General allocation process

In general, the application performs these allocation/dynamic pick logic steps:

  • Get quantity for the item to allocate.
  • Proceed to first step of strategy and determine if the strategy step should be considered based on the quantity the system is attempting to allocate.
    • Unit of measure to allocate.
    • Allocation type.
    • Quantity to allocate must be greater than the UOM quantity. If not, this step is skipped.
  • Determine inventory that is eligible to allocate for the item.
    • Shelf life - Eliminate lots that are too close to expiration or too far from the receipt/manufacture date.
    • Date code days - Eliminate lots that are too many days from the first inventory considered.
    • Consider other criteria such as returned lots or inventory holds.
  • Use strategy filter criteria to limit the eligible inventory.
    • Specific values for location type, location ABC, location category, allocation zone.
    • LPN quantity restriction (full pallet / partial pallet).
  • Use strategy sort rules - After filtering inventory for the item, apply sort rules configured in the strategy from the inventory available.
    • Lot rotation (attribute as configured for item), location, license plate quantity, license plate number, license plate time in location, location ABC Specific values for location type, location ABC, location category, allocation zone.
    • If license plate quantity is selected, use the type of quantity sort to follow (exact match, low to high, etc.).
  • If the entire quantity for the item is not allocated, proceed through the strategy sort rules again.

Examples of how strategies handle inventory situations to allocate outbound orders are provided below. These use case scenarios provide guidelines for the strategies you should use or create based on the operation.