The Item Master Schedule window (Planning menu) displays, for each item, the set of projected transactions and the projected profile of inventory. It is worth noting that this window can be accessed via the Master Schedule button available in several windows.
In this master schedule, the projected transactions are represented in 10 different rows:
•Sales Forecasts: these transactions are the sales forecasts minus the Sales orders which have the Consume Forecast attribute. They appear in the Expected column of the Forecasts window.
•Sales orders: these transactions are the customer orders (validated or not). The quantities appearing in this row are the quantities to be delivered (i.e. the order line quantity minus the already shipped quantity).
•Internal requirements: these transactions are the requirements generated by the S&O Plan Disaggregation function (S&O Plan menu) from the firm and planned work orders of higher level during the calculation of the requirements.
•Firm orders: these transactions correspond to the firm work orders and firm purchase requisitions and the approved purchase orders (which constitute the Expected receipts).
•Planned orders: these transactions are the requisition orders and/or work orders planned by the last MRP calculation.
•Suggested: if the New suggestions checkbox is selected, these transactions are automatically proposed if some backlog appears in the projected inventory row.
•Projected inventory: this row represents the inventory evolution over successive time periods (including the safety inventory).
•Available to promise: this row is equal to the inventory plus the Forecasts row.
•Release/order: these quantities correspond to the firm orders to be released in each period.
•Planned releases: these quantities correspond to the planned orders to be released in each period.
•Number of releases: this is the number of order releases to be planned during each period.
These projected transactions can be displayed by day, by week or by month.
When clicking on a cell (in one of these rows, except for the Projected inventory and Available to Promise rows), the corresponding table with the underlying numerical data is displayed.
When clicking on the New suggestions check box, one launches, only for the considered item, a new requirements calculation. This is useful if some modification (i.e. a new forecast, a new order,...) has been introduced since the last requirements calculation. In this case, new work orders or new purchase requisitions are suggested to meet the new needs. All these new orders are displayed in the Suggested line.
In this way, one can test the effect of different reorder policies for the item. These policies can be selected in the Item Reorder Policy window, accessed via the Rules button. It is worth noting that this window is also displayed via the Parameter tab of the Item window.
One can modify the reorder rules and immediately measure their effect on the master schedule (it is recommended to remove the planned orders or requisitions before this operation).
The Proj. Tran. button displays the chronological list of the projected transactions for the item.
The Profiles button displays the projected inventory profile or the decomposition of the needs (i.e. the forecasts, the customer orders or the internal requirements).
The Pegging button permits one to find the requirements which generated the planned orders up to the upper level, i.e. the customer orders and the sales forecasts. All these transactions appear on the Requirements Pegging window.
Details for each cell
Additional information is displayed when clicking on a cell in the Item Master Schedule window (except for the lines Projected Invent., Days of supply and Avail. To promise). The inventory transactions and the requirements associated to the cell are displayed.
Data concerning cells in the lines Suggested, Planned orders and Firm orders can be modified via the Display button (see the paragraph Changing work orders or purchase requisitions).