AX2012: Shipment delivery dates control / ATP (Available to promise). ATP time fence

Available-to-promise (ATP) method is used to provide the accurate date of the shipment (promise date for delivery).

In this post, we will go through ATP time fence setting and will identify where this setting comes into play. Of course, this method is more sophisticated but we will start from ATP time fence setting. Later on, we will deep dive into other settings.

ATP time fence represents the number of days after which you will have inventory available.  When you set this value, you need to take into consideration the number of days which give the Sales marketing team ability to promise the feasible date and give the Purchasing team enough time to get the product in.

First off, you will need to select the ATP Delivery date control method

1. Click Accounts receivable > Setup > Accounts receivable parameters.
2. Click Shipments.
3. Select ‘ATP’ method in the Delivery date control field
4. Set 10 days in the ATP time fence field

With this being set, we make an assumption that when we have no inventory we can promise to our customer that goods can be shipped within 10 days going forward from today.

You might need to set this down at the lower lever instead of at the parameter level. Below are the places where you can set this parameter:

Item: Product information management > Common > Released products > Manage inventory button on the Action pane > Site specific order settings > Sales order tab >  ATP time fence field.

Item: Product information management > Common > Released products > Manage inventory button on the Action pane > Default order settings > Sales order tab >  ATP time fence field.

Let review how it works

We are going to create a sales order

1. Click Accounts receivable > Common > Sales orders > All sales orders
2. Click New
3. Select a customer account
4. Select Site and Warehouse
5. Select Item number
6. Switch to the Line details

To view the available receipt and ship dates and transfer them to the order line, in the Sales order form, click Simulate delivery dates on the Delivery tab on the sales order line.

Since the item GFE0015 is out of stock, the system assumes that item will be available at the 11/16/2017. So 11/16/2017 the earliest date that manager can promise to the customer.

For this method other settings are used, which we will review later.