Purpose: The Reservation module reserves inventory from a specific warehouse or multiple warehouses for customer orders as they are entered and accepted through Order Entry.
The system continually evaluates new orders and backorders to ensure that stock is being reserved appropriately for all orders. There are two reservation types:
• Immediate = The system reserves stock when an order is placed, providing stock is available. In an immediate or real-time environment, the system reserves inventory on a first-come, first-served basis (FIFO) in the specified warehouse as each item is added to an order.
• Interactive = The system reserves stock through an interactive entry program. When using the Interactive Reservation function, no inventory is reserved until you use Working with Interactive Reservation (MIRV). This program allows you to disburse inventory manually to preferred customers or to customers who order in large wholesale volume.
Note: In order for the system to reserve inventory for a particular item in a warehouse, the Reservation freeze field for that item warehouse must be unselected.
In this chapter:
• Reviewing Immediate Reservation
• Reserving Stock with Immediate Reservation
• Reviewing Interactive Reservation
• Reserving Stock with Interactive Reservation
The system assigns a warehouse to an order or order line using the following hierarchy:
• A warehouse code for an individual order line: If you enter a warehouse code for an individual order line using the Add Line option, the system will use this warehouse to reserve the order line. This warehouse assignment will override all other reserve warehouse logic.
• A warehouse code entered on the order header: If you enter a warehouse code in the Warehouse field on the Work with Order screen, the system will use this warehouse to reserve all lines on the order. This warehouse assignment will override all other warehouse assignments except a warehouse code entered for an individual order line.
• Warehouse list:If you have not entered a warehouse code for an individual order line, or a warehouse code on the order header, the system will look for a warehouse list for the SCF of the order ship to address, if system control value Ship Complete from 1 Warehouse (B16) selected.
• The item’s primary warehouse: If no reserve warehouse can be assigned based on individual order lines, a warehouse code entered on the order header, or a warehouse list, the system will reserve the item in the warehouse defined for the item in the Item table. See Warehouse Lists and Single Order Lines.
Reviewing Immediate Reservation
Overview: In the Immediate Reservation environment, the system reserves inventory for an item when the order is placed. In addition, stock is reserved for eligible backorders as new merchandise is received into active inventory in the warehouse. This ensures that eligible backorders receive stock prior to new orders. Backorders are reviewed on a continual basis to ensure that eligible backorders receive stock prior to new orders and that orders are ready for printing as soon as possible.
The system prepares an order for pick slip generation when an order is created or changed; see Preparing Orders for Pick Slip Generation.
You must run Streamlined Pick Slip Generation (WSPS) to generate and print pick slips. See Performing Pick Slip Generation.
System control values which control Immediate Reservation:
System Control Value |
Results |
Immediate Reservation (A64) Selected/Unselected |
• Selected = Inventory is reserved for open orders as each line is entered in Order Entry. • Unselected = Inventory is reserved for orders through Working with Interactive Reservation (MIRV). |
FIFO Flag (A03) Selected/Unselected |
• Selected = Inventory will be held for orders on a first-in/first-out basis, regardless of whether the order is eligible for fulfillment. Must be selected if Immediate Reservation (A64) is selected. • Unselected = Inventory will not be held for orders that are not eligible for fulfillment. Note: If this field is unselected, the system subtracts the SKU open quantity from the On hand quantity for each warehouse in calculating the Available quantity. For example, if you have 10 units of an item on-hand in warehouse 1 and warehouse 2, and you enter an order for a quantity of 2, the system displays an available quantity of 8 in both warehouse 1 and warehouse 2. |
Enter a valid Warehouse code that represents the primary shipping warehouse. This code will display on many screens throughout the system. Note: If you are in a multiple warehouse environment, you may want to leave this field blank. |
|
Ship Complete from 1 Warehouse (B16) Selected/Unselected |
• Selected = The system will attempt to consolidate reserve warehouses for the order, using warehouse list logic. • Unselected = The system will attempt to reserve inventory from the item’s primary warehouse as defined in the item table. See Working with Warehouse Lists (WWHL) for an explanation of the system’s reserve warehouse logic. |
Split Line Over Multi Whse (B19) Selected/Unselected |
• Selected = A line on an order can be fulfilled by inventory from more than one warehouse. • Unselected = An order line must be fulfilled by inventory from only one warehouse. Note: This system control value is not currently implemented. |
Enter the number of days after which an order (or order line) should be considered a future order and will not be reserved. |
Reserving Stock with Immediate Reservation
Determining stock availability: In the Immediate Reservation environment, the system reserves inventory on a first-come, first-served (FIFO) basis in the specified warehouse, as you add an item to an order.
The system is always attempting to reserve stock, based on your System Control table values and by using the Quantity Available calculation to determine if there is sufficient stock for new orders.
Quantity Available Calculation
On hand - Protected - Reserved - Reserve transfer - Backordered = Quantity Available
Definitions:
On hand: the quantity of the item currently in the warehouse
Protected: the quantity of the item that can be reserved only through Interactive Reservation.
Reserved: the quantity of the item that is already set aside for other orders.
Reserve transfer: the quantity of the item set to be transferred to another warehouse
Backorder: the quantity of the item unavailable for existing orders that must be fulfilled through PO Receipts
Note: Each time an item is reserved, the system reduces the Quantity available and updates the Quantity open by the Quantity ordered fields in the Item/Warehouse table. Availability is reduced, regardless of the reservation type.
Reserving stock: In the Immediate Reservation environment, the system reserves stock, as follows:
• If the total order is available: The system increments the order detail line with the quantity reserved to fulfill the order. The program increments the Quantity open and Quantity reserved fields in the Item/Warehouse table.
• If a partial order is available: The system reserves what it can and backorders the rest. See Reserving Backorders.
• If no part of the order is available: See Reserving Backorders.
Note: In a FIFO environment, an eligible order is any order taken for an item, open or held. In a Non-FIFO environment, only open orders are considered eligible for reservation.
Orders for which stock is unavailable at the time of order entry will not be eligible for immediate reservation. These orders will have stock reserved using the Evaluate Backorders Program. This is a batch program that can be initiated automatically by PO Receiving or Inventory Transactions. The system processes backorders as follows:
• When no part of the order is available: The system does not reserve the item in any warehouse and increments the Quantity backordered field in the Item/Warehouse table.
• When a partial order is available: The system reserves what it can and backorders the rest, and increments the Quantity reserved and the Quantity backordered fields in the Item/Warehouse table.
Note: Any item/SKU which has been assigned a zone reservation code will be excluded from backorder reservation in the Evaluate Backorders Program. These items are normally reserved and shipped through the zone reservation process; however, zone reservation coded items which have been backordered through the standard order entry process can be reserved in Work with Interactive Reservation. See Shipping Zone Reservation Overview, for information on zone reservation. See Working with Interactive Reservation (MIRV), for more information on reserving interactively.
Evaluating future orders: The arrival date is the date on which the customer wants to receive the order; this date controls whether the system reserves inventory immediately and whether to create pre-generated picks. The system uses the following calculation to determine future orders.
If Arrival date - Reservation lead days is equal to or greater than today's date, the order is a Future order.
The Evaluate Future Orders program runs each evening to evaluate all order detail lines marked as “future order.” The system re-runs the arrival date calculation and reserves the required inventory based on the order date, if the system-calculated date is less than or equal to today's date.
When the system determines that an order is a future order:
• Inventory is not reserved.
• Each detail line is marked as a future order.
Reviewing Interactive Reservation
Overview: This feature allows you to reserve stock for specific customers or orders via Working with Interactive Reservation (MIRV). No inventory is reserved until you run the Interactive Reservation Program to manually disperse inventory to preferred customers, or to customers who purchase large volumes of inventory.
You can designate specific customers for interactive reservation using a Customer Class code in which the Bypass reservation field is flagged, or by selecting the flag for individual customers; for these customers, orders is not reserved in order entry. You can designate specific items to bypass reservation in order entry by using a quantity limit in the Item/SKU table (i.e., items for which there is limited stock).
Note: Use the Bypass reservation flag only if the Use OROB for Fulfillment Assignment (M31) system control value is unselected. This system control value uses the Bypass reservation flag to send orders to Order Broker for fulfillment assignment.
System control values that control Interactive Reservations:
System Control table value |
Results |
Immediate Reservation (A64) Selected/Unselected |
• Selected = Inventory is reserved for open orders as each line is entered in Order Entry. • Unselected = Inventory is reserved for orders through Interactive Reservation. Note: A Bypass res (Bypass reservation) flag in the Customer table indicates that you do not want to reserve stock for that customer via Immediate Reservation. |
FIFO Flag (A03) Selected/Unselected |
• Selected = Inventory will be held for orders on a first-in/first-out basis, regardless of whether the order is eligible for fulfillment. Must be selected if Immediate Reservation (A64) is selected. • Unselected = Inventory will not be held for orders that are not eligible for fulfillment. |
Enter a valid Warehouse code that represents the default warehouse. This code will display on many screens throughout the system. Note: If you have multiple warehouses, you may want to leave this field blank. |
|
Ship Complete from 1 Warehouse (B16) Selected/Unselected |
• Selected = The system will attempt to consolidate reserve warehouses for the order, using warehouse list logic. • Unselected = The system will attempt to reserve inventory from the item’s primary warehouse as defined in the item table. See Working with Warehouse Lists (WWHL) for an explanation of the system’s reserve warehouse logic. |
Split Line Over Multi Whse (B19) Selected/Unselected |
• Selected = A line on an order can be fulfilled by inventory from more than one warehouse. • Unselected = An order line must be fulfilled by inventory from only one warehouse. Note: This system control value is not currently implemented. |
Enter the number of days after which an order (or order line) should be considered a future order and will not be reserved. |
Reserving Stock with Interactive Reservation
Reservation conditions: In Working with Interactive Reservation (MIRV), the system reserves stock only if:
• The order is not a future order; the system-calculated date is less than or equal to today's date.
• The Reservation freeze field in the item/SKU warehouse record is not selected.
• Reservations can be performed against the warehouse in the Item/Warehouse record.
Note: Each time an item is reserved, the system reduces the Quantity available and updates the Quantity reserved. Availability is reduced, regardless of the reservation type.
Reserving stock: In the Immediate Reservation environment, the system reserves stock based on the values defined in the Quantity reserve limit field in the Item table. This quantity represents the maximum quantity that can be reserved for any one order through Immediate Reservation in order entry. If the quantity ordered by a customer exceeds this quantity, the system will not reserve any inventory for that order detail line. This order detail line must be flagged for reservation by the Interactive Reservation Program.
Displaying held orders: In Interactive Reservation, you can display held orders that have inventory reserved for them.
The list of held orders is displayed by hold code (e.g., all fraud orders are displayed first) and within hold code by date. You can release the inventory reservation on these orders; however, to cancel the order or take any other action, you must use the Order Maintenance function.
