely manner.

 Line (B) is the Lead Time Line.  Every item can have a different lead time based on the Planning Lead Time (not the Lead Time field) set up in the Item Master file.  For example, if you place a purchase order with the default vendor for Item A and that vendor is overseas and it takes 60 days for the goods to arrive at your warehouse, counting their preparation, production time, plus the shipping, then the Planning Lead Time will be 60 days.  If you have a negative quantity balance before this 60 days line, it means there is a serious situation for you to look into.  You won’t be able to solve the problem by simply making an additional purchase because it will arrive too late, based on the Lead Time principle.  There may be other ways to solve the problem, like shipping via Air Cargo (which will increase your freight cost) or calling your customers to get their permission for late shipments.  If the problem still cannot be resolved, they should cancel the order.  If there is any negative quantity between Line (B) and Line (A), then it is considered “Past Due.”  So we call this area the “Past Due Zone.”

 Line (C) is the Lead Time + Planning Period.  Planning Period refers to how often the buyers or planners will review an item to make a purchase decision.  If the buyer will review it on a weekly basis, then the Planning Period is 7 days.  If the buyer will review it on a bi-weekly basis, then the Planning Period is 14 days.  This is a flag to be set up in ATP Global Setup.  If you have a planning period of 14 days, with the previous example of 60 days lead time, Line (C) will be 60 days + 14 days.  Any negative quantity between Line (C) and Line (B) are called “current affairs,” because the buyer and planner should take care of it now.  If the buyer and planner do not take care of it now and wait for the next review (14 days later), then it will be late.  For this reason, we call this zone the “Current Zone.”

 ATP records after Line (C) are called Future ATP Records.  If there is any negative quantity balance in this future zone, the planner can either take care of it or ignore it for now since we have enough time to respond when we review it again next time (14 days later, in the previous example).  You may not want to adjust future zone items because things can change and the customer might cancel the order.  While your customer may be able to cancel your order, you may not be able to cancel your PO with your vendor once their production is in motion and you eventually end up with the extra inventory.  In many situations, you want to wait until the last moment to issue a purchase order with your vendor.

 These three lines will always be displayed on the ATP Inquiry and Process screen.  They are optional to print on the ATP Report based on the Global Setup.  If you do not setup Planning Lead Time and Planning Period, then Line (B) and (C) will not be meaningful.  Therefore, we suggest you set them up as part of the first step of configuring ATP.

Run Instructions

 From Inventory Main à Inquiry à Available To Promise à Inquire

 ATP Inquiry is by Item and you are given five choices of what information to see: 1. All, 2. Sales Orders, 3. Purchase Orders, and 4. BOMP Production Orders.  Once selected, this information is then available by location or for all locations.

Available To Promise Inquiry

Application Overview

 This feature allows you to view future quantity on hand balances in a real time inquiry by merging PO, COP, and BOMP SFC orders to produce reports and screen inquiries of the projected inventory balance based on future date transactions.  By merging other modules to determine future quantities, ATP can serve as a real time mini MRP function.  The order entry person can use this function to determine when an item can be delivered and use the Inventory ATP report to determine if customers should extend cancellation dates, make additional purchases, or even cancel purchases. 

Run Instructions

 Before you can take advantage of this powerful feature, the Inventory or Systems Manager must first set it up as per the System Global Setup Instructions and then the Open Item File must be generated in the Inventory module.  Once these two steps have been completed, you will be ready to start using Available To Promise.

From the COP Inquiry Menu, select Available To Promise, and then Inquire.  The following table guides you through doing an ATP Inquiry:

 After the above steps have been completed, the ATP inquiry screen appears, see example next page.

Available To Promise Inquiry

ATP Inquiry for Item # Clock, All Sources, and Loc. LA

 NOTE:     We have provided an Available To Promise F3 Hot Key in COP line item entry.

               You can access ATP F3 key when in the Qty. Ordered field.

               The Available To Promise Report is run from the Inventory Reports menu.

               ATP Inquiry is also available in Sales Desk, IM ATP and  Stock Status Inquiries.