Dynamics 365 for Operations – Alternative Delivery System

Dynamics 365 for Operations

Please feel free to download White Paper “ax7-delivery-alternatives-jonas-asker-boye”
I have always liked the ATP check in AX since it was released in AX2009, even though it was simple, it gave a quick overview of whether the order line could be delivered or not. The main disadvantage of the ATP check was the “All or nothing” approach – if the customer requested 100 pcs, but only 99 was available – it would simply postpone the entire order line. AX2012 had the Supply overview, which could be used to investigate if the order could be fulfilled – but honestly, who has used that? Luckily, Dynamics 365 for Operations has a small enhancement to the sales orders called Delivery alternatives.
The example below will provide a simple case of how the delivery alternative functionality in Dynamics 365 for Operations can be used.
A sales order, is created for the customer Contoso Retail Seattle. The customer would like to receive the goods on May 18.

The order line is created for 1.100 Pcs of the item A0001. The ship date is automatically changed because of the Delivery date control in Dynamics and postponed until June 2nd when the entire order line can be fulfilled from warehouse 21.

By selecting Product and supply è Delivery alternatives, it will be possible to get a consolidated overview of whether the customers requested receipt date can be fulfilled anyhow.

When the delivery alternatives form opens it is possible to see that the customer can get the entire order delivered already on May 30th, by shipping the order from warehouse 63 instead of 21. Meaning the customer will be able to get it 3 days earlier even though there is a 5 day delivery time. It can also be seen that it is possible to reduce the delivery time to 1 day by changing the mode of delivery to Air. Therefore, by just one click it is immediately visible that the customer can get the order delivered in full 7 days earlier than calculated by the delivery date control.

It is furthermore possible to see if part of the order can be fulfilled partially by selecting the parameter illustrated below. In the example below there are two alternatives and by making a partial delivery of 1000 pcs and changing the mode of delivery to Air, it will be possible to fulfil almost the entire order within the customers requested receipt date.

The difference between the original calculated values and the promised values, can be seen after selecting the alternative warehouse and mode of delivery.

After clicking OK to the delivery alternative, Dynamics will prompt if a Delivery schedule should be created, because of the selected partial delivery.

The system will then automatically create the delivery schedule for the new warehouse, where the 1000 pcs will be shipped out immediately and the remaining 100 pcs will get a ship date according to the ATP calculation.

The delivery alternatives is a simple, but real strong tool that can provide an order handler/sales taker a quick overview of a quicker and better way of fulfilling the customer needs.
I have not found the parameter yet, but a nice enhancement would be to be able have the option of having the delivery alternatives form automatically open if an order line cannot be fulfilled