For necessary background, please preread Look Forward Days Explained before proceeding with this article.
Purpose
This article explains how to use the Look Forward Days parameter and temporary Policy Overrides to place a single, larger order that covers your stock requirements during a supplier’s planned shutdown, such as an annual closure or Chinese New Year.
The goal is to ensure that enough stock is ordered in advance so that you do not run out while your supplier is unavailable.
Step 1: Create a Temporary Policy Override
Before you create the order, you must adjust the item's planning parameters. This is done using Policy Overrides, which can be set with start and end dates to turn off automatically after the supplier reopens.
Navigate to the Policy Overrides screen.
Create a new rule for the items from this supplier.
Set the applicable Lead Time: This should be the total calendar days between this order's date and its expected delivery date.
Adjust Planning Cycles: Reduce the Replenishment Cycle to a maximum of 30 days and cap the Maximum Safety Stock at an acceptable level. This prevents the system from over-calculating safety stock based on the temporarily adjusted policy.
Define start and end dates for the rule so it will automatically disable once the supplier reopens.
Step 2: Reprocess the Data
Your new policy overrides must be applied to the items before you can create the order.
Navigate to System > Data Refresh.
Reprocess the data to apply your new overrides immediately, or wait for the overnight batch run.
Step 3: Adjust the Look Forward Days
This is the most critical step. You will now tell the app to pull all future demand from the shutdown period into today's order.
Navigate to the Orders screen.
Find the supplier row you are ordering from.
In that row, increase the "look forward days" field.
Set this value to be equal to the number of days until you can place your next order. For example, if the shutdown means you will not be able to place another order for 30 days, change the "look forward days" to 30.
Step 4: Create and Review the Order
After adjusting the look forward days, the system's recommendation will update.
Create your order schedule for the supplier.
Review the recommended quantities, which should now be larger to cover the extended period. Follow the normal order review process.
Step 5: Manage the Policy Override After Ordering
To prevent the system from creating incorrect recommendations after this large order is placed, you must manage the temporary policy you created.
Leave the Lead Time and Replenishment Cycle settings in place until just before you are ready to place the next order.
When normal operations resume, disable the override or allow it to expire automatically.
💡 Tips
Use start and end dates. Setting start and end dates on your Policy Override ensures it reverts automatically after the shutdown, keeping your parameters aligned with standard planning once the supplier reopens.
Forget about these 👇 😞 😐 😃 Have your say here!