Identifying Additional Aspects of Source Determination

The search logic of automatic source of supply determination in the planning run differs from the search logic in other processes in which you can use source of supply determination. During the MRP run, the source of supply determination is performed in the background.

During the MRP run, the system determines the possible sources according to the following priorities:

1. Quota arrangement:

   If a quota arrangement exists for a material, it has the highest priority. You can enter only suppliers and plants in the quota arrangement, but no outline agreement items. If you want outline agreement items to be found as sources, you must additionally enter these in the source list with MRP indicator 1 (Record relevant to MRP) or 2 (Record relevant to MRP. Sched. lines generated automatically). If you have entered different delivery times in the info records to those in the material master record, you should also maintain MRP-relevant source list entries for the materials concerned, in addition to the quota arrangement.

2. Source list:

   If there is no quota arrangement, the system checks the existing source list entries for which the MRP indicator 1 or 2 has been set. If the indicator is set for more than one item, the system takes the first item with an MRP indicator.

3. Scheduling Agreement:

   If several valid scheduling agreements exist, MRP selects a scheduling agreement with active releases first. Otherwise MRP selects the scheduling agreement with the smallest document number.

4. Contract:

   If several valid contracts exist, plant-specific contracts have higher priority than cross-plant contracts. If there are several contracts on the same organizational level, MRP selects the one with the smallest document number.

5. Info record with Automatic Sourcing indicator:

   If there is no quota arrangement, no source list, and no outline agreement, MRP can assign an info record that is marked as relevant for sourcing. If the indicator is set for more than one info record, the system assigns according to the following priorities:

   1. Plant-specific info records have higher priority than info records on purchasing organization level

   2. Smallest supplier number

   3. Smallest purchasing organization number

   4. Smallest purchasing group number

For materials that do not match any of these options, the system generates procurement proposals without a source.

When you manually create a purchase requisition with automatic source determination, the system determines the possible sources according to the following priorities:

1. Quota arrangement:

   The system first checks whether there is a quota arrangement for the material whose validity period covers the delivery date in the purchase requisition. If a quota arrangement exists, the system assigns the source with the lowest quota rating.

2. Source list:

   If there is no valid quota arrangement, the system checks whether there is an entry in the source list for the material in the relevant plant. The validity period of the source list entry must cover the delivery date in the requisition. The entry may take the form of either an info record or an outline agreement (contract or scheduling agreement). If the source list contains only one item, the system assigns this source to the purchase requisition. If the list contains several valid entries, the source with the Fixed indicator will be assigned. If both an outline agreement item and an info record are marked as fixed source, the outline agreement item has higher priority and is assigned. The Fixed indicator cannot be set for more than one source of the same type (outline agreement or info record) in the same validity period.

3. Outline agreement items:

   If neither a quota arrangement nor a source list exists, the system searches for valid outline agreement items. If you have already triggered the source determination process in the requisition header, a unique outline agreement item is assigned directly. Unique means that there is only one valid outline agreement item. If more than one valid outline agreement item is available, you can select from a list. If you have triggered the source determination process per item, all valid sources that exist in the system are offered for selection.

4. Info records:

   If neither a quota arrangement, nor a source list, nor outline agreement items exist, the system searches for valid info records. If you have already triggered the source determination process in the requisition header, a unique info record is assigned directly. Unique means that there is only a single valid info record. If more than one valid info record is available, you can select from a list.

If you have set the indicator in the info record and made the appropriate Customizing setting, the regular supplier is proposed as the unique source, if you have only info records as source of supply for the corresponding material. You are allowed to set the indicator only in one info record per material. If you set the indicator in another info record, you will receive a warning. The indicator will be deselected in the previous info record if you confirm this.

In requirements planning, the regular supplier is only considered if your system is a retail system.

You can activate regular supplier per plant in Customizing for Materials Management under Purchasing → Source Determination → Define Regular Supplier.