Infor LN Master Planning: How It Works and a Setup and Run Checklist
infor ln master planning
Also searched as
- infor ln planner plus
- infor ln planned orders pegging planning horizon
- how does master planning work in infor ln
Short answer
Master planning in Infor LN looks at demand (sales orders, forecasts, dependent demand), nets it against inventory and open supply within the planning horizon, and generates planned orders with pegging that links each supply to the demand it serves. The result is only as good as the item planning data, the plan unit, the calendars and the horizon settings, so the checklist below starts with data, not the run.
Applies to: Infor LN 10.x Enterprise Planning; the plan unit based planning model; session names vary by feature pack
Setup and run checklist
- 1Define the planning structure: the plan units, the items in each plan unit, and the plan item versus non-plan item split so the plan covers the right level.
- 2Maintain item planning data: order policy, lead times, lot sizing, safety stock, and whether the item is planned or purchased by the planning engine.
- 3Check the calendars and the enterprise unit so working days and lead times resolve correctly.
- 4Set the planning horizon, time fences and period definitions for the plan, short enough to stay reliable and long enough to cover the longest lead time.
- 5Make sure demand is clean: approve the sales orders and forecasts you want in the plan, and remove stale or duplicate demand.
- 6Run the planning (generate planned orders) for the plan unit or a selected item range, first for a small range to inspect results.
- 7Review the planned orders, the pegging and the messages (reschedule in, reschedule out, cancel) in the planner workbench.
- 8Release or transfer the firm planned orders to the shop floor, purchasing or warehousing, and re-run to confirm the plan nets to zero exceptions.
How the planning engine reasons
For each planned item, the engine builds time buckets across the horizon and nets gross requirements against on-hand stock, open orders and planned supply. When net requirement is negative at a bucket, it creates a planned order sized by the order policy and offset by the lead time. Component requirements for those planned orders become dependent demand for the next level down, and the same logic repeats.
Pegging records which supply serves which demand. It is what lets a planner answer the question which sales order caused this planned purchase, and it is what the project cost pegging uses downstream. If pegging looks wrong, the cause is nearly always demand that should not be in the plan or supply that is not allocated the way you expect.
Planning horizons and time fences
The planning horizon is how far ahead the plan looks. Inside the frozen portion of the horizon, the engine should not reschedule existing orders on its own, and the exceptions it raises are suggestions for the planner. Beyond it, the plan is free to move. A horizon shorter than the cumulative lead time of the longest item means long-lead purchased parts are never planned in time.
Typical misconfigurations: a horizon covering the order book but not the supplier lead time, safety stock set at several levels of a BOM and double counted, and lot sizes that were copied from a different item type. Review these before blaming the engine.
Diagnosing a plan that looks wrong
Work from one item. Check its planning data, then its demand, then its supply, then the resulting planned orders. Most surprising plans come from one of these: the item is not flagged as planned, demand is not approved or is dated outside the horizon, or an open supply order is dated later than the demand and the engine suggests rescheduling it.
If planned orders are not generated at all, see the dedicated page on Enterprise Planning not generating planned orders. If the plan is generated but too slow, review the size of the range, the number of plan items and the database load during the run, and run the planning in off-peak windows.
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Infor LN Company and Enterprise Unit Design Worksheet
Plan LN companies, enterprise units, sites and currencies row by row, with user and volume totals, and export to Excel.
Common pitfalls
- !Running the plan for all items before verifying a small range.
- !A horizon shorter than the longest cumulative lead time.
- !Stale forecasts and unapproved orders feeding the plan.
- !Safety stock maintained at several BOM levels, inflating requirements.
- !Releasing planned orders without reviewing pegging and messages.
How an ERP-grounded AI assistant handles this
Planners spend most of their time answering why for individual items. An assistant grounded in LN planning data can show for one item the demand, supply, order policy and the resulting planned orders in plain language. ERPray runs these read-only on-prem; releasing orders stays with the planner.
Frequently asked questions
What is master planning in Infor LN?
It is the planning process that nets demand against stock and open supply across a horizon and generates planned orders, with pegging to show which demand each supply serves. It is part of LN Enterprise Planning.
What is Infor LN Planner Plus?
Names for planning tools around LN have changed over the years. Confirm with your Infor partner which planning product and version you license; the core Enterprise Planning behavior described here is the standard LN module.
Why are no planned orders generated?
Usually the item is not set up as a planned item, demand is outside the horizon or unapproved, or supply already covers it. See the page on planned orders not generated for a full list of checks.
How long should the planning horizon be?
At least as long as the longest cumulative lead time of the items you plan, plus a margin. A shorter horizon means long-lead parts are not seen early enough to order on time.
Related
Infor LN Enterprise Planning Not Generating Planned Orders
When an item has demand but Enterprise Planning creates no planned orders, the cause is almost always planning master data: the item is not set to be planned, the planning horizon or time fences exclude the demand, the order policy or supply source is missing, or the planning run did not include the item. Check them in that order before suspecting the engine.
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How-toHow to process inbound and outbound warehousing orders in Infor LN
Infor LN Warehousing splits every physical movement into inbound (goods arriving, mainly from purchase orders) and outbound (goods leaving, mainly for sales orders), each driven by its own warehouse order type. Inbound runs through intake, inspection if required, and put-away; outbound runs through order release, picking, packing and shipment confirmation, with each stage updating the order status other modules watch.
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