Summary
This article walks through what an order cycle is, how it is configured in StockIQ and what its effects are.
Applies To
All items in StockIQ
Process
What is an order cycle?
An Order Cycle, sometimes known as a Review Cycle or Review Interval, is the number of days between orders that you would like to shoot for. It is usually defined for a particular Supplier and Site combination.
Common examples are a 1-week order cycle (7 days), or a 1 month order cycle (~30 days). The desired order cycle can be based on a number of factors including:
- Volume of business done with a given vendor into a given site
- MOQ's and multiples for items from that supplier
- Supplier minimums
- shipment and/or truck schedules
In StockIQ, there is a default order cycle of 1, meaning that barring any outside factors, StockIQ could possibly suggest orders on a 1-day interval. In practice, the effective order cycle for a given part is usually implicitly increased by factors such as minimum order quantities (MOQs), multiples, and if you are using the Order Point order policy, the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ). However, specifying an explicit order cycle allows you to always have StockIQ trying to target at least that many days worth of inventory per order.
How is order cycle configured?
If you wish to specify a greater order cycle explicitly, this can be configured in the Global Order Cycle Settings, Default Order Cycle Settings and Order Cycle Settings Override screens using either a fixed value you specify, calculated by StockIQ according to Supplier Minimums, or calculated using a Supplier-level EOQ calculation.
What are the effects of an order cycle?
When an order cycle is in place for an item, when StockIQ determines that the item needs to be ordered, then it will calculate the anticipated usage over the course of the order cycle, and make sure that you are ordering at least that quantity.
The secondary effect of the order cycle is that StockIQ continues to plan this item using your order cycle out in the horizon as well. So, if you have a 14 day order cycle, you will see releases and receipts staggered by approximately 14 days when you look at your item in the Order Schedule, due to the fact that each order quantity is around an order cycle's worth of inventory.