Automating Purchasing with Requirements

What are Requirements?

Requirements are the records opentaps uses to denote when inventory is needed either for production or for resale business. These two types of of Requirements, Product Requirements and Internal Requirements, are used as follows:

• Product Requirements are used to create purchase orders,
• Internal Requirements are used to create production runs.

Creating Requirements

Requirements can be created automatically in either of these two ways, but only one method should be used:

• Use Material Resources Planning (MRP) which is a distinct process step, and is considered the preferred method for many businesses.
• Use "Requirements Enumeration" configured in the main navigation Catalog section, Product definition screen when sales orders cause Requirements to be created. (Refer to Setting Up Your Products). This may be a sufficient method for simple business processes.

To create requirements with MRP, use the Run MRP Screen in the purchasing application and refer to the User Manual section Material Resources Planning.

To create requirements automatically as sales orders are entered, set up the “Requirement Method Enum ID” field of the Product Screen by selecting one item from the drop down box. The different settings are described as follows:

• No requirement Created when sales orders are entered. thus, only MRP will produce your requirements.
• Automatic For Every Sales order (PRODRQM_AUTO) – Requirement is created each time a sales order is created, for the quantity equal to the item order.
• When QOH Reaches Minimum Stock for Product-Facility – a Requirement is created the first time QOH (quantity on hand)falls below the minimum stock level set for Product and facility of the order, for the reorder quantity defined for that facility.
• When ATP Reaches Minimum Stock for Product-Facility – a Requirement is created the first time ATP (available to promise)falls below the minimum stock level set for Product and facility of the order, for the reorder quantity defined for that facility.
• Requirement for order when ATP Reaches Minimum Stock for Product-Facility – a Requirement is created for the quantity of the order item if the ATP is below minimum stock, without regard to reorder quantity. (This is often used for simple automated purchasing.)
• Drop ship only – The item is only drop shipped.
• Auto drop ship on low quantity – Item is drop shipped based on quantity.

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Additional Configuration for Requirements

When Requirements are created automatically, they are created as follows:

*  The Requirement is for the warehouse inventory  defined by the facilityId of the 
   product store of the order.  
*  It is based upon your "Minimum Stock" and "Reorder Quantity" entries in this page:
   Catalog > [Edit Product] > [Facilities] where you can specify replenishment factors 
   for the Product.  (Refer to Inventory Stock Levels for a product.)  
*  If you set a "Days To Ship" value (the lead time from stocked in inventory to ship date),
   then a "Required by Date" will be created as well on your Requirements.

Automated Orders and Drop Shipments

If you want to create purchase orders or drop shipments automatically, do the following:

*  Create Suppliers for your product under the [Catalog] > [Edit Product] >> [Suppliers] Tab
*  Designate one supplier as the “Main Supplier” under the “Supplier Perf Order ID” field. 

The Requirements will then be automatically created for with this supplier, and you can produce the order or drop shipment from the approved Requirement without further editing.

Working with Requirements

To work with the Requirements you have created navigate to this screen:

*  Main navigation Icon: Purchasing > Planning Tab > Use any of five Requirements buttons.
*  Use the [[Open Requirements] button to view and select Requirments for approval.  
   Refer to the Purchasing Reference Manual.  
*  You can look up Requirements manually with [Find Requirements]. 

When you have approved requirements, you can use an one of the three "Approved Requirements" buttons, refer to Approved Requirements Screen, to see the vendors with approved requirements of each type (Product, Internal, or Transfer).

You can review order information produced from the Requirements, produce the orders, or cancel the requirements on these pages.

For details about using the Requirements processing screens to handle your needs for additional inventory, refer to Step By Step: Using the Inventory Requirements.