Skipping scheduling after the sourcing decision

There are multiple factors that go into the scheduling process, and Sterling Order Management System Software contains parameters that ensure the scheduling considers all nodes.

In situations when the shipping location is not known at the time of order creation, the earliest schedule date calculation does not take into account the Node level parameter. When sourcing is done for the order line, the node could be an internal node or an external supplier. You may want to schedule orders immediately if it is an external supplier or may not want to schedule orders to your own node so early and leave the decision open. The scheduling process ensures that even though an order line was considered for scheduling based on initial calculations, it does not schedule the order line if the setup at the node where line is sourced from indicates that it is too early.

Note that in some situations, part of a dependency group may not get scheduled because of this reason as a particular order line in the dependency group may be skipped from scheduling whereas the remaining order lines are scheduled. If this situation is not acceptable, set the "Max schedule days" parameter at the node level to a high value such as 999.

To illustrate this concept, assume that you are creating an order line on June 29th 2003 with your product as ITEM1. You have NOT pre-specified a node on the order line. Your parameters are set as:

  • Scheduling rules - Schedule lead time = 30 days
  • NODE1 - Max Schedule days = 10 days
  • NODE2 - Max Schedule days = 40 days

If the order line had a requested ship date specified as July 31st 2003, The earliest schedule date is calculated as July 1st 2003 and the order is not considered for scheduling until that time. Now, on July 1st 2003 when this order is considered for scheduling. One of the following may result:

  • If Sterling Order Management System Software determines the sourcing node as NODE1. Since the "Max schedule days" for NODE1 is set as 10 days, Sterling Order Management System Software does not schedule this order line.
  • If Sterling Order Management System Software determines the sourcing node as NODE2. The order line is to be scheduled.