Multi-Planning Process

Owned by Megan Stanage
Sept 11, 2024
1 min read

Multi-Planning Overview

Transport + Deliver is primarily used to plan a private fleet of vehicles; however, because of its unique integration with D365 F&SCM, it can easily extend planning to third-party carriers as well.

There is some additional setup required to handle both scenarios, but once configured, you can plan against both types easily.

The diagram below outlines planning routes to:

  1. Private Fleet
  2. Third-Party Carriers

It assumes you will exhaust the capacity of an internal fleet prior to delegating a load to third-party carriers.

Note

  • This does not prevent you from assigning a third-party carrier further upstream or at order creation.
  • The carrier can be changed at any point prior to work completion.

This flow demonstrates a change in carrier at the last possible moment before reversal becomes more involved.

For more documentation on the integration and functionality surrounding the multi-planning process, see:


Multi-Planning Workflow

 Create Source Document

In a majority of cases where warehouse management is being utilized, sales orders are going to the source of demand.

Those source documents can be created by integration, through D365 manually, or some other method.

Regardless of the creation method, it acts as the origin of the process.

While a transfer or purchase order can also be a source document, the process does not change from a T+D perspective.

Although the source type can dictate the mode of delivery used or how an order is ultimately planned, it will generally adhere to the flow outlined on the left.

Required T+D Configurations

 Select Private Fleet Mode of Delivery

Select a private fleet mode of delivery.

This can be done in several ways, three of which are outlined here:

  1. Manual Selection
    1. You always have the option to define mode of delivery by selecting an option from the order line itself.
    2. Selection from the order header will cascade down to the lines.
  2. Rate Shopping
    1. You can navigate to the Rate Route Workbench and run a rate shop to determine mode of delivery.
    2. Modes of delivery can have varying rates and transit times so this may affect carrier selection.
  3. Automatic
    1. D365 allows for customer defaults, so when a customer is attached to a source document, the mode of delivery is preset.
    2. There are additional default selectors based on warehouse or sales order.

Assuming that you want to exhaust internal carriers first, the mode of delivery must be enabled for the Logistics Execution module.

This is the connection point between base D365 F&SCM and T+D and is critical to all downstream processes.

Required T&D Configurations

 Release to Warehouse/Order Creation

Whether releasing a line manually, automatically, or in batch, when a shipment is created, a logistics order is as well.

The requisite order is how you plan the units to an activity and specific vehicle.

Note

There may be a client-specific process where a shipment is not created immediately. In these cases, the logistics order is not created until the shipment is.

The Pre-Plan functionality allows you to pre-plan sales orders prior to shipment creation; however, no work can be created until the latter is created.

The default logistics types configured populate the logistics order accordingly.

Required T&D Configurations

 Plan Logistics Order to Activity

Activity assignment means assigning an order to a route in Transport + Deliver.

This represents the load and how it will transported to the requested destination.

You can assign logistics orders to activities in a variety of ways:

Regardless of the method, the result follows the multi-planning process.

 Select Activity to Load/Work Created

Select Activity to Load to generate a corresponding load in Warehouse Management. 

This also generates dock work for any orders on the activity.

The load and work is created equally between T+D and D365 F&SCM.

Required Configurations

 Execute Work

Work execution moves the necessary items to the appropriate warehouse location.

The activity is unable to dispatch unless the requisite inventory it put to the final location.

 Replan to Third-Party Carrier

At this point, you can keep the load assigned to a private fleet asset and finish this flow.

However, this is your last chance to update to a third-party carrier before reversal becomes difficult.

This requires updating the mode of delivery to remove the activity from capacity calculation on the Rate Route Workbench.

You should also unassign the activity from the private fleet asset using the Activity Resource Workbench.

Required Configurations

 Ship Confirm

If the assigned mode of delivery is now third-party, T+D is hands off.

The ship confirmation proceeds as configured in D365 F&SCM.

 Complete Activity

While T+D is no longer in control of the load, you should still go to the activity and update it accordingly.

Use a configured action to complete or cancel the activity according to your business processes.

This can also be completed after replanning the activity to a third-party carrier.


Process

 Create Source Document

 Select Private Fleet Mode of Delivery

 Release to Warehouse/Order Creation

 Plan Logistics Order to Activity

 Select Activity to Load/Work Created

 Execute Work

 Replan to Third-Party Carrier

 Ship Confirm

 Complete Activity


FAQs

  • Q: At what point can you change to a third-party carrier from private fleet?
  • A: Technically, you can change from a private fleet vehicle to a third-party mode of delivery at any point in the flow.
    • The process above displays how the standard flow works when the carrier is changed at the last possible moment.
    • Adjusting after this requires additional work and may not have a workaround depending on F&SCM configurations.

  • Q: Can I view capacity for both private fleet and third-party carriers?
  • A: Yes, third-party carriers have a static capacity that be configured from Shipping Carriers.
    • The same configuration can be used to dictate capacity for private fleet; however, that calculation is based on active asset count for a given facility.
    • These both appear on the Rate Route Workbench.

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