Module Description

The critical purchases view enables you to manage a simpler supply planning flow than the standard planning view in Business Central.

The table reads all the requirements present in the system, both purchasing and production, and shows the understock levels and the date on which these are reached.

Reorders are proposed taking into account all the parameters entered in the master data.

Functionality

Needs analysis

To reach the “Critical purchase worksheet”, search within the search bar for “Critical purchase worksheet”.

A batch will open containing the calculations performed at the last launch of the report. To clean the batch, simply relaunch the report calculation; the system will delete all the entries present, filling the batch with the new calculations performed.

To recalculate the batch and receive new proposals from the system, press inside the “Actions” ribbon and then select “Critical Items…”:

The system will now display a tab containing a list of activities and settings related to the calculation of critical components.

Below we will analyze in detail the fields relating to the page shown above:

• “Start Date”: the “Start Date” field usually corresponds to the date on which the calculation of the statement is being launched. In any case, this field should be filled in with the date that the system must calculate as the start date of the calculation period;
• “End Date”: fill in this field with the “End Date” that the system must use for calculating the statement (this date will define the calculation period);
• “Use forecast”: if production forecasts are created in the system, they can be set in the screen so that the system calculates the net between forecast and actual (forecasts can impact quantities and expiry dates);
• “Exclude forecast before”: is a field in which you can set a date that the system must use to filter the forecasts. In fact, this date is used to exclude forecasts prior to the set date, consequently calculating only the proposals relating to the actual requirement and not the net;
• “Include scheduled orders”: If set, the system will consider not only “simple” orders but also scheduled orders (blanket orders);
• “By location”: If set, the system performs calculations separately for “Location code”, without the need for the Stockkeeping Units set at the item master level;

In addition to the fields described above, within the page relating to the calculation of the "Critical Purchases Prospectus" we will have the possibility to implement calculation filters. This filter can be done for any field present in the item master data.

Once you have set all the desired calculation criteria, select “OK” to allow the system to calculate the relevant requirements, thus populating the reference batch.

“Critical Purchases Overview” Fields

Once the calculation is completed, the system will populate the reference batch. Below are explanations of the columns present within the page shown below:

• “Item No.”: Item code calculated by the system;
• “Description”: Description of the item calculated by the system;
• “Supplier No.”: The preferred supplier for the supply of the item relating to the line being analyzed is set within the master data itself (“Supply” TAB); 
  
• “Location Code”: the system will leave the field blank if the proposed line (requirement) refers to multiple locations. If the supply proposal refers to a single location, this cell will be populated with the relative location code; 
  
• “Lead Time Calculation”: This field will be inherited from the master data of the relative article. The “Lead Time Calculation” field specifies a formula (of date type) to be used to calculate the time required for the supply of the article (time required from the order date to the delivery date);
• “Safety Stock”: this field will be inherited from the master data of the relative article. The safety stock defines the quantity (relative to the basic unit of measure) that you want to have in the warehouse to protect yourself from any emergencies that may occur during the supply lead time of the article; 
  
• “Date Under Safety Stock”: This field will show the date when you will go under “Safety Stock”;
• “Reorder Point”: this field will be inherited from the master data of the relative article. The “Reorder Point” indicates the point below which a warehouse replenishment is necessary and must be set in such a way as to cover the needs during the replenishment lead time;
• “Date Below Reorder Point”: This field will show the date when you will go below the “Reorder Point”;
• “Date Below Zero”: This field will show the date when temperatures will go below zero (relative to the demand forecast);
• “Stock Below Zero”: this field will show how much the stock will go below zero once the “Below Zero Date” is reached;
• “Lowest Stock”: This will show the lowest point of stock for the calculated period;
• “Final stock”: this field will show the stock on the “End date” entered in the settings mask and calculated by the system.

Proposals from the “Critical Purchases Prospectus”

Once the “Critical Purchases Table” has been populated with the items that are in a critical situation, the system can begin to calculate the quantities to order and the relative dates by which to restock.

To do this, select the function within the “Calculate Order Quantity” ribbon.

The calculation can be performed for a single item or for all items in the table. The system will automatically set up the worksheet in the first field (“Worksheet Name”). If you want to calculate the purchase quantity for each item/s, choose the relevant codes in the second field (“Item No.”).

Once you click “OK” the system will populate two fields (move to the right with the bar):

• “Expiry Date”: this field will be populated with the date by which the material must be available at the reference warehouse (therefore it should correspond to the “Promised Delivery Date”/”Scheduled Load Date” present in the purchase order);
• “Order Quantity”: This field indicates the quantity to be ordered on the “Expiry Date”. 
  

Availability for event and other tools

To analyze in detail the data processed by the “Critical Purchases Report”, follow the path: “Navigate/Item Availability for/Event”.

A screen will open in which the system will display in detail all the scheduled loading and unloading operations (planned warehouse entries and exits/not yet accounted for in the warehouse).

If the information appears compressed, click on (Manage/Expand).

In the lines of the mask the system will show:

• The initial stock (“Warehouse”),
• All the exits (Sales, Consumption, Outgoing Transfers) with the related dates, quantities and document number,
• All receipts (Purchases, Production Outputs, Incoming Transfers) with their dates, quantities and document numbers.

You can filter the data using the OPTIONS above the rows (filter by variant, locations, etc.).

In addition to the availability for “Event” it is possible to query the system differently:

• Availability by period;
• Availability by Variant: useful only if you are going to use the standard variants;
• Availability by Location: the system will divide the requirements and scheduled loads by reference warehouse;
• Availability by Bill of Materials Level: the system will explode the bill of materials relating to a production item (if it provides for one);
• Availability by timeline.

From the “Critical Purchases View” you can directly access the selected item master data, or the Stockkeeping Unit related to the selected line. This can be useful for viewing the details related to the master data itself (procurement data) or for modifying them. To do this, follow the following path: Navigateà Itemà Card/Stockkeeping Unit.

You can also force the location of the rows within the table itself through this path: Actions à Registration à Force Location:

This action will open a screen where you can select the location code to force in all the rows of the table. Then select the location and press “OK”.

Purchase requests

Once all the necessary assessments have been made, it will be possible to act in two ways:

• Filter the rows you want to manage;
• Delete all the lines that you do not want to record from the table and then transfer the lines of interest to the “Procurement Table”. Within this table it will be possible to create the reference purchase orders. To delete lines, select the reference lines and then “Management” Delete. 
  

At this point we can account for the lines from the batch and then transfer them into the “Procurement Statement”. To do this, select Actions - Recording - Record:

The system will remove the related proposals from this batch and report them in the “procurement table”.

You can reach the overview directly from the “Critical Purchase Overview” screen by following the path “Navigate” – Planning – Planning Overview:

Here is the “Planning Overview” screen:

Once here, it will be possible to create purchase orders following the standard logic of the Planning Sheet.