What is Planning?
The Planning Page in OrderGrid is part of the Replenishment Suite, designed to assist in monitoring and managing inventory planning. It provides essential metrics such as Starting Stock, Demand, Safety Stock, Min Level, and Final Stock for items. This page consolidates data from the Replenishment module, including Min-Max and Demand-Driven strategies, to generate recommendations for restocking items based on real-time data.
To access the Planning page, navigate to
☰ > Replenishment > Planning
Planning Page Overview
When navigating to the Planning page, items are displayed according to their replenishment strategy, either Min-Max or Demand-Driven. These items are organized by category, and the following columns are shown for each item:
Item: The name and OG Code of each item.
Strategy: The replenishment strategy applied to the item (Min-Max or Demand-Driven).
Category: The item category (if applicable).
Date Columns: Columns showing planned quantities for each day in the selected period. The Weekly/Monthly toggle allows switching between different time views for better visibility.
Expanding Item Details
To view detailed information about a specific item, click the down arrow ⌄ next to the item name. This will expand the row to reveal more detailed metrics, allowing for a deeper dive into the inventory data.
Detailed Stock Metrics
The expanded view of each item includes the following key metrics: Starting Stock, Ordered, Demand, Safety Stock, Expiring, Min Level, and Final Stock. Each metric displays valuable information. Below is an explanation of what each one means:
Metric | Description |
Starting Stock | Starting Stock represents the initial inventory of items in the warehouse, excluding any items that are committed or on hold. It is calculated as the in-stock quantity (from the Inventory page) minus the committed quantity and the hold quantity (In-stock - Committed - Hold = Starting Stock). |
Ordered | The quantity of items that have already been ordered for replenishment or are scheduled for future orders. |
Demand | The forecasted quantity of items needed from the warehouse, based on predicted sales or usage. |
Safety Stock | The minimum number of items that should be maintained to avoid stockouts. |
Expiring | Items that will expire soon and should be excluded from future demand calculations. |
Min Level | The minimum stock threshold. When the stock falls below this level, a replenishment recommendation is triggered. |
Final Stock | The resulting stock level after considering starting stock, demand, safety stock, and expiring items. |
Viewing Replenishment Recommendations
Based on the Min-Max or Demand-Driven strategy, the Planning page will display when an item is due for replenishment.
For Min-Max Items: Recommendations are created when stock falls below the defined minimum threshold. These recommendations can be reviewed and actioned on the Replenishment > Recommendations page.
For Demand-Driven Items: If the demand exceeds available stock, the system will generate a recommendation to replenish before stock runs out.
Both scenarios allow for tracking and reviewing recommended actions for inventory replenishment, ensuring that stock levels are maintained appropriately.
Special Considerations
Weighted Items
When dealing with weighted items, the system displays inventory metrics using a base weighted Unit of Measure (UOM). For example, liquids might be measured in gallons, but if you are working with items that come in multiple UOMs, such as oz and lb, the system selects the most appropriate base UOM for calculations. The key here is that the base UOM is the one used in planning and recommendations for consistency and accuracy.
How it works:
Base UOM Selection: The system identifies the base UOM by reviewing all available UOMs for the item and selecting the one with a case size of 1. Case sizes help define the best unit of measure for bulk quantities.
For example: If an item is listed with both oz and lb as its UOMs, the system will check which one has a case size of 1. If oz does not have a price associated with it, the system will default to lb.
On the Planning page, the system will show the Starting Stock, Ordered, Demand, and other metrics using the base UOM, even if the stock is physically stored or sold in multiple UOMs. This makes it easier to manage inventory and track quantities consistently across various suppliers and products.
For example:
Crackers are stored in PKs (packs) in the inventory, with each pack containing 2 units (EA), the base unit in this case is EA = 1. If you have 5 PKs, the system will calculate and display 10 units (EA) for Instock value on the Planning page, based on the base UOM. This ensures consistency in tracking inventory across different UOMs, making it easier to manage stock levels efficiently.
Material Items
Material items aggregate metrics across all SKUs linked to the material item. This approach helps in tracking and replenishing items that belong to a specific material category but may have different SKUs.
How it works:
When replenishing material items, the system calculates the aggregated stock across all SKUs that belong to the material item.
The system determines the optimal vendor based on delivery time, ranking, and price, ensuring efficient replenishment.
For example:
Consider a material item "Healthy Mix" with the following vendor items linked to it within Inventory > Material Items:
Vendor Item 1: SKU: 1001, Case Size: 3 oz (stock: 12 oz)
Vendor Item 2: SKU: 1002, Case Size: 6 lb (stock: 2 lb)
Vendor Item 3: SKU: 1003, Case Size: 5 lb (stock: 3 lb)
Let’s say the Min Level for the material item is set to 10 lb and the current stock across all linked vendors is 4 lb.
The system will first check the total stock across all vendors:
Vendor Item 1 (3 oz): 12 oz = 0.75 lb (converted to lbs)
Vendor Item 2 (6 lb): 2 lb
Vendor Item 3 (5 lb): 3 lb
Total stock: 0.75 lb + 2 lb + 3 lb = 5.75 lb
Since the total stock is below the Min Level of 10 lb, the system will recommend ordering additional stock to meet the Min Level requirement.
The system will evaluate the best vendor to order from, considering factors such as delivery time, price, and preference ranking. In this case, the system may recommend ordering from Vendor Item 2 (6 lb case size) to bring the stock level up to the required 10 lb, ensuring enough inventory for demand.
Min-Max Planning
Min-Max planning simplifies metrics to single-day calculations. It ensures that inventory thresholds are adhered to by focusing on short-term replenishment needs.
Single-day calculations: Min-Max planning works by evaluating stock levels on a daily basis, ensuring timely restocking based on immediate needs.
Threshold adherence: It automatically triggers recommendations when stock levels fall below the minimum threshold.
For example:
if an item’s stock falls below the predefined Min level, the system generates a recommendation to restock. This helps avoid stockouts and keeps inventory levels in check.