The orders category. Categories serve to group orders according to different kinds of stocks, goods receipts, goods issues and order types. Enter a category that represents orders or forecasts such as FA or FB. The system creates demand orders in the orders liveCache with reference to category. The category is determined during the release to SNP as follows:

1. Has a category been entered in the release profile? If yes, this category is used.

2. If no, has a category been set in the definition of the requirements strategy in Customizing? (You define the product’s strategy in the Proposed strategy field on the Demand tab of the product master record.) If yes, this category is used.

If you set this indicator, new order quantities are created in Supply Network Planning when you release the demand plan from Demand Planning to SNP. The system ignores existing orders in the same SNP version for the same product, location and periods. This means that if you release to SNP twenty times, twenty separate orders are created in SNP.

If you do not set this indicator, existing order quantities in the same SNP version for the same product, location and periods are overwritten.

A planning buckets profile that determines how the demand plan is read from liveCache time series for the release to Supply Network Planning.

The use of a planning buckets profile for the release from DP to SNP is optional. If you use a planning buckets profile, the system releases the demand plan in the buckets in which data was planned. The planning buckets profile must be as big as or bigger than the release horizon specified by the From and To dates.

If you do not enter a planning buckets profile, the data is read in technical periods. The storage buckets profile determines what the technical periods are. Technical periods are not visible to the demand planner.

The period split also determines how the demand plan is released to SNP. You set the period split in the product master record (the SNP2 tab).

A planning buckets profile containing days if you wish demand orders to be created in Supply Network Planning in daily buckets. The use of a daily buckets profile containing days to release the demand plan to SNP is optional. If you use a daily buckets profile, it must contain days only.

During the release, the system works forward in time. For example, if your daily buckets profile contains 40 days, the system releases data to:

• The 40 workdays starting on and following the To date if you are releasing the data online.

• The first 40 workdays of the planning horizon if you perform the release using mass processing. The planning horizon that is used is the planning horizon of the data view you specify in the mass processing activity and job. Make sure the planning horizon begins in the future, unless you want to release data in the past.

The factory calendar determining which days are workdays is the shipping calendar that you enter in the location master record.

The period split also determines how the demand plan is released to SNP. You set the period split in the product master record (the SNP2 tab).