Demand Channels
- Megan Stanage (Unlicensed)
- Megan Stanage
Demand sources can be assigned to a specific channel based on a set of criteria.
Channels can represent any desired way to segregate demand—business units, customer classifications, demand sources (web, EDI, phone), etc.
The Demand Channels configuration page allows you to create and manage these channels, which are leveraged in the channel assignment process to assign demand to a channel.
You can configure which demand channels should be evaluated and in what order they should be evaluated for assignment on the Reservation Priorities page.
New or Edit Demand Channel
Click New to create a demand channel. Click Edit to edit an existing demand channel.
| FIELD | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| Name | Name of the demand channel. |
| Description | Description of the demand channel. |
| Processing Order | Controls the order in which reservation is run over the demand within this channel:
|
| Enabled | Turn on this toggle to enable the demand channel for processing. |
| Effective Start Date | Start date/time for this demand channel. |
| Lead Days to Evaluate | Number of days to look forward for demand to reserve based on ship date. |
| Effective End Date | Expiration date/time for this demand channel. |
| Past Days to Evaluate | Number of days to look back for demand to reserve based on ship date. |
| Attributes | Click New to add attributes to this demand channel. See Attributes - Orchestrate to configure these attributes. |
Delete Demand Channel
Select the desired record and click Delete to delete a demand channel.
Click OK on the confirmation pop-up window to confirm the deletion.
Additional Configurations
Budgets
The Budgets page allows you to create budgets for demand channels.
These budgets help define how much product inventory should be reserved within the channel.
Once a channel budget is reached for a given timeframe and scope, reservation will not be allowed.
Sustainability: Stabilize Inventory
Limit the amount of inventory customers can order to avoid ordering either too much or too often.
See Sustainability with Supply Chain Cloud for more information.
Click Budgets on a demand channel line to configure budget details.
You should see the selected demand channel at the top of the page, along with several buttons.
Create or Edit Budget
Click New to create a budget. Click Edit to edit a budget.
This opens a pop-up window where you can enter budget details.
| FIELD | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| Name | Enter a name for the budget. |
| Description | Enter a description for the budget. |
| Budget Item Group | Select the budget item group for the demand channel budget. This budget will affect any items that belong to this budget item group for the selected channel. Note If there are multiple items in the budget group, the budget quantity corresponds to the sum of those items, not each one individually. |
| Site | Enter the site for this budget (if desired). |
| Warehouse | Enter the warehouse for this budget (if desired). |
| Scope | Select the level at which the budget will be tracked:
|
| Budget Quantity | Enter the maximum number of units allowed to be reserved. If a budget quantity is exceeded for a demand line, no further inventory is allocated. |
| Active | Turn on this toggle to enable the budget. |
| Unlimited Budget | Turn on this toggle to ignore the Budget Quantity field and allow unlimited reservations. Note This is useful for clients that want to track the amount of inventory for the budget, but do not have any constraints on that budget. |
| Prevent Partial Order Line Reservation | Turn on this toggle to prevent an order line from being partially reserved if the total demand line amount exceeds the budget. When turned off, if the budget quantity is exceeded, inventory is allocated even if it does not fulfill the entire line. |
Delete Budget
Select the desired record and click Delete to delete a budget.
Click OK on the confirmation pop-up window to confirm the deletion.
Budget Recurrence
Click this button to configure a recurrence for the highlighted record.
Note
Each budget can only have one recurrence set up.
You can determine how often the budget record is restarted for budget tracking purposes.
If no recurrence is configured, the budget is always tracking.
| FIELD | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| Start Date | Enter the date the budget takes effect. |
| End by | If you select this option. select the date the budget should end. |
| End after number of occurrences | If you select this option, select the number of times the budget should run. |
| Pattern |
|
Safety Nets
You can set up safety nets to allow inventory to be withheld and "soft reserved" to a demand channel when there is no demand to consume it.
This is useful when you want stock available in case an order for that channel comes in because it has a high priority.
The "soft reservation" to a channel is only in relation to a particular reservation run. If multiple channels are being processed in a reservation run, safety nets are applied based on the sequence in which channels are evaluated during reservation processing.
Example
If Channel 1 has a safety net of 25 units, then when the Channel 2 reservation runs, the 25 "soft allocated" Channel 1 units are not available for reservation.
Sustainability: Stabilize Inventory
Mitigate risk around urgent orders by keeping inventory on-hand instead of expediting to fulfill requests.
See Sustainability with Supply Chain Cloud for more information.
Click Safety Nets on a demand channel line to configure safety nets.
You should see the selected demand channel at the top of the page, along with several buttons.
Create or Edit Safety Net
Click New to create a safety net. Click Edit to edit a safety net.
This opens a pop-up window where you can enter safety net details.
| FIELD | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| Name | Enter a new for the safety net. |
| Description | Enter a description for the safety net. |
| Budget Item Group | Select the budget item group for the demand channel safety net. This safety net will affect any items that belong to this budget item group for the selected channel. Note If there are multiple items in the budget group, the safety net quantity corresponds to the sum of those items, not each one individually. |
| Active | Turn on this toggle to enable the safety net. |
| Site | Enter the site for this safety net record (if desired). |
| Warehouse | Enter the warehouse for this safety net record (if desired). |
| Safety Net Calculation | Select how the safety net value calculates:
|
| Safety Net Value | If using the Number of Units calculation method, indicates the number of UOMs to use as a safety net. If using the Percentage of Physical Availability calculation method, indicates a percentage of inventory to keep available. |
Allow Safety Net to Surpass Budget | Turn on this toggle to allow the "soft allocated" safety net to exceed the remaining budgeted amount for the channel. If turned off, the safety net cannot exceed the budget. |
| Excess Safety Net Amount | Designates by much the budget can be exceeded. |
Delete Safety Net
Select the desired record and click Delete to delete a safety net.
Click OK on the confirmation pop-up window to confirm the deletion.