Unit effectivity in Enterprise Planning

In LN, you can use unit effectivity to adapt the standard business procedure for items, and model exceptions that originate from specific customer requirements. The unit effectivity concept supports situations in which customers have specific wishes concerning the features of the products they order. For each specific wish, you can define an exception, and link it to the business aspect that is impacted by the exception. In this way, you can model small deviations from the standard product configuration. LN takes into account the exceptions that you define in the process of order planning.

Before you can define exceptions, you must first set up a unit effectivity structure for the item involved in the Unit Effectivity (UEF) module of Common. For more information about the use of unit effectivity, refer to online manual topic To set up unit effectivity. Next you can define exceptions for the following business aspects:

  • BOM lines: Click Exceptions in the Bill of Material (tibom1110m000) session to define the corresponding exceptions.
  • Routings: Click Exceptions on the appropriate menu in the Item - Routings (tirou1101m000) session to define exceptions for the routing.
  • Operations: Click Exceptions on the appropriate menu of the Routing Operations (tirou1102m000) session to define unit effective operations.
  • Sourcing strategies: Click Exceptions in the Sourcing Strategy (cprpd7110m000) session to define exceptions for the sourcing strategies.
  • Item purchase business partners: Click Exceptions in the Items - Purchase Business Partner (tdipu0110m000) session to define unit effective purchase business partners.

On the other hand, the way in which unit effectivity impacts on the order-planning process depends on the following criteria:

  • Whether the effectivity units involved are interchangeable or not, which means that LN can use the inventory of an effectivity unit to meet demand for another effectivity unit.
  • Whether the units involved have the same configuration or not, which means that various effectivity units share the same set of exceptions. LN can combine demand for different effectivity units that share the same configuration into one planned order.
Inventory and firm-planned receipts

For each requirement, LN checks the projected inventory level for the unit involved. If the inventory is insufficient, LN checks the inventory of interchangeable units, and uses this inventory when necessary.

If no sufficient inventory can be found, LN looks for the first unused firm-planned receipt of the unit or any interchangeable unit.

Refer to online manual topic Example: inventory usage for units (unit effectivity) for more information about interchangeable units.

Generating planned orders

If inventory and firm-planned receipts are not sufficient to meet a requirement, Enterprise Planning generates a planned order. As a rule, this order takes into account all demand, within the order interval, of the following units:

  • The unit itself
  • All interchangeable units
  • All units with the same configuration

If the order quantity is higher than the required quantity (because of lot-size rules), LN checks if part of the order can be used for a unit with the same configuration (either within or beyond the order interval). If this is the case, the planned order contains a separate order line for this unit.

Refer to online manual topic Example: planned orders for units (unit effectivity) for more information about planned orders for interchangeable units.

Related topics