Earliest Item Availability

The Supply Allocation Earliest Item Availability page computes item and location level availability information based on simulated allocations. The system then populates the computed availability date to provide answers to item availability inquiries regarding future demand.

Earliest Item Availability is now compatible with Sales Channel Allocation. This improves the earliest availability calculation by leveraging the allocation process to allocate supplies set aside for sales channels.

The Earliest Item Availability page enables you to:

Quickly identify item availability across all inventory holding locations.
Check on item availability anytime, accounting for existing allocation.
Enter an item and quantity to compute the earliest available date for all locations that handle inventory.
Compute and display key quantity data, such as current and future inventories and existing allocations for all available locations.
Apply rules to the date calculation by selecting multiple strategies. For example, current inventory only or include future inventory already shipped.
Available dates and quantities are computed based on the quantity of supplies set aside for each sales channel.

Reviewing Earliest Item Availability

The Supply Allocation Earliest Item Availability page displays answers to item availability inquiries regarding future demand.

To review earliest item availability:

Go to Transactions > Order Management > Earliest Item Availability.
Select a Subsidiary.
Select the Item you want to display availability for.

The locations holding inventory are displayed and the related columns are populated.
To filter your item availability, select a Sales Channe l.

To display the available supply pool, leave the field empty.
Enter the number of items you need in the Quantity field.

If the displayed Earliest Available Dates dates do not match your required date, enter a lower quantity, and review other locations for available inventory.
To apply rules to the date calculation, select an Allocation Strategy.
If your allocation strategy has an allocation period, select a Supply Required by Date.

This period can be before or after Supply Required By Date.
Click Save.

To reserve an order:

Go to Transactions > Order Management > Enter Order Reservations > List.
Beside the reservation you wan to approve, click Edit.
Click Approve.

For more information, see Order Reservations.

Maximize Existing Supply

After Supply Allocation is enabled, the NetSuite allocation optimization can compute the maximum sales outcome based on the existing supplies and achieve:

Maximum sales order fill rate
Maximum sales revenue
Maximum sales profit

To maximize existing supply:

Go to Transactions > Order Management >Allocate Orders.

For example:
- Subsidiary is United States
- Location is San Francisco
- Item is PR100-A
- Transaction Type is Sales Order
In the Allocation Processing Option field, select Using Gross Profit Optimization on Sales Orders.

Show Gross Profit Percentage information is displayed on the sub-list.
After clicking Submit, the system will:
- maximize gross profit while making perfect allocations when possible.
- allocate the leftover inventory to the remaining sales orders, as outlined in the supply allocation setup demand sorting options.
- setup is primarily by Supply Required By Date.
Go to Setup >Order Management >Supply Allocation.
In the Demand Preferences subtab, select Demand Transaction Sorting Options.
Allocate the sales orders according to their allocation strategy. Start with the earliest available date (today and forward).

Because the sales order-book changes, the optimized allocation needs to be regularly re-calculated. The entire process can be automated using the Order Allocation Schedule.

To set up optimized allocation batch:

Optimize allocations and consume suitable current and future inventory.
- Ignores allocation strategies and follows its own algorithm.
- Targets perfect allocation.
The system allocates leftover supplies:

According to the allocation strategies and the default demand sorting options.
In the Supply Allocation Setup, in the Demand Transaction Sorting Options section, Sort By field, select Supply Required by Date.

If you used saved search on the optimization batch, sort the saved search by requested date.
On the Order Allocation Strategy page, under the Allocation Method section, select Allocate as Soon as Available Before Supply Required by Date option.

Do not use the Allocate Complete and Allocation Period options.

This allocation keeps the remaining current and future inventory after the gross profit optimization in inventory for the shortest possible time.