Hi Allen,
This question cannot be answered without knowing how ATP and scheduling is setup in your system.
First thing I would lokk at is the point if the SO item qty and scheduling is fixed or not. If it is fixed the MD04 shows the material availability date which is based on the confirmed delivery date. How different those are depends on your scheduling setup (pick time, load time, shift time setup for your shipping points etc.).
If the SO item is not fixed then MD04 shows the material availability date according to the requested delivery date from the customer.
It might be that the custmer requested the delivery date 01/11/13 but due to the ATP result you confirmed the 15/11/13 (later). Let's say you have a setup of 1 day pick and pack then MD04 would show the 31/10/13 if the SO item is not fixed. If it is fixed SAP would show the 14/11/13 (negelecting any weekends or bank holidays). Both dates are also MRP relevant.
Why is this? It the SO item is not fixed you tell the system to show the requested delivery date to MRP because you still try to fullfil the customer's request allthough you could not confirm it during order creation. If the MRP and ATP situation changes you can perform a SO rescheduling so that you get closer or even reach the requested delivery date.
If it is fixed than you tell the system that this SO item may not be changed by any rescheduling run (V_V2).
Best regards,
Oliver
Message was edited by: Oliver Beie I mixed up the fixe/non fixed logic, now it's corrected, sorry.