IFS Cloud Part Availability Control: What Each Setting Does

A part availability control is a record that is used for determining the availability when you make reservations on inventory part locations. It can be linked to inventory stock records or be set as a default part availability control on the Warehouse Navigator page. The availability control ID and settings can be linked to a specific inventory stock record to control the use of that specific stock record.

A warehouse default and a control on a stock record are therefore two places to look when stock behaves unexpectedly. The warehouse default for a remote store is covered in the IFS Cloud remote warehouse article, and the location model in warehouse structure design.

The control holds nine parameters that the pages describe, each acting on a different function. The table summarises what the pages state, and the sections below give the detail.

The nettable parameter means that the part on the location is available and can be planned. Parts on a quality assurance or arrival location are still seen as supply and are not affected by the nettable parameter. Some location types, such as shipment and arrival, are not available for reservation.

For a remote warehouse the page on remote warehouses adds a case: if the setting is Not Nettable, the parts are not plannable or available in the availability check, order proposal and MRP, but on the remote warehouse Parts tab they are considered plannable. Order promising is covered in high-fidelity discrete order promising.

Automatic reservations can be made for parts without availability control IDs and for parts with the automatic reservation parameter set to Allowed. The page continues that manual reservations can always be made, regardless of the setting of that parameter. The sentence is about the automatic reservation parameter only: that parameter does not block manual reservation.

Manual reservation has its own parameter. On the remote warehouse page, Part Manual Reservation Control with the setting Non-Manual Reservation means that the parts in the location cannot be manually reserved, except from the activities done by a user who has the specific remote warehouse set as the default or connected warehouse. A manual reservation can therefore be blocked, by a different parameter from the one the availability control page describes.

Automatic reservation has further conditions. The Reservation Management page states that the inventory part might be connected to a part availability control ID, and if so, the availability control shall allow reservations. It adds that the inventory location must be a picking location, that it cannot be a floor stock, a manufacturing cell, an inspection location or a shipment inventory, and that the part must not be expired. Sales order lines without coverage are covered in sales orders without coverage and flexible reservations.

Two parameters govern issue, one for order issue and one for non-order issue. Automatic order issues cover parts with availability control IDs that have the part order issue control set to Order Issue, and parts without availability control IDs. The non-order issue parameter allows non-order issues for parts depending on two conditions: parts with availability control IDs that have the part non-order issue control set to Non-Order Issue, and parts without availability control IDs.

The page states that the only possible way to make a non-order issue is to issue inventory parts using the Issue Inventory Part page. A control set to Non-Order Issue therefore does not open any other route.

Movement is the parameter that can stop stock from leaving a location. If it is set to Not Allowed, the movement of parts is restricted and the parts cannot be moved to any location unless the availability is changed. This also applies to movements of parts to inventory from a quality assurance or arrival location in a purchase receipt.

The scrap control parameter specifies whether the inventory parts can be scrapped manually from stock, and that includes scrapping performed on a quality assurance or arrival location upon inspection. The counting control parameter specifies whether you can enter a quantity-counted value other than the quantity on hand value. The Putaway Zone Refill Source option must be selected if a stock record with a part availability control should be considered as a source in the refill process.

Kits use the control as well: kit statuses can be linked to part availability control IDs, as covered in kits and kit assembly orders in IFS Cloud.

Inventory and planning decide together which locations restrict which functions, and who may change a control. Planning cares about the nettable parameter, the floor about reservation, issue and movement. A control changed by one side for its own reason affects the other side’s function. Name one owner for each control, write down the purpose of each restriction, and review the controls when a location changes use.

Test a control with one stock record per setting, try the function the setting governs, and write down the expected result first.

Availability controls are ready for go-live when each of the checks below has a record behind it.

1. Each control has an owner and a written purpose.
2. The warehouse defaults and the controls on stock records are both reviewed.
3. Automatic reservation and Part Manual Reservation Control are decided separately.
4. Users know that a non-order issue is made only through the Issue Inventory Part page.
5. Movement Not Allowed is used only where a block on purchase receipt moves is intended.
6. Scrap control, counting control and refill source are decided per location type.
7. The seven test cases are recorded with evidence.

Dariusz Myśliwiec: 18 years hands-on with IFS, including IFS Cloud. Based in Kraków, delivering remotely across Europe and globally through an independent practice. You talk to the consultant who does the work, not a sales layer.

IFS is a registered trademark of IFS AB; this practice is not affiliated with IFS AB.