Configuration Options for Delivery Transfer (SAP Library - Supply Chain Planning Interfaces (LO-SCI))

Configuration Options for Delivery Transfer

When configuring the transportation planning interface in R/3-Customizing you have the option of specifying technical or functional parameters, which determine how message is sent to the planning system and which modifications should be carried out in message before transfer.

R/3-Customizing

SAP uses this word to describe the necessary table settings for adjusting the R/3 system to the needs of the user. For example:

Key values are determined with their attributes (e.g. shipment types)

Number ranges are maintained (e.g. shipment number)

organizational units are created and maintained (e.g. transportation planning points)

Procedures for sending documents are configured (e.g. message control)

Procedures for modifying documents are created (e.g. route restrictions)

other customer specific system settings can be executed

The descriptions for Customizing settings are available in detail in the Implementation Guidelines in Online help. Particular specifications for setting the transportation planning interface can be found in IMG under Tools ® Customizing ® Implementation projects ® SAP Reference IMG ® Logistics General ® SCP Interfaces ® Transportation Planning Interface

Planning Restrictions for Routes

In some planning situations the whole transportation process is not determined by one transportation planning system for individual deliveries. In order to optimize the planning of domestic transportation (roads) for companies sending deliveries both at home and abroad, a planning system might be used where shipment documents can also be manually generated using R/3 transactions for transportation activities for overseas shipments (sea routes). In this case, the transportation planning system has to be notified that the destination location for planning is not definite for deliveries abroad, but that automized planning should take place for another location (e.g. departure harbor or border location). Similar situations arise for orders that are shipped from the shipping location outside the planning area of the transportation planning system for which an automatic subsequent leg planning should be carried out.

Planning restrictions are linked to the combination of transportation planning system (transportation planning point) and routes. Thus for every planning system and delivery route joined together, you can determine separately how a substitution for the departure or destination location can be carried out in planning requests.

To determine a substitute departure or destination location for planning, location substitution procedures are used. A substitution procedure is composed of a sequence of conditions, that are checked one after the other until a valid substitution for the departure or destination location has been found. Once a substitution location has been found, the time specifications for the location are also reset as far as is possible.

The following conditions can be used in a substitution location procedure.

All the search strategies only refer to documents, currently in use for the document being processed. Locations that are used as departure and destination locations for the delivery in existing shipment, are those where the delivery is loaded or unloaded but not the absolute beginning or end of a shipment.

Condition	Time substitute	Location substituted with..
001	A, P	Departure location of earliest main leg shipment
002	A, P	Departure location of earliest preliminary leg shipment
003	A, P	Departure location of earliest subsequent leg shipment
004	F	Departure points in delivery route
050	A, P	Earliest departure location of any shipment
101	A, P	Destination location of latest main leg shipment
102	A, P	Destination location of latest preliminary leg shipment
103	A, P	Destination location of latest subsequent leg shipment
104	F	Destination points in delivery route
150	A, P	Latest destination location in any shipment Transports
200	F	Definite entered transportation connection points
999		User-specific substitution

If a substitution location is found, the system also tries to determine the connection scheduling for the departure or arrival time of the delivery to the substitution location (time substitute). This is done, applying the following procedures:

Time substitute	Function
A	Substitute with current transportation time (this takes priority due to precision, may only be maintained however in exceptional cases).
P	Substitute with planned times from shipment document.
F	Calculates new times based on delivery / GI date and the preliminary, main and subsequent leg times of the route specified in Customizing.

User-specific location substitution takes place using a customer function. You can read more about this in the SAP System Settings and Modifications chapter, as well as in the Online help for customer functions.

Location and Time Substitution with reference to Existing Shipments

Automatic connection scheduling to existing R/3 shipments can only take place properly if the important data have been maintained in R/3 shipment documents. The following data are absolutely necessary in the shipment document:

Departure and destination location
Planned departure and arrival time in shipment header
Delivery assignment

If a connection to a stop-off shipment is planned, the following data must also be maintained:

Shipment stages
Delivery assignment to legs
Departure and arrival times at shipment stage

If possible, you should also ensure that all address data for the locations to be visited is maintained.

Example: Location substitution for Subsequent Leg Planning

The ‘Straße Deutschland’ (‘Roads Germany’) planning system is used for planning the subsequent legs in the delivery route ‘North America-Hamburg’, which means that the departure location for the delivery is in North America (i.e. outside the planning area) and must be substituted by a suitable starting location for the planning system. The determination procedure will identify the following condition sequence, which is processed sequentially until a substitution location has been found:

End of the last main leg: if one or more main legs exist for the corresponding delivery, the destination location of the last main leg is used as the starting location for the planning. The shipment end date becomes the shipment departure date.
End of delivery route: if in existence, the end point of the delivery is used as the starting point of the planning. The departure time is determined using the delivery date and the specified subsequent leg time.
Predefined points: points defined in Customizing are used and a departure time is not determined.
No substitution takes place.

The following shows the four most relevant substitution procedures with their condition steps.

Automatic Preliminary Leg Planning: Connections to Departure Location of an Existing Main Leg Shipment:

Step	Condition	Location substituted by:
001	001	Departure location of earliest main leg shipment
002	004	Departure points in delivery route
		no substitution of destination location

Automatic Subsequent Leg Planning: Connection to destination location in existing main leg shipment:

Step	Condition	Location substituted by.
001	101	Destination location of latest main leg shipment
002	104	Destination points of delivery route
		no substitution of departure location

Automatic Main Leg Planning: Connection to destination location in existing preliminary leg shipment:

Step	Condition	Location substituted by:
001	102	Destination location of latest preliminary leg shipment
002	004	Departure points of delivery route
		no substitution of departure location

Automatic Main Leg Planning: Connection to departure location in existing subsequent leg shipment:

Step	Condition	Location substituted by.
001	003	Departure location of earliest subsequent leg shipment
002	104	Destination points in delivery route
		No substitution of departure location

Material Cumulation

To plan shipments it is absolutely necessary to know the materials / delivery items to be transported in all details.

In certain circumstances it is not always relevant whether two delivery items, one each for 500 liters of red and 500 liters of green paint, for example, are to be transported. Often it is enough to know that 1000 liters of paint have to be planned as shipment goods. The circumstances are similar in batch handling, where different batches from one material are divided between several delivery items.

Delivery items can be combined according to different criteria, in order to achieve a better overview or to reduce the data volume that is to be transferred. This combination (cumulation) can take place separately for each combination of transportation planning position and route. However it can also be carried out altogether for a transportation planning point.

Cumulation of delivery items takes place in a transportation planning interface always related to deliveries, i.e. a cross delivery cumulation is not provided for.

When creating planning requests there are two options for creating planning requests for the cumulation of items in the current delivery:

Reduction of shipment relevant items:

Activating this function affects the

combination of batch items in a header item per material
combination of product selection of a material in a header item
deletion of BOM items irrelevant to the shipment.

Text and value items as well as automatically generated packing items are not transferred in general.

Cumulation according to freight code:

A freight code set can be assigned to the combination of transportation planning point and route and the freight code can be defined together with the material freight group from the material master. The items from a delivery are combined according to freight codes and the type of material will only be represented by the freight type code in the message. The quantity is only available in weight and volume specifications and no longer as number of pieces, etc.

If both cumulation procedures are activated, the cumulation will first be carried out according to shipment relevant items and then according to freight type.

The option exists to implement a user specific cumulation via a customer function. This customer function is carried out according to both the reduction of shipment relevant items and freight class. You can read more about customer functions in SAP System Settings and Modifications as well as in the online help documentation.

Procedure for Transferring Planning Requests

Standard Transfer Procedure with Message Control

Using message control should be regarded as the standard transfer procedure. Other procedures should only be used in exceptional cases. Transfer with message control contains the following characteristics:

Initial transfer using transaction VT61 generates entries in message control, which are used for creating planning requests for the time planned in the message type and which are then transferred.

The transfer of planning requests based on changed deliveries takes place automatically.

You can use the control mechanisms in message control.

The following settings allow you to set the standard transfer procedure for a planning system:

Create an message type for your planning system based on template ‘TPS0’. Don’t forget to maintain the processing program as well.

Set the required dispatch time.

Enter your new message type in the message procedure for the shipping message and set the requirement to ‘40’ (delivery to external TPS).

Enter your message type in the transportation planning point assigned to the planning system.

If several planning systems are connected to your R/3 system, then you need your a different message type for each planning system.

Direct Shipping without Message Control

Direct shipping should be used particularly if using message control will lead to a considerable loss in performance, i.e. if a large number of deliveries have to be shipped. Planning requests are structured in message control by reading individual documents in R/3 in comparison to direct shipping, where a mass transaction takes place.

Because of the missing connection to message control, the change controls are also deactivated for delivery documents. Deliveries are therefore not automatically retransferred once they have been changed. For a retransfer you must use transaction VT61, ensuring that the customer function for avoiding the transfer lock has been activated. You can read more about the customer function in the SAP System Settings and Modifications chapter as well as in the online help documentation.

In order to activate direct shipping you must not:

Enter any message type in the transportation planning point.

Automatic Transfer

Automatic transfer only works with a transportation planning system where all the deliveries are always shipped directly.

Automatic message control has the following characteristics:

Posting a new delivery generates entries in message control, which are used for creating planning requests for the time planned in the message type and which are then transferred.

The transfer of planning requests based on changed deliveries takes place automatically.

You can use the control mechanisms in message control.

The following settings allow you to set the standard transfer procedure for a planning system:

Create an message type for your planning system based on template ‘TPS0’. Don’t forget to maintain the processing program as well.

Set the required dispatch time.

Enter your new message type in the message procedure for the shipping message and leave the requirement field blank.

Enter your message type in the transportation planning point assigned to the planning system.

As well as the automatic planning system you can use addition systems with standard transfer procedures.