Product Allocations 
Product Allocations
Use
Competitive order processing that aims to deliver the required quantity to the customer at the requested time demands precise planning and control mechanisms. Unpredictable problems, such as breakdowns in production or increased demand, can lead to critical situations in order processing and must be brought under control before they arise.
Product allocations provide this sort of control, and enable your company to avoid these critical situations in demand and procurement. An equal allocation of products in short supply must be possible, as must a speedy reaction to bottlenecks and changing market situations.
Depending on the period, you can allocate products for specific customers or regions. Using product allocations in situations in which a product is in short supply, you can avoid allocating the entire available quantity to the first customer, which either delays the confirmation of subsequent sales orders, or makes confirmation impossible.
Features
The product allocations functionality combines planning tools with real-time ATP functionality. The
info structure has been partially replaced by the product allocation group. The product allocation group defines a group of characteristics and is used for saving product allocation quantities with their assignments.Within the product allocation group, the planning hierarchy is replaced by the characteristics combination. The characteristics combination contains the values of the characteristics from the current sales order, and, as such, corresponds to the lowest level of the planning hierarchy in which all characteristics are assigned.
In planning, characteristic values are saved in either
planning areas or in info structures. This planning data is transferred to the product allocation group.Using a characteristics combination in product allocations, a product allocation time series is chosen. The check is then carried out against this time series. If the characteristics combination was defined, all product allocation quantities can be planned (for example, from the market level to the customer level).
An active check against product allocations is carried out together with the availability check by the sales order. Based on the check date (delivery date, goods issue date, product availability date), you can ensure that the required quantity does not exceed the product allocation quantity.
If the requirement quantity exceeds the unrestricted product allocation quantity for the period, the system can suggest future delivery dates as soon as the product allocation quantity is available. The incoming orders quantity is updated for the product allocation quantity.
You can also use product allocation to check, for example, the capacity of forwarding agents in Transportation Planning and Vehicle Scheduling. For further information see
Transport: Product Allocation.See also:
Settings for Product Allocations Displaying Product Allocations
Displaying the Product Allocation Overview
Executing Simulative Product Allocations Integration Scenario: Product Allocations During Sales Order Entry