difference b/w BillsofDistribution n Sourcingrule

[naresh.apps11i]

Hi Guys,

What is the difference between Bill of Distribution and Sourcing Rule.

Regards,
Naresh.

[ahmadbilal]

Sourcing rules and bills of distribution determine the movement of materials between organizations in your global enterprise; these organizations include your suppliers and the materials include those items made at the manufacturing organizations. They both describe sourcing supply; for any organization, they answer the question "where do I get part A from?". (They never say "where do I send part A to".) Sourcing rules answer this question for one organization or for all organizations in the enterprise. Bills of distribution can define a strategy for multiple organizations.
Sourcing rules and bills of distribution both specify date-effective sourcing strategies, combining replenishment sources with split allocation percentages and rankings. A replenishment source is:
? an inter-organization transfer (Transfer From)
? the replenished organization that manufactures the item (Make At)
? an external supplier (Buy From)
In a sourcing rule, time-phasing applies only to the shipping organizations; the receiving organization remains static for the life of the sourcing rule. In a bill of distribution, time-phasing applies both to shipping and receiving organizations.
<b>Sourcing rules</b>
Sourcing rules define inventory replenishment methods for either a single organization or all organizations in your enterprise. Time-phasing in a sourcing rule determines when each group of shipping method - ship org combinations is in effect
<b>Bills of Distribution</b>
Bills of distribution define the sourcing strategies of several organizations. In other words, a bill of distribution is library of sourcing strategies.
Example, an item is made in a manufacturing center and supplied to a distribution center, which in turn supplies three sales offices. Instead of using five different local sourcing rules, you could set up a three-level replenishment hierarchy with a bill of distribution for the item. This bill would specify how the item is sourced at each level.
Both sourcing rules and bills of distribution have effective dates, periods during which the scheme is valid. For each period, you can specify a list of sources, type, allocation percentage, rank, shipping method, and in transit time.
You cannot apply sourcing rules and bills of distribution (make them Planning Active) until the sum of the allocation percentages equals 100. Secondly, sourcing rules and bills of distribution do not take effect until they are assigned to a part or a range of parts