System Scheduling 

Use

When you attempt to create a scheduling activity for a vehicle, the system’s scheduling mechanism determines the optimal time and location, and creates a scheduling activity accordingly. 

 

Activities

You try to create scheduling activity for a vehicle assigned to an inbound or outbound document.

You can also create a scheduling activity for a vehicle assigned to a non-SAP document (behaves like a vehicle assigned to an inbound document) or an empty vehicle (behaves like a vehicle assigned to an outbound document).

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       1.      The system determines the possible locations to be scheduled for the vehicle. The possible locations are those which meet the following criteria:

                            a.      The locations are within location classes entered in the scheduling profile defined for the yard and applying to the particular document type.

You define scheduling profiles for your yards in Customizing for Logistics Execution ® Yard Management ® Location Determination and Scheduling ® Define Scheduling Profiles.

                            b.      The locations’ physical location types are suitable for the vehicle type group to which the specific vehicle belongs. This will be the case if:

                                                  i.       No physical location types have been attached to the location; or

                                                ii.       A physical location type has been attached to the location, as well as a relationship between this location type and the vehicle type group to which the specific vehicle belongs.

You define physical location types and their relationships with vehicle type groups in Customizing for Logistics Execution ® Yard Management ® Location Determination and Scheduling ® Define Location Type – Vehicle Type Group Relationships.

                            c.      The locations function as an inbound location (in the case of a vehicle assigned to an inbound document) or an outbound location (in the case of a vehicle assigned to an outbound document).

The functionality of a location is determined from one of the following:

                                                  i.       The location’s definition in Customizing for Logistics Execution ® Yard Management   ® Yard Map ® Define Doors/Staging Areas/Yard Locations, if the functionality is not specifically defined for the relevant time period per ii below. For more information on the relevant time period, see 2a. below.

                                                ii.       Location-time dependent properties in Customizing for Logistics Execution ® Yard Management ® Location Determination and Scheduling ® Define Location Group – Time Dependent Properties

When creating a scheduling activity via the monitor, you can further reduce the pool of possible locations by entering a specific location class or location class and location in the Create Scheduling Activity dialog box. For more information, see Creating a Scheduling Activity.

       2.      The system determines the times during which each possible location can possibly be scheduled for the vehicle:

                            a.      For each possible location, the system analyzes the period of time starting from the From time and ending at the To time. These times are either manually entered in the Create Scheduling Activity dialog box (which appears when you invoke the Create Scheduling Activity monitor method), or are determined by the system.

If, for an outbound vehicle, you enter a To time that is greater than the shipping time (in outbound document), a warning message appears. If you elect to continue, the system uses the shipping time as the To time.

In case the times are not manually entered, the system determines the times as follows:

                                                  i.       Inbound vehicles: From time is the latter of the current time and the arrival time (taken from the document); To time is the From time plus the scheduling horizon, as defined in Customizing for Logistics Execution ® Yard Management ® General Settings ® Define Yard.

                                                ii.       Outbound vehicles: From time is the current time; To time is the shipping time (taken from the document).

In both the case of manually and non-manually entered times, if the shipping time has already passed, the To time is the From time plus the scheduling horizon.

In the case of scheduling a cross-docking decision, the times are determined as follows:

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                                                  i.       Outbound documents: From time is the release time; To time is the outbound document reference time

                                                ii.       Inbound documents: From time is the expected arrival time; To time is the actual planned start time for which the outbound document item has been scheduled

For more information on scheduling for a cross-docking decision, see Creating a Cross-Docking Plan in the SAP Library for Cross-Docking.

                            b.      The system breaks this time period down further according to the start and end times of the scheduling time window for each day, or the working times and calendar, as defined in Customizing for Logistics Execution ® Yard Management ® Location Determination and Scheduling ® Define Scheduling Profiles.

                            c.      Over this time period, the system checks all of the existing scheduling activities, and their durations, at the possible locations. For the duration of each scheduling activity, a location will be unavailable for the vehicle, unless the location still has capacity for the vehicle, given the physical location type – vehicle type group relationship.

                            d.      For a location, the system disregards those times during which the location does not function as inbound/outbound, depending on the document type to which the vehicle is assigned.

       3.      The result is a determination of the possible times during which each possible location is available for the vehicle, taking into account the duration of the scheduling activity.

The duration of the scheduling activity is determined from one of the following:

·         Manually in the Create Scheduling Activity dialog box

·         The rough workload estimate

·         The default duration

For more information, see the IMG for Logistics Execution ® Yard Management ® Location Determination and Scheduling   ® Define Scheduling Profiles.

       4.      The system schedules a particular location and time period as follows:

                            a.      If a relationship has been defined between the location group containing the vehicle’s “dominant” storage type, and a door location group, the system selects the earliest available door from the door group. For more information, see the IMG for Logistics Execution ® Yard Management ® Location Determination and Scheduling ® Define Location Group Relationships.

                            b.      In the case of scheduling for an inbound document of a cross-docking decision, if the door scheduled for the outbound document is part of a door group also containing “inbound” doors, the system will select the earliest available inbound door from this group.

You define door groups in Customizing for Logistics Execution ® Yard Management ® Location Determination and Scheduling  ® Define Yard Location Groups.

                            c.      In all other cases, the system chooses the earliest available location.

The system determines the earliest available location for inbound vehicles by checking from the From time onwards.

The system determines the earliest available location for outbound vehicles by checking from the To time backwards.

·         If the To time is after the shipping time, the system checks from the shipping time backwards. If the system finds no available time, it checks from the shipping time onwards.

·         If the From time is later than the shipping time, the system checks from the From time onwards.

The system also schedules for this time period one of the following:

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                            a.      One of the staging areas assigned to the scheduled door in Customizing for Logistics Execution ® Yard Management   ® Yard Map ® Define Doors

                            b.      One of the staging areas in the location group related to the door’s location group, if staging areas are not specifically assigned to the door

                            c.      Any staging area, if no staging areas are assigned to, or related to, the door

·         In the case of an outbound vehicle, if the staging area is already assigned to the outbound delivery, the staging area will be scheduled first, and then the door.

·         When scheduling locations for more than one vehicle, the system schedules locations for the higher priority vehicles before scheduling for the lower priority vehicles.

·         When the system performs scheduling for a cross-docking decision and no vehicle exists for any of the documents, Yard Management creates a “dummy” vehicle, based on the default vehicle type, and assigns it to the document.