Why you need to start using the Supply Schedule in #MSDYN365FO #MSDYN365SCM now!

In Dynamics AX2012, Microsoft introduced the Supply Schedule form. To this day, it is still one of the most underused hidden gems in the Supply Chain areas of Dynamics AX and D365. All the time, I have customers asking not just about how to maintain and manage single orders on a day to day basis and reach to their messages about them, but how to analyze long term plans, aggregate demand and supply for reporting at a product family or business unit level, and view their plans in different buckets of time.

Simple setups such as Period templates and Item allocation keys (which are also used in Demand forecasting) can be configured to allow the use of the Supply schedule and help answer some of those questions your users have. A Period template is an easy way to view and accumulate data in different periods of time. For example, you can have data that is expressed in a weekly view, monthly views, or hybrids. You may want to see the next 5 days’ demand broken out but then any future demand after the 5 days is expressed in weekly buckets instead of individual days. This is exactly what Period templates do and although they are configured in the Organization Administration module for use with many modules and processes, for planners they enable us to view data in the Net requirements and Supply schedule forms in the various templates we have created. In my example below, you can see I have a template that shows the next 5 days, then the following 4 weeks summarized weekly, then anything out further than that is expressed in monthly buckets:

So I can now view my Net requirements in that breakdown and see summary information for all supply (receipts) and demand (issues) first sliced daily for the first 5 days, then weekly, then monthly:

However, what I really need to look at is summarized information in a graphical format for this item, and I also need to see the same view, but for the product family it belongs to. So next, I’ll make sure I have this item belonging to an Item allocation key. This is a required setup to use Demand forecasting functionality, but for our purposes we’ll just use them for Product families and using the Supply schedule view.

Now that I have my item in an Item allocation key and I have Period templates configured, I’ll navigate to the Supply Schedule. The first form opens and asks you to provide filters to view by any Master or Forecast plan, using any Period template, at Item or Item allocation key, and specify if you want to filter by Site and warehouse. You’ll simply select the data you want to see and then the magic begins!! As shown below, I now have summarized information for not only my product, but also its entire product family. I can see the expected starting and ending inventory balances based on the current operational plan if all orders were to process as entered.

Highlighted in Red above, I can expand and collapse the Demand and Supply menus in the form to see quantities broken down by transaction type, just like the Net requirements shows. Then in Green at the top of the form, you can see the columns of date ranges based on the Period template selected.

From there, you can do almost everything you would need to as a Supply chain SME or planner. You can create new planned, production, sales, purchase, and transfer orders or enter Supply forecasts directly from the Supply schedule. You can also run Master planning, update planned orders, and see calculated delays easily. The other advantage of this form is in the bottom section, you can view the schedule graphically which is great for those needing to put together visuals for their weekly and monthly operations meetings.

If you can’t tell by now, this form is a great tool for any member of the supply chain to view both granular and aggregated data to help make better decisions and provide insight and reporting for all demand and supply. I hope more companies take advantage of this feature with the increased adoption of D365FO/D365SCM.