Order Symbol 

Definition

Symbol that represents an order with its elements (receipt elements, requirements elements, and activities).

Use

Order symbols are frequently used in graphics in the Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling (PP/DS) documentation in order to give a quick overview of the elements in an order or the relationships of an order to other orders or objects; for example, to display the pegging relationships between orders on different production levels.

Structure

General structure of an order symbol

The various order elements (receipt elements, requirements elements, and activities) are represented by different graphical elements in an order symbol. Since an in-house production order generally contains all elements, this section explains the principal structure of an order symbol using the order symbol for an in-house production order. The following graphic shows the symbol for an in-house production order with 3 input and 2 output products. (Since the in-house production order has several output products, it is an in-house production order for manufacture of co-products.)

In-house production order for manufacture of co-products

The following graphic explains the different graphical elements:

A rectangle always represents the “empty” order. In addition, an order symbol – depending on the order category – can have the following elements: A rhombus on the upper edge of the rectangle represents a receipt element, while a rhombus on the lower edge of the rectangle represents a requirements element. In the case of orders that, in order to be processed, require activities to be executed (in other words, resources are required), a circle in the middle of the rectangle represents the activities. An arrow represents the link between a receipt element or requirements element and the activities; the arrow direction indicates the direction of the material flow: Since activities “consume” input products, the arrow points from a requirements element for the input product to the activities. Since activities provide output products, the arrow points from the activities to the receipt element for the output product. The arrows for the material flow or the circle for the activities are often omitted in the case of an order with activities, if the activities are not relevant in the current context.

The following graphic represents the above in-house production order in which the symbol for the activities is exploded: You see the individual activities, the relationships between the activities, and the assignment of the receipt and requirements elements to the activities. The arrowhead represents the point in time at which an input product is required or an output product is made available.

In-house production order with detailed view of the activities

As a further example, the following graphic shows the order symbol for a sales order. A sales order only has requirements elements for input products. Each requirements element represents a specific schedule line for a sales order item; that is, a partial quantity of a specific product that is required for a specific date/time.

Sales order