Basics of Master Planning in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations

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 3-part series about the basics of master planning for managing day-to-day operations. The contents apply to those firms using Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations or Dynamics AX 2012 R3.

Master planning represents one of the more complex and misunderstood aspects of system usage in manufacturing businesses. It involves many aspects of modeling the business and supply chain, which becomes a little overwhelming when trying to initially learn the master planning capabilities, or trying to teach others. Common questions are often "Where do you start?" and "What are the most critical things to know?"

A very basic starting point involves the setup information about master plan policies for managing day-to-day operations, and the companywide parameters for master planning. These topics are covered within this first article of a 3-part series, and subsequent articles cover additional basics about the options for performing master planning calculations, and the types of demands and supplies considered by the master planning calculations. This first article consists of the following sections.

1. Master Plan Policies for Managing Day-to-Day Operations
2. Scenarios Requiring a Static and Dynamic Master Plan
3. Master Planning Parameters
4. Rationale for using different Master Plans
5. Case Studies