How serialized inventory is reserved

Before reserving serial, tracked, assembly, or kit class inventory to fulfill a part request auto-reservation ranks all the inventory in the supply location that could fulfill the request and reserves the most suitable item.

When reserving serialized inventory, auto-reservation does the following:
  1. Searches the first location for unreserved inventory plus inventory that was reserved for lower ranked part requests.
  2. If inventory is found, ranks inventory using the inventory ranking criteria and reserves the highest ranking inventory for the request.
  3. If no inventory can be reserved in the first location, searches the next location and repeats the ranking of inventory.
The location search order is first preferred location > second preferred location > rest of the supply location minus ignored locations > remote supplier location if one is specified (minus ignored locations).

When auto-reservation ranks the available inventory for a new part request, inventory that's reserved for higher ranked part requests is not considered. This means that a higher ranked request can retain a reservation of lower ranked inventory even if a higher ranked inventory becomes available.

The following table provides an example of the order in which five inventory items with the same part number are ranked and reserved if no preferred locations are specified.

Inventory reserved order - no preferred locations specified
Ranked order Location Ownership Condition Shelf-life expiry Received date Created date
Inv B Supply Operator RFI 2018 May 10 2017 May 10 2017 May 10
Inv A Supply Operator RFI 2019 Jan 05 2018 Jan 05 2018 Jan 05
Inv D Supply Operator INSPREQ 2018 Apr 7 2017 Apr 7 2017 Apr 7
Inv C Supply Vendor RFI 2018 May 10 2017 Jan 10 2017 Jan 10
Inv E Remote supplier Operator RFI 2018 Mar 7 2017 Mar 7 2017 Mar 7

In the example below, you can see how preferred locations change the order in which the same five inventory items are reserved. Inventory A outranks inventory D, but a lower ranked inventory in a preferred location is reserved before a higher ranked inventory elsewhere.

Inventory reserved order when preferred locations are specified
Ranked order Location Ownership Condition Shelf-life expiry Received date Created date
Inv B 1st Preferred Operator RFI 2018 May 10 2017 May 10 2017 May 10
Inv D 1st Preferred Operator INSPREQ 2018 Apr 7 2017 Apr 7 2017 Apr 7
Inv A 2nd Preferred Operator RFI 2019 Jan 05 2018 Jan 05 2018 Jan 05
Inv C Supply Vendor RFI 2018 May 10 2017 Jan 10 2017 Jan 10
Inv E Remote supplier Operator RFI 2018 Mar 7 2017 Mar 7 2017 Mar 7