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Product Allocations Introduction
Introduction
If demand for a product exceeds supply, the question arises as to who
should receive what quantity of it. Release 3.0E of the standard R/3 System
allows you to manage the allocation of such products to customers.
When a sales order is accepted, availability checks are carried out to find
out whether the quantities ordered by the customer will be available on the
desired date. If not, a counter delivery proposal is made to the customer.
Where only limited availability checks are made, however, the first customer
might order the entire available quantity of a scarce product, the result
being that orders taken later from other customers cannot be confirmed at all
or cannot be confirmed in time to satisfy customer demand. This problem can be
avoided through period-dependent allocations.
The scarce product is not necessarily the article that is sold to the
customer. It can also be just one component of the sold article.
Moreover, the type of allocation checks may change over time. For example,
a customer may require an allocation for a special processor if he places a
short-term order, but an allocation for the processor family as a whole may
suffice for orders whose due dates lie further into the future. You can also
create allocations for customers groups or regions, etc. rather than for
individual customers.
Prerequisites
In the material master, the product allocation
determination procedure has been added to the basic data screen for general
data. Specifying a product allocation determination procedure is a
precondition for checking availability against product allocation.
Planning of product allocations is carried out
with Sales & Operations Planning (SOP) and is therefore based on an
information structure.
In order to plan product allocations, you need
to configure statistics updating of the information structure in Customizing
for the Logistics Information System. This must be done at customer, material,
header, and item level. In addition, you need to maintain the update group in
Customizing for the Logistics Information System.
The individual steps you must carry out
are:
a) Check and, if necessary, maintain the
following settings.
b) Activate updating of standard
information structure S140 or your own self-defined information
structure.
c) Check and, if necessary, maintain the
update rules. In the standard information structure S140, the confirmed
quantity of the line item is updated on the delivery date. The characteristics
are updated by means of formulas.
d) Check the formulas of the
characteristics.
- Neither availablity checking nor the transfer of requirements needs to be
active (controlled via the requirements and the schedule line category).
Note
The described functionality is available in Release 3.0E. Please consult
SAP if you wish to activate it.
Flexible Planning
Product allocation is based on the flexible planning functionality of
SOP.
Planning is based on standard information
structure S140 or a self-defined information structure. Information structure
S140 contains the characteristics "product allocation object", "sales
organization", "distribution channel", "customer group", and "sold-to party".
Product allocation is currently not supported for more than one information
structure in any one time period.
You create the planning hierarchy on the basis
of information structure S140 or a self-defined information structure. If you
decide to use a self-defined information structure, make sure it contains the
characteristic "product allocation object" on the top level.
To represent your allocations, you can use the
proportional factors predefined for the planning hierarchy. Alternatively, you
can use the proportional factors that are dynamically calculated in the
planning table.
The standard planning type "COMMIT" is supplied
for use with standard information structure S140. You can create your own
planning type for a self-defined information structure.
Always plan product allocations using planning
version 000. This is because the key figure "incoming orders quantity"
represents actual data that is updated from the SD system.
In the planning table, you plan your
allocations. Use planning type "COMMIT" for information structure S140.
Planning type "COMMIT" contains five key figures. In the planning table you
use these as follows:
Here you enter the information that has been
supplied by customers concerning the quantities they require.
- product allocation quantity
You enter here, for each period, the total
quantity that you want to commit to this customer or combination of
customers.
This is the difference between customer
requirements and the product allocation quantity. It is calculated by the
system and cannot be overwritten.
This is the quantity confirmed at the delivery
date for the line item. It represents actual data that is updated from the SD
system and cannot be overwritten.
- open product allocation quantity
This is the difference between the product
allocation quantity and the quantity already committed. It is calculated by
the system and cannot be overwritten.
Availablity check against product allocation during order entry in SD
If the appropriate settings are made in Customizing (see requirement class
and schedule line category) the system carries out an availability check
against the ATP quantity during SD order quantity.
If the availability check shows that the ATP quantity fully or partially
covers the order quantity, then a confirmed quantity is determined as a result
of the availablity check. The confirmed quantity is the basis for the
availability check against product allocation which is then carried out
directly after the ATP check. If no check against the ATP quantity is carried
out, then the check against product allocation is carried out with the order
quantity.
Unlike in the ATP check, the check date for availability checking against
product allocation is the planned delivery date with the customer and not the
material availability date from delivery and transportation scheduling.
The result of the product allocation check can change the confirmed
quantities that have already been determined.
A new entry has been made in the availability control screen in the Goto
menu. Via Goto -> Product allocation you reach
the display screen of the availability situation with regards to product
allocation.
The same block mechanism is used for the availability check against product
allocation as for the ATP check. The material block with transfer of
requirements is only in force during the availability check against product
allocation. In this way, several users can process the same material in
different transactions at the same time without blocking each other.
Change system parameters in customizing
You need to maintain the following settings in
Availability check against product allocation of Customizing for
Sales & Distribution:
The product allocation determination procedure
determines how product allocation is carried out. It is used in the following
ways:
- The product allocation determination procedure must be entered in the
basic data screen of the material master record.
- An info structure is assigned to the product allocation determination
procedure. This influences the criteria governing how the product allocation
is stored in the planning hierarchy.
- Several objects can be assigned to the product allocation determination
procedure. Each object has its own validity period. The relevant object is
determined using the delivery date from the order. The object is used to
determine the corresponding planning hierarchy containing the product
allocation.
The assignments determine how product
allocations can be created using the application menu.
The product allocation object is an object in
the product allocation check.
An info structure is assigned to every product
allocation determination procedure. The appropriate statistical structures can
be determined and displayed automatically.
Product allocation determination procedures and
product allocation objects are assigned to one another. Every combination is
defined for a particular validity period.
Whether or not an availability check is to be
carried out against product allocation is determined at requirements class
level.
At the schedule line category level you can also
control whether or not an availability check against product allocation is to
be carried out. When controlling at schedule line category level, you must
make sure that an option selected at requirements class level can be
deactivated. The availability check cannot be deactivated at schedule line
category level if it is not already deactivated at requirements class
level.
This Customizing step allows you to maintain a
collective allocation for characteristic values for which no specific
allocation is defined. It does so by adding the characteristic value '#' to
every level of the planning hierarchy except the top one. This top level is
represented by the characteristic "product allocation object". Thus, it acts
as a container for all characteristic values that are not specified by name in
the planning hierarchy.
You quantify the allocations by defining
proportional factors in the planning hierarchy.
When the system carries out allocations
checking, it works from the bottom of the planning hierarchy upwards. With
standard information structure S140, it checks whether an allocation has been
maintained for the sold-to party for which the order has been taken. If not,
it moves up one level and checks to see whether the customer belongs to a
customer group for which an allocation has been maintained. If no allocation
has been maintained for characteristic values at the lower levels, the system
arrives at the sales organization level and derives the allocation from the
proportional factor from the appropriate container (either a specific sales
organization or the collective sales organization). If a valid combination of
characteristic values is found but the allocation has already been used up,
the container is not used.
Thus, you can account for the fact that only the
most important customers have allocations without having to create separate
master records for each of the characteristic values.
For every combination of product allocation
determination procedure and product allocation object (defined in the
Customizing step "controlling for product allocation" as described above) you
can check whether the settings made are consistent.