Performance issues often stem from the complexity of calculations and the size of the data sets they are applied to. In this case, the use of a calculated field (NameAndDescription) in the hierarchy definition is the most likely cause of performance degradation. This field is calculated on the fly using a concatenation of the Name and Description, which is a more resource-intensive process compared to using static fields.
Calculated fields, especially those involving string operations like concatenation, can be significantly slower because they require runtime computation. This contrasts with static fields that are indexed and retrieved directly from the database without additional computational overhead.
References:
* Kinaxis RapidResponse documentation on hierarchy design and performance considerations.
* Kinaxis best practices for creating efficient hierarchies and using calculated fields.
Using a calculated field, especially one that concatenates strings like in option C, can significantly impact performance because it requires additional computation for each record. This is more resource-intensive than using a direct field value, which would explain the poorer performance when using the PartFamily hierarchy compared to the PartPlanner hierarchy.
References:
* Kinaxis RapidResponse Author Level 3 training materials1.
* Web search results and Kinaxis best practices2.