Executive Summary

• There are few credible sources on the number of customers for various SAP products.
• We review the issues with the reported numbers for SAP EWM.

Introduction

It is easier to find the number of customers of an application than to find the number of live and active customers. This is because a customer is merely a company that holds a...

Executive Summary

• SAP EWM has a very particular design based upon a third-party logistics provider rather than a shipper.
• This has had negative implications for customers but is not discussed by SAP consulting companies.

Introduction

This article will discuss how major SAP consultancies conspired with SAP to bring a completely inappropriate application called EWM to their clients and how EWM bombed at...

Executive Summary

• On the EWM product master, there are important settings in the storage tab and the package tabs.

Introduction

This is a simple description of master data fields for EWM.

Storage Tab

Packaging Tab

Unit of Measure

Transaction Which Holds Product Master Data for EWM

EWM is unusual in that...

Executive Summary

• Batch management is a functionality in EWM. Important areas in batch management are the batch record and the batch specification.
• This article covers the setup of batch management in EWM.

Introduction

Batch management is used to track individuals items in a supply chain at a batch level. It is a functionality within SAP ERP and is part of the logistics...

Executive Summary

• Labor is a major cost driver in warehouses.
• Labor Management is a functionality within EWM.
• We cover the major features of Labor Management, comparing actual vs. the plan, integration with HR, and questions to ask if EWM Labor Management is right for you.

Introduction

Labor management was introduced in EWM in SCM 5.1. While labor management is relatively new to...

Executive Summary

• Kitting is a mechanism for combining products into a kit.
• Kitting is supported in EWM.
• We cover the EWM kit to order, kitting in reverse, and the two processes in kitting.

What Is Kitting?

Kitting is the practice of managing items as a group. A kit is essentially a BOM that is not part of manufacturing. A good example of...

Executive Summary

• The QIE or Quality Inspection Engine is part of SAP QM. It supports quality inspection, which connects to EWM, which increases the functionality of both EWM and QM or Quality Management.

QIE - Quality Inspection Engine

This is a more advanced side of QM, which is integrated to EWM (sits on SCM and not SAP SCM box). Currently, QIE can only be used for...

Executive Summary

• An Explanation and Introduction to PP/DS
• GATP and CTM
• Availability Checking
• Available to Promise
• Different Levels of ATP Checks
• Multilevel ATP Check (M-ATP)
• Availability Checking for Kits (or BOM)
• Rules-Based Availability Checking
• What Attaining ATP Proficiency Can Mean
• Capable to Promise
• ATP Tree Structure
• Scope of Checking
• The GATP Time Horizon

Introduction

The need to provide commitments back to customers...

Executive Summary

• The available to promise or ATP Categories control many areas in APO.
• We cover the different ATP Categories, ATP Category Types, and the ATP Characteristics.

Introduction to Available to Promise Categories

Available to promise categories are critical to managing the available to promise process. You will learn where the ATP Categories are set and their purpose.

Problems with Maintain Category

I have...

Executive Summary

• Storage Location MRP Areas can be used in both SNP and GATP.
• This article describes a design that accounts for both regional allocation of stock and bonded and unbounded stock in a facility (or closely located facilities).
• GATP can provide available promises for the same product, which is differentiated by the regional allocation for stock or planned stock at a storage location.
• How to set up...

Executive Summary

• How allocations work with CTM and GATP.
• Are allocations bi-directional?
• What is the allocation storage application in APO?
• Why would having CTM respect GATP allocations be desirable?

Background on Allocations

Allocations are incorporated into GATP, which allows them to consume sales orders from these allocations. Once the customer's allocation has been consumed, the future sales order will not be confirmed, which means they will not reach the SNP...

Executive Summary

• SAP GATP can be used to model supplier capacity with allocations.
• There are many disadvantages to performing supplier capacity modeling in SNP.
• In this article, we will cover the GATP background and how to set up applications in GATP.

Introduction

The ability to model supplier capacities is a common request from companies. This can be a desire to model ordinary suppliers,...

Executive Summary

• Backorder processing is how orders can be processed without stock availability for the requested date.
• Backorder processing connects to order confirmation in SAP, and there are important specifics with how the order management process stays apprised of new supply planning runs.

The Normal Process of Order Confirmation

There are programs like SAP GATP that act as routing programs. They mostly take sales orders and use the planned stock...

Executive Summary

• How does master data quality impact how GATP is run?
• What are the two basic ways that GATP can be run?
• Why is it important to ascertain the supply planning accuracy at different intervals of the supply planning horizon and important to publish the forecasting accuracy to customers who will receive sales order confirmations?
• What are the implications for order promising in a time horizon in...

Executive Summary

• APO has a difficult time showing an ROI.
• In this article, we will review how ROI for APO can be calculated.

Video Introduction: How to Understand SAP APO and ROI and The Problems with ROI Calculation

https://youtu.be/8gfRYNyrwt8

Text Introduction (Skip if You Watched the Video)

When evaluating the decision to implement a new SAP APO application, the most compelling argument for...

Executive Summary

• Companies that generally try to get more from SAP APO tend to fail.
• We explain why APO typically only is maintainable without enabling its upper end functionality.

Video Introduction: How to Get More From SAP APO

https://youtu.be/hyvJ81FjkoU

Text Introduction (Skip if You Watched the Video)

With the negative ROI of so many APO implementations, it’s critical to get the most from...

Executive Summary

• An Explanation and Introduction to EM
• Basic Functionality and Concepts of SAP EM
• How Event Management Is New for SAP SCM
• Procurement
• Asset Management
• Event Handler Types
• Event Notifications
• Event Messages
• Service Matching
• Analytics: SAP NetWeaver BW and Trend Analysis
• Web Interface and Access
• SAP EM Release History

Introduction

In this article, you’ll get a high-level overview of the entire...

Executive Summary

• An Explanation and Introduction to TM
• Basic Functionality and Concepts of SAP TM
• High-Level Processes
• Shipment Creation
• Carrier Tendering and Selection
• Carrier Selection
• Carrier Cost Estimation
• Transportation Load Builder
• Important SAP TM Structures
• Transportation Lanes
• Location Geo-coding
• Transportation Modes
• Transportation Zones
• SAP TM Resources
• Vehicle Resources
• Freight Units
• SAP Event Management
• SAP TM Release History

Introduction

In this article, you’ll...

Executive Summary

• We cover how to document and store SAP configuration settings.
• Another useful item is the SAP configuration spreadsheets.
• One can extract configuration data from SAP.

Introduction

In SAP, the configuration is everything from the time settings (for a detailed explanation of the many different time settings that can be found in planning applications, see my book “Planning Horizons and Timings...

Executive Summary

• The most common APO modules implemented in APO are covered in this introduction to APO.
• APO has important interactions with SAP ERP.

Introduction to SAP APO

In this article, you will receive a high-level overview of the entire SAP APO suite.

What is APO Made Up Of?

SAP APO is made up of a series of applications that address most companies'...

Executive Summary

• Background on Master Data Extraction.
• Using MASSD, the Mass Data Transaction in SAP.

Background on Master Data Extraction

Unlike the configuration data or the master data from the product location master, some, but not all, of the master data of the supply master data, can also be migrated to the new region. Of course, the locations will be different; however, many of the settings can be leveraged. This...

Executive Summary

• Forward scheduling front loads resources, which allows for prioritization in supply planning.
• Forward scheduling can be performed in SAP CTM.
• There are multiple options for forward scheduling in CTM, such as setting a profile sequence, setting the maximum earliness of production orders, and using two CTM runs.

Introduction

In this article, we will cover forward scheduling in CTM.

Our References...

Executive Summary

• Background of planning role organization at a client.
• Companies that have planning roles assigned by product group or by customer.
• How SAP APO and advanced planning, in general, have planning roles setup.
• How does master data maintenance change with the implementation of advanced planning systems?

Introduction

APO is designed around a role segmentation that is standard for advanced planning and has been unchanged since I began working in...

Executive Summary

• There is a supply planning horizon per planning run, and these changes depending up whether this is the Initial Supply Plan, S&OP, Rough Cut Capacity Plan, etc.
• In APO, there is an SNP Heuristic Time Stream, a CTM Time Stream, a Cost Optimization Time Stream, and a Deployment Planning Thread, a Deployment Heuristic, and a Deployment Optimizer.
• We also cover the TLB Pull-in Horizon and the TLB...

Executive Summary

• The standard production design that most supply and production planning systems for.
• Multi plant planning is an advanced form of supply chain planning.
• We cover capacity planning in the superplant.
• There is a prioritization of internal stock transfers over external customer orders for subcomponents.

Introduction to Multi Plant Planning

Multi plant planning is a rarely accessed functionality. This article will learn...

Executive Summary

This article serves to organize the links for a series of related articles. Topics for which there are links in this article are:

1. Unconstrained Planning in CTM
2. Order / Supply and Demand Selection in CTM
3. Resources by Product Group
4. Aggregated Resources in SNP
5. Running CTM Daily or Interactively?
6. GATP Integration with CTM
7. 3rd Party Processing in SCM 7.2
8. Front Loading Resources in SNP
9. Constraining Suppliers in SAP...

Executive Summary

• How can CTM be used for unconstrained as well as constrained planning?
• Where are the configuration settings that would have to be changed to run CTM in an unconstrained mode

Introduction

The ability to perform constrained planning is a major motivating factor for companies to use CTM. Constrained planning is a major motivator for companies to move from SAP ERP to SAP APO in their supply planning. CTM...

Executive Summary

• SAP CTM is designed to work off of both supply and demand selections.
• Order types are used in CTM to manage the prioritization. Objects are sorted in the supply and demand order selection, also known as ATP categories.

Introduction

We need to set up the Order Selection with the transaction (/SAPAPO/CTMORDSEL). This is misnamed; to be consistent, it should be called Supply and Demand Selection.

Our References...

Executive Summary

• What is the Dirty Secret of SAP DP?
• Why Replace Your Best Fit Functionality in DP?
• Operationalizing the Brightwork Explorer Best Fit to SAP DP

Introduction

SAP DP is a popular forecasting application. However, it has a secret which we will cover in this article.

SAP DP's Dirty Secret

Its best fit functionality runs into complications when running in production. SAP and SAP consultants that work for consulting companies hide this...

Executive Summary

• Demand Planning or DP covers forecasting is SAP APO’s most popular application.
• We cover the basic functionality and concepts of SAP DP.

Introduction

In this article, you’ll get a high-level overview of the entire SAP APO DP. For some time, the main area of differentiation between forecasting software was the algorithm used to drive the results. However, over the past few...

Executive Summary

• Process chains are used in SAP APO to schedule jobs and to do many other activities.
• We cover how to generate characteristic combinations.
• This means initializing and de-initializing the time series.

Introduction to Process Chains

Process Chains are the scheduling functionality in SAP APO as well as SAP ECC. Process chains are functionality in SAP DP, which allows for...

Executive Summary

• A question that sometimes arises is whether DP or PP/DS can be used without SNP.
• There are important implications for doing this, which we will cover.

Introduction to DP and PP/DS without SNP

There is a standard flow to APO concerning demand, supply, and production planning. The flow is the demand plan is released to SNP, which is then released...

Executive Summary

• How financial incentives drive the dissemination of misleading information on SAP DP.
• Bad DP Consultants are misleading their clients as to DP's potential.

Introduction

A few years ago, I found an article by a person who sells training and consulting in SAP DP and found what I thought were some very flawed arguments that seemed designed to paper over...

Executive Summary

• There are several options for the aggregated forecasting in SAP DP.
• There is a specific forecasting sequence.
• A forecast can be created at the aggregation at the product/ship-from with no disaggregation.

Introduction to Forecast Aggregation

Forecast aggregation is how products and locations are grouped. Forecast aggregation increases the complexity of any DP implementation. You will learn how aggregation is...

Executive Summary

• We cover the forecasting functionality in SuccessFactors.
• Why the SF forecasting functionality is so interesting and the implications of using it.

Introduction

SuccessFactors is an HR/HCM application. It is a relatively recent acquisition on the part of SAP, a SaaS-based application that was original to be managed as an independent company but has since been moved into SAP’s Cloud...

Executive Summary

• This is an explanation and introduction to the basic concepts of SNP.
• We cover the reality of SNP functionality and usage.

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Introduction

In this article, you’ll get a high-level overview of the entire SAP APO SNP. A responsive supply network that can seamlessly integrate with your own systems is critical in a demand-driven market. With Supply Network Planning...

Executive Summary

• The real story on SNP and PP/DS is considerably different than what SAP proposes.
• The optimizer cannot be made to run correctly in either application. This is why we recommend turning the optimizer off and using an external optimizer with the APO database.
• SAP support is misleading many customers into continuing down a path that will never work.

Introduction to...

Executive Summary

• The MRP Type controls the planning of a product location as well as SNP and ERP location interactions.
• We cover the APO relevant fields for the MRP Type.

Introduction

This document is designed to provide background as to the location coding and interactions between APO and ERP.

The MRP Type

This is a field that is set in the Material Master in...

Executive Summary

• Different Redeployment Designs in Conjunction with APO
• Redeployment Decision Matrix
• Integrating with the SAP Deployment Solution
• The Approach for Transportation Lane Management
• The Downsides

Introduction

Redeployment is a much less discussed supply planning thread. Some redeployment is necessary at most companies.

Different Redeployment Designs in Conjunction with APO

Companies do not meet their redeployment (not be confused with deployment needs, which are...

Executive Summary

• Background on Planning Versions and Simulation
• Some Common Reasons for Using Different Versions
• Version Copy In APO
• Copying Back Changes to the Active Version from the Inactive Version
• Process Issues of the S&OP Thread
• Security Issues and Simulation Version
• Report Generation and Extraction from the S&OP Version
• Beyond the Standard APO Problem Decomposition

Introduction

When setting up regional S&OP process...

Executive Summary

• Understanding the Requirement.
• How the SNP Heuristic has Product Locations Added to the Procedure.
• How the CTM Heuristic has Product Locations Added to the Procedure.
• The CTM Master Data Selection

Introduction

The requirement described in this article is to have updates to products be assigned to groups so that the group is changed and automatically is picked up by the run profiles in the SNP heuristic and CTM....

Executive Summary

• Subcontracting functionality works in specific SAP APO modules. It is essential to understand the subcontracting process flow.

Introduction

I cover subcontracting in this article. Subcontracting, in supply chain management, is the outsourcing of a manufacturing process, where the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) provides some of the parts or a semi-finished good to the subcontractor. Therefore, a stock transfer would have to be created to...

Executive Summary

• PP/DS uses two methods for performing planning and scheduling. In this article, we cover capacity level versus capacity constraining.
• We cover fixed versus dynamic pegging, lot size settings, planning sophistication versus ERP, heuristic planning, ATP's accuracy, how resources are managed, PP/DS with process industry planning, and the PP/DS release history.

Introduction

Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling (PP/DS) in SAP...

Executive Summary

• Optimization in SAP APO has failed in both SNP and PP/DS.
• There are repeated problems with cost settings, and this failure is widely censored by SAP consulting companies that prefer to bill customers for what is a dead solution.

An Appraisal of the True State of Optimization in SAP APO

If one looks at PP/DS implementations - the optimizer is rarely used in production. Those that...

Executive Summary

• Supply and production resources can be aggregated in SAP APO. SNP has both resource aggregation and disaggregation. There are important prerequisites to hierarchical planning.

Introduction

Different domains of the supply chain have different types of resources that must be modeled. For instance, trucks are a resource for supply planning, while a workstation is a resource for production planning. However, all...

Executive Summary

• Identifying the disconnection points.
• Labor pools
• The Time Dimension of SNP Versus PP/DS.
• Understanding the Standard Sequential Approach to Supply and Production Planning.

Disconnection Points Between Supply and Production Planning in APO

There are several disconnection areas between supply planning and production planning applications like SNP and PP/DS as a model for the traditional sequential processing of supply planning and production planning applications in general. PP/DS has a...

Executive Summary

• APO has shared resources between SNP and PP/DS, which is called the mixed resource.
• There are critical differences in assumptions between SNP and PP/DS.
• In this article, we compare these two applications to how another application manages shared resources.

Introduction

In the vast majority of cases with APO, SNP, and PP/DS share the same resources. However, they are used differently in...

Executive Summary

• The requirements for vendor capacity modeling have been driven in part by contract manufacturing, where the outsourced plant is not a typical supplier but rather a slave plant.
• Often the question arises as to whether there is value to using a vendor planning book.
• There are several approaches to constrain based planning at vendor locations.
• There is also the issue of modeling the vendor in APO...

Executive Summary

• Time continuous and bucket planning can be performed in CTM and PP/DS.
• We cover the settings necessary for both the CTM Profile and the resources when continuous planning is used.
• Orders can be converted from both SNP and PP/DS planned orders.

Introduction to Time Continuous Planning

CTM can plan with bucket...

Executive Summary

• Multisourcing is how a planning system can compare and choose from multiple sources of supply.
• This functionality is supposedly supported by SAP SNP when the optimizer is used. Other important areas to control are priorities and quota arrangements.

Introduction

Multisourcing is the ability of a supply planning system to choose between alternate sources of supply intelligently. One common reason for multi-sourcing is...

Executive Summary

• We cover the background on APO Planning Areas.
• This includes creating the Planning Areas, the aggregate Planning Area, and its activation.
• The Planning Area has important interactions with macros.

Introduction

Planning areas are the central data structures for Demand Planning and Supply Network Planning. To go to planning areas or to create planning areas, go to the following: <p ">Both the planning object structure and the planning...

Executive Summary

• The CIF change pointer is covered in this article.
• ECC systems and services define jobs (SM36)
• There is an organization of the integration model.

Introduction

In this article, we will cover change pointers and what they do.

CIF Change Pointer

The CIF change pointer lists any inconsistent objects it...

Executive Summary

• We cover the basics of capacity planning in SAP APO, including Resource Categories for SNP and Resource Types for SNP.
• There are capacity planning tools in MRP and heuristics.

Introduction to Capacity Planning Tools

Capacity planning is a broad description of how capacity is managed in a supply planning system. In this article, you will learn about the capacity planning...

Executive Summary

• GATP is the availability checking module in APO, and it differs from standard availability checking in ERP.
• We cover multilevel ATP checking, ATP categories, the Calculation Profile, performing a basic ATP check, the GATP Check Mode, and when the check is performed.
• Why some supply chain experts question the implementability of GATP.

Introduction: Understanding GATP from Multiple Views

Companies use...

Executive Summary

• Capable to promise, or CTP, is a capability that requires integration between order promising and production scheduling or between GATP and PP/DS.
• We cover model structures and the Strategy Planning Profile in ERP PP and the prerequisites for using CTP.

Introduction to CTM

CTM is an order based or allocation based methods of performing supply planning. You will learn...

Executive Summary

• Resource calendars in SAP APO and can be changed to match the availability of the resources in APO.
• There is a capacity profile main view that is covered in this article.
• There is a relationship between APO and ERP regarding changes made in APO for resource calendars.

What are Resource Calendars?

The resource calendar defines the uptime for a...

Executive Summary

• SAP EWM has a very particular design based upon a third-party logistics provider rather than a shipper.
• This has had negative implications for customers but is not discussed by SAP consulting companies.

Introduction

This article will discuss how major SAP consultancies conspired with SAP to bring a completely inappropriate application called EWM to their clients and how EWM bombed at...

Executive Summary

• Kitting is a mechanism for combining products into a kit.
• Kitting is supported in EWM.
• We cover the EWM kit to order, kitting in reverse, and the two processes in kitting.

What Is Kitting?

Kitting is the practice of managing items as a group. A kit is essentially a BOM that is not part of manufacturing. A good example of...

Executive Summary

• There is a change in SPP that can be made to make a part an SPP part.
• SPP deployment is covered in the article.
• SPP also performs inventory balancing or redeployment, which is a common requirement for service parts projects.

How Much Change to Make a Part an SPP Part?

The SCM product master has been enhanced for SPP by approximately 150 new fields to be maintained in...

Executive Summary

• We cover how forecasting works in SAP SPP, explaining the forecasting models, dealing with declining demand.
• We take you through the SPP forecasting screens.

Introduction to SPP Statistical Forecasting

Forecasting includes the whole life cycle of a product, from phase-in planning for new products via various product interchangeability types to phase out planning.

How...