Which order types consume the forecast in the Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling process?

In the context of the Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling process within SAP, sales orders are the primary order types that directly consume the forecast. When a company creates a forecast, it estimates the expected future demand for products. When a sales order is received, it indicates actual customer demand for those products, effectively drawing from the forecasted quantities that were initially projected.

Sales orders trigger the planning process by reducing the available stock projections based on the forecast. As the sales order is executed, it impacts production planning parameters, schedules production runs, and guides inventory management to ensure that supply aligns with actual customer demand. This means that a sales order acts as a tangible representation of demand, utilizing the planned forecast to fulfill customer requests.

The other options do play a role within the supply chain context, but they do not directly consume forecasts in the same way. For example, planned orders are generally derived from forecasts but do not represent actual market demand until they are confirmed. Dependent demand relates to the necessary materials calculated from the parent item or assembly, which does not equate to forecast demand in the same manner as sales orders. Purchase orders are external requests for materials and do not directly reflect internal forecasts but are influenced by stock levels and planned orders instead.