OLTP System - Vehicle Scheduling 

Purpose

The Vehicle Scheduling component allows you to optimally use the available capacity of trucks, trains, ships, and airplanes. The goal is to more efficiently plan loading capacity and to lower costs. Since most customers depend completely on external transportation companies nowadays for transportation, the main goal is optimal, punctual, and cost-saving deliveries.

The Advanced Planner and Optimizer (APO) is a planning tool. Executing functions concerning, for example, shipments and deliveries are carried out in the OLTP system.

Both master data and transaction data can be maintained in the APO System or transferred from the OLTP system. Planning is carried out in the APO System and the planning results are transferred back to the OLTP system. If required, planning can be enhanced in the OLTP system.

Master data required for planning in APO:

Transaction data for TP/VS in APO:

Prerequisites

System Requirements

Information on the system requirements can be found under Integration of APO and R/3 and Structure of the System Landscape and Data Transfer.

R/3 Settings

In the R/3 System, you must specify which account groups from the R/3 vendor master become the carrier in the APO System.

  1. To do this, choose the CIFVENTYPE table in the data browser (transaction SE16) and confirm with Enter. You branch to the corresponding selection screen.
  2. You can use the input help to choose an account group for the R/3 System and a location type for the APO System so that data can be transferred between these two systems.

Account group 0005 (carrier) appears as a fixed value, however, you can define other account groups in R/3 Customizing. For the location type on the APO side, the carrier (1020) or supplier (1011) appear.

The master data and transaction data from the OLTP system are transferred to the active model 000 and the active version 000.

Customizing

If you want to work with hierarchies, make settings for transportation zone hierarchies and carrier hierarchies in Customizing for the TP/VS component, and specify for which application component this assignment is to be valid. The hierarchies defined in Customizing are assigned a special function, however, only hierarchies and not, for example, generated hierarchies. The hierarchies that can be selected for transportation zones or carriers are defined as location hierarchies.

In APO, choose Customizing Advanced Planner and Optimizer (APO) ® Transportation Planning/Vehicle Scheduling (TP/VS) ® Basic Settings ® Maintain Transportation-Relevant Hierarchy and maintain the following fields:

APO Master Data

You must maintain certain master data for the data to be transferred. For more information, see the units Master Data Maintenance TP/VS and APO Master Data.

Procedure

Before you can start planning in the APO System, data must be transferred from the OLTP system (for example the R/3 System) to APO. This includes both master data and transaction data.

The following graphic shows which data is transferred from the OLTP system to the APO System.

Transportation Management: Master Data

Changes made to master data or transaction data are automatically filtered and forwarded through an active data canal (based on ALE and BAPI technology).

Stock and requirements information is transferred automatically (via RFC).

An order created in the R/3 System is automatically transferred to APO. Delivery or transportation orders created in APO are transferred to the OLTP system after they are released.

Transportation Management: Outbound Process