Scheduling

Use

Transportation and shipment scheduling in SAP Advanced Planning and Optimization (SAP APO) guarantees consistent automatic scheduling in shipping and transportation processes that can occur in several systems.

You can implement transportation and shipment scheduling in the following processes:

Global Available-to-Promise (Global ATP)

Transportation Planning/Vehicle Scheduling

Processing sales orders from Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI)

Processing sales orders from SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM)

Processing documents from sales and distribution in the ERP system (sales orders, scheduling agreements)

Processing deliveries from the ERP system

Processing stock transport orders from the ERP system

You can select which type of transportation and shipment scheduling should be executed:

Transportation and shipment scheduling using configurable process scheduling

Transportation and shipment scheduling based on Supply Network Planning master data (SNP)

Transportation and shipment scheduling using the condition technique

Prerequisites

You have made the general settings for scheduling .

Depending on which of the following types of scheduling you want to use, you have made the specific settings for this:

Scheduling Using Configurable Process Scheduling

Scheduling Based on SNP Master Data

Scheduling Using the Condition Technique

Scheduling with Dynamic Route Determination

The following applies: If the prerequisites for configurable process scheduling have been met, then configurable process scheduling is used. If the prerequisites for configurable process scheduling have not been met, but the prerequisites for scheduling based on SNP master data have, then scheduling based on SNP master data is used. If neither the prerequisites for configurable process scheduling nor those for scheduling based on SNP master data have been met, scheduling takes place using the condition technique.

Features

Date Determination

Transportation and shipment scheduling is able to calculate the following dates depending on the process from which scheduling was called:

Unloading date (the date on which the goods are available to the recipient for further processing)

Delivery date (see Delivery Date)

Goods issue date (see Goods Issue Date)

Loading date (see Loading Date)

Material availability date (see Material Availability Date)

Transportation planning date (see Transportation Planning Date)

Scheduling determines these dates based on a specified entry point date, depending on the chosen scheduling type, and using the following activities:

Unload

Transport

Load

Pick/pack

Plan

Transportation and shipment scheduling takes account of the following calendars:

The shipping calendar of the start location to schedule the activities plan, pick/pack, and load.

The transportation calendar defined in the transportation lane to schedule the activity transport

The receiving calendar of the destination location to schedule the activity unload

If you have not specified a calendar, the system assumes a continuous working time.

Configurable process scheduling can also use other calendars.

In the case of scheduling using configurable process scheduling, additional dates can be calculated considering additional durations and calendars.

Scheduling Direction

Depending on the type of entry point date entered (for example, the delivery date or material availability date), the system schedules forward or backward. In the case of backward scheduling , one of the calculated dates (such as the material availability date) might lie in the past. The system automatically puts this date on the current time and automatically executes forward scheduling starting from this date. This means that the dependent dates – in particular the entry point date – can be shifted into the future.