Allocation Logic

Overview

Rootstock has an ability to allocate on-hand inventory to both Work Orders and Sales Orders, either independently or in combination for a given Inventory Item/Rootstock Product.  “Allocating” allows users to “reserve” inventory for a given demand.

Terminology

Allocation: The “reservation” of inventory for a specific demand, be it a Work Order Component Demand, subcontract Purchase Order Line Component, or a Sales Order Demand.

Setup
 

1. System Configuration (SYCONFIG)

Set ‘Allocations’ to checked (TRUE)

  NOTE  This must be set by Rootstock

2. Division Master (SYDIV)

Set Allocation Active (Under ‘Advanced Settings’ tab) to checked (TRUE)

3. Inventory Commodity Code (ICCOMCOD)

Set Allocation Policy (under the Miscellaneous tab) to checked (TRUE) on those Commodity Codes used on items you wish to allocate.

  NOTE  This setting controls the allocation behavior of WO Components / SO Demand / PO Component for a given WO / SO Line / PO Line.

4. Inventory Item Master (ICITEM)

Set Allocation Policy Indicator (under ‘Misc CC Overrides’ tab) to checked (TRUE) in order to use the setting on the Commodity Code associated with the given Inventory Item.

  NOTE  If Commodity Code is NOT set to use Allocations, you can override the setting on individual Inventory Item Master records as desired. To do so, uncheck the Allocation Policy Indicator (under the Misc CC Override tab) and check the override checkbox to the right of it. Conversely, if the Commodity Code’s Allocation Policy is checked and you wish to NOT allocate a given item using that Commodity Code, use the same override process.

  NOTE  This setting controls the allocation behavior of WO Components, SO Demands and PO Components record that are related to the Inventory Item.

5. Sales Order Control

Set Order Line Allocations Active (under ‘Order Processing’ tab) to checked (TRUE).

  NOTE  There is no “allocation” setting at the Product or Product Group level.  It is only an option to turn on or off at the Sales Division level. This setting controls whether the SO Lines can be allocated. The Inventory Allocation Policy box needs to also be checked at the Inventory Item/Commodity Code level otherwise, even though the SO Line may be marked as 'Allocated', nothing is really 'reserved' for the SO Line as the Inventory Item is not allocations-active and no updates would occur on record Inventory By Item/Site/Project, which tracks allocations).

Processing

STIPULATIONS:
 

• The maintenance of allocation quantities for given items are carried on the Inventory By Item/Site/Project record.  This is an Inventory record for a given Division, Site, Project and Inventory Item, which is the level at which allocations are maintained, based on fields Qty. Allocated (total quantity allocated for this item/site/project combination) and Net Quantity Available (pickable quantity. on hand not allocated).

  • In a non-Project environment (Project Active is unchecked on the Division Master), there is only one 'Inventory by Item/Site/Project' record, for the Division, Site and Item, as all Inventory is under the Home Project (which is the only Project in a non-Project Division).  

  • In a Project environment (Project Active is checked on the Division Master), there can be multiple 'Inventory by Item/Site/Project' records for the Division, Site and Item – one for each Project in which there is inventory.

  NOTE  The most common allocation “problem” encountered is that the inventory to be allocated may not be in the same Project as the demand against which one is trying to allocate. Or the Inventory by Location is flagged as non-pickable.

• Allocations can only be done against inventory that is in a Location Type = 'On Hand', and pickable.  Non-nettable Inventory cannot be allocated against.

• Allocation logic has no bearing whatsoever on MRP planning.

Work Order Component Allocation
 

1. Once the WO Status is at 2 and WO Components have been extracted (or manually added) to a given Work Order, if using allocations, an Allocate button appears at the top of the WO Header.

2. Click on the Allocate button to allocate any qualifying inventory (non-allocated available inventory in the Division, under the WO Project (if the component is Home Project, then it will use the Home project, otherwise the WO project), in the WO Site and resides in an 'On Hand' pickable inventory location).

3. Once allocated, the WO Status will change to 4-Ready for activity. If not all the WO Components are fully allocated, then the status will be set to 3-Allocated.

  NOTE  If additional inventory becomes available after the initial allocation, click on the Allocate button again and the additional inventory will then be allocated also.
 

4. To de-allocate inventory (in order to delete WO or in order to allocate inventory to a different order), click on the Deallocate button.

5. Once the inventory has been allocated, when Generate Pick List is clicked on, picklist records will be created for those items that have been allocated (as well as those that are not under “allocation control”).

6. Once picklist records are generated, a Picklist can be printed, and components can then be issued to the WO.

  NOTE  If the inventory is not issued (that otherwise should be) in the WO Issue process, check to see if the inventory has been allocated for the given component.

Subcontract Purchase Order Line Component Allocation

Similarly to Work Orders, user can allocate components on a specific subcontract PO Line by accessing the visualforce page PO Components through menu hyperlink 'PO Line Components'. Alternatively, user can reach this page by navigating through PO Header > PO Line button 'Details' > Subcontract tab > 'Subcontract Components' button.

1. If using allocations, an Allocate button appears at the top of the PO Components page.

2. Click on the Allocate button to allocate any qualifying inventory (non-allocated available inventory in the Division, under the PO Line Project (if the component is Home Project, then it will use the Home project, otherwise the PO Line project), in the PO Component Site and resides in an 'On Hand' pickable inventory location).

   • It is also possible to individually Allocate PO Components by using the Allocate button on each particular record.

3.  To de-allocate inventory, click on the Deallocate button.

​​​​Sales Order Demand Allocation

1. Once a Sales Order Line is “firmed”, inventory can be allocated using the Sales Order Fulfillment function by checking the Allocate checkbox.

  NOTE In the Sales Order Fulfillment page, the system allows the user to allocate more quantity than the ordered quantity based on the flag 'Allocation Policy' in the Inventory Item Master record as mentioned below:

• If the flag is checked, the user cannot allocate more quantity than the ordered quantity.

• If the flag is not checked, the user can allocate more quantity than the ordered quantity.

2. To de-allocate inventory, use the Reverse Allocation checkbox.

  NOTE  Process Qty field is populated with the quantity available to allocate OR to the SO Line Qty Required, whichever is less.

For auto-allocations on SO Entry see: Sales Order Line - Auto-Allocation Processing

Further Notes

• The inventory allocated to a WO is not available to allocate to a Sales Order Line or PO Line, and vice versa.

• Once the allocation is fulfilled (via a WO Issue, PO Issue or SO Issue), the Quantity Allocated is decremented on the Item by Site Project record, along with the Qty 'On Hand'.

SEE ALSO