Stockouts and Special Product Workflows

Stock availability is a useful demand signal only when customers can buy from available inventory. Use the global setting for normal stocked products and narrow Planning Rule overrides for special workflows.

Normal stocked products

Use Flag only when planners want visibility without changing demand, or Estimate constrained demand when reliable in-stock evidence exists and zero stock can suppress recorded sales. Review adjusted values and caps in Demand History.

Made-to-order products

Use Ignore stock availability when confirmed customer orders already record demand before purchasing or production. Estimating more demand from zero stock can duplicate the demand already held in open orders.

Project-specific products

Use Ignore or an Exclusion when demand belongs to a contract, project, or one-time job rather than normal replenishment. A project-specific Planning Rule can preserve visibility while preventing general stock assumptions.

Non-stock services

Physical stock availability does not represent customer demand for a service. Exclude the item from inventory planning or use Ignore stock availability when the item must remain visible for another reason.

Intentionally seasonal products

Use a seasonal product or category rule with Ignore stock availability outside the selling window when zero inventory is deliberate. Use manual or recurring order dates for the next valid purchasing window.

Backorders already capture demand

Use Ignore stock availability when open Sales Orders preserve unmet demand reliably. An added stockout estimate could count the same need twice.

Intermittent demand

Do not assume zero-demand months are always stockout-constrained. Review Demand History, in-stock rate, demand days, and the adjustment reason. Genuine in-stock zero-demand days remain unchanged.

Choose the control

• Global Stockout Handling: default for the company.
• Planning Rule Stockout Handling: targeted override for a product, category, vendor, or warehouse.
• Exclusion: remove an unsuitable item or warehouse scope from planning.
• Replacement Planning: move eligible history from an obsolete product to its successor.
• Ordering Profile: schedule the next valid buying window without changing historical demand.

Review at scale

Use Planning Overview > Forecast Quality and Action Line filters for Stockout Affected, Forecast Adjusted, Low Availability, Availability Unknown, and Adjustment Capped. This is the scalable review path for large catalogues.

Validate one adjusted line

1. Open Demand History and confirm warehouse and snapshot date.
2. Compare recorded sources with Odoo orders.
3. Check OOS days in low-demand months.
4. Read adjustment status, reason, confidence, and cap.
5. Compare recorded and adjusted monthly averages.
6. Review Forecast Quality and How Calculated before changing the planner quantity.