Fair Share

Fair Share

Fair Share is run from the Planning Worksheet: Optimize → Run Fair Share. This article is the standalone reference for the feature; for worksheet mechanics, start with Planning Worksheet: Getting Started.
Fair Share redistributes excess inventory from supply locations to downstream demand locations. Quantities are allocated proportionally based on each destination's demand.







Fair Share is an Arkieva planning feature that automatically redistributes excess inventory from supply hubs to downstream demand locations by generating Stock Transfer Orders (STOs). Fair Share identifies surplus stock at a source location and pushes it proportionally to where it is needed most. 

Fair Share runs within the SOP Collaboration module. 

Typical network topology: 
  1. Production plant (P) ships to a Central Distribution Center (CDC) 
  2. CDC holds buffer stock and redistributes to Regional Distribution Centers (RDC1, RDC2) 
  3. RDCs fulfil customer demand 

Fair Share operates at any level of this hierarchy. When run at CDC, it calculates how much stock CDC holds above its target and splits that excess across RDC1 and RDC2 in proportion to their expected withdrawals. 

Consider running Fair Share when one or more of the following conditions are present: 
  1. A supply hub (CDC) is holding inventory above its target level 
  2. One or more downstream locations have open, unfulfilled demand within the planning horizon 
  3. Manual transfer order creation is too slow or error-prone for the volume involved 
  4. A large inbound shipment has arrived at CDC and needs to be allocated before the next review cycle 

Excess Calculation

For each source stock location, Fair Share computes: Excess  =  Projected Stock at End of Window  −  Target Quantity 

If Target Quantity is NULL in the database, it defaults to 0.0. This means all projected stock at the end of the review window is treated as excess and eligible for redistribution. Planners should configure an explicit target to prevent over-pushing. 

Destination Weighting

Excess is split across downstream locations proportionally by withdrawal weight. The weight for each destination is the sum of: 
  1. Customer demand withdrawals at the destination within the review bucket window 
  2. BOM material consumption withdrawals at the destination within the window 
  3. Transfer-outs FROM the destination to further downstream locations within the window 

Important: only withdrawals originating at the destination are counted. Incoming replenishments are not included. This ensures the weight reflects true outbound demand pressure at each location. 

Spanning activities (Rate-flow demands or transfers with a non-zero interval) are prorated by the fraction of their duration that overlaps the review bucket. A demand starting before the window but running into it contributes only the overlapping portion of its quantity. 

If all destinations have zero weight (no demand or transfers in the window), excess is split equally. 

Route Selection

When multiple transfer routes exist between the source and a destination, Fair Share selects the route based on two configurable toggles: 
  1. Use Preferred Routes — when enabled, routes are ordered by Priority first (lower number = more preferred; Priority 0 is treated as no preference and ordered last). Ties are broken by the remaining criteria below. 
  2. Minimize Transit Time — when enabled, routes are ordered by Transit Time, then by Fixed Cost. When disabled, routes are ordered by Fixed Cost first, then by Transit Time. 
  3. Final ties are broken by Route ID (insertion order in the database). When both toggles are off, the legacy shortest-transit-time behavior is preserved for backward compatibility. 
Note: STOs with a TO_Date beyond the planning horizon end are discarded. 

Review Buckets

The review bucket defines the time window used for both weight calculation and push timing. Fair Share pushes excess on the last day of each window so that all within-window supply has arrived before the push. 


Bucket
Window End (Next Boundary)
Example
Weekly
Next Monday
Run on Wed Apr 9 → window ends Mon Apr 14 
Monthly
First of next month
Run in April → window ends May 1
Quarterly
First day of next quarter
Run in Q2 → window ends Jul 1
Yearly
January 1 of next year
Run in 2025 → window ends Jan 1 2026


Lot Sizing

When Use Lot Sizing is enabled, each destination quantity is rounded down to the nearest lot size multiple defined in the item routing data. Orders that fall below the minimum run size after rounding are skipped entirely. If minimum run size is zero, one full lot is used as the threshold. 

Aggressive vs Conservative Mode

Aggressive mode (default): pushes all excess above target at the end of each review window, draining stock to the target level each period. 

Conservative mode (Consider Future Withdrawals): limits the push to the global floor — the lowest projected stock level at any point between the push date and the end of the planning horizon — to prevent creating shortfalls in future periods that cannot be recovered. Enable this mode when future demand is uneven and you want to avoid over-distributing stock that will be needed downstream. 

Multi-Level Networks

When the source stock itself receives Fair Share arrivals from an upstream location (e.g. P → CDC → RDC), Fair Share processes stocks in upstream-first topological order. CDC’s projected stock is augmented with expected P1 arrivals before CDC’s own excess is computed, ensuring the cascade is consistent. 

Item Selection

The Fair Share dialog offers three Item Selection modes: a specific item-and-location selection from the current grid context, All Items (run across every eligible stock with no filter), or Global Filter (apply a saved attribute filter preset from Orbit). The Global Filter option lets planners reuse named segmentations (e.g. “Top 20 SKUs”, “Region-A finished goods”) without rebuilding the criteria each run. 

Configuration Options

The following parameters are configured when launching a Fair Share run: 

Parameter
Options
Description
Transfer Type
Any configured type
STO transfer type assigned to generated Fair Share orders
Target Quantity
Numeric / NULL
Max inventory threshold; NULL defaults to 0, meaning all projected stock is treated as excess and pushed downstream. Set an explicit value to retain buffer stock.
Review Bucket
Weekly / Monthly / Quarterly / Yearly
Time window for weight calculation and push timing
Use Lot Sizing
Yes / No
Round quantities down to lot size multiples; skip if below minimum run size
Consider Future Withdrawals
Yes / No
Conservative mode: limits push to the global minimum projected stock to horizon
Use Preferred Routes
Yes / No
Honor the Priority field on item routing data when ordering candidate routes
Minimize Transit Time
Yes / No
Order routes by transit time first; when off, order by fixed cost first
Item Selection
Specific Item / All Items / Global Filter 
Restricts which stocks are eligible. Global Filter applies a saved attribute filter preset from Orbit. 


Step-by-Step: Running Fair Share

  1. Open the SOP Collaboration module in Arkieva. 
  2. Click Optimize in the top toolbar. 
  3. Select Fair Share from the dropdown menu.  
  4. In the Fair Share dialog, configure the parameters: Item Selection (specific item / All Items / Global Filter), Review Bucket, Consider Future Withdrawals, Apply Lot Sizing, Use Preferred Routes, Minimize Transit Time, and Transfer Type. 
  5. Click Run. The engine calculates excess at each configured source stock and generates STOs to downstream locations. 
  6. Review the generated STOs in the plan grid. STOs are labelled “Fair Share STO” in the Description field for easy identification. 
  7. Adjust or delete individual STOs as needed before saving or submitting the plan. 
  1. If run from Planning worksheet there will be small error message shown at the top of the screen, however this will be only for few seconds and is not recorded anywhere. If run from Actions pane there will success/Failure notification under Global notification panel.
  2. If Suppose the engine is failed ( which can not happen unless there are other unrelated issues in SaaS) it is advised to check the SEQ logs (for consultants). All the data related noises are covered in code.

Warning: Re-running Fair Share on an existing scenario. Re-running Fair Share on a scenario that already contains Fair Share STOs from a previous run will treat those existing STOs as submitted transfers. Their transfer-out quantities are included in the destination weight calculation for the new run, which may result in more stock being pushed than intended. Review and delete any existing Fair Share STOs before re-running if you want a clean recalculation.



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