IBM® Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Foundation enables you to configure how you match multiple supplies of an item to the demand
for that item. This is accomplished by configuring your system to use either closest ETA mode or
first ETA mode.
- Closest ETA mode: This mode matches the demand with the
supply that is available closest to the demand’s ship date, without
a delay of shipment. For example, consider an item that is needed
for a demand’s ship date of June 1, which is two weeks in the future.
In addition to the on-hand availability of this item, additional supplies
of this item are scheduled for May 30 and July 30. When closest ETA
mode is configured, the system will match the supply scheduled for
May 30 to the demand, because May 30 is closest to the demand date
of June 1. The on-hand availability of this item can then be used
for the next order that is placed.
- First ETA mode: This mode matches the demand against supplies
in FIFO (First-In-First_Out) order. For example, consider the previous
scenario where there was existing on-hand availability of the item,
and then additional supplies of the item were scheduled for May 30
and July 30. When first ETA mode is configured, the first demand for
that item will be matched against the on-hand availability because
this is the supply that was available first.