Creating a scheduling rule in Order Hub

Scheduling rules determine shipping, inventory scheduling, and node preferences.

You can have one scheduling rule for all orders or you can associate a specific scheduling rule with an order. You can use different scheduling rules based on your business requirements.

About this task

Create a scheduling rule to specify the best fulfillment option for each order. Each order is associated with a scheduling rule that is used for fulfillment optimization.

Procedure

  1. Click Fulfillment from the menu.
    Note: You need to be assigned both the Tenant administrator and Fulfillment manager role to access the Fulfillment menu.
  2. Select an enterprise from the Enterprise list.
    Note: The Enterprise list is displayed only if there are more than one enterprise within your network.
  3. Select Scheduling rules.
  4. Click New rule.
  5. Complete the fields on the page.
    Table 1. Scheduling rule details
    Field Description
    Rule name The key identifier of the scheduling rule. This name is included as part of the order data to specify what rule to use to optimize it's fulfillment. If no name is specified in the order, the rule with the name SYSTEM is used.
    Description A brief description of the scheduling rule.
    Optimization
    Date, then priority, then number of shipments When optimizing by date, choose the node that provides the earliest possible delivery date. If multiple options with the same date exist, then choose based on priority. If priority is the same, choose by the least number of shipments needed.
    Priority, then number of shipments, then date When optimizing by priority, choose the node with the highest priority in the distribution group. If multiple options with the same priority exist, then choose based on the least number of shipments needed. If number of shipments is the same, choose by the date on which the delivery can be made.
    Number of shipments, then priority, then date When optimizing by the number of shipments, choose the node that requires the least number of shipments. If multiple options with the same number of shipments exist, then choose based on priority. If priority is the same, choose by the date on which the delivery can be made.
    Cost, then number of shipments, then priority, then date When optimizing by cost, choose the lowest cost option for fulfillment. If multiple options with the same cost exist, then choose based on least number of shipments, then by node priority. If all options are the same, choose by the date on which the delivery can be made. Cost can be configured to include true and perceived costs. To set up or modify cost, go back to Scheduling settings and edit the Landed cost.
    When optimizing on priority, consider shipping distance Include both node priority and shipping distance in the priority optimization calculation.
    Weight given to distance
    Enter a weighting factor for distance. After the distance between the ship-location and the ship node address is calculated by using longitude and latitude, the distance is multiplied by this weighting factor. Enter any fractional number greater than, or equal to, zero. A value of 0 nullifies any distance considerations in the calculation.
    Weight given to node priority
    Enter the weighting factor for node priority. The ship node priority that is specified in the distribution group is multiplied by this weighting factor. Enter any fractional number greater than, or equal to, zero. A value of 0 nullifies any node priority considerations in the calculation.
    Note: For this weighting factor to be applied, distribution groups must be used to determine the set of possible ship nodes from which a product can be shipped.
    When optimizing on cost, wait to combine shipments Add shipment consolidation to the cost optimization calculation.
    Wait interval days
    Specify the number of days to wait for future inventory to consolidate the shipments. If your landed cost includes shipment delay, selecting this option might lead to extra cost.
    Delay shipments
    Delay shipments of on hand inventory to consolidate with future inventory.
    When selected, the on hand inventory is kept on hold for the specified number of days to combine with shipments that include future inventory.
    If the future inventory is not received on or before the specified number of days, the on hand inventory is shipped individually.
    Delay procurements
    Keep the procurements on hold for the specified wait interval to combine with shipments that include future inventory. If the future inventory is not received on or before the specified number of days, the inventory is shipped individually.
    Retry intervals
    Note: The minimum interval is 0.5 hours.
    Backorder retry intervals Specify when to retry to schedule an order when scheduling fails because it is backordered.
    Product retry interval Specify when to retry to schedule a product order line when scheduling fails for any reason other than backorder.
    Delivery or provided services retry interval Specify when to retry to schedule a service order line when scheduling fails for any reason other than backorder.
    Lead times
    Maximum number of days after the requested date that an order can be fulfilled Enter the maximum number of days after the requested ship date or requested delivery date that an order can be fulfilled. The order is back-ordered if not fulfilled after the maximum number of days.

    This option is ignored if the order contains a requested cancel date or expiration date that is earlier than the maximum number of days. For example, assume an order has a requested ship date of 2020-07-13 and requested cancel date of 2020-07-25. If the order is not fulfilled by 2020-07-25, the order is canceled.

    Maximum number of days before requested ship date that an order can be scheduled Enter the maximum number of days before the requested ship date that an order can be scheduled. Use this value to ensure that orders are not scheduled too early in advance so that you do not block available inventory for current or ASAP orders.
    Maximum number of days to consider for service availability Enter the maximum number of days through which you want to look up service and slot availability.

    If you do not offer services such as delivery or installation, then this value is ignored.
    Inventory controls
    Apply on hand safety stock to on hand inventory availability This option is selected by default. This option determines whether safety stock is considered when calculating on hand available inventory.

    For example, assume that you have 10 units at a store with safety stock of 2. When selected, on hand inventory availability is 8. When cleared, on hand inventory availability is 10.
    Apply future safety stock to future inventory availability This option is selected by default. This option determines whether future safety stock is considered when calculating future availability.

    For example, assume 10 units in a purchase order, with future safety stock of 2. When selected, future inventory availability is 8. When cleared, future inventory availability is 10.
    Cancel order for inventory shortage Cancel an order when there is an inventory shortage.

    When cleared, the item is backordered.
    For inquiry and for scheduling Consider unplanned inventory at both the inquiring and scheduling stages when other sourcing options have been exhausted.
    Note: To use unplanned inventory, the "Use Unplanned Inventory" flag must be set to "Yes" at the Item level.
    For inquiry only Consider using unplanned inventory only during the inquiring stage when other sourcing options are exhausted.
    Note: To use unplanned inventory, the "Use Unplanned Inventory" flag must be set to "Yes" at the Item level.
    Shipping constraints
    Ship all of order or none of order Ensure that all order lines in the request are either all scheduled or not scheduled at all. Order can be sourced from different shipping locations.
    Ship all of line or none of line Ensure that each individual order line is either completely sourced or not sourced at all. Order lines can be sourced from different shipping locations.
    Ship order from a single node on a single date Ensure that the entire order is sourced fully or partially from a single node on a single date.
    Ship line from a single node on a single date Ensure that each individual line is sourced from a single node on the same date.
    Note: This rule does not enforce that all lines are shipped from the same node. A particular line can be shipped from node 1 while another line can be shipped from node 2.
    Reservations
    Reserve items in incomplete bundles Reserve the items in a bundle that are in stock until the whole bundle is available. For example, an order is received for a dining set bundle (one table and four chairs), and only the table and 2 chairs are available in the network. If bundle reservation is selected, the table and two chairs are reserved until the additional two chairs are available and then the order is fulfilled.
    Reserve items to ship the complete order Reserve the items that are in stock until all the items in the order are available. For example, an order is received for 10 chairs and there are only 8 in the network. If this option is selected, the 8 chairs are reserved until the last 2 chairs are also available, and then the order is fulfilled.
    Additional settings
    Ignore merging to minimize shipment Ignore the merging of shipments at the scheduling level.

    Merging includes determining a merge node, where shipments can be consolidated before shipping to a customer. For more information, see Forwarding/transfer rules.
    Assume infinite inventory availability beyond lead times Consider any inventory beyond the lead time plus processing time frame to have infinite availability.
    Note: Use this option for backward compatibility purposes only.

What to do next

You can specify scheduling rules when scheduling an order.