New Materials

You can control the classification of materials to be regarded as new on the selection screen.

If you do not specify a selection for new materials (meaning that you specify neither the creation date of the material, that of the MRP view, nor a date for the first consumption), all materials whose creation date is within the analysis period are identified as “new”

You have the following options:

Definition of New Materials

Creation Date From

You specify an exact date on the selection screen. All products with a creation date for plant-independent data that is on or after the specified date are classified as new materials.

Creation Date MRP View From

All materials with an MRP view created after the specified date are classified as new (plant-dependent). The date on which the maintenance status of a material was set D (field MARC-PSTAT) is decisive.

First usage

You enter a specific period on the selection screen (format: PP.YYYY). Materials with a first consumption in or after the specified month are classified as new materials.

First Consumption from x Periods Before Date

You specify an exact date on the selection screen, from which x periods are calculated back. All materials with a consumption on or after the calculated date (key date – number of periods) are classified as new. Materials without consumption are regarded as new. The date of first consumption is set to 31.12.9999.

First Receipt x Periods Before Date

You specify an exact date on the selection screen, from which x periods are calculated back. All materials with a receipt on or after the calculated date (key date – number of periods) are classified as new. Materials without receipt are regarded as new.

Reduction of analysis period

New materials often show zero consumption for a specific period at the start. If you include these periods in the analysis, the degree of data fluctuation increases due to the periods evaluated fully as zero periods. This means the past data of materials that are to be regarded as relatively regular are "distorted" by the zero periods before the creation date. These zero periods are therefore not deemed part of the analysis period for new materials in the standard version of the MRP monitor.

Offset

Depending on the option chosen, you can enter an offset in periods in the direction of the current date. An offset means that the data from the offset period is not taken into account. This is especially useful for new materials for which the observed consumption in the first periods is not representative. In this way you can avoid the effect of “start-up phases” in the classification of new materials.

Example

In the first month after the creation of a material in particular, replenishments are performed in the distribution centers, meaning that the first month is not representative. Since the replenishments occur once only, the analysis of the MRP monitor is configured such that the first month with consumption is not to be considered. To do this, in the field No reduction of n periods for materials created in period of analysis, enter a 1 .

For the calculation of the key figures relevant for analysis, such as ABC value (consumption value in the analysis period) and XYZ quantity (consumption quantity in the analysis period) and the variation coefficient, the consumptions of the first month of the analysis period are not taken into consideration since the analysis period was reduced by the specified number of periods. So the material 123 with creation date in August and an offset of a month has an analysis period of 09/2017-12/2017.

If you set the indicator No reduction of analysis period for materials created in period of analysis, the analysis period is not reduced. The zero periods at the start are then included in the valuation in the same way as periods with consumption or zero periods, which in terms of time are surrounded by periods with consumption.

There is an interdependency between the settings for the offset and the indicator No reduction of analysis period for materials created in period of analysis.

Example

The analysis period is 01/2017-12/2017. The material is created in August 2017. Since there are no further details on the definition of “New Materials”, the material is considered as new. If the indicator No reduction of analysis period for materials created in period of analysis is set, the MRP monitor also includes the months 01/2017-07/2017 in the analysis. A possible X material becomes a Z material since the consumption becomes irregular through the consideration of the first seven months in which the material did not yet exist. If this indicator is not set, the analysis period for this material is automatically reduced to 08/2017 – 12/2017.

It does not make sense to set this indicator and at the same time specify No reduction of n periods for materials created in period of analysis since the two entries would contradict one another. For example if you state that you do not want to consider two periods, the months of August and September would be excluded from the analysis (for the periodicity month).

The new materials indicator is based on past values. Therefore, the analysis is only useful, if you choose a data source oriented towards the past. Reclassification by consumption is not possible for the data sources requirements and planned requirements.