Planning clusters and Planned items

The planning cluster concept allows you to perform integrated planning over one or multiple sites. A planning cluster represents one or more warehouses located near each other, typically at a particular location or the same country.

You can define a plan item for each combination of planning cluster and item code, once the item is defined on company level.

The plan item code includes these segments:

  • The planning cluster segment
  • The project segment
  • The item code segment

Therefore, the plan item represents the combination of item definition and site.

When you use multiple clusters for one company, assigning all warehouses in a specific location to the same cluster is mandatory.

When multiple planning clusters are used, all warehouses in a single location must be linked to a separate cluster for easier planning. The item groups, all inventory, and planned inventory transactions of all warehouses must be assigned to the same cluster for planning to be possible.

To view the planned inventory transactions, use the Planned Inventory Transactions (whinp1500m000) session.

Note: 
  • If multisite functionality is active, a planning cluster is mandatory.
  • You can define a plan item with an empty cluster segment. If your company has only one location that is involved in planning, and just one planning cluster is used, you do not have to define a cluster code. All warehouses will be linked to the 'empty' planning cluster. The item being planned must still be defined on company level, for planning to be possible.
  • If multiple planning clusters are present, warehouses not linked to a specific cluster are treated as one group, related to the empty segment cluster.
  • The planning system ignores inventory and planned inventory transactions of warehouses that are explicitly excluded from the planning process, such as a warehouse for rejected items or spare parts.
  • To exclude a warehouse from the planning process, clear the Include in Enterprise Planning check box in the Warehouses (whwmd2500m000) session.
Related topics
  • Item data
  • Activating mandatory planning clusters for multisite
  • Enterprise Planning, an Overview
  • Using planning clusters for job shop production planning
  • Multisite overview