Significance of SCM-Related Calendars in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations or Dynamics AX

Editor's Note: This article is drawn from the recently published book by Dr. Hamilton about master planning in manufacturing. It represents the first of a 2-part article about SCM-related calendars. The contents apply to those firms using Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations as well as previous versions of Dynamics AX because the functionality related to calendars has essentially stayed the same.

Several types of calendar assignments provide critical information for coordinating supply chain management (SCM) activities in manufacturing and distribution. The calendars impact the dates for sales orders and supply orders (both planned and actual), and changes in calendars can result in action messages to advance or postpone these orders. While the importance of calendars is easily grasped, there are multiple nuances that can impact an organization's efficiency.

To understand these nuances, calendars can be broadly classified into two groups based on their significance. One group involves calendars that simply identify the working days (aka open dates) for warehouses, customers, vendors, and modes of delivery. They primarily impact receiving and shipping activities related to sales orders, purchase orders, and transfer orders.  A warehouse calendar can also impact production orders in terms of open dates for scheduled receipts. The second group involves production-related calendars for production resources, where each calendar identifies the working hours within working days for a resource. This article covers the first group of SCM-related calendars, and a subsequent article covers the second group of production-related calendars ...