Generic ItemPlanning business object

IBM defines an item is anything that can be ordered, sold, replaced, returned, or repaired. This broad definition allows the ItemPlanning business object to be used by Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications, Customer Interaction Management (CIM) applications, and Supply Chain (SC) applications. ERP and SC applications conceptualize "items" as anything an organization procures (raw materials), manufactures, and sells (finished product). CIM applications conceptualize "items" as a "Fixed Product".

The definition of an item evolves during its lifecycle, from its creation as a new product or as a component of a new or improved item, to its maturation, and ultimately to its obsolescence. Therefore, more than a single organization within a company supports the maintenance of the item master record.

Figure 1 illustrates how item information may be defined over its life cycle by multiple organizations and used in multiple operations. IBM separates these operations into multiple business objects.

Figure 1. Item life cycle

The ItemPlanning business object contains data attributes that pertain to planning for an item's future requirements and replenishment. It includes attributes that contain such information as the person responsible for planning the item, the method for sourcing the item, lead time requirements, acceptable order quantities, safety stock thresholds, and various planning horizon time fences.

Time fences

Time fences are boundaries between different periods in the planning horizon of the master scheduling process. The planning horizon is divided into three regions:

Time fences can be used to define what type of requirements should be included for item planning. For example, in the near term, perhaps actual customer orders are the best representation of demand; in the short to long term, some combination of customer orders and forecast represent demand; while further out, pure forecast is used to drive demand. These three regions are bounded by the current date, demand time fence, and planning time fences.

In addition, several time fences are typically defined to control planning based on where a requirement falls in the planning horizon. For example, it may not be possible to respond to changes required within 3 to 4 days of the current planning run date. Therefore, a planner may not want to change, or make recommendations to change, planned orders falling within these 3 to 4 days. This region (or window) is often referred to as the freeze period, because changes inside the planning time fence must be manually changed by the master scheduler.

A final time fence that can be used in planning is the release time fence. This can be used to allow automatic release of orders falling within this planning horizon. For example, a planner may want to automatically create released orders for certain items when the requirement falls within 1 or 2 days of the current date.

Figure 2 illustrates how planning time fences are determined.

Figure 2. Planning time fences

Time fences are typically based on the number of days from the current date. For example, if the current date is 1/1/99, and the value of Freeze Fence Days is set to 2, the Freeze Fence will be set to 1/3/99. IBM supports sending the duration (number of days) used to determine the respective time fences to the ERP and SC applications. The ERP and SC applications must calculate the specific dates based on, for example, when a planning run is being executed.

Lead times

Various lead times can be specified for each item to define the time periods required to make or buy the item. These times are used in planning and scheduling to accurately assess when work orders must be started and purchase orders placed to satisfy an item's production requirements.

Figure 3 illustrates how item lead times are determined.

CumLeadTime is the number of days required to complete a product, from material acquisition to final production. CumLeadTime includes the MfgLeadTime for a product plus the longest cumulative lead time of any of its items.

CumMfgLeadTime (which is not illustrated) is the total number of workdays required to complete a product, from its lowest-level items to the final item, assuming all purchased items are in-house. Procurement lead times are not considered in calculating the CumMfgLeadTime, but are considered in CumLeadTime.

In addition to the lead times illustrated in Figure 3, IBM supports the breakdown MfgLeadTime into the following divisions:

These times are expressed in hours.

Note: To bind an adapter to a collaboration template that processes generic ItemBasic, ItemOrder, and ItemPlanning, all of these business objects as well as generic Item must be installed in the repository and the adapter must be configured to support them. Even if your installation does not use generic Item directly, it must remain in the repository and be supported by every relevant adapter.

Business object structure

ItemPlanning is a flat business object that contains such key information about an item as its:

Note: Because IBM collaboration templates may process the ItemBasic, ItemOrder, and ItemPlanning business objects while synchronizing the triggering item and its prerequisite items, it is important that the key attributes be consistent in these business objects. ItemId, SalesArea, and Plant are the default key attributes in ItemBasic, ItemOrder, and ItemPlanning. If you change any of these not to be a key or if you specify additional attributes to be a key, you must make identical changes in all three business objects.

ItemPlanning also contains such information about the item as its description; standard cost; people responsible for planning and buying it; planning code and group; source method; order policy code; forecasting method; order points and order quantities, which are used to help determine the optimal recommendation quantities for manufactured and purchased items; lead times, which are used to determine recommended start and end dates; and time fence boundaries.

In addition, ItemPlanning contains such information as the planning strategy; ordering costs; storage locations; and safety stock data.

Supported verbs

The generic ItemPlanning business object supports the following verbs:

Examining the object

To examine the attributes of the generic ItemPlanning business object, use the System Manager or the Process Designer Express.

Related References

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