Two different types of dates are used throughout sales order entry:
A required date is the date by which your customer needs the product.
A shipping date is the date the product is actually available. The system calculates the ship date based on your other sales orders and inventory commitments, or by calculating a Plenty Date.
When you notice a difference between a required date and a shipping date, as shown above, notify your customer about the situation, then take steps to receive the products sooner. For example, you may be able to ship products directly from an emergency vendor or another branch, so that you can deliver the products by the required date.
When a ship date does not meet your customer's requirements, you can use these methods to get products sooner:
View system reports to determine how effectively your company meets your customers' required date needs. Both of these reports are available on the Service Level Reports menu, located on the second End of Month Reports menu.
The system uses an order's ship date when determining if there are any valid matrix cells for costing an order.
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