Adding Demand History to Products

Use the Product User Control Parameters to add demand from one product to another. You can copy existing demand history from one or more products to a new product with the Add Demand window. Demand history can be in units, weight, or load factor depending on the item and need. This choice enables you to create demand history for new product when:

A new product replaces a discontinued product. You can assume that the demand for the new item is similar to that of the old item. For example, you Product A Model 100 is being replaced by Product A Model 200. Use the demand for the old product to predict the demand of the new product.

Note: Change the discontinued item's product status to something other than Stock. Otherwise, the system continues suggesting that you purchase both items.

A new product is sold that combines several items. The demand of the multiple products is totaled and added to the new product. For example, you sell individual tools. You now provide three tools in a one set. Use the demand for the individual tools to calculate the history for the set.

You must know how much material one product uses from its component parts. Copy the demand history based on the relationship between the components over to the finished product. For example, you must know how much sheet metal to order to manufacture duct work. By combining the monthly demand in weight of your duct-work components, you can estimate how much sheet metal you need each month.

Use the Add Demand dialog box to:

Add the demand history of one or more discontinued products to their replacement.
Add a product's demand history in one branch to another branch.
Add or subtract a customer's demand history from one product to another.

To add demand history to a product:

From the Maintenance menu, select Product to display the Product Maintenance window.
Display a product record.
From the Inventory menu, select Primary Inventory Maintenance to display the Primary Inventory Maintenance dialog box
From the Edit menu, select User Controls to display the Product User Control Parameters dialog box.
From the File menu, select Hierarchy to display the Product User Control Parameters dialog box.
In the Enter hierarchy branch field, enter the branch or territory ID.
Click OK to display user control parameters for the selected branch in the Product User Control Parameters dialog box.
From the Additional Controls menu, select Add Demand to display the Add Demand dialog box.

Note: Use the Branch Fields Required To Add Product Demand control maintenance record to limit the branch fields you want the Add Demand program to use.

In the Include the following products' demand with the product above based on field, enter one of the following measurement types:

Units - Includes demand based on the number of items.
Weight - Includes demand based on the weight, in pounds, of the item.
Load - Includes demand based on the load factor for the item.

Complete the following fields for each product from which to add demand:

Field	Description
Products	The product from which to copy demand history to the new product Use the Do Not List Item More Than Once On Add Demand Screento indicate if you want to list products more than once on the Add Demand window.
Expire Date	The date after which to stop adding the demand of the product to the demand of the new product.
To Branch	The branch that will use the demand history.
From Branch	The branch from which to obtain the demand history.
Add PIL	Select if you want the projected inventory level (PIL) of the old product to flow through to the replacement product. When you add the demand of another product to a new or replacement product that has no inventory, the system purchases the replacement product before you have sold off what is left of the old product. Using the Add PIL option stops the replacement product from being suggested to purchase. As the PIL of the old product is reduced then the replacement product comes up to purchase once it is below the order point. Note: The PIL of the replacement product displays in bold after selecting this option.