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Inventory Updates in NetSuite 2020.2

2020.2 Inventory |
  • Support for Warehouse Locations That Do Not Use Bins
    • Bulk Processing to Stage Large Pick Tasks
    • Tally Scan
    • Packing Enhancements
    • GS1 Bar Code Generation and Label Printing
  • Supply Chain Control Tower Enhancements
    • Alternate Vendor Recommendation for Late Purchase Orders
    • Predicted Risks for Sales Orders
  • Quality Management Enhancements
  • Actual vs. Theoretical Variance Reports
  • Auto Assign UPC SuiteApp General Availability and Enhancements

Supply Planning

NetSuite 2020.2 introduces a new Supply Planning tool that can help supply planners determine how to best establish criteria to fulfill Demand Plan requirements. Supply planning takes sales order details to generate dependent demand for work order components. The tool enables you to balance supply and demand to achieve your organization’s financial and service objectives. NetSuite 2020.2 Supply Planning is built on several processes and steps. The NetSuite Supply Planning process starts when one transaction, or a combination of transactions (Purchase Order, Transfer Order, or Work Order), are created or initiated. The Item Demand Plan records the expected future demand for an item based on previous or projected demand, and inventory supply is matched to demand sources. All this information is stored in the Planning Repository. To learn more, see the help topic Supply Planning. NetSuite 2020.2 Supply Planning offers the following functionality:

  • The Planning Repository
  • Supply Plan Definition
  • The Planning Engine
  • Supply Planning Workbench
  • Implement and Approve Orders The Planning Repository The Planning Repository process fetches the latest data from NetSuite to help you control the timing of the input coming from the execution system. It provides a consistent view of supply and demand. It also helps you resolve issues and analyze scenarios. This process runs in the background to update the planning data repository which stores data for the Materials Requirements Plan (MRP) run on the supply plan. The planning repository selects all items in the supply plan setup in the Replenishment Method field. To learn more, see the help topic The Planning Repository.

Supply Plan Definition

You can use the NetSuite Supply Plan Definition to establish supply planning criteria. The plan definition provides the information that drives the scheduling process. You can run supply planning at multiple facilities at the same time. A plan definition, or plan, enables you to:

  • Define and save supply planning criteria, such as planning horizon, items, locations, and planning rules.
  • Refer to multiple plans for comparison.
  • Plan output for integration.
  • Copy a plan and modify its criteria to use in “what-if” analysis.
  • Create multiple plans by product line for “what-if” analysis.
  • Control items, locations, and associated demand sources for the plan.
  • Launch a supply plan for processing. To learn more, see the help topic Supply Planning Definition. The Planning Engine After the Supply Plan is run, the Planning Engine generates planning messages, planned orders, engine supply, engine demand, and pegging information. After the planning engine completes its build, the information appears in the Supply Planning Workbench.

Supply Planning Workbench

The data produced by the planning engine appears in the Supply Planning Workbench. From the workbench, you can review action and exceptions messages. You can also firm orders, release orders, create planned orders, and create new supply change orders. These records are returned to the supply plan for you to update and run supply plans. The Supply Planning Workbench displays the following information:

  • How demand and the corresponding supply orders align with their due dates.
  • Inventory levels for all items used by your organization.
  • The issues that could delay the demand order schedule.
  • Possible actions from processing planned orders to processing supply orders. This information enables you to:
  • Respond when important supply orders are in danger of not meeting demand orders.
  • Review, modify, create, and release planned orders.
  • Schedule in, schedule out, and cancel supply order suggestions.
  • Create summary pages by item and location, or across all items and locations. This enables you to drill- down into the numbers, through hierarchical pegging. To learn more, see the help topic The Supply Planning Workbench.

Implement and Approve Orders

After orders are firmed, released, and changed, you can then implement the planned orders and approve the change orders. To learn more, see the help topic Implement and Approve Orders or Implement and Approve Orders.

Inbound Shipment in Supply Allocation

NetSuite 2020.2 Supply Allocation includes the Inbound Shipment feature as a source of supply. This information helps improve the accuracy of purchase order supply allocation calculations. NetSuite defines an Inbound Shipment as a trading document that lists items ordered and received in a shipping consignment (for example, a container). In NetSuite, you can create multiple inbound shipments for each purchase order line, each with its own delivery date and receiving location. Supply Allocation considers the multiple Inbound Shipments and purchase orders to be multiple sources. Inbound shipments in supply allocation treat each shipment, and its related purchase order, as separate sources of supply and allocates them to demand orders. This supply allocation enables you to:

  • Refine a single purchase order line into multiple supply events and allocate each event by their own date of supply.
  • Direct the supply to a location other than the purchase order location.
  • Commit the received inventory to the allocated demand order. NetSuite reconciles the purchase order allocations and related inbound shipments, for the following reasons:
  • To ensure that the total available supply is not counted twice, the purchase order supply quantity is reduced by the related inbound shipment quantity.
  • The remaining order supply quantity and shipment item receipts are updated by location.
  • The quantity received for all shipments for the purchase order is recorded on the order. The Inbound Shipment feature adds another option to the Order Allocation Strategy form as a Future Inventory Order Type. A new Allocated Demand column appears on the Inbound Shipment form. The numbers in this column are hyperlinked to the Allocated Demand page. The Allocated Demand window displays the data of all allocations associated with the Inbound Shipment line. To learn more, see the help topic Inbound Shipment in Supply Allocation.

Earliest Sales Order Availability Based on Allocations

NetSuite 2020.2 provides Earliest Sales Order Availability based on allocations dates. This enables customer service representatives to provide more accurate, realistic delivery quotes. NetSuite supply allocation methods produce the earliest available date. In the Sales Order, Items subtab, the Supply Required by Date column displays a new Earliest Availability link. Clicking this link opens the Earliest Availability page to display the following order line attributes:

  • Item
  • Quantity
  • Supply Required by Date
  • Allocation Strategy
  • Location
  • Computed Available Date These attributes are editable in the Earliest Availability page. After you close the Earliest Availability window, the computed earliest available date replaces the Supply Required by Date on the sales order. All updates to attributes on the Earliest Availability window are reflected on the order line. To learn more, see the help topic Available to Promise Earliest Availability.

Optimize Allocation Fill Rate

In NetSuite 2020.2, the Optimize Allocation Fill Rate feature enables you to satisfy a set of orders when traditional allocation preferences cannot deliver the required short-term results. Fill Rate is a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) that measures the efficiency of an organization’s fulfillment operation. NetSuite’s Optimize Allocation Fill Rate helps you to meet this requirement. The new NetSuite Allocation Processing Option list appears in the Allocate Orders and Order Allocation Schedule forms. From this list, Using Fill Rate Optimization prompts NetSuite batch allocation logic to calculate the number of order lines it can allocate on time. NetSuite allocates the existing supplies to satisfy as many order lines as possible based on the following parameters:

  • Allocate the full required quantities.
  • Allocate the latest supplies to meet the Supply Required By Dates.
  • Prioritize order lines over smaller quantities. Beyond the optimization priorities, Supply Allocation follows the allocation preferences and the allocation strategy for each order. To learn more, see the help topic Optimize Fill Rate.

Warehouse Management Enhancements

Note: Use of the Warehouse Management feature requires that you install the SCM Mobile and Oracle NetSuite WMS SuiteApps. See the help topic Installing the NetSuite WMS SuiteApps.

Warehouse Management provides the following enhancements for orders released in wave transactions:

  • In NetSuite 2020.2, you can view and update values in the new Pick Carton and Pack Carton fields of the Inventory Detail subrecord. NetSuite WMS automatically updates these fields as you complete the picking and packing tasks for orders released in wave transactions. Note: If you have transitioned to use the new capabilities available in NetSuite WMS Version 2019.2 and later, NetSuite WMS automatically migrates your data from existing carton fields to the new fields. After your scheduled NetSuite 2020.2 upgrade, this data migration is scheduled to initiate during the upgrade for your NetSuite WMS bundles. To prepare for this migration, refer to the email notice, PFCN: Impact of NetSuite WMS Version 2020.2 Functionality on Existing Customizations.
  • On wave transactions, NetSuite WMS displays a warning message for any detected discrepancy issues regarding its orders. Waves with discrepancy issues may contain pick tasks in In Progress status that do not reflect the current status of the orders. Additionally, the orders in a wave may be associated with other waves that also have pick tasks in the same state. The warning message includes a link that enables you to resolve these issues for all affected waves. For more information, see the help topic Updating Waves and Handling Wave Issues.

Support for Warehouse Locations That Do Not Use Bins

In NetSuite 2020.2, you can create wave transactions and, on a mobile device, complete tasks for warehouse locations that do not use bins. For these locations, you can perform order processing and inventory management tasks for mobile processes, except for the following bin-related processes: bin transfers, putaway, and replenishment. Within these locations, you can create item stock locations and associate them to your items. On your mobile device, you can view the stock locations assigned to the item being processed. This capability applies to locations that have the Use Warehouse Management box checked and the Use Bins box cleared. Items may have the Use Bins box checked or cleared.

Bulk Processing to Stage Large Pick Tasks

For warehouse locations that use bins, NetSuite WMS uses bulk processing to stage pick tasks that have

a large number of line items. When you stage a large pick task on your mobile device, it automatically creates a job and places the job in a queue. A confirmation page appears to inform you that the job has been submitted for processing. The processing time varies depending on the number of line items and other jobs in your queue. It also depends on the number of queues in your account, which you can increase by upgrading your service tier. See the help topic Recommended Number of Queues to Support NetSuite WMS. For more details about this enhancement, see the help topic Picking Orders. If you use custom roles for picking and other warehouse processing tasks, make sure that they have the SuiteScript Scheduling permission in Full level. To review the permissions for outbound processing tasks, see the help topic Warehouse Management Permissions.

Tally Scan

Each time you scan an item, item alias, a GS1, or composite bar code, you automatically increment by one the value of the appropriate quantity field on the mobile page of a process. Tally scan supports the standard mobile process or a custom one for single and multiple order picking. To set up, you must perform the following updates:

  • Activate the Enable tally scan? system rule.
  • On an item record, you must check the Use Tally Scan box. By default, a new item record has this box checked. You can check the box for each existing item record or update multiple existing records through the Import Assistant.

Packing Enhancements

NetSuite WMS provides the following packing enhancements for orders released in wave transactions:

  • Packing now supports non-inventory for sale and for resale item types that have the Can Be Fulfilled/ Received box checked on the item record. It does not support other charge items.
  • For the supported non-inventory item types, you can pack only the full ordered quantity in a carton and not any partial quantities.
  • When you manually pack orders, you can enter pack carton details, including the carton name, weight, and dimensions. NetSuite WMS automatically updates the associated item fulfillment records on which you can view the pack carton details.
  • If you manually pack orders, you can activate the Use custom packing lists? system rule that enables you to set up custom PDF packing lists. NetSuite WMS provides the default packing list in the wms_sl_CustomPrintpacklist.js script. You can copy this script and customize the PDF packing list according your business requirements. For more information about packing enhancements, see the help topic Packing Orders or Manually Packing Orders and Printing Packing Lists.

GS1 Bar Code Generation and Label Printing

NetSuite WMS can generate GS1 DataMatrix bar codes when you print labels from your mobile device for following supported standard processes:

  • Purchase Order Receiving
  • Inbound Shipment Receiving
  • Assembly Build The generated bar codes for printing contain only the following supported attributes or GS1 application identifiers:
  • Item
  • GTIN
  • Quantity
  • Unit of measure
  • Lot number and expiry date
  • Serial number Custom mobile processes and custom application identifiers are not supported. For more information or setup requirements, see the help topic Mobile Printing for NetSuite WMS or Creating Item Aliases, respectively.

Supply Chain Control Tower Enhancements

NetSuite 2020.2 provides the following enhancements to the Supply Chain Control Tower.

Predicted Risks for Sales Orders

NetSuite 2020.1 introduced the Supply Chain Predicted Risks feature that leverages NetSuite’s IntelligentSuite capabilities to make predictions for purchase orders and transfer orders. NetSuite 2020.2 adds sales orders to this predicted risk feature. The predictions appear in the Predicted Risks portlet of the Supply Chain Control Tower. If there is no existing data, the feature uses the specified values in the location record. This feature requires a history of data to create a trained model from which predictions can be made. When you enable the Supply Chain Predicted Risks feature, the feature performs the following steps:

  1. The feature checks if you meet the history thresholds.
  • For purchase orders, this threshold is 500 purchase orders per vendor over the past two years.
  • For transfer orders, this threshold is 500 transfer orders per location pair in the past two years.
  • For sales orders, this threshold is 500 sales orders per location pair in the past two years.
  1. The feature begins training the model.
  2. When complete, the system uses the trained model to generate predictions.
  3. Predictions are available in the Predicted Risk portlet the day after the purchase order, transfer order, or sales order is created.
  4. The system retrains the model every three months or when you enable the feature. For more information, see Supply Chain Control Tower Dashboard.

Alternate Vendor Recommendation for Late Purchase Orders

In NetSuite 2020.1, the Supply Chain Control Tower could show you predicted risks for late purchase orders and enable you to change purchase order dates based upon recommendations. NetSuite 2020.2 introduces an alternate vendor recommendation for late purchase orders, so that you can select another vendor instead of the original one. For more information, see Supply Chain Control Tower Dashboard.