Preview 

Use

You can carry out an allocation run either in normal mode or in preview mode. In preview mode you can allocate existing orders against future stock (for example, purchase requisitions, purchase orders, shipping notifications) to estimate possible fluctuations of future warehouse stock. This is an early warning system with which you can simulate problems. That means that you can react proactively and in time.

Allocation in preview mode considers, for example, delayed goods receipts for purchase orders and possible quantity deviations and shows the effects on the existing sales orders. Allocation against future stock can take place with either status R (reserved) or F (fixed):

·         Use ARun preview mode 2 to test for status R. The resulting stock will receive status R, even if all checks (for example, release check, cancel date check, or season check) are successful. The disadvantage is that you do not know whether the system assigned status R because of stock availability or because one of the allocation checks failed. The system will not assign status F in any case.

·         Use ARun previous mode 4 to test for both status F and R. In this case, the system will return status F if all checks are passed successfully and it is able to properly match the stock with a future receipt, and status R otherwise. This mode gives you more detailed information for confirming expected delivery dates for a customer.

For example, if you have future order 123 for material X with a delivery date of May 15, and the stock will be available as of May 12, preview mode 2 returns status R, while previous mode 4 returns status F.

In addition, there is a check and a comparison of the confirmed date of the sales order with the goods receipt date from various purchase orders and/or purchase requisitions, so that the best possible delivery date can be found.

Order 1       Material X          Confirmed Date December 24, 2001

Purchase Order A    Material X          Delivery Date December 31, 2001
Purchase Order B    Material X          Delivery Date December 20, 2001
Purchase Order C    Material X          Delivery Date January 5, 2002

The purchase order that would be assigned stock by the ARun preview would be purchase order B, since it meets the confirmed date of the order best.

Preview mode can be used either online via dialog boxes, or in background processing.

Integration

It is better to run the preview modes before the allocation in the normal mode. In the system, however, they are independent of the normal mode. The process in the application is identical. When starting the allocation you need only enter the corresponding mode.

You do not need to make any special Customizing settings for preview mode. You select which of the modes you want to use when you start an allocation run.

Features

The results of the allocations in the preview mode are saved in a special database and you can evaluate them by using the ARun Optimizer. There is no update of the “real” requirements and stock. That means you cannot create deliveries, for example, on the basis of an allocation in the preview mode. The fixations or reservations are only simulated. An update is only possible with an allocation in the normal mode.

The allocation type you use for allocation in normal mode can also be used in preview mode. However, in this case future stock and goods receipts are not taken into account. For this reason, you should create a special allocation type to be run only in preview mode.