Calculating notification date
The notification date is calculated based on the "advance notification days" parameter and the "maximum working hours" parameter.
Advance notification days are the number of days a ship node needs for notification prior to the expected ship date. This parameter does not take the calendar of the ship node into account. For example, a ship node might require a 2-day advance notification, but if one of these days falls on a non-working holiday, the node will actually need a 3-day notification prior to shipping.
Maximum working hours are the number of working hours a ship node needs for notification prior to the expected ship date, and this takes the calendar of the ship node into account. This parameter addresses the need for ship nodes to factor in the non-work hours when calculating notification dates.
The advance notification day parameter and the maximum working hours parameter can be specified at:
- Ship node level - Advance notification days and maximum working hours. Communication to ship the order to the shipping node or supplier is made at most this many days and this many working hours before the expected shipment date.
- Item Level - Advance notification days and maximum working hours. Communication to ship the order to the shipping node or supplier is made at most this many days before the expected shipment date.
- ATP rule - Advance notification days. This is used only for backward compatibility reasons and is compared with the item setting to pick the maximum of the two. The maximum of the two is used as advance notification time for the item.
Sterling™ Order Management System uses the maximum of all the advance notification days as the advance notification day. Likewise, the maximum of all the working hours is used as the maximum working hour. If a particular ship node needs a longer notification time, you can override it at the ship node level. In some situations, if a particular item needs special handling and a long notification time, you can override that at the item level. Because Sterling Order Management System takes the maximum value, timely communication is ensured.
The notification date is calculated as Expected shipment date minus Maximum Notification Time (including the calendar of the shipping node) minus Advanced notification days, all based on the desired level of service.
The notification date is also affected by notification schedules. If a notification schedule exists for the level of service of the order, the calculation uses the notification time that precedes the date calculated. For example, if a notification schedule specifies that notification should occur every day at 5:00 p.m., and the notification date is originally calculated as 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, when the notification schedule is taken into account, the new notification date should be 5:00 p.m. on the previous day (Wednesday) so that the node can be notified by 3:00 p.m. on Thursday.
An order release is created on the notification date that can be communicated to the shipping node. Note that Sterling Order Management System rechecks the availability of inventory on the notification date before creating the order release. This ensures that if there was a large gap between the scheduling process and the release process, notifications are sent out only if inventory is still available.
These calculations apply to both drop-ship orders and procurement order creation.