Publishing Shipment Dates for Available and Procured Quantities
You can configure the Real-time Availability Monitor (RTAM) to compute and publish shipment dates for available quantities and procured quantities.
- Available Quantity - Refers to the number of items that are available for shipping on the maximum ship date.
- Procured Quantity - Refers to the total number of items that are procured from the procurement nodes.
- Maximum Ship Date - Refers to the time and date when available quantities and procured quantities are shipped by.
- Effective Until Date - Refers to the last time and date that an order can be placed if it is to be shipped by the maximum ship date.
RTAM provides the Compute the Maximum Shipment Date configuration option for computing shipment dates. When enabled, you must specify the Maximum Ship Date and Time and the Number of Days to Offset the Maximum Shipment Date. This option is not available for procurements.
To configure RTAM to compute shipment dates, use the manageRule API. For details, see Javadoc.
Computing Maximum Shipment Dates for Available Quantities
When you configure the maximum shipment date, RTAM publishes available quantities for only the specified maximum shipment date.
The maximum ship date is equal to the maximum expected ship date across all the nodes considered. Additionally, the following options can be configured as part of the maximum ship date:
- Maximum Ship Date Time
- Number of Days To Offset the Maximum Ship Date
Maximum Ship Date Time - If you specify a time for the maximum ship date, RTAM calculates the maximum ship date, as described earlier, and then applies the following logic:
- If the time specified for the maximum ship date occurs later in the day than the calculated ship date, RTAM resets the maximum ship date to the specified time. For example, if RTAM calculates the maximum ship date to be 10 AM on July 21 and Maximum Ship Date Time is set to 11 AM, the maximum ship date is recalculated to be 11 AM on July 21.
- If the time specified for the maximum ship date occurs earlier in the day than the calculated ship date, the maximum ship date is incremented by one day and reset to the specified time. For example, if the maximum ship date is calculated to be 11 AM on July 21 and Maximum Ship Date Time is set to 10 AM, RTAM recalculates the maximum ship date to be 10 AM on July 22.
Number of Days To Offset the Maximum Ship Date - You can specify a number of days to offset the maximum ship date. The Real-Time Availability Monitor calculates the maximum ship date, including the maximum ship date time, and then increments the maximum ship date by the number of days specified by the offset number. For example, if RTAM calculates a maximum ship date to be 11 AM on July 19 and Number of Days to Offset the Maximum Ship Date is set to 1, the maximum ship date is recalculated to be 11 AM on July 20.
Calculating the Effective Until Date
The Real-Time Availability Monitor calculates the effective until date by subtracting the node's minimum notification time from the maximum ship date and then adjusting for the preceding notification time on the node's notification schedule. The effective until date is only valid while supplies are available at the node.
For example, if an available quantity has a maximum ship date of 4 PM on July 19 and the shipping node has the following notification schedule, the effective until date is calculated to be 3 PM on July 18:
- 24-hour minimum notification time
- 3 PM and 5 PM notification times
In this example, the effective until date is calculated by first subtracting the 24-hour minimum notification time from the 4 PM, July 19 maximum ship date and then adjusting for the 3 PM notification time. If an order is not placed before 3 PM on July 18, the July 19 maximum ship date is no longer available because the node must be notified at least 24 hours before the node ships the items, by 4 PM on July 19. Also, if a different order reduces available quantities at the node before the order is placed at 3 PM on July 19, the maximum ship date cannot be met and the effective until date becomes invalid.
Additionally, offset days are not considered when the effective until date is calculated. Thus, if the maximum ship date in the earlier example is updated to 4 PM July 20 by setting Number of Days to Offset Maximum Ship Date to 1, the effective until date is updated to 3 PM, July 19.
Example 1 - Computing Maximum Ship Dates for Available Quantities
Node 1 has the following supply picture:
- 24-hour minimum notification time
- Notification times are 3 PM and 5 PM daily
- Work Days are 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week
Node 2 has the following supply picture:
- 48-hour minimum notification time
- Notification times are 2 PM and 5 PM daily
- Work Days are 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week
Table 1 shows the availability matrix for Node 1 and Node 2, where the following conditions are true:
- RTAM runs on July 19 and July 21.
- Current date is July 19
- Estimated time of arrival (ETA) equals the date that the quantity is expected to be available at the node
- Maximum Ship Date Time is set to 4 PM
- Number of Days to Offset the Maximum Ship Date is set to 0
ETA | Quantity | Maximum Ship Date | Effective Until Date |
---|---|---|---|
Node 1 | |||
7/19/2010 | 80 | 4 PM, July 20 | 3 PM, July 19 |
7/22/2010 | 10 | 4 PM July 22 | 3 PM, July 21 |
Node 2 | |||
7/19/2010 | 100 | 4 PM, July 21 | 2 PM, July 19 |
7/22/2010 | 20 | 4 PM, July 22 | 2 PM, July 20 |
In this example, July 19 is the ETA for a quantity of 80 items at Node 1 and 100 items at Node 2. The matrix shows a 4 PM, July 20 maximum ship date for the 80 available items from Node 1 and a 4 PM, July 21 maximum ship date for the 100 available items from Node 2. For Node 1, the maximum ship date is calculated by adding the 24-hour minimum notification time to the 3 PM notification time on July 19, and then adjusting for the 4 PM maximum ship date time. The effective until date is calculated by subtracting the 24-hour minimum notification time from the maximum ship date and then adjusting for the 3 PM notification time. Similarly, for Node 2, the maximum ship date and effective until date are calculated, with the exception that Node 2 has a 48-hour minimum notification time and a 2 PM notification time.
Additionally, the example shows July 22 as the ETA for a quantity of 10 items at Node 1 and 20 items at Node 2. The maximum ship date is 4 PM, July 22 for the 10 items at Node 1 and 4 PM, July 22 for the 20 items at Node 2. If the difference between the current date and the ETA is greater than the node's minimum notification time, the ETA date is used for the maximum ship date. In this example, the difference between the current date, July 19, and the ETA date, July 22, is greater than the minimum notification times at both nodes. Thus, the maximum ship date is set to the maximum ship date time on the ETA date at the nodes, which is 4 PM, July 22 at Node 1 and 4 PM, July 22 at Node 2.
Example 2: Computing the Maximum Ship Date at Nodes With Non-Working Days
Table 2 displays the availability matrix for Node 1 and Node 2 when the supply picture and conditions from Example 1 are applied. However, in this scenario, July 19 and July 20 are nonworking days.
ETA | Quantity | Maximum Ship Date | Effective Until Date |
---|---|---|---|
Node 1 | |||
7/19/2010 | 80 | 4 PM, July 22 | 3 PM, July 21 |
Node 2 | |||
7/19/2010 | 100 | 4 PM, July 23 | 2 PM, July 21 |
In the example, Node 1 has an available quantity of 80 on July 19 and a minimum notification time of 24 hours. Because July 19 and July 20 are nonworking days at Node 1, the 80 items are not considered available until July 21. In this case, the maximum ship date is calculated by adding the 24-hour minimum notification time to July 21 and adjusted for the 4 PM maximum ship date time. Similarly, for Node 2, the maximum ship date is calculated, except for a 48-hour minimum notification time.
Example 3: Offsetting the Maximum Ship Date
Table 3 displays the availability matrix for Node 1 and Node 2 when the supply picture and conditions from Example 2 are applied. However, in this scenario, Number of Days To Offset the Maximum Ship Date is set to 1.
ETA | Quantity | Maximum Ship Date | Effective Until Date |
---|---|---|---|
Node 1 | |||
7/19/2010 | 80 | 4 PM, July 23 | 3 PM, July 22 |
Node 2 | |||
7/19/2010 | 100 | 4 PM, July 24 | 2 PM, July 22 |
In the example, the maximum ship dates for Nodes 1 and 2 are calculated similarly to Example 2. However, the maximum ship dates are incremented by 1 because Number of Days to Offset the Maximum Ship Date is set to 1. In this example, the effective until date is set to 3 PM, July 22 for Node 1 and 2 PM, July 22 for Node 2 because the offset days are not considered when the effective until date is calculated.