Demand Code

The demand code determines if the item will be planned by Master Scheduling or Requirements Planning.  Master Scheduling creates the schedule for end items.  It includes a rough-cut capacity planning feature to give you a preliminary idea of whether a tentative schedule could be met.  After the master production schedule is finalized, the Requirements Planning application schedules production for all of the components of the master scheduled items.

In general, you will want to have Master Scheduling schedule all items that have independent demand (whether from customers or from other plants).  This category includes end items (which have only independent demand) and service parts (which are both sold to customers and used as components in the manufacturing process).  However, you may wish to have a few critical components scheduled by Master Scheduling so they can be included in the rough-cut capacity plan.

There are four demand codes:

·     M - Standard Master Scheduled.  Planned only by Master Scheduling. 

·     D - Daily Master Scheduled.  Planned only by Requirements Planning.

·     R - Requirements Planning.  Planned only by Requirements Planning.

·     S - Service.  Production is planned by Requirements Planning.  However, the load required to produce the part is included in the rough-cut capacity plan.

The vast majority of your items will probably be Requirements Planning parts.