IFS Cloud Kits and Kit Assembly Orders: How They Work

A kit is a pre-defined collection of individual parts or components that are grouped together and managed as a single unit. The page states that kits can be purchased from vendors or assembled in-house via a kit assembly order.

A kit in this sense is not a package part. A package part is one of three sales part types, supplied on the customer order line with the supply code Pkg, Internal Purchase Direct or Purchase Order Direct, and the sales pages call it a kit informally. The inventory kit is a serial-tracked master part with the Kit Part toggle, a global kit definition and kit assembly orders. The Kits and Kit Assembly Order pages never mention package parts, so this article does not cover how a package part is sold. Configure-to-order is another mechanism again, covered in configure-to-order purchasing.

The page sets conditions on the kit master part, and the wording of each condition carries its strength. The table keeps the page’s modal verbs.

Components have their own limit: parts that are Configurable or Catch UoM enabled cannot be added as kit components in a kit definition. The serial tracking decision for the master part is covered in lot and serial tracking decisions in IFS Cloud, and cost levels in inventory valuation methods and cost levels.

The kit definition serves as the global template for the kit part and is valid across all sites. Each component part may be either tracked or non-tracked, and a Quantity per Assembly value specifies how many units of each component are required to assemble one kit part.

The definition can be modified when required, given that no kit assembly orders are in progress for the kit part. The page on creating a kit assembly order repeats the limit: it is not possible to update the kit definition if the kit assembly order is in In Progress state. A change to a kit therefore has to be planned around the orders in progress, and one person should own the definition.

A kit has one of four statuses: Empty, Incomplete, Complete or Overcomplete. Empty means that no components exist in the kit, and the page defines each of the other three. Kit statuses can be linked to Part Availability Control IDs.

Whether to link statuses to availability controls is a decision for inventory and sales together, and the link should be tested before it is relied on. The page on Kit Serial Components displays the current contents of a kit serial regardless of whether it is in inventory, in transit, issued or in any other position.

A kit assembly order is used to modify an existing kit serial or to create a new one, and it can be created from the Inventory Parts In Stock page or from the Kit Assembly Order page. From a stock record, the stock record should be for a kit part, the available quantity should be greater than 0 and the ownership should be Company Owned. The ownership types are covered in part ownership in IFS Cloud.

The two pages state the prerequisites in different words. The kit assembly order page says the kit part should exist as an Inventory Part, and the create page says it should exist in the Master Part, with a kit definition for the kit part. Check both in your release.

Saving the header does two things. It automatically populates the kit components based on the kit definition in the Required Content tab, and because the kit part is issued from stock when the header is created, any existing validation for issuing an inventory part, such as part availability control, should fire, as the page puts it. Both standard component parts and alternate component parts are shown in one list. The kit expiration date defaults to the earliest expiration date among the components and can be overridden manually.

A kit assembly order is Planned as soon as a header is created for a new kit part. An issue transaction triggers the In Progress state, and receiving the kit assembly order moves it to Closed; there is no Close command. A kit assembly order created for an existing kit serial, for example from Inventory Parts In Stock, starts In Progress.

Two more rules limit what a planner can undo. The header can be deleted when it is in Planned status, and cancelling can be done when the order is In Progress. Planned orders for new kit serials can be created ahead as a manual planning aid and then processed by warehouse staff.

The cost of the kit part is transferred to the WIP account, posting type M311, by creating the transaction KAOKSISS. The page also names a receipt transaction, KAOKSREC, and a cost difference transaction, KAODIFF+, and states that an existing company needs its posting set-up updated from the STD company template to work with the newly introduced posting types M311 and M312.

That last statement is a go-live task for finance and not an option. Finance decides the accounting treatment, and how events turn into ledger entries is covered in posting control in IFS Cloud.

MRP plans the kit part and not the assembly. The page states that MRP cannot create kit assembly orders for shortages, nor can it plan component parts for existing kit assembly orders, which means planning for kits is limited to the parent kit parts through Purchasing. Kit parts, like standard inventory parts, can be planned for demand using MRP, and when shortages occur MRP can generate purchase requisitions as supply orders.

The consequence is that component availability for a kit assembly order needs a person. Decide who checks components before an order is created. MRP itself is covered in dynamic structures in MRP.

Three questions need an owner before kits go live. Inventory decides which parts are kits and owns the kit definition. Planning decides who checks component availability, since MRP does not plan the components of an assembly order. Sales decides whether kits are sold as inventory kits or as package parts, which are separate mechanisms with separate set-up.

Test a kit through its whole life, from definition to receipt, and write down the expected result before each step.

A kit set-up is ready for go-live when each of the checks below has a record behind it.

1. Every kit master part meets the must and must-not conditions of the page.
2. Cost per Serial and Zero Cost Allowed are set where inventory part records exist.
3. No configurable or Catch UoM part is used as a component.
4. One person owns each kit definition.
5. The posting set-up includes M311 and M312.
6. Someone checks component availability before assembly orders are created.
7. The six test steps are recorded with evidence.

Dariusz Myśliwiec: 18 years hands-on with IFS, including IFS Cloud. Based in Kraków, delivering remotely across Europe and globally through an independent practice. You talk to the consultant who does the work, not a sales layer.

IFS is a registered trademark of IFS AB; this practice is not affiliated with IFS AB.