KEY QUESTIONS & CONSIDERATIONS FOR ORACLE

PLANNING SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION (MRP/ASCP)

This Post lists a set of key questions which must be asked before designing a
planning solution based on Oracle Planning modules (Oracle MRP/ASCP) in discrete
Manufacturing environment. The list may not be exhaustive but highlights important
areas which must be well understood before starting the solution design phase. Few
notes have also been included to emphasize important points.

What is the required Forecasting level ? i.e. item, customer, bill-to or ship-to customer
location. Higher the forecasting level, higher would be the forecast accuracy but the
lower level forecast visibility might be lost, hence it needs to be decided optimally.

What is the Forecast bucket to be used ? e.g. days in short term, weeks in mid term,
periods in long term? Bucket must be set optimally

What is the Forecast consumption level item, customer, bill-to or ship-to customer
location: this need to be aligned with forecast level.

What are the Forecasting rules to be deployed? statistical (for multiple periods) or
Focus (single period)?

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Any interfaces for importing forecast from external sources? Excel/legacy?

Is there any Aggregation/Segregation of forecasts required ?
What is the required Consumption mechanism forward or backward (no. of
workdays)?
Is there a need for scenario based forecasting best, planned & worst base scenarios ?
Actual Production is on basis of forecast or just for information / comparison purpose?
Is there a scenario for Planning bills ? i.e. explode planning bill while loading/copying
forecast planning bill is a way to aggregate demand at higher level to improve
forecast accuracy
Forecast consumption required for all items or only few selected / critical items?
Note: Forecast consumption happens at forecast set level, if same item in different sets,
consumption will be duplicated

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Note: Overconsumption creates additional demand line (after exhausting backward and
then forwards days)

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How is shipment schedule (MDS) managed?

which all sources of demand are considered? forecast, sales order, spares (manual)
demand or Irs
How is anticipated build schedule (MPS) managed?
Note: MPS is treated as supply for ATP calculations
Is there any interface of MPS entries from external systems?
Is MDS/MPS relief monitoring required or just manual comparison between MPS/MDS
entries and Production orders/shipments?

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Is reduce MPS attribute required?

Demand class based consumption or not?
Is there a scenario for inter-org material planning?
Forecasting is required for spares/sub-assemblies or only for finished goods?
Is there a requirement for RCCP (Rough Cut Capacity Planning) against critical
resources or all resources? Are there any bottlenecks/critical resources already
identified?
Note: It is essential to identify MPS level planning items most often these are
independent demand items, critical items, item where more control is required
Is there a need to copy the required plan for editing/comparing/analysis before
releasing?
What are the planning horizons for MPS and MRP planning?
Note: Plan over-write option when replanning in consecutive periods?
Material should arrive on order start date or operation start date?
Are there any item you would not want to be planned from MRP, rather as Min-max or
ROP?
Note: Planned orders generated on Lot-for-Lot concept i.e. planned orders in
quantities equal to the net requirements for each day

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Are any order modifiers being used? Fixed, min, max order qty, fixed days supply?
Is there a requirement for kit/phantom items planning?
Is there a scenario where both purchasing and in-house manufacturing has to be enabled
for certain items ?

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Are there any bulk items? i.e. not to be individually issued to jobs, rather to floor
stock expense accounts

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Is there a scenario for shrinkage rate? i.e. some amount will be scrapped or wasted so
planning plans more: total demand = original demand planned order shrinkage+discrete
job shrinkage (on supply side)

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Is there a requirement to plan for safety stock market hedge planning?

Is there any scenario for lot expiry?
How is the scenario for long lead time planning handled ?
Should ECO have an impact on planning or not? MRP active flag to be set at ECO
level.
Auto release or manual release of planned orders?
How are orders firmed i.e. to avoid rescheduling of firmed orders from MPS/MRP.
Is constrained based planning required ? If yes, what constraints to be honored.
Centralized or decentralized Supply Chain Planning? Or combination of both?

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Note: Acceptable early days item parameter in case of advance receipts, controls
rescheduling out feature to avoid very frequent reschedule-outs and decrease
nervousness of planner by having little extra stock in ahead

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Note: The planning process considers past due supply and demand as if it were due
today (in
other words, the start date of the plan)

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Note: Over-write option only decides over-writing of firm orders, planned orders
anyway are over-written (i.e. all existing entries deleted), plan never creates firm
order automatically-always planned.. Firm can be done manually in workbench.
Note: lead time percent (generated from calculate mfg lead time program)is used to
schedule material requirements at a particular operation and to plan capacity
requirements at a particular operation

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Note: Dynamic lead time calculation based on fixed and variable lead times (computed
by BOM calculate lead time programs)

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component requirement on order start or operation start? depends on the nature of

lead time, for short lead times, order start is better

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Note: Approved PRs, un-approved/approved Pos are considered as scheduled receipts

Note: Purchasing location should be same as location assigned to inventory
organization
Note: Promised-by date is considered as dock date in case both need by and promised
by is available

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Note: post-processing lead time for the item is added to the dock date to determine the
planned receipt date

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Note: Separate planner code recommended for internally sourced items