I think I found most of my answer here:
Priority codes-
http://www.blueovalforums.com/forums...tion-problems/
2. Priority Codes. This is listed on the far right upper portion of a DORA. Its also on the dealers print outs of order status. This only applies until a unit is scheudled. Once assigned a VIN this doesn't mean anything anymore.
The codes start at 1 and run to 99. A dealer can only assign between 10 and 99. A 99 order can't be schuduled. I use these for people that tell me to get them a unit on date (later than normal orders take). I put in a 99'd order so I have what they wanted in the system and don't forget about it and then change it to a buildable priority when time comes they're ready for the truck. The region (or other Ford divisions) can prioritize below 10, I've only seen a 01 priority below 10. They do this in the event of something unusuall, most orders never see a priority 01. An example is if they're manually scheduling (like the First F-150 for each dealer, or first year T Birds) or if its something that needs to be urgent (first order destroyed in shipping, etc). Again I normally only see this a few times a year. Also if you do get a priority 01, things usually get scheduled fast even if you have some hard to get commodites (but not hold items). More on commodities later. I believe that the under 10 prioritys go first through the allocation system.
Other priorities are to organize what order the dealer wants the trucks in. These only affect that dealer and have no bearing on other dealers. If a dealer only uses 50 or higher, another dealer that starts at 10 won't get his trucks any sooner. This system is to orginze the order so they are "in a row" for scheduling. That way in the first pass of scheduling they only look at 1 truck per dealer, then on second pass look at 2nd one. Regardless of what the number actually is. If 50's the lowest at dealer a and 10's my lowest, they are both in the first pass, and are equal to each other.
More than one order can have the same priority. If this happens they system looks at order types and then order date. Retails take priority over stock and oldest takes priority. For example:
order 1234 Retail order date 9/3/03
order 4321 Retail order date 5/5/03
order 5555 Stock order date 4/4/03
The Retail orders take priority. and then oldest order comes first. So the system would look at these in this order:
Order 4321 because its the oldest retail at this priority
order 1234 2nd as its a retail
order 5555 being a stock order its 2nd despite order date.
Also Priority can override stock,retail or order date. If a retail is priority 20 and a stock is 19, the stock tries to scheudle first, the retail and date thing only applies to orders with the same priority number.
So the big thing I want everyone to know is don't get too worried if your not a priority 01 as this is very rare, also don't worry if your not at priority 10, I start my retail ordes at 20 so I've got some room if something comes up that I need to prioritize under my current orders I can.
On Fleet orders, none of this priority stuff applies. The priority codes are to control build date and are a letter and a number that corespond to a build month and week. This isn't to get stuff quicker but actually slower. Often fleets will order in January and not want the units for a few months. I can order so it can't be built until later so it will arrive in time but not overly early. Fleet units don't compete with retail or stock at all for scheduling as fleet comes out of their own pool and not from a dealers allocation.
