The demand planner helps you analyse and manage item demand across configurable time periods. This article explains the key concepts, calculations, and column meanings you'll see in the demand planner grid.
Time buckets
The demand planner organises demand into configurable time buckets. You can set the bucket size to one of the following intervals:
Hour - Hourly buckets for high-frequency planning.
Day - Daily buckets (most common).
Week - Weekly buckets starting on Monday.
Calendar Month - Monthly buckets starting on the first of each month.
The Look-Ahead Period property determines how many buckets into the future the planner will analyse. For example, with daily buckets and a look-ahead period of 14, the planner will analyse demand for the next 14 days.
Date range
The demand planner operates within a date range defined by:
DateRange_From - The start date for demand analysis (typically the plan's Planning Start Date).
DateRange_To - Calculated based on the start date, bucket size, and look-ahead period.
Items and pegging
Only items marked with the IsPegged attribute are included in demand planning. This flag indicates that the item's production and usage should be tracked and linked (pegged) to specific demand sources.
Demand sources
Demand can originate from several sources:
Sales Orders - Customer orders with required delivery dates.
Planned Production - Tasks on the plan that consume materials (usage KPIs).
Target Stock Levels - Minimum inventory levels that should be maintained.
BOM Requirements - Component needs derived from parent item production.
Main grid columns
The demand planner grid displays the following columns.
Priority
This is calculated by the demand planner based on the Plan First Required Date if the demands are from the plan, or the BOM First Required Date if the demands are from the BOM requirement.
The calculation of this value follows these rules:
Condition | Value | Notes |
Plan First Required Date < Planning Start Date | 0 | Demands from the plan are overdue. |
Planning Start Date <= Plan First Required Date <= End of Look-ahead Period | Bucket Index | For example: if Look-ahead time unit is Day, Planning Start Date = 1 October and Plan First Required Date = 9 October, then the value will be 9 (9th - 1st + 1 day). |
(Plan First Required Date = NULL) AND (Default Target Stock Level > Stock) | Look-ahead Period + 1 | No demands are from the plan. |
(Plan First Required Date = NULL) AND (Default Target Stock Level <= Stock) | Look-ahead Period + 2 | No demands are from the plan. |
Item Priority
Priority defined against items. This information can be found in the Items form.
Item Code
The unique code associated with the item. This information can be found in the Items form.
Item Description
The description of each item. This information can be found in the Items form.
Plan First Required Date
This is the date when an item has first run out, which is the earliest outstanding or unsatisfied task usage KPI date.
Start By
This gives the date you must start production or purchasing in order to satisfy the first required date. It is calculated using the following rules:
Made Items - Start By = Plan First Required Date - Process Lead Time.
Purchased Items - Start By = Plan First Required Date - Supplier Lead Time - Process Lead Time.
Start By (Start of Week)
This is the start date of the week where the Start By date falls. It will always be a Monday.
Note: If the calculated Start By (Start of Week) is earlier than the Planning Start Date, the Monday of the week that the Planning Start Date belongs to will be used.
Start By (Start of Month)
This is the start date of the month where the Start By date falls.
Note: If the calculated Start By (Start of Month) is earlier than the Planning Start Date, the start date of the month that the Planning Start Date belongs to will be used.
Campaign Start Date
This is the earliest Start By date of all items in the same Campaign Group. Campaign Groups can be defined in the Items form. Campaign Start Date can only be used in the Algorithm Planner.
Qty Required
This is the total quantity required of an item based on demands in the Look-ahead period. This quantity includes the Plan Required quantity and BOM Required quantity.
Stock
This is the available stock level at the Status Date. This figure can be found from the Stock form (Items, Stock). When the plan being worked on is not the Current Plan, it will be the Plan Initial Inventory value from the Plan Initial Inventory form (Items, Plan Initial Inventory).
Note: This figure doesn't include the stock values presented with stock tasks on the STOCK resource.
Capable To Make
This is the number of items that can be made at present based on the available materials and components (from the stock and from the plan). The demand planner works through the Bill of Materials when calculating this figure.
Qty To Add
This is the number of items that will be made or purchased in a single Works Order or Purchase Order. It's taken into consideration the following:
Lowest Batch Qty.
Mfg Batch Size.
Batch Multiple.
Maximum Batch Size.
Qty Required.
Note: Planners are allowed to change this value as required.
Planning Process
This is the process that will be used to plan the orders. If an item is a purchased item, the PURCHASING process will be used automatically.
Note: Planners are allowed to change the Planning Process as required.
Qty Planned
This is the total quantity of an item that is already planned.
Resources
This is a list of the primary resources required for the planning process.
Maximum Batch Size
This is the maximum quantity of an item that can be made with each Works Order.
Expiration Days
This is the standard expiration time of an item that is defined in the Items form.
Default Target Stock Level
This is the target stock level of an item at the end of the Look-ahead period, which is defined in the Items form.
Periods to Batch
This is the number of periods the demand planner batches demands for. The total value will be the quantity of an order (Works Order and Purchase Order) that is to be created.
For instance, if the Periods to Batch of an item is 3 and the Look-ahead is 30 days, the total quantity of a new works order for this item will be the total demands of 3 days.
Note: This value is defined against items in the Items form. When this value is missing for an item, the Default Item Periods to Batch (Tools, Options, Planning) value will apply.
Campaign Group
This is an item property used to group similar items together. It's a free text field and can be defined in the Items form.
Made Item
This flag is to indicate if an item is a made item or a purchased item.
Plan Required
This is the total demands generated from the tasks on the plan that have material shortages within the Look-ahead period.
BOM Required
This is the total demands calculated by exploding the BOM for material shortages and target stock level.