Understanding Supplier Schedule Generation

You use the Supplier Schedule Generation program (R34400) to process purchase order messages of message types O, B, and G on the material requirements plan. You can use this program to generate blanket order-based schedules, as well as ad hoc schedules.

When you generate the supplier schedule, the system uses the messages from the most recent Material Requirements Planning (MRP) generation, blanket orders, and the information that is defined in the Supplier Schedule Master File table (F4321) to create a supplier schedule. The system determines demand from the MRP messages.

Important: Do not change the messages after the system has generated them from MRP.

You can set the appropriate processing option for the Supplier Schedule Generation program to clear MRP messages after schedule generation. The system clears only those messages that are inside the releasable time fence.

If you use multiple suppliers, the system creates multiple supplier schedules for a single item. It does so by splitting the MRP messages by the percentages that you defined in the F4321 table.

When you generate a supplier schedule, the system creates a draft of the supplier schedule and prints a report that details any discrepancies that might make the supplier schedule ineffective. You can review the draft of the supplier schedule by using the Supplier Schedule Revisions program (P34301) and make any necessary revisions prior to committing to a final schedule. Blanket order-based schedules are stored in the Vendor Schedule Quantity File table (F3430).

When you have generated the schedule and communicated it to the supplier, the supplier can make commitments for items that require commitments. You can use the processing options to indicate whether you require commitments from the suppliers in response to the planned quantities on the supplier schedule. If you use EDI to send the schedule to the supplier, the supplier can communicate committed quantities back to you, using EDI standards. If you do not use EDI, the supplier can send commitments by other means, for example fax, and you enter the committed quantity into the schedule. Commitments that are entered for a blanket order-based schedule are stored in the Vendor Schedule Commitment File table (F3435).

You can run the Supplier Schedule Generation program multiple times to accommodate changes. For blanket order-based schedules, a snapshot of the schedule is saved to the Vendor Schedule History File table (F3440) every time that you run the program. You can view the values from the previous schedule in the previous quantity fields in the Supplier Schedule Revisions program.

If you rerun the schedule generation after the committed quantity was entered, the current Committed Quantity value does not change. If the Committed Quantity field was populated from the Planned Quantity field for an item that does not require a supplier commitment and the planned quantity changes due to a supplier schedule regeneration, the committed quantity changes accordingly.