Since there is often a long period of time between the order entry and the actual allocation, quantities that have been confirmed by the availability check during the order entry can change. When the confirmed delivery date is reached, there are often fewer goods available than had been confirmed. This material shortage can be caused by under deliveries or delayed deliveries.
You use release check rules to determine which quantities are acceptable for your customers. You can specify the minimum percentage of quantities that must be fulfilled at the different release levels so that an order can be released for delivery. In case of stock shortage, you can define the maximum percentage of quantities for schedule lines only. To specify the maximum percentage of quantities that must be fulfilled at the schedule line release level, you must select the Up To Release Quantity checkbox when you define the allocation logic. You can do this in Customizing under
.You can define release rules for:
Specific orders: The system checks all requirements selected by ARun with the same release check rule.
Order allocation run types: The system uses the release rule defined for an allocation type depending on the determination logic parameters in each ARun type. You can define various rules in Customizing activity Maintain ARun Types under .
Specific customers: You can define customer-specific release rules by entering the release strategy in Customizing activity Maintain Release Strategies under at
.External groups: You can also define a release rule for an external group entered for grouping fields. You can define the determination priority in Customizing activity Maintain ARun Types. The release rule defined for external groups if always of a higher priority than the release rules defined for the determination priority.
You can assign different release checks for the following release check levels:
Group of Documents
Document Header
Delivery Group/Grouped Items (Sales Order only)
Generic Articles
Articles (Items)
Schedule Lines
Value Added Services (VAS)
Bill of Materials (BOM)
The system uses a bottom-up strategy, which means that the check starts at the lowest level and then goes to the next higher level.
Release Check Levels
The system sets the following statuses according to whether the result of a release rule check for a requirement is successful or not:
Result | Status | Description |
---|---|---|
Release rule is successful | Fixed (F) | Outbound deliveries are possible |
Fix and Hold (H) | Outbound deliveries are not possible | |
Release rule is not successful | Reserve (R) | Reserve the quantities that are allocated to requirements |
Blank | Do not allocate any quantity to the requirement |
The ARun status Reserved (R) is used for the following scenarios:
When a release check fails and the status is maintained as Reserved (R).
When you allocate a sales contract, the final status will be maintained as Reserved (R) irrespective of the release check.
When you allocate requirement with future receipt stock, the final status will be maintained as Reserved (R) irrespective of the release check
You can use one of the following calculation methods to calculate release rule:
Include All Quantities
Exclude Already Failed Quantities
The calculation methods are defined in Customizing for Maintain ARun Types under
.The following example explains how release rules are implemented using the following calculation methods:
Include All Quantities
Exclude Already Failed Quantities
Example of Release Rule
Case 1: Include All Quantities
For schedule lines 1.2 and 2.2, only 30 pieces of the 50 ordered quantity are available and the release check is not fulfilled with a minimum quota of 70%. As a result, the schedule lines are 1.2 and 2.2 are assigned the ARun status Reserved (R). The system then checks at the item level whether a minimum quota of 70% can be achieved. The available quantities for Item 1 are 75 (45 + 30) and for Item 2 are 60 (35+30). Here, Item 2 fails to achieve the release percentage of 70% (achieved is 65%), and therefore, the ARun status of Sch. Line 2.1 changes to Reserved (R). The system then checks at the order level whether a minimum quota of 70% can be reached. At order level, the total quantity is 140 (that is, 70%) and the ARun status of the schedule lines are not changed.
Case 2: Exclude Already Failed Quantities
For schedule lines 1.2 and 2.2, only 30 pieces of the 50 ordered quantity are available and the release check is not fulfilled with a minimum quota of 70%. As a result, the schedule lines are 1.2 and 2.2 are assigned the ARun status Reserved (R). The system then checks at the item level whether a minimum quota of 70% can be achieved. The available quantity for Item 1 is 45 (45%) and Item 2 is 35 (35%). Item 1 and Item 2 fail to achieve the minimum release percentage of 70%. Now, the system checks at the order level whether a minimum quota of 70% can be reached. At order level, since no quantities are carried forward, the total quantity is 0.
Note
If a release rule check fails at a certain level, the schedule lines are never assigned the status Fixed (F) or Fix and Hold (H) even though the release rule passes at the higher release check levels. The status of the schedule lines will be set as Reserve (R) or blank (with no entries), as defined in Customizing under
.