Temporary exclusions and alternatives of plants and products during sourcing

A computer-implemented method for managing a product order in a supply chain, whereby availability of the ordered products is checked with a product availability check framework established between each product sourcing location in the supply chain, the method comprising:

• determining with a computer processor, based on the product order, a rule strategy sequence;
• evaluating, with the computer processor, a number of rule strategies of the determined rule strategy sequence;
• evaluating, with the computer processor, a number of rules of the number of rule strategies;
• creating a result list comprising at least one of a location and a product to be checked for availability and
• managing the product order in the supply chain in accordance with the result list.

A computer based apparatus for managing a product supply chain based on product sourcing location unavailability, comprising:

• a data storage device which stores a plurality of rules, a plurality of rule strategies, a plurality of rule strategy sequences, a global exclusion list, a local exclusion list, an alternatives list, and a result list;
• means for determining, based on the product order, a rule strategy sequence;
• means for evaluating a number of rule strategies of the determined rule strategy sequence;
• means for evaluating a number of rules of the number of rule strategies;
• and
• means for creating a result list which comprises at least one of location and product to be checked for availability.