The work and the outcome
Multiple screens conceal stock dependencies; stale availability produces unreliable promises.
Approved fulfillment plan and revised promise date are recorded against the ERP order, with customer acceptance evidence.
- Business function
- Order fulfillment planning
- Typical sponsor
- Supply chain director
- Working role
- Order fulfillment planner
- Unit of work
- shortage order
How this work typically happens today
- Check stock by warehouse and inbound supply
- Inspect allocations and requested dates
- Find approved alternatives or split options
- Agree a plan and revise commitment
How the workflow could run
AI helps prepare and coordinate the work. The review rules define what can proceed and where an accountable person decides.
- 01
Receive the trigger
An order line fails available-to-promise checks.
- 02
Bring the right context together
Unify item compatibility, inventory snapshots and supplier ETA provenance with freshness limits.
- 03
Prepare the work with AI
Read current ATP and allocations; enumerate policy-allowed split, transfer or substitute options; calculate date and cost tradeoffs.
- 04
Review and authorize
Approve allocation changes and freight cost; confirm customer acceptance and technical compatibility of substitutes.
- 05
Confirm the outcome
Approved fulfillment plan and revised promise date are recorded against the ERP order, with customer acceptance evidence.
The review experience
Option comparison showing split dates, extra freight and source timestamp.
Information and systems
Systems to connect
- ERP ATP
- WMS stock
- procurement ETAs
- product catalog
- CRM
Context the workflow needs
Order lines, available/reserved stock, inbound ETA confidence, warehouse, transit times, approved equivalents, freight costs.
What needs to be in place
Near-real-time stock/reservations, validated equivalence data and planner-defined allocation rules.
Human decisions and exceptions
Where people decide
Approve allocation changes and freight cost; confirm customer acceptance and technical compatibility of substitutes.
The approval boundary
Planner controls scarce-stock allocation; technical owner/customer approves substitutes.
If something is missing or fails
Stale stock, missing compatibility or uncertain inbound supply produces an investigation task, not a promise.
What to measure
- Accepted options / proposed options
- promise dates met / revised promises
- planner minutes / shortage order
What to check during evaluation
Replay shortage scenarios; monitor stale-stock blocks and promise-date misses.
Establish today’s baseline and agree acceptance criteria for representative cases, including exceptions. Count review, rework and operating costs alongside the benefit. Time released creates capacity; a financial saving needs a separate mechanism.
Explore it in your business
Are ATP and inbound dates trusted? Obtain shortage logs, allocation rules, approved equivalents and dates actually achieved.
Bring the people who own the process, permitted examples and a clear finish line. Together, we can establish the scope, connections and evidence needed for a useful first deployment.