What is the difference between label group, lot allocation and required countries?

Label group

A label group is a set of countries defining where a package type can be sent. Label groups can differ between package types or a single label group can be applied to all package types. Label groups will be applied for the whole trial duration and are created in the Trial Master Data (Products tab). However, their countries configuration is defined in Network setup (Package types tab).

Lot allocation

Lot allocation is an additional level of definition regarding the countries where a lot can be sent. Lot allocation allows you to send lots to specific countries of one or several label groups.

Lot allocation is defined in the Production setup (Lot allocation tab) and its definition is optional except for lots that are currently in inventory (if you are using an initial state setup). On the opposite, if lots are part of future productions, they will be sent to all countries defined in their label group(s) (by default). However, you can still define a lot allocation for future lots (if needed) and thus override the countries from the label group(s). Note that, in this case, the quantity of kits included in these future lots will have to be fixed.

Required countries

Required countries are used in the Depot shipments planning module and represents an additional constraint on the lots that can be used for a shipment. As a matter of fact, only the lots that have all the required countries in their label group/lot allocation are eligible. For example, if a shipment is scheduled to go to a local depot supplying Italy and Spain, the required countries will be Italy and Spain and only lots that have these two countries in their label group/lot allocation will be eligible.

If lots are in inventories, they must have a lot allocation defined and therefore the required countries will be compared with this lot allocation. On the other hand, if lots are part of future releases, the required countries will be compared with the label group, except if the future lot has a lot allocation. In this last case, the lot allocation overrides the label group and the required countries will be compared with this lot allocation.

Example

Let’s take a simple example where we have a central depot supplying two local depots and a single label group including all supplied countries (see image below).

Let’s assume that we have a first lot that has no lot allocation defined and that kits are demanded in France. The lot will have to be sent to “depot EU” supplying France and Italy, therefore the required countries for this shipment are France and Italy. The rule used by the system to choose is that the required countries must be included in the label group/lot allocation. Here, as we do not have a lot allocation defined for this lot, the required countries are compared with the label group which includes all countries. Therefore, this lot is eligible to be sent to “Depot EU”. ✅

Let’s now assume that we have a second lot that has a lot allocation defined which is USA and Canada. This lot can therefore only be sent to these two countries as the lot allocation is overriding the label group. If kits are demanded in Canada, the lot will have to be sent to “depot US” supplying USA and Canada, therefore the required countries for this shipment are USA and Canada. The rule is that the required countries must be included in the label group/lot allocation. Here, as we have a lot allocation defined for this lot, the required countries are compared with the lot allocation which includes USA and Canada. Therefore, this lot is eligible to be sent to “Depot US”. ✅

Finally, let’s now assume that we have a lot that has a lot allocation restricted to only one country. We can quickly understand that this lot will not be eligible by the system to be sent to any local depot as each local depot supplies at least two countries. Therefore the required countries will always at least be two countries and will never be included in the lot allocation (which only comprises a single country). ❌