Determining Batches in Sales Orders

Depending on the settings you have chosen in Customizing, there are two ways you can run

batch determination in sales orders:

• Automatically, during creation of the sales order (see section Activating Automatic Batch

Determination in S&D in the Implementation Guide) or

• You can trigger it manually during order processing; see section Triggering Manual Batch

Determination in Sales Orders)

You still have the option of triggering manual batch determination, if you have already used

automatic batch determination previously, but want to use other batches than those the system

selected using the sort rules.

Specify descending quantity for the sort sequence, so that the system always finds

the batch with the largest available quantity first.

There are three possible scenarios when you use automatic batch determination.

• The system finds a batch of the desired quantity

• The system finds an insufficient quantity

• The system does not find a suitable batch

Scenario 1: The System Finds a Batch of The Desired Quantity

The desired quantity of a batch with the appropriate specifications is found, and returned to the

order. No dialog takes place, as the Customizing setting Dialog yes is overridden during

automatic batch determination.

Scenario 2: The System Finds an Insufficient Quantity

The system only finds an insufficient quantity of a batch with the appropriate specifications. As no

batch split is possible during batch determination in the sales order, this might also be the case,

where the required quantity could be obtained from several batches (see also section Batch

Determination for Deliveries. The first batch found using the sort rule is returned to the

sales order. You have the option of intervening via manual batch determination. First, call batch

determination again in order to obtain an overview of available batches. You then have the

following options:

• You can select a different batch

• You can enter a new item in the sales order of which you know that batches with

sufficient quantities are available

• You can search for a batch with similar specifications by changing the selection criteria

See also:

Changing Sales Orders [Ext.] in the SD - Sales and Distribution Processing documentation.

Scenario 3: The System does not Find a Suitable Batch

The system does not find a batch with the appropriate specifications. In this case, you can either

use manual batch determination to run a new search with different selection criteria, and/or

trigger make-to-order production. You need to enter the latter in the sales order. (See also

section Make-To-Order Production [Ext.] in the SD - Sales and Distribution Processing

documentation. The production order uses the specifications stored in the sales order to find

suitable batches of the materials required for production.

The three scenarios described above are also possible during manual batch determination. In

this case, however, you can intervene directly