1. Requirements Planning Implementation Guide
  2. Understanding Supplier Schedule Release Generation

Understanding Supplier Schedule Release Generation

After finalizing a schedule by using Supplier Schedule Revisions or Ad Hoc Schedule Revisions, you use the Supplier Schedule Release Generation program to release the current supplier schedule. The release process generates:

  • Purchase orders for all committed quantities within the release fence.

  • A shipping schedule that is based on when you need the items, the shipping lead time, and other defined variables.

After the schedule is processed, the system updates the planned, committed, and released quantities on the supplier schedule that are inside the time fence.

When you run the Supplier Schedule Release Generation program, the program releases both blanket order-based schedules and ad hoc schedules, if any exist. It creates purchase orders for quantities matching the committed quantities. Purchase orders are created only for committed quantities with dates that are inside the release fence. Committed quantities outside the release fence remain committed. For schedules that are based on blanket orders, the system uses the value from the Releasable Days field in the Supplier Schedule Master Revisions program (P4321). After purchase orders are created, the Released Quantity field on the vendor schedule is updated with the purchase order quantity.

For blanket order-based schedules, the program creates purchase orders against the blanket order and uses the supplier schedule master information to create a release schedule. For ad hoc schedules, the purchase orders are created using the version of the Purchase Orders program that you define in the processing options.

In the process of generating release schedules, the program also consolidates the purchase orders. You can use a processing option to determine what criteria the system uses for consolidation. By default, the program consolidates purchase orders by branch, supplier, and item. However, you can also consolidate by branch and supplier only, or by branch, supplier, and date. In this process, purchase orders that are created against blanket orders and ad hoc schedules are merged.