Process cost planning enables you to do the following:

• Include process costs in Product Cost Planning

• Include process costs in the preliminary costing of cost objects

In Customizing for Activity-Based Costing, you check

• The planner profiles and planning layouts

• Whether a distribution key should be created
• Whether versions have been created for alternative forms of planning (if necessary, create new versions)
• Whether it should be possible to copy versions (if necessary, allow copying in the source version)
• Whether planning changes should be documented

In Customizing for Product Cost Controlling, you define a template, the template determination, environments, and function hierarchies. You can find further information in the Implementation Guides (IMG) for Activity-Based Costing and Product Cost Controlling.

In Activity-Based Costing, the entire planning flow can be performed in dialog.

The planning process is not a single operation, but an interactive process that generally consists of several cycles. This is also reflected in the saving of the planned data. To this end, the system provides for the parallel saving of alternative versions.

Where business process planning is concerned, there is no fixed methodology. However, SAP recommends the following procedure:

1. You plan statistical key figures that can be used as the basis for the allocation of process costs in the planning data and actual data.
2. Carry out activity type planning. The planning of business processes is based on Cost Center Accounting with the activity types and allocation bases.
3. Carry out primary cost planning.
4. Carry out secondary cost planning.
5. Carry out activity price calculation and process assessment.
6. Create the corresponding cost estimates for the reference object.

You carry out steps 1 to 5 in Overhead Cost Controlling (Cost Center Accounting or Activity-Based Costing).

You can find further information about Process Cost Planning and its requirements in the R/3 Library and in the Implementation Guide for Activity-Based Costing (CO-OM-ABC).

The planning results are available on a real-time basis and can be analyzed at any time through the information system.