Material Planner Workbench Generation

Use this form to generate the planning data that will populate the Material Planner Workbench form.

Prerequisites

If Use Planned Data is set to Yes, you must run the MRP or APS Planning activity or MPS Processor before running this utility.
If you are generating data based on a range of jobs or projects, make sure that every job or project in the range has been scheduled. Jobs and projects that have not been scheduled will not be included on the Material Planner Workbench form. Run the Scheduling activity before running the Material Planner Workbench Generation.

Replenishment Modes

You can run this activity in three modes.

Use Planned Data Mode

To run the generation in this mode, set the Use Planned Data field to Yes. When you run the generation, the system copies the planned orders from the last run of the MRP Planning activity, APS Planning activity, or MPS Processor into the Material Planner Workbench. You can also run the Order Action Report to view the same information in report format. This mode is useful as a more powerful alternative to the Planning Detail form for firming planned orders from the Planning activities.

You can also use sourcing rules if the Source for the item is set to Purchased or Transferred.

Item Replenishment/Inventory Below Safety Stock Mode

To run the generation in this mode, set the Use Planned Data field to No, select the appropriate warehouse, and select the Process check box next to the Item field on the Detail tab. In this mode, the system calculates what you must make or buy by identifying whether the total demand for an item, netted against the total supply for the item, drives the on-hand inventory level below the safety stock value.

Cross-Referencing Mode

To run the generation in this mode, set the Use Planned Data field to No and select the Process check box next to the appropriate demand types on the Detail tab. In this mode, the system creates cross-referenced planned orders (of a type determined by the Source of the item) to supply the demands of the type you specify on the Detail tab. For example, select the Order check box to create planned orders that specifically supply customer orders. This mode is useful if you need to hard-peg supplies to demands. See Cross-Referencing a Range of Line Items for more information.

NOTE: To see demands for components on job orders, run the Scheduler before running the Material Planner Workbench Generation utility.

Calculating Requirements for All Warehouses

To calculate replenishment requirements for all warehouses, specify your Default warehouse (as specified on the Inventory Parameters form) in the Warehouse field.

Calculating Requirements for a Specific Warehouse

To calculate replenishment requirements for only a single warehouse, specify that warehouse in the Warehouse field. You can specify a warehouse other than the Default warehouse only if you are using the Item Replenishment/Inventory Below Safety Stock mode described above.

Errors Tab

After you click Process, this tab lists any items that were not processed because they already exist on another Material Planner Workbench.

Troubleshooting

Sometimes the Material Planner Workbench Generation form displays the message "0 Item(s) were processed." Here are some tips for avoiding this problem:

If Use Planned Data is set to Yes, make sure the APS or MRP Planning activity or MPS Processor has run successfully before running the Generation.
Make sure the Ending Date is set far enough into the future to find records to process.
If Use Planned Data is set to No, make sure at least one of the Process check boxes is selected.
Make sure your Buyer and/or Planner Code is associated with the items you are processing. Sometimes you must set these two fields to blank to generate these types of requirements with this utility.
Set Delete Planner's Batch to Yes.