Checking the Availability of Material (SAP Library

Checking the Availability of Material

Before you start production, you can check whether all the material components allocated to the process order are available on the calculated requirements dates.

In a process order, the system only checks material components that are relevant to inventory management and have the item category "L" (stock component).

Availability checks can be triggered either automatically or manually:

The availability of components in an order can be checked automatically during order creation and/or order release. In Customizing for Process Orders, you specify per order type and plant whether the availability is to be checked automatically.

You can always trigger a manual availability check.

The checking scope is defined via the checking group (in the material master record) and the valid checking rule (in Customizing for Process Orders).

Together, they define:

Which MRP elements are taken into account in the check

Which inventory categories are taken into account
Whether the replenishment lead time is taken into account.

In Customizing for Process Orders (Define Checking Control), you specify against which quantity the material availability is to be checked. You can make the following settings:

Planning (open planned independent requirements)

In the check against planned independent requirements, the system only checks the open planned independent requirement quantities created for the components. This means that the ATP quantity is not included in this availability check nor are receipts or stocks.

This type of availability check is most useful:

If assembly planning or phantom assembly planning is carried out for the components
If quick statements about the availability situation are required and the results from this check are precise enough

The system uses the open planned independent requirements quantity at component level to determine a committed quantity, and this quantity is copied to the planned order header as the committed quantity. In contrast to the availability check according to ATP logic, however, the committed quantity is not recorded in the dependent requirements. The planned independent requirements of the components are not consumed by the committed quantity but by the complete dependent requirements quantity. In further availability checks, the system can only commit quantities for the amount of planned independent requirements that have not yet been consumed.

In the availability check against planned independent requirements, the following dates/quantities are not calculated:

Total confirmation date
Partial confirmation date/ partial confirmation quantity

ATP-Quantity

In the check according to ATP logic, the system checks whether the dependent requirements of each component are covered by specific receipt and issue elements or by stock. This check is carried out dynamically, that is, each time you carry out the check, the system recalculates the current situation. If a quantity can be committed for the requirement date, the system enters precisely this quantity as the committed quantity in the dependent requirements, and the ATP quantity for the components is reduced by the committed quantity. Therefore, in the next availability check, dependent requirements can only be committed for the amount of the remaining ATP quantity.