Creating Allocation Strategies

Create an allocation strategy to define the rules that allocate particular inventory. You can create multiple strategies, then select them on demand order lines to specify the inventory allocation to respond to that demand.

For example, you want to allocate e-commerce orders quickly and allocate wholesale orders close to the Supply Required By Date. You can create several strategies to cover various cases and create new ones as situations change over time.

When you enable the Supply Allocation feature, two predefined allocation strategies are available by default. Note that these default strategies only consider inventory that is currently on-hand, not future inventory.

Predefined Available Allocation Strategy - This strategy uses the Allocation Quantities setting to allocate any available quantities.

Note:
You cannot delete a Predefined Available Allocation Strategy. In some cases, NetSuite uses this record as backup. For example, manually allocating current inventory on the reallocate items page to order lines with no allocation strategy.
Predefined Complete Allocation Strategy - This strategy uses the Allocation Quantities setting to allocate only complete quantities.

To view a complete list of allocation strategies, go to Setup > Order Management > Order Allocation Strategies.

To create an allocation strategy:

Go to Setup > Order Management > Order Allocation Strategies > New.
Enter a Name for the strategy. This name appears in strategy lists.
Check the Inactive box if you do not want this strategy to show in lists.
To consider future inventory for allocation, under Inventory Options, check the Future Inventory box.

This includes inventory that is on-order and in-transit, but not yet received. Note that inventory that is currently on-hand is always considered for allocation.
In the Future Inventory Order Types field, click each type to consider for future inventory. To select more than one, press the Shift key and then click each item.

If you select Purchase Order, Inbound Shipment is automatically selected. However, you can select Inbound Shipment without selecting Purchase Order.

To exclude future inventory from consideration for allocation, clear the Future Inventory box.
Use the Allocation Period fields to limit the allocation of inventory by defining a specific period before or after the Supply Required by Date.

Note:
If no allocation period is defined, this allocation strategy considers all inventory that is available to allocate.
1. To limit the inventory allocation to a period before the Supply Required by Date:
  1. Under Current and Future Inventory, check the Limit Inventory Allocation Period Before Supply Required by Date box.
  2. In the Days field, enter the number of days for the limited allocation period. The default value is 180 days. The maximum value you can enter is 9999.
2. To limit inventory allocation to the period after the Supply Required by Date:
  1. Under Future Inventory Only, check the Limit Inventory Allocation Period After Supply Required by Date box.
  2. In the Days field, enter the number of days in the period after the Supply Required by Date to consider. The default value is 0 days. The maximum value you can enter is 9999.
For example, for seasonal items, you want to limit allocation to 30 days before and 30 days after the Supply Required By Dat e. To do this, check both boxes and enter 30 in the Days fields.
Under Allocation Method, choose one of the following:
- Allocate as Soon as Available Before Supply Required by Date
- Allocate as Close as Possible to Supply Required by Date
Under Allocation Quantities, choose one of the following:
- Available Quantity - Allows NetSuite to allocation a partial quantity of items as soon as any portion of the total amount needed becomes available. NetSuite will allocate the remainder at a future time after another allocation calculation.
  
  For example, a sales order line needs 10 items. Only five items are available now to be committed. Using this setting, NetSuite allocates five items to demand on the line now and the remaining five in the future.
- Complete Quantity – Allocate items only when the total amount needed for the line is available for commitment. If only a portion of the full amount is available, NetSuite does not yet commit any of the items.
  
  For example, a sales order line needs 10 items. Only 5 items are available now for commitment. When you choose this option, NetSuite allocates 0 items to demand on the line now. No items are allocated against the demand until the full amount is available for commitment. NetSuite will allocate all 10 items in the future.
Under Available Date Calculation, choose one of the following:
- Calculate Available Date with ATP Lead Time – to calculate the available date using available to promise lead time.
- Calculate Available Date without ATP Lead Time – to calculate the available date without available to promise lead time.
Supply Allocation assigns the latest date among the following date source options as the expected ship or supply date:
- Supply Required By Date – Sets the available date to later than or equal to the Supply Required By Date.
- Dates of the allocated supplies – Sets the available date to the date of the latest allocated supply
- Current date – Sets the available date to today’s date if the other date sources are in the past
  
  Based on your Available Date Calculation choice, Supply Allocation may include the ATP lead time to calculate the available date using the current date.
Available date calculation also depends on the order line allocation. Along with the expected ship or supply date, the expected receipt date for transfer orders is also calculated. For more information, see Supply Allocation Calculations.
Under Allocation Type, choose one of the following to indicate the allocation type:
- Reserved Allocation – NetSuite commits inventory, but can also reallocate it to other orders.
- Firm Allocation - NetSuite commits inventory and cannot reallocate it to other orders by the system. You can only reallocate this inventory manually.
  
  Note:
  When part of the ordered quantity is Firm Allocation, the system may allocate further quantities in addition to the amount that has been allocated. The system can drop such allocation only when the user sets the strategy on the order line to Do Not Allocate.
Click Save.

To create an allocation strategy:

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