We are seeing dozens of PO Change Suggestions to cancel orders that were created to cover a minimum stocking level. Here is the Time Phase screen from one part as an example.
The part has a min of 8, there are 6 in stock, and an open PO for 4 pieces, which is the minimum order quantity. We cannot understand why the system would tell us to cancel this when it recognizes we are below the min. Is there a setting somewhere that we have missed? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!
Thanks,
I don’t know of any settings specific to “Min On Hand” below min suggestions.
I don’t think the Reschedule In/Out Deltas apply in these cases?
i.e. Once you have your PORel for “below Minimum” the system considers it as a supply with no “REAL” demand, i.e. generating Cancel Suggestion(s).
In the past I have created custom BAQs/Dashboards so I can filter how I display the different types of Change Suggestions.
Thanks for the reply. The issue we have here is that Management wants to use the PO Change Suggestions as a metric in a measurement tool. So, it is incumbent on IT (me!) to insure the data is correct, and I cannot explain why the system would tell a buyer to create a PO to cover a min, and then tell them to cancel it.
Rick Stannard
It’s been a while since I queried suggestions but I remember other demand/supply conditions that will result in multiple, contradicting suggestions. Handling these “false positives” can be tricky.
I remember speaking with tech support once and his response was something like this: Epicor looks at general conditions which if met, can indicate a possible exception that MIGHT require action. “They’re only suggestions”.
“Change” suggestions consider many conditions & possibilities.
“New” suggestions appear more straightforward.
The data looks a bit funky as what is happening here is that you have an actual po (not a suggestion) that was raised on the 16th June 2018 promised to arrive by 30th August but it has not been received yet - as you have an open po it cannot make a suggestion - what it is suggesting is cancelling this overdue actual po - the source is the tell tale - if it was a suggestion it would say suggestion in the source field.
Thanks again for the information Bruce. I guess we will have to live with this as it is. It’s unlikely Epicor will change this, but I do appreciate the extra info.
Rick
The system is suggesting that we cancel the PO because it thinks it is Surplus. The PO was created to cover a Minimum Stock level, and there is a minimum order quantity as well. So, when the system planned the New PO Suggestion, it told the buyer to buy 4 pieces, per the Minimum Order Quantity. The current BOH is 3, the Min is 4, and the PO is for 4 pieces. We are going to get three more pieces that what is required to cover the Min, so that is probably why the system “suggests” we cancel the PO.
Rick Stannard
Yes, when time allows I still like playing around with various settings and generating suggestions in the test system. To help put text from the tech ref guides into context.
And of course the buyers always like to let me know which change suggestions are their “favorites”.
e.g.
For cases like this, a minimum order qty exists, Lock Quantity on the PO Release. This will not generate suggestions to change the qty.
Yes, I remember a couple sites where the buyers didn’t want change suggestions and asked to have their releases locked by default, wasn’t practical to keep setting them manually .
I haven’t needed this in E10 but…
Here is a 4GL example from V8 that created the COMxref
(where the PORel locks are stored).
/* PO Releases RowMod ‘A’ (checked in Pre-Process) /
for each ttporel where RowMod = ‘A’.
/ COMxref - the external file needed for locking POReleases /
create COMxref.
assign COMxref.company = “xxx”
COMxref.file = “PORel_Mapping”
COMxref.Key1 = string(ttporel.PONum)
COMxref.Key2 = string(ttporel.POLine)
COMxref.Key3 = string(ttporel.PORelNum)
COMxref.foreignKey1 = “Yes” / Lock Date /
COMxref.foreignKey2 = “Yes”. / Lock Quantity */
End.
