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Monday, November 5, 2007

Available To Promise

What is available to promise? Available to promise (ATP) simply means that a product is in stock and can be promised to a buyer. The Available to Promise (ATP) function provides a response to a customer order with a quantity and delivery date commitment. It helps businesses with supply and demand.

Available to Promise is important in delivering fast access to vital inventory information, including current and future positions. Just think you can avoid lost sales, backorders, dead inventory and poor customer service with information that helps you make the most effective use of your inventory and helps to maximize your profitability.

What does available to promise mean to the customer? We all know how it feels to order something and have it not be in stock or have to wait longer for it to be delivered. In today's tightly controlled supply chains, one item being out of stock can screw up the entire production process and can cost companies money. That is why Available to Promise is so important because it guaranties delivery of the item and helps to exceed your customers’ expectations. A great example of this can be found on this webpage: http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/ecommerce/drecommerce/answers/
000274.html
.

As a result it is critical to businesses to have up-to-date ATP information at every step of the supply chain. Now that software supports supply chains, it is clearly necessary that the software takes into account ATP. Many producers of business enterprise software provide ATP components. The advantage of ATP software is you can easily access information on material availability that can be read at a glance for making quick decisions.

This can seem like a simple thing, but really what does it take? Is there software out there to help you with this process and what is the cost? To learn more about the companies that provide available to promise software, visit the vendor pages on our website: http://www.software4distributors.com.

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