Calculate order promising dates

A company must be able to inform their customers of order delivery dates. The Order Promising Lines page enables you to do this from a sales order.

Business Central calculates shipment and delivery dates based on an item’s known and expected availability dates, which you can promise to customers.

If you specify a requested delivery date on a sales order line, then that date is used as the starting point for the following calculations:

  • requested delivery date - shipping time = planned shipment date
  • planned shipment date - outbound whse. handling time = shipment date

If the items are available to pick on the shipment date, then the sales process can continue. If the items aren't available to be picked on the shipment date, then a stock-out warning is displayed.

If you don't specify a requested delivery date on a sales order line, or if the requested delivery date can't be met, then the earliest date on which that the items are available is calculated. That date is then entered in the Shipment Date field on the line, and the date on which you plan to ship the items and the date on which they'll be delivered to the customer are calculated using the following calculations:

  • shipment date + outbound whse. handling time = planned shipment date
  • planned shipment date + shipping time = planned delivery date

About order promising

The Order Promising functionality enables you to promise an order to be shipped or delivered on a specific date. The date that an item is available to promise or capable to promise is calculated, and order lines are created for those dates that you accept. The functionality calculates the earliest possible date that an item is available for shipment or delivery. It also creates requisition lines, in case the items must first be purchased or produced, for those dates that you accept.

Business Central uses two fundamental concepts:

  • Available to Promise (ATP)
  • Capable to Promise (CTP)

Available to promise

Available to promise (ATP) calculates dates based on the reservation system. It performs an availability check of the unreserved quantities in inventory about planned production, purchases, transfers, and sales returns. Based on this information, Business Central calculates the delivery date of the customer’s order because the items are available, either in inventory or on planned receipts.

Capable to promise

Capable to promise (CTP) assumes a “what if” scenario, which only applies to item quantities that aren't in inventory or on scheduled orders. Based on this scenario, Business Central calculates the earliest date that the item can be available if it's to be produced, purchased, or transferred.

Example

If there's an order for 10 pieces, and 6 pieces are available in inventory or on scheduled orders, then the capable to promise calculation will be based on 4 pieces.

Calculations

When Business Central calculates the customer’s delivery date, it performs two tasks:

  • Calculates the earliest delivery date when the customer hasn't requested a specific delivery date.
  • Verifies if the delivery date requested by the customer or promised to the customer is realistic.

If the customer doesn't request a specific delivery date, the shipment date is set to equal the work date, and availability is then based on that date. If the item is in inventory, Business Central calculates forward in time to determine when the order can be delivered. This is accomplished by the following formulas:

  • Shipment Date + Outbound Warehouse Handling Time = Planned Shipment Date
  • Planned Shipment Date + Shipping Time = Planned Delivery Date

Business Central then verifies if the calculated delivery date is realistic by calculating backward in time to determine when the item must be available to meet the promised date. This is accomplished by the following formulas:

  • Planned Delivery Date - Shipping Time = Planned Shipment Date
  • Planned Shipment Date - Outbound Warehouse Handling = Shipment Date

The shipment date is used to make the availability check. If the item is available on this date, Business Central confirms that the requested/promised delivery can be met by setting the planned delivery date to equal the requested/promised delivery date. If the item is unavailable, it returns a blank date and the order processor can then use the CTP functionality.

Based on new dates and times, all related dates are calculated according to the formulas listed earlier in this section. The CTP calculation takes longer but it gives an accurate date when the customer can expect to have the item delivered. The dates that are calculated from CTP are presented in the Planned Delivery Date and Earliest Shipment Date fields on the Order Promising Lines page.

The order processor finishes the CTP process by accepting the dates. This means that a planning line and a reservation entry are created for the item before the calculated dates to ensure that the order is fulfilled.

In addition to the external order promising that you can perform on the Order Promising Lines page, you can also promise internal or external delivery dates for bill-of-material items. For more information, see View the Availability of Items.

To set up order promising

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter Order Promising Setup, and then choose the related link.

  2. Enter a number and time unit code in the Offset(Time) field. Select one of the following codes.

    Code Description
    d Calendar day
    w Week
    m Month
    q Quarter
    y Year

    For example, "3w" indicates that the offset time is three weeks. To indicate the current period, prefix to any of these codes with the letter “c”. For example, if you want the offset time to be the current month, enter cm.

  3. Enter a number series in the Order Promising Nos. field by selecting a line from the list on the No. Series page.

  4. Enter an order promising template in the Order Promising Template field by selecting a line from the list on the Req. Worksheet Template List page.

  5. Enter a requisition worksheet in the Order Promising Worksheet field by selecting a line from the list on the Req. Wksh. Names page.

Inbound and outbound warehouse handling times in order promising

If you want to include warehouse handling time in the order promising calculation on the purchase line, on the Inventory Setup page you can specify a default handling time to use on sales and purchase documents. You can also enter specific times for each of your locations on the Location Card page.

To enter default inbound and outbound warehouse handling times for sales and purchase documents

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter Inventory Setup, and then choose the related link.
  2. On the General FastTab, in the Inbound Whse. Handling Time and Outbound Whse. Handling Time fields, enter the number of days that you want to include in the order promising calculations.

To enter inbound and outbound warehouse handling times on locations

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter Location, and then choose the related link.
  2. Open the relevant location card.
  3. On the Warehouse FastTab, in the Inbound Whse. Handling Time and Outbound Whse. Handling Time fields, enter the number of days that you want to be included in the order promising calculations.
Note

Note:
When you are creating a purchase order, if you choose Location in the Ship-to field on the Shipping and Payment FastTab, and then choose a location in the Location Code field, the Outbound Whse. Handling Time and Inbound Whse. Handling Time fields will use the handling time specified for the location. For sales orders, the same is true if you choose a location in the Location Code field. If no handling time is specified for the location, the Outbound Whse. Handling Time and Inbound Whse. Handling Time fields will be blank. If you leave the Location Code field blank on sales and purchase documents, the calculation uses the handling time specified on the Inventory Setup page.

To make an item critical

Before an item can be included in the order promising calculation, it must be marked as critical. This setup ensures that non-critical items don't cause irrelevant order promising calculations.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter Items, and then choose the related link.
  2. Open the relevant item card.
  3. On the Planning FastTab, select the Critical field.

To calculate an order promising date

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter Sales Order, and then choose the related link.

  2. Open the relevant sales order and select the sales order lines that you want application to calculate.

  3. Choose the Order Promising action, and then choose the Order Promising Lines action.

  4. Select a line, and then select one of the following options:

    • Select Available-to-Promise if you want to calculate the earliest date that the item will be available with respect to inventory, scheduled receipts, and gross requirements.
    • Select Capable-to-Promise if you know that the item is presently out of stock and you want to calculate the earliest date that the item can be available by issuing new replenishment requisitions.

  5. Choose the Accept button to accept the earliest shipment date available.

See also

Sales
Date Calculation for Purchases
Work with Business Central

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