01Define reservation policy and snapshot
Document which demand types may reserve stock, at what lifecycle stage, from which inventory pool and for how long. Define whether reservations are hard, soft, lot-specific, location-specific or priority-based. Freeze report time, warehouse, item, unit and status. The reconciliation must use one cutoff; mixing current stock with yesterday’s orders creates unexplained differences. List every system that can create, change or release a commitment, including ecommerce, wholesale order entry, marketplace, production, service or manual allocation tools. Record precedence when several channels compete. Capture interface queue time and retry status around the cutoff so a delayed event is not mistaken for a missing reservation.
02Validate demand identity
For every reservation, verify unique reservation ID, order or work reference, line, requested and reserved quantity, required date, status and source channel. Confirm the demand remains authorized and open. Find duplicate imports, replaced orders, canceled lines and test records. Do not retain stock for a vague customer request when policy requires an accepted order or approved allocation event.
03Test stock eligibility
Confirm the reserved inventory is physically and digitally available to the intended demand under ownership, location, lot, serial, expiry, condition, quarantine, customer, destination and regulatory rules. Match package and unit conversions. A reservation can be syntactically valid but operationally unusable when it points at stock in transit, under hold or already consumed by an unposted task.
04Build the quantity bridge
Reconcile opening usable on-hand, receipts or releases, reservations created, increased, reduced or canceled, quantities converted to picks, shipments or consumption, adjustments and closing usable availability. Keep physical quantity and commitment class separate. UNECE INVRPT supports differentiated inventory classes, movements, quantities, locations and dates; the business must define its own exact available-to-promise equation. Reconcile at the lowest level required for fulfillment, not only the product family total. A positive total can conceal one over-reserved warehouse, color, size or lot. Explain whether in-process picks remain reserved, move to a separate allocation class or reduce on-hand at confirmation so the same quantity is not subtracted twice.
05Investigate conflict and aging
Find over-reservation, negative availability, one stock unit committed twice, stale reservations, demand past required date, partial fulfillment, missing release and manual priority changes. Reconstruct event order and system-interface timing before adjusting. A temporary race condition and an abandoned reservation need different fixes even when both create the same negative available figure. Compare creation, confirmation, modification, cancellation, pick and ship timestamps across systems and normalize time zones. Review parent orders split into several fulfillment lines and replacement orders that inherit the same customer reference. Keep a disputed commitment visible until its owning system and business owner agree on the final event.
06Control reallocation and release
Require reason, authority, old and new demand, quantity and effective time when stock is reallocated. Notify affected order owners through the approved process. Release canceled, expired or impossible commitments promptly, but do not bulk-delete aged reservations without checking downstream picks and shipments. Preserve the history so service and fairness decisions can be reviewed.
07Close and improve
Assign each reservation an ending status and link its pick, shipment, consumption, cancellation, expiry or release event. Reconcile the reservation total to the inventory availability report and open demand. Monitor reservation age, fill rate, short allocation, cancellation-release delay, override rate and stranded quantity. Correct order lifecycle, interfaces, eligibility rules or user access based on the supported cause. Sample released reservations after closure to confirm the stock became available or moved to the next valid demand. Sample fulfilled orders backward to confirm the original commitment did not remain open. This two-direction check catches both stranded stock and duplicate claims on already shipped units.