Defining Items by Business Unit

Before processing an inventory item in a PeopleSoft application, you must define the item within the system. Items are defined at the setID level first; then they are defined at the business unit level.

This chapter discusses how to:

• Define items at the business unit level.

• Assign serial numbers automatically.

Defining Items at the Business Unit Level

This section discusses how to:

• Define basic attributes for a business unit.

• Define item cost profiles.

• Define item usage attributes.

• Define item export information.

• Define customer ship to attributes for vendor managed inventory (VMI).

• Define shipping and handling item attributes.

• Associate an item with putaway and picking zones.

• Define item replenishment attributes.

• Define item weight and volume information.

• Define item utilization types.

• Define manufacturing information for an item.

• Set up item replenishment defaults.

• Specify planning information for an item.

• Define generation of item supply information.

• Define item forecast parameters.

• Define planning order modifiers.

• Define business unit attributes for configured items.

Understanding how to Define Items by Business Unit

To specify item attributes at the business unit level, use the Define Business Unit Item (ITEM_ATTRIBUTE_GBL) component. Inventory items are defined at the setID level and can be shared among all of the business units. However, some item information (such as rules for replenishment, planning, and physical accounting) may vary depending on which business unit the item is in. These are the types of item attributes to define at the business unit level.

Note. For non-inventory items, the only field values that you can override at the business unit level are Source Code (on the Define Business Unit Item - Manufacturing: General page), Explode Demand for Consumption, and Forecast Fulfillment Size (on the Define Business Unit Item - Planning: Forecast/Incremental page).

Pages Used to Define Items for the Business Unit

Defining Basic Business Unit Item Attributes

Access the Define Business Unit Item - General: Common page.

Current Status Date, Current Status, Future Status Date, and Future Status	See Defining General Item Information.
Cost Element	Select the default material cost element for all receipts. The system requires this value for average-costed, actual-costed, and standard-costed items. You define cost elements on the Cost Elements page.
Inventory Item	Appears by default from item definition at the setID level and cannot be overridden.
Standard Cost Group	Select a cost group code to select a set of items to roll up or update. You can also compare cost versions and report inventory value by cost group code. Establish cost group codes on the Cost Groups page, which you access from the Set Up Financials/Supply Chain - Product Related - Cost Accounting - Standard Cost Groups menu item.
Current Purchase Cost	Enter a value for the system to use to determine the material cost of purchased items and the lower-level material cost of a manufactured item when the cost type that you are rolling uses current costs. This value is per the standard UOM.
Avg Matl Cost (average material cost)	This average material cost is automatically updated when a purchase receipt is put away. The current value is stored in the AVERAGE_COST_MAT field of the BU_ITEMS_INV record. This cost reflects the vendor's price of the item. This average cost calculation includes only the material portion of the purchase order cost; it does not include landed costs, voucher updates, or cost adjustments.
Default Actual Cost	Enter a value for actual-costed items that can be used by the Update Stock Quantity (INPOPOST ) process if the item can be included in an inventory count prior to an actual cost being generated from receipt of the item. The value in this field is used in these processes: INS5050 (Reconciliation Report). INS5200 (Slow Moving Inventory). INS9080 (Forecasting Download). INPBPROC (Confirmations). INPOPROC, INPOTEST (Stock Qty Update). INPQEOQC (Replenishment Parameters). INPVVALD (Inventory Adjustments). Note. You must enter a default actual cost if an average-costed book is defined for the business unit.
Average Purchase Price	The system updates this value whenever items are received and put away into an owned storage location or whenever the item is consigned. The only items that do not have this field updated are noncosted items or items for which all of the books are defined as standard costed. The average purchase price includes both the material and the landed cost of the item. This value is stored in the AVERAGE_COST field of the BU_ITEMS_INV record.
Last Price Paid	The system updates this value when stock is put away from purchase receipts. It includes only the material cost of the received item.
Non-Owned Item	When you are adding an item to a VMI business unit, the item must be an inventory item, and it must be owned and non-consigned. See Defining General Item Information. See Using Vendor Managed Inventory.
Consigned Purchase	If the item is non-owned, indicate whether it is also consigned in this business unit. Although consigned items are physically stocked in the business unit, they are owned by the vendors and are therefore not counted as part of the business unit’s total stock owned. They are, however, eligible for all inventory transactions. Note. The item’s designation as non-owned or consigned appears by default from the Define Item - General: Common page, but you can override it. All transactions within PeopleSoft Inventory use the designation for the business unit rather than the designation that is assigned at the setID level.
Vendor ID, Vendor Location	If the item is consigned, you must indicate which vendor supplies the item by entering values. The item can be supplied to this business unit as a consigned item only by the vendor that you assign here. (Other vendors can supply the item as owned.) PeopleSoft Payables extracts this information for the creation of an invoice when the item is consumed. Note. Consignment vendors must be established on the Procurement Options page (available from the Vendor Information - Location page, which you access from the Vendor Setup/Maintenance menu) before they are available for selection here.

See Also

Setting Up the Cost Structure

Receiving and Putting Away Stock

Managing Consigned Purchases Inventory

Setting up the System for Consigned Purchases in Inventory Management

Defining Item Cost Profiles

Access the Define Business Unit Item - General: Costing page.

Used in Mfg (used in manufacturing)

Select if the item is used in PeopleSoft Manufacturing.

Profile

Scroll through all the books for this business unit to view or set the profile for the item in each of those books. The profile for each book appears by default from the cost profile group that you define on the Define Item - General: Common page. The item must have a profile for each book. If no cost profile group is associated with the item, or if a book is not associated with this cost profile group, the field is blank. Otherwise, an error message appears. You can change the profile for an item in a book if the book is not seeded for that item and if you select the Allow Overrides to Profile check box on the Group - Books page. Note. You cannot use this page to add or delete groups. To add, cancel, or delete books from a business unit, use the Define Inventory - Business Unit Books page.

See Also

Setting Up the Cost Structure

Defining Item Usage Attributes

Access the Define Business Unit Item - General: Usage page.

Use this page when tracking material usage for items that are issued from par locations.

See Also

Tracking Material Usage

Defining Item Export Information

Access the Define Business Unit Item - General: Export Information page.

Defining Customer Ship To Attributes for VMI Items

If the business unit is a VMI business unit, the VMI Ship To Customers link is displayed. Otherwise, the link is hidden. Only ship to customers that have material storage locations defined for the VMI business unit are displayed on this page.

See Also

Using Vendor Managed Inventory

Defining Item Attributes for Shipping and Handling

Access the Define Business Unit Item - Inventory: Shipping/Handling page.

Ship Via	For material stock requests, if the system does not find a ship via value for the item at the business unit level, then the system uses the ship via value that you define at the setID level. Establish ship via codes on the Ship Via Codes page, which you access from the Common Definitions menu.
Standard Pack Unit of Measure	The Shipping Carton Label (INS6025) process uses this value to determine how many labels to print. The UOMs must first be established on the Units of Measure page, which you access from the Common Definitions menu, before they are available for selection.
Stock Type	If the item is non-owned, you must select a value to identify the type of stock. Establish stock types on the Stock Types page, which you access from the Define Controls menu.
InterUnit Par Qty (interunit par quantity)	Enter the minimum amount of stock that must be on hand in the business unit before the system fulfills interunit transfer requests. For example, suppose an interunit transfer request is made for 100 units of an item that has an interunit par quantity of 50. If the balance on hand in the business unit is 75 units, then only 25 units are available to transfer. PeopleSoft Inventory uses the interunit par quantity when entering material stock requests for interunit transfers and during reservation processing.
UOM Conversion Flag	Select a value for processing transactions using a bar code-enabled system or the Fulfillment Engine feature in PeopleSoft Inventory. Values are: Convert to Default Stock UOM: Converts the UOM on incoming transactions to the default stocking UOM. Convert to Standard UOM: Converts the UOM on incoming transactions to the item’s standard UOM. This value enables you to stock all the inventory in the standard UOM and perform material movement transactions by using any valid UOM for the item. Use Entered UOM: Processes transactions with the UOM that the user enters.
Shelf Life (Days)	Enter the number of days that the item can remain in inventory before it is no longer usable. For lot-controlled items, PeopleSoft Inventory uses this value, along with the lot’s creation date, to calculate the lot expiration date.
Staged Date Control	This field appears by default from the Define Item - Inventory: Tracking/Description page.
Isolate Item	Select to restrict the item’s putaway or transfer transactions to empty storage locations or to locations containing stock with the same item ID. The option is not valid if the item exists in mixed-item storage locations. After stock that is marked for isolation is transferred to an empty storage location, you cannot transfer or put away stock with any other item ID until the quantity in the location is fully depleted.
Additional Handling, Oversized Item	PeopleSoft applications pass these values to the third-party system when calculating freight charges. You can also view this information on the Ship Container Details page.
Availability Lead Time (Days) and Retest Lead Time (Days)	If the item is lot-controlled, the availability lead time specifies the number of days between the lot’s creation date and the date that it becomes available; the retest lead time specifies the number of days between a lot’s creation date and the date that it needs to be retested. The Complete Putaway (INPPPTWY ) process uses these lead times to calculate the lot’s availability and retest dates. Note. Although default values for shelf life and availability and retest lead times for the setID are established on the Define Item - Inventory: Tracking/Description page, PeopleSoft Inventory transactions requiring these parameters use the values that are defined at the business unit level.
Assign Items to Zones	Click to access the Item Zone Assignments page, where you can associate the item with storage zones for putaway and picking that are established for the business unit. Zone assignment is optional; however, it enables much tighter control over the putaway and picking operations.

See Also

Using Units of Measure

Defining Staged-Date Tracking

Associating an Item with Putaway and Picking Zones

Access the Item Zone Assignments page.

See Also

Establishing Putaway and Picking Zones

Setting Up Putaway Defaults and Rules

Picking Zones

Defining Item Replenishment Attributes

Access the Define Business Unit Item - Inventory: Replenishment page.

Not Included In Replenishment	Select to exclude the item from being processed by the Replenishment Options process (INPRROPT) and the Replenishment Parameters (INPQRPLP) process for the business unit. For example, select this check box if you use PeopleSoft Supply Planning to handle replenishment.
Include WIP Quantity	Select to enable the Replenishment Options process to add the quantity in WIP storage locations to the quantity that is available when determining whether an item has reached its reorder point. Note. Items in WIP locations are not considered to be available, so you must select this check box if you want to include WIP quantities in the replenishment calculation.
Include Demand	Select to include demand in the reorder point calculation. Select this option if you want to include back order quantities in the reorder point calculation.
Offset Days Option	Select Offset Days to specify that the system should use offset days in the reorder point calculation. Select Replenish Lead Days to specify that the system should use replenish lead days in the reorder point calculation. This option is not available if the Include Demand option is not selected.
Offset (Days)	Enter the number of days if the Offset Days option was selected. This option is not available if the Offset Days option is not selected.
Reorder Quantity Option	Select the option for reorder quantities: Use Business Unit Default: The system will use the Reorder Point Order Quantity option that is selected for the business unit. EOQ (economic order quantity): The system creates replenishment requests using the economic order quantity. Min/Max: The system calculates the order quantity that is required to meet the maximum stocking level. Static Reorder Qty: The system creates replenishment requests using the reorder quantity.
Replenish Class	Categorizes the items by usage profile. This information is required if the item is included in replenishment processing. Establish replenishment classes on the Replenishment Classes page, which you access from the Define Controls menu.
Replenish Calc Period (Days) (replenishment calculation period in days)	Enter the number of days to use in calculating the item's replenishment values.
Replenish Lead (Days) (replenishment lead time in days)	Enter the average number of days from placement of the purchase order to receipt of the stock. Enter this field manually or let PeopleSoft Inventory calculate it.
Reorder Point	If the sum of an item’s available quantity and its on-order quantity is less than or equal to this value for the item, then the Replenishment Options process generates a replenishment request for restocking purposes. Establish the reorder point levels or let PeopleSoft Inventory calculate a reorder point.
Reorder Quantity	Enter the static quantity that is ordered by automated replenishment events. Reorder quantities are subject to vendor minimum and maximum analysis during procurement. If PeopleSoft Inventory calculates a reorder quantity that is less than the reorder point, it resets the reorder quantity to be equal to the reorder point the next time that you save the page. Otherwise, the stock level never rises above the reorder point, and PeopleSoft Inventory is caught in a loop of reordering insufficient quantity.
Maximum Quantity	Enter the maximum stocking quantity for the item.
Safety Stock	Enter a buffer stocking level to guard against unanticipated surges (or spikes) in average daily demand. Establish the safety stock levels for the item or let PeopleSoft Inventory calculate a statistical value for safety stock.
Last Annual Demand	Enter a value for EOQ calculations. Enter the last annual demand manually or let PeopleSoft Inventory calculate it.
Economic Order Quantity	Enter a fixed-order quantity to determine the amount of an item to purchase or manufacture at one time. The EOQ should minimize the combined costs of acquiring and carrying inventory. You can use the EOQ as the automated replenishment's reorder quantity. Enter an EOQ value or let PeopleSoft Inventory calculate it.
Desired Stock-In Probability	Enter the percentage of the time that you want stock on hand for an item. PeopleSoft Inventory uses this value in safety stock calculations.

See Also

Replenishing Inventory

Defining Item Information for Weight and Volume

Access the Define Business Unit Item - Inventory: Weight/Volume page.

See Also

Checking Storage Location Capacity

Defining Item Utilization Types

Access the Define Business Unit Item - Inventory: Utilization Types page.

Utilization Group	Select the utilization group to which this item belongs. Utilization groups are set up on the Items - Define Controls - Utilization Groups page.
Utilization Type	The Utilization Type Calculation (IN_UTIL_AE ) process assigns a type to an item. The system uses utilization types in conjunction with the due to count option for cycle counts.
Last Cycle Count, Cyc Interval (days) (cycle interval days), and Next Cycle Count	PeopleSoft Inventory considers the item's last cycle count date and cycle interval days, and then automatically calculates the next cycle count date when you launch the page. Note. If the business unit requires closure-calendar validation and processing for materials management activities as defined on the Closure Calendar page, and if the next cycle count date is on a defined closure date, then the system returns the first future valid date that is defined for the function.
Last Physical Count	The value from the Update Stock Quantity process.
For Planning	Select to indicate whether this is the default utilization group for inventory planning. This default is established on the Util Group Inv (Inventory Utilization Group) page, but can be overridden on this page.
For Cycle Count	Select to indicate whether this is the default utilization group for cycle counts. This default is established on the Util Group Inv page.

See Also

Defining Utilization Types

Counting Inventory Stock

Calculating Utilization Type Classifications

Defining Manufacturing Information for an Item

Access the Define Business Unit Item - Manufacturing: General page.

Production Area	PeopleSoft Product Configurator uses this as the default production area for configured items, and it also uses it to search for the item’s production options. PeopleSoft Supply Planning uses the production area that is defined here when the system creates planned production orders and when the business unit and item aren’t associated with a production area. Note. You must create a production area and associate the item with it before specifying the production area information by using this page.
Calc Comp Yield at Completion (calculate component yield at completion)	Select this option to calculate component yield automatically when recording a completion at an operation, a completion to stock, or an assembly scrap. If you do not select this option, the system doesn’t calculate component yield at completions. If you want to calculate component yield manually, clear the check box and enter component yield by editing components during the Completions process by using the Edit/Issue Components component.
Source Code	Select a value: Buy: Items that you typically purchase. Expense: Non-inventory items for which you do not maintain quantity on hand. Floor Stck (floor stock): Items that you maintain in inventory, but don’t expense until you issue them to production. These might represent low-cost items that issue in bulk to production and do not monitor for cost or quantity on hand. Both floor stock and expense items can be specified as components on a BOM but are not issued to production, considered in planning, or included in the assembly item’s cost. You cannot create BOMs, routings, production IDs, or production schedules for floor stock or expense items. Floor stock items cannot be identified as serial in production or the trace usage cannot be set to serial or lot. Make: Assemblies or subassemblies that you manufacture in house, at a subcontractor, or both. For this source code, select the Phantom Item option to issue all components for this item, instead of issuing the item itself, within PeopleSoft Manufacturing. Make: Assemblies or subassemblies that you manufacture in house, at a subcontractor, or both. For this source code, select the Phantom Item option to issue all components for this item, instead of issuing the item itself, within PeopleSoft Manufacturing. Important! The source code for serial in production or trace usage items must be Make or Buy. Planning: Non-inventory items that can represent a family or group of inventory items for which you do not maintain quantity on hand. Planning items can have a planning BOM or planning routing and can be components on a planning BOM. However, you cannot specify planning items on a production or engineering BOM or routing, or use them as a component in production. Note. Because you define expense and planning items as non-inventory items at the setID level, many of the attributes are not applicable, and all fields except the Business Unit, Item ID, and Source Code are unavailable.
Average Order Qty (average order quantity)	The typical batch or lot size that is used to produce this item. PeopleSoft Managing Costs uses this value when calculating per unit setup, fixed-run, and post production conversion costs. The system determines each cost by dividing the cost of each process by the average order quantity (AOQ). Typically, it calculates these costs at the operation level, then adds the costs for each operation together to provide the total cost. When the production order quantity differs from the AOQ here, and when the per unit setup, fixed run, and post-production conversion costs differ as well, the system calculates a labor and machine and a material lot size variance. The Linear Programming solver in PeopleSoft Supply Planning uses the AOQ as a standard lot size.
Associated Primary BOM(associated primary bill of material)	If you use multiple outputs, a given co-product might be created in more than one way; in other words, an item is a co-product on more than one item's primary BOM. By assigning an associated primary BOM to a co-product, you tell the system which BOM to use in exploding the co-product to the next level.

This diagram illustrates multiple outputs:

Example: Two processes with the same co-product

In the first structure, A is the primary item, B is the co-product, and X, Y, and Z are the components. In the second structure, D is the primary, B and E are the co-products, and F and G are the components. Because two ways of making the same product are available, you need to decide which structure to use when exploding to lower levels. Therefore, you need to signify a primary structure (Associated Primary BOM) that is associated with each item that may exist as a co-product but not as a primary. To do this, you can assign B’s associated primary BOM as either A or D. If B has its own BOM structure and you want to use that structure when exploding to lower levels, then you can leave B’s associated primary BOM as B.

With either option (using production option maintenance or using BOM/routing defaults), you can create specific BOM/routing combinations for PeopleSoft Supply Planning. By selecting a specific BOM code and a routing code, you can limit the number of BOM/routing combinations that are extracted by PeopleSoft Supply Planning. For example, by picking a specific BOM code and routing code, you eliminate all but this specific combination from consideration. At the other extreme, if you leave both fields blank, PeopleSoft Supply Planning extracts all possible combinations. Here is an outline of the production options that are created when you select various BOM code and routing code combinations:

See Also

Setting Up Production Areas

Maintaining Component Lists

Assigning Associated Primary BOMs

Defining Your Business Unit Structure

Structuring Routings

Setting Up Manufacturing Business Unit Production Options

Setting Up Item Replenishment Defaults

Access the Define Business Unit Item - Manufacturing: WIP Replenishment page.

When creating replenishment requests or Kanban cards, the system checks whether production replenishment location defaults exist first, then looks to the WIP replenishment defaults that you set up for replenishment guidelines.

See Also

Flow Production

Searching for Material Storage Locations

Specifying Planning Information for an Item

Access the Define Business Unit Item - Planning: General page.

Planner Cd (planner code)	Planner codes are used to filter information in most pages and processes in PeopleSoft Supply Planning. Third-party forecasting applications also use planner codes. You set up planner codes by using the Planner Code page, which you access from the Set Up Financials/Supply Chain - Product Related - Planning menu.
Planned By	Select one of these methods: Distribution Planning: Select this method if you want to include the item in the distribution plan. The distribution plan typically displays the tasks that are quantities associated with the movement of the item throughout the distribution and manufacturing business units of the supply chain. Distribution-planned items are included in the PeopleSoft Supply Planning data model. You should select this option if the item is planned across multiple business units and is either a transfer or purchase item. A distribution-planned item is most likely a finished good or spare part that is used to fulfill customer demand at an inventory-only business unit. Master Planning: Select this method if you want to include the item in the master plan. The master plan provides a schedule of planned orders for the item at each manufacturing site. Typically, master-planned items are the top-level, finished-good manufactured items. Master-planned items can be included in either PeopleSoft Supply Planning models. You use the Manufacturing Business Unit Options page to specify which model (Supply Planning) includes the master plan. When the master plan is included in the PeopleSoft Supply Planning model, the system models production in a collapsed, aggregate view of all production capabilities for the item that is associated with the business unit. In addition, new planned orders and rescheduled messages for production can be returned from the planning server. When the master plan is included in the PeopleSoft Supply Planning model, the system models production based on the detailed bills and routings that are defined for the item in PeopleSoft Manufacturing. Material Planning: Select this method if you want to include the item in the material plan. The material plan schedules the raw materials and subassemblies that are required, supporting the production of finished goods. Material-planned items are included in the PeopleSoft Supply Planning model only. Not Planned: Select this method if you do not want to include the item in any of the PeopleSoft Supply Planning generated plans.
Demand Planning Item	Select to indicate that this item is available to be download from PeopleSoft Supply Chain Management tables into PeopleSoft Demand Planning.
Inventory Policy Planning Item	Select to indicate that this item is available to be downloaded from PeopleSoft Supply Chain Management tables into PeopleSoft Inventory Policy Planning.
Use Ship To Locations	Select this option if you want to model sourcing requirements for new planned purchase orders based on the ship to location information that is established for vendors within PeopleSoft Purchasing. By using the ship to location information, you can establish specific purchase–source definitions for a single inventory business unit. If you don’t select this option, the system bases the sourcing requirements for new planned orders on the item/vendor information. This information is used by the PeopleSoft Supply Planning solvers for modeling purposes.
Spot Buy	Select to indicate that this item is used by PeopleSoft Strategic Sourcing. This information is used by PeopleSoft Supply Planning solvers for modeling purposes.

Defining Generation of Item Supply Information

Access the Define Business Unit Item - Planning: Fences/Lead Time page.

Planning Time Fence [days]	Identifies when changes or recommendations for an item are difficult to react to. You typically set this time fence to the cumulative lead time of the item. When the system generates messages, any message for an order with a start date that's equal to or less than the planning time fence receives a status code of Before Planning Time Fence in the appropriate review page in PeopleSoft Manufacturing, PeopleSoft Inventory, or PeopleSoft Purchasing. This alerts you to changes occurring early in the planning horizon that can be difficult to react to.
Action Message Cutoff [days]	Tells the Receive Planning Messages process to stop creating action messages. The system generates recommendations for new orders only after this time fence. It doesn't generate recommendations for cancellations or reschedules. When the system generates messages for new orders, any message for a planned order with a start date that is greater than the cutoff time fence receives a status code of After Cutoff Fence. PeopleSoft Supply Planning uses message filters to reduce the number of planning system messages that require review in PeopleSoft Manufacturing, PeopleSoft Inventory, PeopleSoft Purchasing, and PeopleSoft Order Management. Each filter has a set tolerance that tells the system whether the message is automatically approved.
Reschedule In Factor [days] and Reschedule Out Factor [days]	Set tolerances for recommendations to move an order. For example, if you set both factors to 5 and the production date is December 10, then planning automatically approves any order between the reschedule in date of December 5 and the reschedule out date of December 15 without going to the appropriate review page. This applies only if the change is a reschedule.
Safety Stock Level	Enter the quantity of the item that you keep on hand to buffer against stock outages. If you want to change the safety stock level from period to period, you can set up a time-phased safety stock level on the Stocking Periods page in the Define Controls menu. PeopleSoft Supply Planning always uses the Stocking Period record first. If no record exists there, then the system uses the static quantity that you enter in the Define Business Unit Item Planning: Order Modifiers page..
Excess Stock Level	The upper limit that you place on the quantity of the item to buffer against overstocking. You can also define excess stock levels (along with safety stock) on the Stocking Periods page.
Fixed Period [days]	Determines how far the system looks ahead for demand as you determine the amount of supply that is required during the creation of a new supply order. PeopleSoft Supply Planning uses this value when generating all supply (production, purchase, and transfer). When using the fixed period value, the system respects the order modifiers (minimums, maximums, and multiples) that are defined when you use the Define Business Unit Item - Planning: Order Modifiers page.
Use Global Early Fence	Select to indicate that the system will use the early fence value that is defined on the Load Planning Instance component.
Early Fence	Enter a number of days (negative or positive) that will be used from any planning date to determine a boundary before which planning solvers make no changes to supply or demand tasks. For example, if the current planning date is January 15, 2000 and the early fence is set to 2, then the planning solver will make no changes to supply or demand tasks before January 17, 2000.
Production Lead Times	If you don’t define any lead times, the PeopleSoft Supply Planning models both expect either an enterprise routing or a production routing, respectively, to exist in order to define the run rates when planning production.
New Order Fence	Define how the system uses the order start date to assign statuses to planned production orders that are received from a planning engine session. If you leave both fields in this group box blank, the system assigns the entered status to all new planned orders. To create all planned orders in the Released status, you can enter a value of 999 for the Released Order fence field and leave the Firmed Order fence field blank. Alternatively, to create all planned orders in the firmed status, enter a value of 999 in the Firmed Order fence field and leave the Released Order fence field blank. If you enter a value in the Released Order fence field and nothing in the Firmed Order fence field, then all the planned orders that are between the day that you run the Receive Planning Messages process and the released order fence days are created in the Released status. The planned orders that are scheduled after that day are created in the Entered status. When you review planning messages by using one of the planning message pages, the system determines the status of new planned orders based on these fences that are defined for the items. You can change the status during the planning message review process.
Released Order	Indicates the number of days from the current date that the system sets planned orders to the Released status when planning messages are received, reviewed, and applied.
Firmed Order	Enter the number of days that represents planned orders that are created in the Firmed status. The system creates all planned orders that are scheduled after the firmed order fence in the Entered status.

This diagram illustrates time fences for new orders:

New order fence example

Suppose that you set a released order fence of 30 days and a firmed order fence of 60 days; then the system creates all new planned orders with start dates that are between the current date and 30 days in the future as Released. The system creates all planned orders with start dates that are between 31 and 60 days as Firmed, and all planned orders beyond 60 days as Entered.

Defining Item Forecast Parameters

Access the Define Business Unit Item - Planning: Forecast page.

Forecaster	Enables you to restrict, or segment, the demand data extracts to these item-forecaster records for PeopleSoft Demand Planning. You define forecasters by using the Forecaster page accessed from the Demand Planning - Demand Parameters - Set Forecaster Defaults menu item.
UOM Group	Select the UOM Group that determines the type of measurement for this item. PeopleSoft Inventory Policy Planning uses the group to correlate different units of measure so that the system produces a single standard UOM output for a specified UOM group. You use UOM groups for informational purposes so that you can associate units of measure with certain quantities.
Demand Time Fence [days]	Manages forecast consumption in the planning process. The demand time fence days is often set to the finishing lead time for an item, based on the current system date plus the demand time fence for the item. Before the demand time fence, forecast is ignored: only actual orders are used as demand. After the demand time fence, the greater of actual orders or forecast consumption is used as demand.
Forecast Adjustment Action	Select an action to indicate how the forecast is allocated for PeopleSoft Supply Planning. Forecast adjustment alters the quantity of the next forecast planning bucket quantity to match the known actual demand. This is done by taking the unconsumed forecast from before the demand fence and prorating the unconsumed forecast to periods after the demand fence. Various actions are available to control how the unconsumed forecast is to be prorated.
Forecast Fulfillment Size	Define the numerical value that you want to use when dividing the total forecast demand into portions that make up task quantities. The PeopleSoft Supply Planning application uses the fulfillment size when it attempts to meet certain portions of the forecast if the total forecast cannot be met entirely. The system divides net forecasts into tasks that are associated with the original planning period, and each task represents a portion of the quantity that is required to meet the forecasted demand. These tasks represent the movable portions of a forecast when you make a feasible plan and allow the system to reschedule top-level demand.
Explode Demand for Consumption	Select this option if you use: PeopleSoft Supply Planning and you want to explode sales order demand or transfer demand for forecast consumption at the inventory item level. If production demand forecasts exist, the system explodes sales order demand or transfer demand for some end items by calculating the production demand that is to be used for forecast consumption. If you don’t select the check box, the system doesn’t explode the sales orders or transfer orders for the item. PeopleSoft Supply Planning and you want to explode sales order demand for forecast consumption at the inventory item level. If production demand forecasts or transfer demand forecasts exist, the system explodes sales order demand for some end items by calculating the production demand or transfer demand that is to be used for forecast consumption. If you don’t select the check box, then the system doesn’t explode the sales orders for the item.
Aggregate Demand	Identifies the item as representing a group of items for forecast consumption. For an aggregate demand item, you establish aggregate demand children. The forecast for the aggregate demand children is rolled up to one demand total for the aggregate demand item. Forecast consumption is then performed at the aggregate-item level rather than at the individual-item level. You can identify both planning items and inventory items as aggregate demand items.
Forecast Consumption Method	Select the types of demand that PeopleSoft Supply Planning will use to consume the forecast.

Defining Order Modifiers for Planning

Access the Define Business Unit Item - Planning: Order Modifiers page.

Transfer Attribute

Transfer order modifiers that you enter are used as defaults on the Inventory Transfer Attributes pages that establish relationships between business units (destination and sourcing) and items. Order modifiers on the Inventory Transfer Attributes pages take precedence over order modifiers that are defined at the item level.

Transfer Yield and Purchase Yield

Enter the usable output, expressed as a percentage. This is used in planning to inflate the planned quantity on transfers or production orders to account for any loss that may occur during transport or production. For example, if you’re expecting the yield of quality items from a transfer to be 90 percent of the delivered items and you need 90 items, then you should order 100 items to fulfill requirements.

Defining Business Unit Attributes for Configured Items

Access the Define Business Unit Item - Configuration page.

Rules Attributes - Components

Additional Attributes

Rules Attributes - Operations

Processing Items with BOMs and Component Lists

PeopleSoft Product Configurator enables you to process a standard BOM and a component list rule when an item is in production.

To process an item with a BOM and a component list rule:

1. Create a standard BOM for the item on the BOM Maintenance page (Manufacturing, Maintaining Bills of Materials).

2. Select the Standard BOM option, and then include the reference BOM item on the Define Business Unit Item - Configuration page.

   The reference BOM refers to BOMs that you create for the item in step 1. To review this BOM, select the item ID on the BOM Maintenance page.

3. Create a component list for the item on the Component List page, and then add the component list to the production model for the item on the Model page.

   Materials from the standard BOM that you create in step 1 and from the component list that you create in step 3 are now associated with the item.

To verify that the setup is correct:

1. Create a configured direct order for the item on the Configuration Orders page.

2. Order the item by using the Order Entry Form page, and then configure the item on the Order Entry Form - Configuration page.

3. Run a production request for the item on the Production Request page.

4. Obtain the production ID for the item on the Direct Production page.

5. Enter the production ID that you obtain in step 4 and the business unit on the Component List Maintenance page, and then click the Search button.

   A list of components for the item appears.

6. Verify that the list of components includes materials from the standard BOM and the component list rule.

See Also

Defining Production Rules

Assigning Serial Numbers Automatically

This section discusses how to assign serial numbers automatically.

Understanding how to Assign Serial Numbers Automatically

To assign serial numbers automatically, use the Automatic Serial Numbers (AUTO_SERIAL_NUM_GBL) component. Use the AUTO_SERIAL_NUM_CI component interface to load data into the tables for this component

When you assign serial numbers to items on a regular basis, you can streamline the data-entry process by establishing default automatic-numbering rules. If the installation includes PeopleSoft Purchasing or PeopleSoft Manufacturing, you can use this default information to assign serial numbers for items that are received in inventory or for completed assemblies that are being moved to another production area.

Page Used to Assign Serial Numbers Automatically

Defining Criteria to Automatically Generate Serial Numbers

Access the Automatic Serial Numbers page.

Note. If you don't define defaults by using this page, you can enter the information manually while receiving items or recording assembly completions.

See Also

Designing an Electronic Data Collection System

Generating Serial Numbers