Defining a time fence for inventory/supply usage

In some situations, orders due in the future may consume inventory and supply, causing shorter-term (CTP) orders to be promised later than necessary. You can specify a time fence inside which Planner should allocate inventory and supply to longer-term orders. Any orders that are due outside this time fence will not use available inventory or supply (thus leaving it available for shorter-term needs).

The quantity of inventory to reserve is defined in the ALTPLAN.TFMULT field. The time fence rule is defined in the MATL.TFRULE field. Rule values are as follows:

• 0=No time fence.
• 1=Use lead time: the length of the fence is defined by the end item’s lead time.
• 2=Use accumulated lead time: the length of the fence is defined by the accumulated lead time for the end item + the lead times for all its components.
• 3=Use specific value: the length of the fence is defined by the value in the TFVALUE field.