SAP MM: Determining the Source of Supply for Delivery Schedules Creating Order Proposals

If delivery schedules are to be created during the planning run, the system must determine a valid vendor and a valid delivery schedule. There are two ways of determining the source of supply for delivery schedules.

Determining the source of supply by means of the source list

The system first checks whether a quota arrangement has been maintained for the material whose validity period covers the requirements date of the order proposal. The system then checks to see whether only one entry exists in the source list that is relevant to MRP. This means that the indicator for source list usage must be set so that the creation of delivery schedules is only allowed for one vendor. If this is the case, then a delivery schedule is created with the source of supply which is recorded in the source list.

Determining the source of supply by means of quota arrangements and the source list

The system first checks to see whether a quota arrangement has been maintained for the material which is valid for the requirements date of the delivery schedule. It also checks to see whether the indicator for quota arrangement usage has been correctly maintained in the material master record. If a quota arrangement exists, the system calculates from which vendor the material should be procured, using the quotas specified for the vendors.

In the second step, the system then checks to see whether an entry, relevant to MRP, has been made for the selected vendor in the source list. This means that the indicator for source list usage must be set appropriately. If this is the case, then all further data required for the delivery schedule is copied from the source list.

The specification of the source of supply is completed with the maintenance of the source list, that is, the complete data (vendor, purchasing organization, contract) is maintained for the purchase order.