Planning Hierarchies (SAP Library

Planning Hierarchies

Use

Planning hierarchies contain the different planning levels (for example, purchasing organization) that you are using for your plan. The planning levels match the plan characteristics for the planning steps. The sequence of the plan characteristics in the planning steps is defined by the sequence of the planning levels in the planning hierarchy. You can plan bottom-up or top-down by changing the hierarchical sequence of the plan characteristics in your planning.

The planning hierarchy you use defines the scope of your planning. Planning can only be done for the characteristic values contained in the planning hierarchy.

Prerequisites

The planning hierarchy for your planning scenario must be regular. The sequence of the plan characteristics in the scenario must therefore be clear, irrespective of how often the two plan characteristics are used in the planning steps (see also Example: Regular and Irregular Planning Hierarchies). Furthermore, each planning step with a lower level must also contain all the higher planning levels for the different planning steps that also use the lower level.

The system checks for this characteristic when the planning scenario is activated.

If plan characteristics appear in various planning steps, the non-variable parts of the planning hierarchy are only managed once in the total planning scenario.

Features

You can define the characteristic values for plan characteristics in the planning hierarchy (for example, purchasing organization R300) and the hierarchy nodes. You can only plan the hierarchy nodes contained in the planning hierarchy.

The systems contains the purchasing organizations R100, R200, R300, and R400.

The purchasing organization characteristic contains the characteristic values R300 and R400. You can run planning for purchasing organization R300 and R400 but not R100 and R200.

Relative proportional factors are defined for every node in the planning hierarchy. The factors are used when planning data is disaggregated from a higher level to a lower level.

You can maintain three different proportional factors for each characteristic value in the planning hierarchy. You can, therefore, use three different factors (proportional factor 1, proportional factor 2 or proportional factor 3) to disaggregate the planning key figures.

The proportional factor number is assigned to a planning key figure in Customizing for planning steps when you define the planning characteristics for key figures.

You can define Time-Based Distribution Keys on each level when maintaining the hierarchy. The keys are used to allocate planning data that is aggregated on a time basis to the relevant periods.

The planning unit of measure is defined in planning hierarchy maintenance. If a planning unit of measure is entered in a planning hierarchy node (that represents a characteristic value for a plan characteristic), this has the following effects:

Quantity planning is run for this characteristic value and all levels and values that are lower in the hierarchy.
If the planning unit of measure is the same as the base unit of measure, all planning key figures used to store quantities are saved in the database in this unit of measure for the whole sub-tree.
If the planning unit of measure is not the same as the base unit of measure, the planning key figures entered in the planning unit of measure are converted into the base unit of measure before they are saved. To do this, you must select the FB indicator (planning unit of measure is different from the base unit of measure) for the node. In addition, the base unit of measure must be maintained for planning key figures and conversion factors (for converting planning units of measure into base units of measure).

It is only useful to plan quantities for planning levels that already have the same units of measure. SAP recommends you to use base units of measure in your planning as converting planning units of measure into base units of measure can lead to inaccurate results if average conversion factors only are maintained at the aggregated planning levels.

Planning key figures must be entered in base units of measure to ensure that you can compare your planning data.

If a planning or base unit of measure has been entered for a planning hierarchy node, it no longer needs to be maintained for the other levels below the node in question. The unit is copied automatically to other nodes.

You can manage alternative disaggregation rules by using different Versions of the Planning Hierarchy.