The current planning module is provided as a pilot in beta mode and by
means of an integration with a 3rd party service. The features supported
are those described in this Knowledge Base section only - additional
functionality may be able to be provided on a case-by-case basis.
The inventory planning alerts are shown on the main application screen and are visible just by logging in. The upper part is a summary of the number of alerts by a monthly bucket that highlights the time periods in which alerts are occurring. The bottom part contains a full list of active alerts with detailed information for each one as you can see below:
To investigate the cause of an alert and attempt to take corrective action it is recommended to drill down from the specific alert to the “Planning and Projections” view (by right-clicking on the alert row and then clicking on the view name). This way you can:
add comments to an alert (e.g. to record relevant information about its root cause, steps undertaken to address it, ongoing outstanding issues, etc.)
have an option to simply acknowledge an alert i.e. declare it not significant/not relevant in which case the alert will simply be removed from the list.
Types of Alerts
The alerts that the system may generate are:
Purchased inventory projected to miss demand
The inventory for a purchased item is projected to be insufficient to meet the expected demand in a specific period. This may indicate a need to place additional purchase orders with the supplier of the item.
Purchased inventory below minimum levels
The inventory for a purchased item is projected to go below the desired minimum level in a specific period. This may indicate a need to place additional purchase orders with the supplier of the item.
Purchased inventory above maximum levels
The inventory for a purchased item is projected to exceed the desired maximum level in a specific period. This may indicate an opportunity to optimize inventory costs.
Manufactured inventory projected to miss demand
The inventory for a manufactured item is projected to be insufficient to meet the expected demand in a specific period. This may indicate a need to manufacture more of the item in the period.
Manufactured inventory below minimum
The inventory for a manufactured item is projected to go below the desired minimum level in a specific period. This may indicate a need to manufacture more of the item in the period.
Manufactured inventory above maximum
The inventory for a manufactured item is projected to exceed the desired maximum level in a specific period. This may indicate an opportunity to optimize inventory costs.
Sales tracking higher than forecast
The total sales volume of an item in a specific period exceed the forecasted demand for the period. This may indicate a need to update/improve the forecast.
Next Article: How to generate forward inventory projections?