Using PeopleSoft Inventory Policy Planning Work Queue Messages

This chapter provides an overview of Work Queue messaging and Work Queues messages and discusses how to:

Define Work Queue message usage.
Review Work Queue alerts.
Purge Work Queue alerts.

Understanding Work Queue Messaging

PeopleSoft Inventory Policy Planning uses its own messaging feature that provides information about exceptions that occur during policy generation. The feature is made up of:

Unique application message templates that the system uses to produce alerts.

You control when and how the system uses these messages to produce alerts, along with who you want to work with each type of message.
Work Queue alerts that the system produces when an exception occurs.
Work Queue Workbench to review, maintain, and purge alerts.

The system produces Work Queue alerts, for example, when errors, warnings, or changes in item status occur. You can use the alerts to quickly identify situations that require attention without reviewing information for all items. The system generates alerts as it processes these PeopleSoft Inventory Policy Planning transactions:

Inventory policy generation.
Work Queue maintenance.

You control whether the system generates Work Queue alerts for policy items using the control group. Within each control group, you select which messages will generate alerts. This depends on the reporting requirements for that control group. For example, alerts for high or low growth or trend warnings for an organization's high-volume, high-value items is more important than the same warning for low-value items.

Different people, who are responsible for different functions within the organization, process and resolve alerts. For example, an inventory analyst resolves inventory issues but may also work with a buyer to resolve some exception messages. The alert prompts the analyst to review the system-generated initial policy and adjust it as necessary. Use the Work Queue Workbench to display and maintain all alerts that meet specified selection criteria.

The system groups alerts into a queue that you can sort or filter to meet the business needs. You can select all Work Queue alerts for a particular item or select all items for a particular Work Queue message. This helps you concentrate on high-priority alerts as well as business-critical items. You can also add and future-date memos as reminders to review if certain conditions repeat themselves.

To use Work Queue messages:

Review the configuration settings for Work Queue messages using the Work Queue Message page. To access the page, select Define Security, Work Queue Messages.

Work Queue messages are system-supplied and ready for use. You cannot add, delete, or change the messages, but you can change the configuration.
Indicate if you want the system to generate an alert for a specific message during processing, update message-urgency levels, and define who's responsible for specific messages.

The system stores messages in the DP_MSGSWRKQUEUE record. When you create new control groups, the system copies all messages that are turned on for the control group to the DPIP_CTLGRPWRKQ record. During policy generation, when message conditions occur and the messages are set for use with the control group on that policy item, the system writes an alert to the DPIP_WRKQUE_MSG record.
Indicate if you want the system to generate alerts for messages for items that are associated with a control group.

Using control group settings, you can control message frequency and conditions. To change control group settings, select Define Policy Element, Control Groups, Work Queue.
Run any process that generates Work Queue alerts.

The system places alerts that occur during policy generation and Work Queue maintenance in the Work Queue.
Review Work Queue alert details using the Work Queue Workbench.

As part of the review, you can quickly check items that are associated with an error, filter messages by items and severity, change alert statuses, add comments about errors, or close individual alerts.
Use the Work Queue Specification option to create a Work Queue purge specification.

After you complete the review and respond to alert conditions, you can change alert statuses to Closed or delete them from the system. Purge specifications provide selection criteria for processing multiple alerts.
Run the IP Work Queue Purge process (DP_IPWQPURGE) to change alert statuses or delete them from the system.

This table describes Work Queue messages that the system can create during the Policy Generation process (DP_CALCPOLCY):

Number	Message	Description	Default Severity
765	User memo	The system added a memorandum to a Work Queue entry on the Add Memo page.	1
778	Zero Forecast Deviation	The forecast transfer in policy generation didn't find a forecast error. This causes the system to generate policy results that aren't valid, so the system generates an alert.	4
779	Variance Law Used	When an item has insufficient demand (less than the variance law periods), the system uses an alternate method, called variance law, to calculate the forecast deviation.	3
780	New Item Added	The system created a new policy item during policy generation with the Create Missing Policy Items option selected. Review the item for proper policy parameters.	4
781	Forecast Data is Zero	The transferred forecast data for the policy item is 0. This affects dynamic policies, such as days supply.	4
782	Zero Cost for EOQ Calc (zero cost for economic order quantity calculation)	The system bases economic order quantity calculations on standard and carrying costs. If either of these costs are 0, the calculation isn't valid, so the system generates an alert.	2
783	UOM Conversion not found (unit of measure conversion not found)	During policy generation, the system detected that the unit of measure was different between the policy item and the forecast item, but the system couldn't find a conversion factor.	3
784	No forecast Data for Pol. Item (no forecast data for policy item)	A policy item must have forecast data associated with it so that the system can generate a policy for the item. This policy set has never had forecasts transferred to it, and you haven't selected to transfer forecasts for this generation.	3
800	Negative Value Found	You use the policy set to designate which forecast data series to use during policy generation. During calculations of the policy, the system detected a negative value in the data series. Because negative values yield results that aren't valid, the system generates an alert.	1

Defining Work Queue Message Usage

You maintain Work Queue messages to indicate how you want the system to process the messages. For example, you indicate whether or not to record the message and its urgency. You can update message information any time.

This section discusses how to define message usage.

Page Used to Define Work Queue Message Usage

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Work Queue Message	DP_MSGSWRKQUEUE	Inventory Policy Planning, Define Security, Work Queue Messages	Define message configuration settings and update the settings based on the business needs.

Defining Messages

Access the Work Queue Message page.

The message number that you selected when you performed the search appears with its description. To maintain a message:

Select the Record Error check box to activate the message.

If you do not select Record Error, the system doesn’t create messages for the condition. The system uses this setting in conjunction with the control group's Work Queue setting to determine whether to record Work Queue messages. To record a message at the control group level, select Control Groups, Define, Work Queue.
Enter the severity of the message condition in the Urgency Level field.

The most severe value is 1, and 99 is the least severe.
Use the Assign To field to indicate the user ID of the person who is responsible for the inventory condition that this message generates.

Reviewing Work Queue Alerts

After running PeopleSoft Inventory Policy Planning generation, which generates Work Queue alerts, check for exceptions using the Work Queue Workbench. You can identify which items have problems and correct them without having to review all of the items in the system.

This section discusses how to:

Select alerts for review.
View alert details.
Add memos to Work Queue alerts.

Pages Used to Review Work Queue Alerts

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Work Queue Workbench	DP_IPWRKQUEUE_FLTR	Inventory Policy Planning, Process Policy, Work Queue Workbench	Define selection criteria for alerts, and review alerts.
Details	DP_IPWORKQUEDETAIL	Click the Details link on the Work Queue Workbench page.	View alert details that occurred during the processing of policy items.
Add Memo	DP_IPWORKQUEMEMO	Inventory Policy Planning, Process Policy, Work Queue Workbench, Add Memo	Add memos to the Work Queue alerts and update error details.

Selecting Alerts for Review

Access the Work Queue Workbench page.

The Work Queue Workbench page displays high-level details of the Work Queue alerts that match the selection criteria.

Initially, this page opens without entries. When you define selection criteria and click Search, the system displays alerts that meet the criteria. If you do not enter criteria, the system retrieves the first 300 alerts in the Work Queue.

See Defining Selection Criteria.

Search

Click to begin a search based on the selection criteria you enter.

Clear Filter

Click to remove the current selection criteria.

Field Name

Select a field on which to limit the number of alerts that appear in the Work Queue. Fields include:

Alert Status: Indicates the current state of the alert. A Closed status indicates that the alert has been reviewed and resolved. An Open status indicates that the alert has not been closed. Action may or may not have been taken for the alert.
Assigned To: Defines the person who or organization that is assigned alerts for review.
Close Date: Defines the date on which the Work Queue message was closed. This means the message has been reviewed.
Function Code: Represents the process that generated the Work Queue message. PeopleSoft Inventory Policy Planning uses only the Policy Generation process to produce alerts.
Item Code: Bases criteria on policy items. Select an item using the Define Selection Criteria page.
Location: Bases criteria on the specific location or business unit in which policy items exist.
Message Number: Identifies specific messages for which the system produces alerts when generating a policy.
System Date: Defines the date on which the system generated the alert.
Urgency Level: Defines the severity level of the alerts that you want to retrieve. If you select this value, you can enter a value up to 99. Define urgency values using the Work Queue Messages feature.
User ID: Defines the person or organization that ran the transaction generating the Work Queue alert.
Work Queue Sequence: Defines the number that is associated with a specific Work Queue alert. This is not the message number.

Items Tab

Select the Items tab.

This tab displays the item information on Work Queue alerts that match the selection criteria. After performing a search, you can close all alerts using the Select All check box to select the alerts. The system changes the alert status to closed when you select Save. To clear all selected check boxes, select Clear All.

Location	Displays the location to which this item belongs.
Details	Click to access the Details page where you can view additional information about the alert.
Alert Status	Displays the state of the alert. A Closed status indicates that the alert has been reviewed and resolved. An Open status indicates that the alert has not been closed. Action may or may not have been taken for the alert.
Close	Select this check box to change the Alert Status to Closed. Clear this check box to change the Alert Status to Open.
Description	The Work Queue message that the system created during the Policy Generation process.

User Fields Tab

Select the User Fields tab.

This tab displays high-level details about user fields of the Work Queue alerts that match the selection criteria.

Occurred Date	Defines when this alert was generated by the system.
Close Date	Defines when this alert was closed.
Sequence	Displays the system-assigned number provided for the alert when it was generated. This is not the message number.

Viewing Alert Details

Access the Details page.

This page displays additional information about the alert and provides a work area for responding to and closing the alert. The Error Details and Item Details grids display information from the Work Queue Workbench page. The Additional Information field displays text that might help correct the Work Queue alert.

Number	Displays a Work Queue sequence number, which is the unique identifier for the selected alert. The system creates the ID during inventory policy generation to record and track message occurrences. This is not the message ID number.
Assign To	Displays the user ID to which the alert is assigned.
Alert Status	Select the status to assign to the alert. You can change an alert to an Open status when it is in a Closed status or change an alert to a Closed status when it is in an Open status. Click Update to change the status.
Enter Notes for this Entry	Enter any comments that you want to retain with this alert.
Update	Click to update the status and save comments that you entered on this page.

Adding Memos to Work Queue Alerts

Access the Add Memo page.

Use the Add Memo page to associate memo entries. Memos are comments, instructions, or notes regarding the resolution or closing of the alert. For example, as a result of reviewing several Work Queue alerts, you might enter a memo about an item that other users in the system can view or that may instruct another person to take a specific action. You can change the date for a memo. The system adds memos to the Work Queue with a description of User Memo.

Use message number 765, User Memo, to add information to a Work Queue alert. When you add additional information to a memo, the system creates a new alert.

To use the Work Queue to record alerts that don’t relate to a current policy item, you can add pseudo items to the Policy Item master record. For example, you can add a reminder, memo, or a similar pseudo item to the record.

Urgency	Displays the current severity level. You can override this value.
Occurred	Displays the current date and time. You can override the value.
Additional Information	Enter additional comments about this memo.
Item Code	If this memo isn’t item-related and you have set up a pseudo item such as a memo or reminder, you can enter that ID in this field.
Location	If this memo isn’t location-related and you have set up a pseudo item such as a memo or reminder, you can enter that ID in this field.

Purging Work Queue Alerts

After reviewing and resolving alert conditions, you can close the alert, delete it from the system, or both. Deleting a specific alert that is associated with a message removes the alert, not the message, from the system.

This section discusses how to:

Create Work Queue specifications.
Purge alerts.

Pages Used to Purge Work Queue Alerts

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Work Queue Specification	DP_IPWQSPEC_FILTER	Inventory Policy Planning, Process Deletions, Work Queue Specification	Create Work Queue specifications for purging alerts from the system.
Work Queue Alerts	DP_IPWRKQUEPURGE	Inventory Policy Planning, Process Deletions, Work Queue Alerts	Purge alerts that are associated with the Work Queue message. This does not delete the message.

Creating Work Queue Specifications

Access the Work Queue Specification page.

Use Work Queue purge specifications to either close or delete multiple inventory policy Work Queue alerts. Define purge specifications for individual policy sets. For each set, define which types of alerts you want to purge and whether to delete or close the alert. You must define at least one selection criteria to save the specification.

See Defining Selection Criteria.

Description

Enter a description for the specification.

Update Options

Select an action that you want the system to perform for alerts. Options include:

Close: When you use this specification to purge alerts, the system changes open messages that meet the selection criteria to a Closed status. This does not remove them from the system.

Delete: Removes the message exception from the system.

Prior Days to Update

Enter the number of days prior to the current date that you want the system to close or delete alerts. The system only deletes or closes alerts with a status change that is within the time period that you enter and that meet the selection criteria. If you do not enter prior days to update, the system assumes that you want all alerts that match the selection criteria.

For example, if you select Delete in the Update Option field and enter 60 in this field, the system includes all records that are equal to or greater than 60 days old in the specification and deletes them from the system when you use the specification to purge alerts.

If you select Close as the update option, all records with an occurred date that is equal to or greater than the number that you enter are included in the specification. The system closes these records only when you use this specification to purge alerts.

Use the fields in the Selection Criteria grid area to define selection criteria for the Work Queue specification.

Note. If you select Alert Status as the field in the Selection Criteria Field Name, field, the available values are either C (closed) or O (open).

Purging Alerts

Access the Work Queue Alerts page.

Use the IP Work Queue Purge process to close or delete conditions that are associated with multiple Work Queue messages. After the select a Policy Set and a Specification Name, the system displays a link that you can click to edit the work queue specification.