The Perishables Processing Procedure (SAP Library

The Perishables Processing Procedure

Use

You can process perishables in three different ways. These differ according to how data is subsequently processed.

Perishables processing using an allocation table (push transaction)

This variant is designed for use in the head office. It is based on the use of allocation tables to distribute the total quantity ordered of an article among the stores. You can either have the system automatically determine the quantities to be allocated to each store on the basis of an allocation rule or you can have it propose the quantities for you to change before posting.

Perishables processing using a collective purchase order (pull transaction)

This variant is designed for use in the head office. It is based on the use of store orders, and generates collective purchase orders for the quantities generated.

Manual processing

This variant can be used in the head office and locally in the stores to procure and distribute perishable produce. It gives you the largest degree of control over the whole process due to the options available for user intervention. You can combine parts of the push and the pull transaction.

Functions such as cross-docking or flow-through are possible for both push and pull transactions.

This graphic is explained in the accompanying text

Prerequisites

The perishables planning process is based on assortment lists. A definition of it for both stores and distribution centers must already exist in the system.

Procedure

You specify the site for which you want to plan perishables.

You can plan perishables for a distribution center (and all the stores supplied by it) or for a single store.

You specify the articles you want to plan.

By defining a particular assortment list type, you can group the perishable products by (for example):

Perishables category (fruit, vegetables, meat products).
Perishability
List type for telephone sales
List type for purchases made at market

You also have the option of narrowing down your selection of articles, for example, to particular merchandise categories or promotions.

You define the following data on the tab pages:

Procurement and issue

You indicate the planning period.

Procurement

This information applies to the site from which you want to procure the articles. The perishables planning list can be extended by a vendor mentioned in the master data.

Issue

This information applies to the stores for which you are planning. If you only want to plan for a distribution center, you do not enter any period here.

Settings

Here you can influence the content of the perishables planning list, by choosing to include or exclude certain details. The system only processes chosen information. If you only select information that you really need you can considerably increase the performance of the perishables planning list.

You can also specify whether the system should prepare a new version of the assortment list every time and which POS sales period is to be taken into account.

The key piece of information for the perishables planning list is generally the assortment list of the site for which you are planning. Usually, this assortment list is newly generated at regular intervals. If new articles have been included since the last time the assortment list was generated or assignments have changed, you can have the system generate a new assortment list before generating the perishables planning list.

The POS selling period indicates the period the system should use in the planning list for comparison purposes. The system displays the sales figures for this period in the perishables planning list. It also uses these figures to determine proposed quantities.

You select a processing method.

The processing method determines the layout of the list and the processing activities that follow. You have the following options:

Allocation tables

This method supports push processes and integrates allocation tables for subsequent processing.

On the Allocation table tab page, enter the allocation table type and any other information you require for the allocation.

Choose Execute. The system generates the perishables planning list (see Perishables Planning List).

The remainder of the process is described in Handling Perishables Using Allocation Tables.

Collective Purchase Orders

This method supports pull processes and integrates collective purchase orders for subsequent processing.

You can define more data for this processing method on the tab page Collective purchase order.

Choose Execute. The system generates the perishables planning list (see Perishables Planning List).

The remainder of the process is described in Handling Perishables Using Collective Purchase Orders.

Purchase order

This method supports the manual procurement and issue of perishable products.

You can define more data for this processing method on the tab page Purchase order. The order document category, for example, determines whether the system should create purchase orders, purchase requisitions, sales orders or deliveries. If you have already ordered the produce from the vendor (for example, by phone), you can also have the system simply create an order copy for goods receipt and invoice verification. In this case, no messages are sent to the vendor.

You can also, for example, enter an allocation strategy in the tab page Allocation table. Later, using this allocation the system can determine proposed quantities in the issue list.

Choose Execute. The system generates the perishables planning list (see Perishables Planning List).

The remainder of the process is described in Handling Perishables Manually.

Result

The system generates the perishables planning list in line with the processing method you select and when this is posted it triggers different subsequent processing steps.