6 Work with Item Information

This chapter contains these topics:

6.1 Working with Item Information (ECS)

When entering or reviewing a sales order, you can quickly access item information, such as item number, availability, quantity cost-breaks, and so on. This is helpful when you are speaking directly to the customer.

You can also access additional item information that helps you accurately plan for future needs, such as summary availability and supply and demand for an item. For example, you can locate information about how many items are on demand, available in supply, and available to be promised.

See Also:

6.2 Copying Item Information to Sales Orders (ECS)

Navigation

From ECS Sales Order Management (G4910), choose ECS Sales Order Processing

From ECS Sales Order Processing (G491011), choose Enter Orders (Page Mode)

When entering a sales order, you might need to locate key item information, such as the item number, and copy it to the sales order. Depending on how you set the prompting control processing options for the Sales Order Entry program, you can locate item information in one of the following ways:

  • Single item search - search the Item Master table and display a specific item

  • Multiple item search - search the Item Location table and display multiple items

  • Full item search - search all related tables with a general query (that is, a description of the item rather than the item number)

To copy item information to sales orders

On Sales Order Entry

Figure 6-1 Enter Orders screen

Description of Figure 6-1 follows
Description of "Figure 6-1 Enter Orders screen"

  1. Access the Item Search window.

    Figure 6-2 Item Search screen

    Description of Figure 6-2 follows
    Description of "Figure 6-2 Item Search screen"

  2. On Item Search, complete one or more of the following fields to define your search:

    • Branch/Plant

    • Search Text

    • Item Number

  3. Complete the following field to copy the item or items you want to the sales order and press Enter:

    • Quantity

6.3 Reviewing Price and Availability Information (ECS)

Navigation

From ECS Sales Order Management (G4910), choose ECS Sales Order Inquiries

From ECS Sales Order Inquiries (G4910112), choose Check Price & Availability

You use the Check Price & Availability program to locate information about the pricing and availability of specific inventory items. This program displays information from the Item Location (F41021) and the Price by Customer (F4208) tables.

To review price and availability information

On Check Price & Availability

Figure 6-3 Check Prices & Availability screen

Description of Figure 6-3 follows
Description of "Figure 6-3 Check Prices & Availability screen"

Complete the following fields to locate the item:

  • Item Number

  • Branch/Plant

  • Customer Number

  • Customer Price Group

Field Explanation
Customer Price Group A user defined code (system 40, type PC) that identifies a customer group. You can group customers with similar characteristics, such as comparable pricing.

Form-specific information

To view special item pricing levels that you set up for a group of customers, enter a value in this field. If you type information for this field, the Customer Number field must remain blank.
Ship Ascending Date Ship Ascending Date functionality is not currently available for ECS or the Sales Batch program.

6.3.1 What You Should Know About

Topic Description
Accessing Check Price & Availability from a sales order You can quickly access the Check Price & Availability form from the sales order detail line on the Sales Order Entry form to obtain quantity cost-break information.

You can also manually adjust a price and copy the price to a sales order when you access this form from the sales order detail line.

If you have set up quantity price breaks using inventory pricing rules, you will not be able to review those on this form.

See Section 26.2, "Updating Prices for an Item (ECS)."

6.4 Understanding Inventory Commitments (ECS)

The availability of inventory items is determined by the types of obligations or commitments against those items. For example, you might have 100 of item ABC sitting in the warehouse, 75 of which have been promised to a particular customer. By keeping track of these obligations the system makes you aware that there are only 25 of the items remaining in stock to promise to another customer.

You can specify how the system tracks obligations against inventory items by setting up inventory commitments. The following are the four types of commitments used in the Sales Order system:

  • Soft Commitments

  • Hard Commitments

  • Future Commitments

  • Other Quantities 1 and 2

The primary purpose of tracking commitments is to enable you to determine the availability of your items. A commitment is simply a value that the system maintains for each item, based on the branch, location, and lot/serial number in which it exists. In contrast, the on-hand quantity of an item represents the actual physical quantity in the warehouse. Commitment quantities for inventory items are stored in the Item Location file (F41021) which contains a record for each item, branch, location, and lot/serial number combination.

6.4.1 Item Availability Definition

The way the inventory commitments are factored into the calculation of availability is determined at the branch/plant level. The Item Availability Definition program (P41001) is where you define whether and how each commitment type affects the calculation of the On-hand quantity.

6.4.2 Commitment Types

Soft Commitments

A soft commitment for an item is automatically created by default at sales order entry, unless another commitment type is applicable. Soft commitments are always logged against the primary location of the item.

If the processing option 46 behind ECS Sales Order Entry (P4211) is set to check availability, upon entering a sales order, the system looks at all locations in which the item exists, to determine whether there is enough quantity to fill the order. If sufficient quantity is found, the system then creates a soft commitment against the primary location. The location field can be viewed in the fold area (F4) of the sales detail line.

Hard Commitments

A hard commitment occurs when a specific location is indicated from which items will be drawn to fulfill a sales order. Items can be hard committed by you, by entering a secondary location onto an order detail line during ECS Sales Order Entry (P4211). You can also have items automatically hard committed by this program by setting processing option 49 to 3.

Processing options are also available to hard commitments items in the following programs:

  • Transfer Orders (P4242)

  • Release Backorders Online (P42117)

  • Release Backorders in Batch (P42118)

  • Print Acknowledgements/Invoices (P42565)

  • Re-commit Future Orders (P42995)

When you set a processing option to hard commit items, the system selects a location from which to hard commit inventory, based on the commitment method defined for each item in Item Branch/Plant Information program (P41026). There are three different commitment methods:

  • The normal commitment method for inventory (default). The system commits inventory from the primary location, then from secondary locations. The system uses locations with the most inventory and moves to the location with the least. The system commits backorders to the primary location

  • The inventory commitment method by lot number. The system commits inventory by lot number, starting with the lowest lot number and committing orders to available lots

  • The inventory commitment method by lot expiration date. The system commits inventory from the locations with the earliest expiration date first. The system considers only locations with expiration dates greater than or equal to the sales order or parts list requested date.

If the normal commitment method is being employed and there is not enough quantity available at any single location to fill an order, the system splits the sales order detail line into multiple lines, each containing the location from which a portion of the quantity has been filled.

Depending on the setup, a hard commitment can be logged against a primary or a secondary location. For example, some clients only maintain one location for each item, resulting in all on-hand quantities and commitments (soft, hard, and so on) being logged against the primary location. Other clients set up the primary location as a "phantom" location where no actual on-hand quantity is maintained. Since all on-hand quantities are only stored at secondary locations, hard commitments can only be logged against these locations.

When the items on a sales order line change from a soft commit to a hard commit, the system reduces the soft committed quantity in the Item Location file (F41021) and increases the hard committed quantity at the appropriate location(s). When items are relieved from inventory at Confirm Shipments or Sales Update, the system clears the hard commit quantity from F41021 and decreases the on-hand quantity. There should be no committed quantity for a sales order detail line once the inventory has been relieved.

Future Commitments

When a customer requests the delivery of an order on a future date, you might want to future commit the sales order quantities. Usually, most customers set their Item Availability Definitions so that future committed quantities do not decrease the on-hand quantities.

To determine if an order line should be future committed, the system looks at the Specific commitment days (COMH) field defined in the Branch/Plant Constants. This value in days is added to the current date and compared with the Scheduled Pick Date (PDDJ) for the order line. If the Scheduled Pick Date is greater than the calculated date, the order line will be future committed. Setting the Specific commitment days to 999 turns off the future commit function.

Future commitments are always logged against the primary location for an item, unless you type a secondary location in the sales order detail line.

As part of the Repost Active Sales Orders program (P42995), future committed orders are soft or hard committed if they fall within the calculated time frame.

Other Quantities 1 and 2

Usually, you commit order quantities to the Other Quantity 1 or 2 bucket when you do not want certain order types such as blanket or quote orders to decrease on-hand quantities.

Processing options behind Sales Order Entry direct the system to use these commitment types. The program then adds the committed quantities to either the Other Quantity 1 (OT1P) or Other Quantity 2 (OT2P) field on the Item Location file (F41021). On the Sales Order Detail file (F4211) the quantity is added to the Other Quantity (1/2) field (OTQY).

6.4.3 Backordered Items

You can have the system automatically backorder items on a sales order, based on item availability, by setting processing option 46 behind Sales Order Entry. The options are:

  • Enter '1' to be notified of an automatic backorder or cancel

  • Enter '2' to be notified but not create the backorder or cancel

  • Enter '3' to create the backorder or cancel automatically and update the order without issuing the warning

  • If left blank, no availability checking is done

You can also manually backorder quantities for a sales order detail line in Sales Order Entry by pressing F4 to open the fold and entering the quantity in the B (backorder) field.

Backordered quantities are soft committed and are maintained as a separate value in the Item Location file (F41021).

Backordered quantities are always logged against the primary location for an item, unless you manually enter a secondary location on the Sales Order Detail line.

6.4.4 What You Should Know About

Topic Description
Commit field on the Sales Order Detail file (F4211) This Commit field (COMM) on the Sales Order Detail file is used to designate the commitment status of the item. It can contain an S, H or C:

S – Indicates that the quantity is soft committed.

H – Indicates that the quantity was hard committed manually (that is, a secondary location was typed into the sales order detail line).

C – Indicates that the quantity was hard committed by the Batch Inventory Commitment program (P42997). This is the program that is called when the processing option to hard commit inventory has been set during the various steps through the sales order process.

Note: The field can also contain a K which is used to designate a kit master line. This has no impact on commitments.
Negative commitments To prevent commitments from becoming negative, ensure that availability checking is switched on in the processing options for ECS Sales Order Entry (P4211) and ECS Transfer Orders (P4242).

Also, note that a credit order creates negative commitments.
Refreshing the commitments in the Item Location file (F41021) If you think your commitments may have become corrupt you can run a version of the Repost Active Sales Orders program (P42995) to rebuild the commitment quantities. You must remember that this program does not update on-hand quantities.

This program has a separate version that is used to recommit future orders. Please ensure that you keep these versions separate and you do not attempt to set the processing options to run both functions in the same version.
Setting up availability checking At the Item/branch level (F4102) set the Check Availability Y/N field (CKAV) to Y. This overrides anything written in the equivalent field on the Item Master file (F4101). Even though many programs have processing options that turn on availability checking, it does not perform unless this flag is set in the Item Branch/Plant Information program (P41026).

If the ECS Sales Order Entry program (P4211) is set to soft commit, the system checks availability against the total quantity available at all locations and then logs the soft commit against the primary location. If the P4211 is set to hard commit, or you type a secondary location in the sales order detail line, the system checks availability against that particular location only, and hard commits against that location.
Hard commitments and soft commitments Hard commitments and soft commitments are stored in different buckets on the Item Location file (F41021).

In general, there are no precedence between hard and soft commitments, however there is one scenario when a hard commitment would be made in preference to a soft commitment. If an item is stored in multiple locations and the primary location is a phantom against which all soft commitments are logged, you could have 10 items soft committed against the primary location with 10 items on-hand at a secondary location giving an overall quantity of zero available. When a new sales order is entered for a quantity of 10, the user could type the secondary location which has the quantity of 10 in the fold of the detail line. This restricts the availability checking to that specific location only, resulting in a hard commitment against that location. There would not be available on-hand quantity to satisfy the existing soft commitment.
Transferring inventory that is hard committed against an order to another order To transfer inventory that is hard committed against an order to another order, you essentially de-commit the hard commitment from one order then go into the second order and hard commit the quantity you just made available.

In other words, you Inquire on the Sales Order on which you want to de-commit inventory in Sales Order Entry (P4211). Clear the secondary location from the location field and press Enter. This causes the system to default in the primary location. The hard commitment is relieved and a soft commitment is created for the order. Now inquire on the new order that you want to hard commit, and type the secondary location in the Location field and press Enter. This creates a hard commit for the new order.
Negative on-hand quantity Negative on-hand quantities can result when blanket orders are over-released, or sales order are over-shipped.

6.5 Locating Quantity Information (ECS)

Navigation

From ECS Sales Order Management (G4910), choose ECS Sales Order Inquiries

From ECS Sales Order Inquiries (G4910112), choose Summary Availability

You use the Summary Availability program to review quantity information and determine your current and future inventory needs. You can view information on the number of items in any of the following categories:

  • On-hand

  • Held

  • Hard and soft committed

  • Available

  • On purchase and work orders

  • On backorders

You can locate all of the items in a particular location within a branch/plant and review detailed information for each item.

To locate quantity information

On Summary Availability

Figure 6-4 Summary Availability screen (Release A9.3 Update)

Description of Figure 6-4 follows
Description of "Figure 6-4 Summary Availability screen (Release A9.3 Update)"

  1. Complete the following fields:

    • Branch/Plant

    • Item Number

  2. Complete the following optional fields:

    • S/D

    • U/M

    • Lot Grade

    • Lot Potency

  3. Review quantity information in the following fields:

    • Location

    • On Hand

    • Committed

    • Available

    • On Receipt

  4. Access the fold area.

    Figure 6-5 Summary Availability (Fold Area) screen (Release A9.3 Update)

    Description of Figure 6-5 follows
    Description of "Figure 6-5 Summary Availability (Fold Area) screen (Release A9.3 Update)"

  5. Review quantity information for each location in which an item is stored in the following fields:

    • Hard Commit on Sales Order

    • Quantity on Purchase Order

    • Soft Commit on Sales Order/Work Order

    • Quantity on Work Order

    • Hard Commit on Work Order

    • Future Commit

    • Backordered

Field Explanation
From Grade A code (system 40, type LG) that indicates the minimum grade acceptable for an item.

The system displays a warning message if you try to purchase or issue items that have a grade below the minimum grade acceptable. The system does not allow you to sell items that have a grade below the minimum acceptable level.
From Potency A number that indicates the minimum potency, or percentage of active ingredients, acceptable for an item.

The system displays a warning message if you try to purchase or issue items that fall below the minimum acceptable potency. The system does not allow you to sell items that fall below the minimum acceptable potency.
Quantity - Hard Committed The number of units committed to a specific location and lot.
Quantity on Purchase Order-primary units The number of units specified on the purchase order in primary units of measure.
Quantity Soft Committed The number of units soft committed to sales orders or work orders in the primary units of measure.
Quantity on Work Order Receipt The number of units on work orders in primary units of measure.
Quantity - Work Order Hard Commit The number of units hard committed to work orders in the primary unit of measure.
Quantity on Future Commit The quantity on sales order whose requested shipment date is beyond the standard commitment period that has been specified in the Inventory Constants for that branch. As an example, if you normally ship most orders within 90 days, then an order for an item with a requested ship date a year from now would have its quantity reflected in this field.
Quantity on Backorder The number of units backordered in primary units of measure.

6.5.1 What You Should Know About

Topic Description
Locating detailed quantity information You can locate detailed quantity information about an item in a specific storage area and verify the size and type of commitments against that quantity.

See Locating Detailed Quantity Information in the JD Edwards World Inventory Management Guide.
Locating quantity information by lot You can review the number of items that are in a particular lot, as well as the activity dates, item quantities, and hold statuses that pertain to the lot.

See Locating Quantity Information by Lot in the JD Edwards World Inventory Management Guide.
Locating on-hand quantity information You can review a transaction to determine how much of an item, in both quantity and cost amounts, that you have in any specific branch, location, or lot as of a particular date.

See Locating On-Hand Quantity Information in the JD Edwards World Inventory Management Guide.
Lot Effective Date (Release A9.3 Update) The date on which a lot becomes available. The system uses this date for availability and commitment processing to indicate that the lot is available on or after the date that you specify. You can enter the effective date for a lot when you first move inventory into the lot or you can leave the field blank to have the system calculate the effective date. The system calculates the effective date for a lot using the value set up for Effective Days in the Item Branch file (F4102) or using the current date if the value is zero.

6.5.2 Processing Options

See Section 47.5, "Item Availability (P41202)."

6.6 Reviewing Supply and Demand Information (ECS)

Navigation

From ECS Sales Order Management (G4910), choose ECS Sales Order Inquiries

From ECS Sales Order Inquiries (G4910112), choose Supply/Demand Inquiry

You use the Supply/Demand Inquiry program to monitor information about how many items are on demand, available in supply, and available to be promised. Information about the supply and demand for an item helps you accurately plan for future needs. For example, this information can help you plan warehouse resources around receipts and order picking. It also allows you to give customers an expected order ship date.

The Supply/Demand Inquiry program displays information from the Item Location (F41021), Sales Order Detail (F4211), and Purchase Order Detail (F4311) tables.

To review supply and demand information

On Supply/Demand Inquiry

Figure 6-6 Supply/Demand Inquiry screen

Description of Figure 6-6 follows
Description of "Figure 6-6 Supply/Demand Inquiry screen"

  1. Complete the following fields to locate the item:

    • Branch/Plant

    • Item Number

  2. Complete the following fields to limit the items that display:

    • Unit of Measure

    • Thru Date

  3. Review supply and demand information in the following fields:

    • Demand

    • Supply

    • Available

    • Promise Date

    • Order Number

    • Type

    • Customer/Supplier Name

  4. Access the fold area.

    Figure 6-7 Supply/Demand Inquiry (Fold Area) screen

    Description of Figure 6-7 follows
    Description of "Figure 6-7 Supply/Demand Inquiry (Fold Area) screen"

  5. Review item supply and demand information for each location and lot in the branch/plant in the following fields:

    • Customer/Supplier

    • Record Type

    • Parent Work Order

    • Parent

Field Explanation
Demand The quantity subtracted from the available balance as a result of the record processed. Typically, the sources of demand are safety stock, sales orders, or work order parts lists. When using system forecasting, you can set up a processing option to include quantities used for forecast demands.
Supply The quantity added to the available balance as a result of the record processed on each line. Sources of supply are typically on-hand inventory, purchase order receipts, or manufacturing work orders. A processing option allows for the inclusion of planned order receipts when using MPS/MRP/DRP.
Available The quantity available can be on-hand balance minus commitments, reservations, and backorders. Availability is user defined and can be set up on Branch/Plant Constants form.
Customer/Supplier Name The text that names or describes an address. This 40-character alphabetic field appears on a number of forms and reports. You can enter dashes, commas, and other special characters, but the system cannot search on them when you use this field to search for a name.

Form-specific information

The customer or supplier name on a sales or purchase order.

6.6.1 What You Should Know About

Topic Description
Supply and demand inclusion rules If you are using the Manufacturing and Distribution Planning system in conjunction with the Inventory Management system, you should set up the supply and demand inclusion rules.

See Setting Up MRP Supply and Demand Inclusion Rules in the JD Edwards World Manufacturing and Distribution Planning Guide.
Available to promise The highlighted "Available to Promise" lines indicate your company's uncommitted available inventory. This inventory is available for sale or distribution within a specified period until the next replenishment orders are scheduled to arrive.

The two methods of determining Available to Promise are:

  • Standard - the system considers customer demand for all periods and assumes that customers will consume the quantity within that period. The system also assumes that there will be no carryover into the next period.

  • Cumulative - the system keeps a running total of the standard Available to Promise and does not assume that customers will consume the quantity within a period.

You must set the appropriate processing option to choose which method you want the system to use.

6.6.2 Processing Options

See Section 47.6, "Supply & Demand (P4021)."

6.7 Reposting Sales Orders (ECS)

Navigation

From ECS Sales Order Management (G4910), choose End of Day Processing

From ECS End of Day Processing (G491013), choose Repost Active Sales Orders

If your data has been corrupted due to a loss of power or some other occurrence, you can restore sales order information. You can set up a DREAM Writer version of the Repost Active Sales Orders program to have the system restore sales orders and recalculate related quantity and commitment information.

The program does not restore or recalculate information for the following:

  • Orders with kit components and non-inventory items 

  • Orders that are on hold

  • Orders with incomplete header information

  • Canceled detail lines

  • Detail lines with invalid line types

You can also have the system clear and then recalculate the following quantity information for items, depending on how you set the processing options:

  • Committed quantity - includes any committed quantities on held orders 

  • Total quantity on an individual sales order

  • Total quantity for all sales orders

6.7.1 What You Should Know About

Topic Description
Recalculating sales orders that have future commitments You can set up a separate DREAM Writer version of the Repost Active Sales Orders program to have the system recalculate future commitments and print a report that lists each detail line that has future-committed items. This is helpful if you want updated information about future commitments.

You can also have the system perform the following, depending on how you set the processing options:

  • Check customer credit limits on future sales orders

  • Hard commit items on future sales orders

  • Put future sales orders on hold for review

  • Update item quantities in the Item Location table with information from the Sales Order Detail table

  • Update order totals in the Sales Order Header table with information from the Sales Order Detail table