Interactive Planning Desktop 
Interactive Planning Desktop
Definition
The interactive planning desktop in Supply Network Planning is where you can display planning information, both aggregated and detailed, and make manual modifications to your data.
Structure
The interactive planning desktop in Supply Network Planning has two major components: the selector and the workspace.
The Selector
The selector is your primary tool for locating, sorting and organizing information. You find the selector on the left of the screen. To show/hide the selector, click 
in the application toolbar. The selector comprises the following areas:
The info objects area shows you all of the characteristic values for which data can be planned and viewed. Examples of info objects in Supply Network Planning are specific products, locations, resources, PPMs, or activities. You populate the info objects area by opening the shuffler (see below) and making a selection, or by choosing an existing selection from the selection profile.
The info objects area has a toolbar with icons representing different functions.
Use this function |
To |
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Toggle between the info objects area with the selection profile, the data views area, the macros area, and an overview. You can resize the areas by dragging their borders. |
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Open the shuffler. In the shuffler you make and save new selections (see below). |
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Show related objects; for example, all products in a brand. This function is similar to the drill-down and roll-up tools of previous releases. However, the relationship between the objects does not have to be hierarchical in nature. |
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Select all the characteristic values in the info objects area |
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Deselect all the characteristic values in the info objects area |
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Return to the previous selection |
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Redo the last selection |
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Determine the format in which you want the characteristic values in the info objects area to be displayed |
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Show the definition of the current selection |
The Shuffler
The shuffler is the window in which you select the info objects you want to plan. You select the types of information fulfilling specific conditions from drop boxes in the sort statements (Show...; that fulfill the following conditions...) For example, you might want to show all location products in version XYZ for a partiucular SNP planner. In the shuffler, you choose:
Show... |
Location products |
that fulfill the following conditions... |
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APO – planning version |
XYZ |
SNP planner |
John Doe |
In the shuffler, you can save selections that you intend to use frequently and load existing selections. To open the shuffler, click 
in the info objects toolbar.
The selection profile shows selection IDs used by the current planner. The supply chain planner uses the selection profile to quickly access frequently used selections. To add selection IDs to the selection profile, click on the selection profile title bar. See also
The data views area is where the planner selects planning books and data views.
If the planner can see all available planning books, the planner has access to planning books used for both Supply Network Planning and Demand Planning.
In Supply Network Planning, depending on what type of planning you wish to conduct, the following standard planning books and data views are provided.
Interactive Supply Network Planning
In interactive Supply Network Planning (from the SAP Easy Access Menu, choose Supply Network Planning ® Planning ® Interactive Supply Network Planning), you see the standard planning book SNP94 with the views SNP94(1) - SNP Plan and SNP94(2) - Capacity Check in the data views area. The planning book SNP94 offers you the functionality that was available for Supply Network Planning in Release 2.0A. The only major difference is that you now access the Transport Load Builder through the application toolbar. Note also that you fix values differently than in Demand Planning. You fix orders, not cells. Fixed orders are not overwritten by the next SNP run. For more information on the planning book SNP94,
Sales & Operations Planning (SOP)
In Sales & Operations Planning (from the SAP Easy Access Menu, choose Supply Network Planning ® Planning ® Sales & Operations Planning (SOP)), you see the standard planning book 9ASOP with the views SOP(1) – SOP Location Products, SOP(2) – Lanes, SOP(3) – SOP PPM, and SOP(4) – SOP Resource in the data views area. The book allows you to do sales planning, production planning, and mid-term capacity leveling on one screen. For more information on the planning book 9ASOP, see Data Storage in Supply Network Planning and Demand Planning.
Distribution Resource Planning (DRP)
In Distribution Resource Planning (from the SAP Easy Access Menu, choose Supply Network Planning ® Planning ® Distribution Resource Planning (DRP)), you see the standard planning book 9ADRP with the views DRP1 - DRP in the data views area. This interface is practically identical with interactive Supply Network Planning, however here you can also view the distribution receipts and distribution issues.
Transport Load Building (TLB)
In the standard planning book SNP94, the Transport Load Builder (from the SAP Easy Access Menu, choose Supply Network Planning ® Planning
®Transport Load Builder (TLB, or choose 
on the Interactive Supply Network Planning screen) offers all of the functions that were available in Release 2.0A. Now, however, you find all of the functions on the same screen. You access some of the functions by clicking the right mouse button on the headings in the table. Moreover, you can make manual modifications to the TLB results by dragging and dropping the recommendations/orders in the table.
Interactive VMI
In Interactive VMI (from the SAP Easy Access Menu, choose Supply Network Planning ® Planning ® VMI ® Interactive VMI), you see the standard planning book 9AVMI with the view 9AVMI(1) - VMI in the data views area. In addition to the typical SNP data that you can display, you also can display the values for your VMI receipts and demands (planned, confirmed, and TLB-confirmed).
The data views area has a toolbar with icons representing different functions.
Use this function |
To |
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Toggle between the info objects area with the selection profile, the data views area, the macros area, and an overview. You can resize the areas by dragging their borders. |
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Set a filter on the data views that are shown in this area |
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Display only the data views you created yourself |
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Reshow all planning books and data views |
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Close data views area |
The components area shows macros that are active both for all data views in this planning book and for this data view. For each of these categories you see:
To execute one of these macros, double-click on it. Direct execution is not possible for the standard macros (that is, for start, default, level change, or exit macros).
For more information on macros, see all topics under
The Workspace
The workspace is the primary data presentation and planning area. The workspace is on the right of the screen. It consists of a table and a graphic. By default, only the table is shown.
The workspace has a toolbar with icons representing different functions, some of which are supported by Supply Network Planning and Demand Planning:
Use this function |
To |
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Populate the table and/or graphic with data for the current selection |
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Switch to design mode |
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Toggle between the table and the graphic |
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Save graphical settings |
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Apply a standard mathematical operator or a self-defined distribution function to a value to distribute the value across a row |
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Save the data currently visible in the table to an Excel file. The system prompts you to enter the file name and path. |
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Send the data currently visible in the table to another user |
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Show/hide/refresh alerts |
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Open the Alert Monitor and Notes Management |
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Maintain/show a note relating to a point in the graphic |
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Show one key figure, some key figures, or all key figures |
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Execute macros |
Others are specifically for Supply Network Planning:
SNP-Specific Icons in the Work Area
Use this function |
To |
Location |
Run location heuristics |
Network |
Run network heuristics |
Multi-level |
Run multi-level heuristics |
Optimizer |
Run the Optimizer |
Deployment |
Do a deployment run |
Deployment settings |
Make (or alter) your deployment settings |
