| # Clusters Introduction The internal network in companies is becoming increasingly complex. Forecasting, sales, inventory planning, order acceptance, and inventory replenishment can take place in and between every entity of that network. Among these entities are: Production sites The head office Regional distribution center Decentralized sales offices Enterprise Planning supports all of these business procedures for various entities, using the cluster concept. A cluster represents a geographical area. For each item, you can define several plan items, one for each cluster, and a non-clustered item that is not linked to any cluster, as shown in the following example: Clusters: `A`, `B`, `C` Item: `RAL END 1` Plan items: `A`/ `RAL END 1` `B`/ `RAL END 1` `C`/ `RAL END 1` - / `RAL END 1` (non-clustered item) Functionally, a non-clustered plan item is no different than a clustered plan item. The non-clustered plan item simply represents one of the geographical areas. If a logistical company has only one location, you do not have to define any clusters and can simply use non-clustered plan items for that one location. To support planning by location, the planning process takes the requirements and supply strategies for each plan item into account separately. In addition, each clustered plan item, as well as the non-clustered plan item, has a unique item order plan view and (optionally) item master plan view that enables you to evaluate all requirements and supplies. Note The cluster concept is only used in Enterprise Planning. The other packages in ERP Enterprise, such as Warehousing, Procurement, and Manufacturing, do not use clusters. |