Introduction - Sales order promising key concepts
A company wants to give customers accurate delivery information for sales orders and it needs to correctly estimate the receipt date of purchase and transfer orders. In Dynamics 365 Business Central, this functionality is known as Order Promising.
Based on the known and expected availability dates for an item, Business Central quickly calculates sales order shipment and delivery dates. These dates can be promised to the customer, or, if the customer requests a specific delivery date, Business Central can assess whether the delivery date is realistic.
When the item isn't in inventory and no supply orders are scheduled, the order processor can use the Capable to Promise function in Business Central to estimate the earliest delivery date for the item.
Sales order promising key concepts
As mentioned previously, a company needs to be able to inform their customers of order delivery dates. Based on an item's known and expected availability dates, Business Central can calculate Shipment and Delivery Dates, which can then be promised to the customer.
Sales Order Promising in Business Central is based on two key concepts:
Available to Promise (ATP)
Capable to Promise (CTP)
Available to promise
Available to Promise calculates dates based on the reservation in the inventory availability system. It performs an availability check of the unreserved quantities in inventory regarding planned production, purchases, transfers, and sales returns. Based on this information, Business Central automatically calculates a delivery date of the customer's order because the items are available, either in inventory or on planned receipts.
Capable to promise
Capable to Promise assumes a "what if" scenario where the item is not in inventory and no orders are scheduled. Based on this scenario, Business Central calculates the earliest date that the item can be available if it's to be produced, purchased, or transferred.
Based on this estimated availability date for the item, Business Central will do the following:
Calculate the delivery date to the customer
Create planning line(s) for the item
Reserve the inventory
The Capable to Promise function includes capacity constraint issues in its calculations, and can be integrated with production scheduling, manufacturing, transfer, purchase, and assembly planning.