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<ManualTopic ID="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000301" xml:lang="en">
   <Header>
      <Title>Clusters in Enterprise Planning</Title>
      <Keyword type="header" order="d1e196173">
         <Level1>Clusters</Level1>
         <Level2>Enterprise Planning</Level2>
      </Keyword>
   </Header>
   <GeneralSection>
      <Paragraph>Enterprise Planning uses <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000315" role="glossary">clusters</Link> to support business
		procedures such as forecasting, sales, inventory planning, order acceptance,
		and inventory replenishment in, and between the entities that form the
		(internal) network of a company. The cluster concept provides LN with a method to plan
		on the proper entities, which are warehouses, sales offices, distribution
		centers, and manufacturing sites, and take into account the flow of goods
		within a company.</Paragraph>
      <GeneralSection>
         <SectionTitle>The cluster concept</SectionTitle>
         <Paragraph>A cluster is a group
		  of warehouses in a particular geographical area. Enterprise Planning plans
		  items for each cluster, which is why for each item, you can create more than
		  one plan item: a <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000055" role="glossary">nonclustered item</Link> and the related <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000054" role="glossary">clustered item</Link>. The only difference with a nonclustered item is that the clustered
		  item has a cluster link: the entity where the plan item is physically stored,
		  issued from, or comes in belongs to a certain group of warehouses: the
		  cluster.</Paragraph>
         <Paragraph>One of the characteristics of the cluster concept is that you
		  can set up supplying relationships between a clustered item and a nonclustered
		  item. This is important because these relationships enable you to build the
		  indispensable network that Enterprise Planning must have to perform
		  distribution requirements planning (DRP). You can set up distribution
		  relationships an all directions, even from a <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000054" role="glossary">clustered item</Link> to a <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000055" role="glossary">nonclustered item</Link>.</Paragraph>
         <Paragraph>To perform forecasting, sales order entry, and sales order
		  acceptance on the level of a clustered item, LN also supports master
		  planning for clustered items, which means that you can use forecasting
		  techniques, inventory planning, <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000030" role="glossary">available-to-promise (ATP)</Link>, and (dis)aggregation
		  functionality. The use of a master plan for clustered plan items enables you,
		  for example, to (dis)aggregate forecasts, plans, and orders between a central
		  office and a regional distribution center or a sales office.</Paragraph>
      </GeneralSection>
      <GeneralSection>
         <SectionTitle>To set up a cluster</SectionTitle>
         <Paragraph>You can define a
		  cluster in the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/tc/emm/tcemm1135m000" role="session">Clusters (tcemm1135m000)</GUIRef> session
		  and connect it to a warehouse in the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/tc/emm/tcemm1112m000" role="session">Warehouses (tcemm1112m000)</GUIRef> session. A cluster can only contain nonnettable
		  warehouses, one of which is the default warehouse. Enterprise Planning always
		  aggregates the planning to this default warehouse if there is more than one
		  warehouse, just as it aggregates the planning of a nonclustered item to the
		  default warehouse. You can define the default warehouse in the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/cp/rpd/cprpd1100m000" role="session">Items - Planning (cprpd1100m000)</GUIRef> session. Enterprise Planning automatically aggregates
		  the inventory and the demand of the plan item to this default warehouse during
		  a planning run.</Paragraph>
         <Paragraph>The cluster is one of the segments in the plan item code, and,
		  as a result, for each clustered plan item you can define planning data in the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/cp/rpd/cprpd1100m000" role="session">Items - Planning (cprpd1100m000)</GUIRef> session, which implies that each clustered plan item
		  has its own default warehouse, supply source, master-plan and time-fence
		  settings.</Paragraph>
         <List>
            <ListIntro>The supply source of a clustered plan item can
			 be:</ListIntro>
            <ListItem>Distribution.</ListItem>
            <ListItem>Purchase.</ListItem>
            <ListItem>Production.</ListItem>
            <ListItem>Multi-sourcing.</ListItem>
         </List>
         <Paragraph>For more detailes information how to use clusters for each
		  supply source, refer to the related topics.</Paragraph>
      </GeneralSection>
      <GeneralSection>
         <SectionTitle>Multisource supply</SectionTitle>
         <Paragraph>Another supply option
		  for clustered plan items is multisourcing, for which you can define the
		  settings in the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/cp/rpd/cprpd7110m000" role="session">Sourcing Strategy (cprpd7110m000)</GUIRef> session. You can define sourcing strategies for each clustered item.</Paragraph>
         <Paragraph>However, you can only set up cluster-specific distribution
		  relations for the <GUIRef href="" role="manual">distribution</GUIRef> source. For the <GUIRef href="" role="manual">purchase</GUIRef> and <GUIRef href="" role="manual">production</GUIRef> sources you cannot
		  define cluster-specific supplier information and a <Link href="/baanerp/ti/glossary/glossary#BillOfMateri_ti" role="glossary">bill of material (BOM)</Link> and <Link href="/baanerp/ti/glossary/glossary#Routing_ti" role="glossary">routing</Link>. In case of manufactured and purchased items, LN uses the same data to
		  plan the clustered item, as well as the nonclustered item.</Paragraph>
      </GeneralSection>
      <GeneralSection>
         <SectionTitle>ATP for clustered items</SectionTitle>
         <List>
            <ListIntro>LN fully supports the following types of <Link href="/baanerp/tp/glossary/glossary#000322" role="glossary">available-to-promise (ATP)</Link> for clustered items:</ListIntro>
            <ListItem>Standard CTP</ListItem>
            <ListItem>
               <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000037" role="glossary">Channel ATP</Link>
            </ListItem>
            <ListItem>Family CTP</ListItem>
         </List>
         <Paragraph>The use of <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000035" role="glossary">component CTP checks</Link> and <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000034" role="glossary">capacity CTP checks</Link> for clustered items, is restricted.
		  For more information, refer to the <Link href="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000450" role="manual">Component CTP and capacity CTP for clusters</Link> online manual topic.</Paragraph>
      </GeneralSection>
      <Paragraph>Refer to online manual topic <Link href="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000350" role="manual">Example: distribution structure with clusters</Link> for more information about the
		cluster concept.</Paragraph>
      <Note>
         <SectionTitle>Note</SectionTitle>
         <Paragraph>On the <Link href="/baanerp/tc/glossary/glossary#specific" role="glossary">appropriate</Link> menu in the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/cp/rpd/cprpd1100m000" role="session">Items - Planning (cprpd1100m000)</GUIRef> session, you can generate a range of clustered items
		  based on a particular plan item (for a range of clusters), or based on a
		  particular cluster (for a range of plan items). If you do this, Enterprise
		  Planning also copies the relevant plan item data.</Paragraph>
      </Note>
   </GeneralSection>
   <RelatedTopics>
      <SectionTitle>Related topics</SectionTitle>
      <RelTopic>
         <Link href="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000300" role="manual">Enterprise Planning, an Overview</Link>
      </RelTopic>
      <RelTopic>
         <Link href="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000339" role="manual">To use clusters for production planning</Link>
      </RelTopic>
      <RelTopic>
         <Link href="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000340" role="manual">To use clusters for purchase planning</Link>
      </RelTopic>
      <RelTopic>
         <Link href="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000341" role="manual">To use clusters in distribution planning</Link>
      </RelTopic>
      <RelTopic>
         <Link href="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000064" role="manual">Distribution planning</Link>
      </RelTopic>
      <RelTopic>
         <Link href="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000450" role="manual">Component CTP and capacity CTP for clusters</Link>
      </RelTopic>
   </RelatedTopics>
</ManualTopic>