Creating APS Alternatives

An alternative is a container for specific data to drive APS and Scheduling. Each alternative represents a "what if" scenario to analyze. You must always have a production alternative, which is alternative "0." The alternative 0 references your CloudSuite Industrial application data that you interact with on other forms. The APS Planning and Get ATP/CTP processes use the data in alternative 0.

To investigate possible changes to your process, you must create one or more planning alternatives (such as alternative 1, 2, 3, etc.) in addition to the production alternative.

  1. To create the Production Alternative:
    Note:  CloudSuite Industrial provides a blank alternative 0; you must enter the information to reference your data.
    1. Open the APS Sites and Alternative Management form.
    2. Ensure that you are viewing the Main tab.
    3. In the Planning Site field, select the CloudSuite Industrial site you are defining. If you have multiple CloudSuite Industrial sites that will be included in global planning, you must create a separate alternative record for each site. That is, if you have two sites, A and B, you must create an alternative 0 record for site A and a second alternative 0 record for site B.
    4. In the Priority field, enter the sequence number of this site for global planning. When you run APS Planning in global mode, the system plans the site with the lowest Priority number (00) first.
    5. If this is the alternative 0 record for the local site (that is, the site at which you're actually entering the record), in the Type field, select Local. If this is the alternative record for one of the other sites in your environment, select Remote.
    6. In the APS Server Service Host Name field, enter the name of the machine where the Planning and Scheduling Service is running. This is typically the CloudSuite Industrial utility server. See the Installation Guide for instructions on installing the Planning and Scheduling Service.
    7. In the APS Server Service Port field, enter the port number on which the Planning and Scheduling Service is installed and running. If you do not remember the number of the port on which you installed this service, open the Windows Services applet (Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Services) on the CloudSuite Industrial utility server and look for "Infor APS Server"; the port number will be listed along with the service name.
    8. In the Planner Database Host Name field, enter the name of the machine where the planner database is running. For instructions on installing and starting planner databases, see the Installation Guide.
    9. In the Planner Database Port field, enter the port number on which the planner database is running. This field associates the production alternative with the planner database in which the actual planning calculations are performed. This planner database must be running when you perform the Get ATP/CTP process or run APS Planning. For information on creating and starting a planner database, see the Installation Guide.
    10. In the SQL Host Name field, enter the name of the machine where the SQL Server is installed. The Planning and Scheduling Service uses this information to connect to the CloudSuite Industrial application database.
    11. In the SQL Database Name field, enter the name of your CloudSuite Industrial application database.
    12. In the Global Planning Timeout field, enter the number of seconds for the system to wait for a response from a remote site when running APS Planning in global mode. Make sure the Timeout value is sufficient; we recommend at least 60 seconds.
    13. Select Actions > Save to save the parameters. It takes several minutes for the save process to complete.
    Repeat these steps to enter a production alternative record for each site in your environment.
  2. Create alternative plans.
    To create a planning alternative, select the Alternatives tab and follow the steps listed above for creating the production alternative, but change the steps as follows:
    • In the Alternative field, enter a new number for the planning alternative (such as 1 or 2).
    • In the Planner Database Port field, enter the port number for a different planner database than the one you specified for the production alternative (make sure to first create and start an additional planner database for this alternative as described in the Installation Guide). Each alternative must reference a separate planner database.
  3. After creating an alternative plan, copy production data to a Planning Alternative:
    1. Open the APS Sites and Alternate Management form.
    2. Specify an alternate plan on the Alternatives tab.
    3. Click Copy Production Data to copy the data from alternate 0, which represents the production data, to the specified alternate.
Related topics
APS Overview
Planning Parameters
About Incremental Planning and ATP/CTP
About Global Planning