Inventory planning in Enterprise Planning

Enterprise Planning offers functionality for inventory planning. You can use this functionality to determine time-phased target inventory levels for the planning process in Enterprise Planning.

Without an item master plan

If an item has no item master plan, you can carry out inventory planning by means of the safety stock defined in the Items - Ordering (tcibd2100m000) session. In this same session you can specify a seasonal pattern for the safety stock, to account for seasonal fluctuations. During an order simulation for an item without a master plan, the safety stock and the seasonal pattern determine the target inventory level used by the planning engine.

With an item master plan

If you maintain an item master plan for an item, this master plan includes an inventory plan. During a master-plan simulation or order simulation for an item with a master plan, LN uses the inventory plan as the target inventory level.

Note: 

The inventory plan states the desired inventory level at the end of each plan period.

You can manually specify inventory-plan values for each plan period. However, you can also use the Generate Demand and Inventory Plan (cpdsp1210m000) session to automatically generate an inventory plan.

Vendor-managed inventory

In a vendor managed inventory (VMI) setup, where a supplier plans the supply on behalf of the customer, you can use a terms and conditions agreement to define minimum inventory levels and maximum inventory levels that must be maintained at the customer's warehouse.

For more information, refer to To work with minimum and maximum inventory

Note: For an item that is planned by the supplier, you cannot maintain an item master plan.