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Reviewing Demand

Before you decide how to cover anything, you look at what's short. The demand itself never changes — but you can read it from three angles, the way you'd sort the same pile of orders differently depending on the question you're asking. Pick the view that matches the decision in front of you.

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Availability depends on your plan and your role.

The three views at a glance​

ViewGroups demand by…Best when you're…
By itemThe product that's short — all of it together, across every orderBuying in bulk, or deciding make-vs-buy for a product
By customerThe customer waiting on itChasing everything one customer needs, together
By sales-order lineThe exact order line it came fromTracing a single piece of demand back to its source

They all show the same shortfall. The only difference is how it's stacked.

By item — for buying and making in bulk​

This view pulls all the demand for one item into a single line, no matter how many different customers or orders it came from. If three customers are each short of the same product, you see one combined quantity instead of three scattered ones.

Use it when the decision is about the product, not the customer:

  • Buying in bulk. Ordering the whole day's shortfall of an item in one purchase order usually earns a better price and saves you raising three small orders that each cost freight.
  • Make or buy. Seeing the full quantity needed for an item in one place makes it easy to judge whether it's worth a production run or better bought in.
  • Spotting the big gaps. The items with the largest total shortfall rise to the top, so you know where to act first.

This is the view most planners live in, because covering demand is usually cheapest when you group it by what you're ordering.

By customer — for everything one buyer is waiting on​

This view stacks demand under the customer who's waiting, so you see the whole of what one buyer still needs across all their open orders in one place.

Use it when the question is about a relationship:

  • A customer calls to ask where their goods are, and you want the full picture in one glance.
  • You want to make sure an important customer's shortfall is covered first.
  • You're prioritising which promises to keep when supply is tight.

It answers "what does this customer still need from us?" without you opening each of their orders one by one.

By sales-order line — for tracing back to the source​

This view keeps each piece of demand tied to the exact order line that created it. Nothing is combined — one short line, one row.

Use it when you need the provenance:

  • Checking why a particular order can't ship in full, and exactly how much of it is short.
  • Confirming that a specific customer order will be covered by what you're about to raise.
  • Untangling a situation where the same item appears on several orders and you need to know which order each unit is really for.

Where the by-item view answers "how much of this product do I need in total," this view answers "which order is each unit of that shortfall actually for."

Which view, in one line​

  • Deciding what to order or make → by item.
  • Looking after a customer → by customer.
  • Answering "where did this come from?" → by sales-order line.

Once you've reviewed the demand and know what you're covering, the next step is to gather it into a basket and choose buy or make for each item.