Finite Scheduling in the Availability Check (SAP Library

Finite Scheduling in the Availability Check

Use

If, during the capacity availability check for operations in an order, the system determines that capacity is not sufficient, you can - during the capacity availability check - execute finite scheduling for the order. During finite scheduling, the system searches for dates on which you can execute the order without capacity problems, taking into account the existing capacity load (basic load). In interactive order processing, you can trigger finite scheduling manually when the check has finished.

In the collective processing of production orders (collective conversion of planned orders into production orders, collective release of production orders), the system executes finite scheduling automatically when the check has finished, if you have set the system to do this in Customizing.

In collective processing of other orders (collective conversion of planned orders in process orders, collective release), finite scheduling is not available when the check has finished.

Prerequisites

Controlling finite scheduling

If you do not want the system to use the SAP standard settings to execute finite scheduling, you have to enter the desired Overall profile for the capacity availability check in Customizing for the Availability check. If you do not enter a profile, the system uses:

The standard profile SAPSFCG013 for production orders and process orders
The standard profile SAPPM_G013 for maintenance orders and service orders

Finite scheduling in the collective processing of production orders

If you want the system to execute finite scheduling during the capacity availability check in the collective processing of production orders, you must set this in Customizing in the Production control profile.

Features

During finite scheduling, the system searches for dates on which the operations in the order that have not yet been dispatched can be processed without capacity problems.

Planning direction

The system searches in the planning direction that you specified in Customizing (Strategy profile in the overall profile).

Search period

The period in which the system searches for dates is determined as follows by the order dates and the planning period that you defined in Customizing (Time profile in the overall profile):

In the case of forward scheduling, the system searches:

Up until the end of the planning period, if order finish is earlier than the end of the planning period
Up until order finish, if this is later than the end of the planning period

In the case of backward scheduling, the system searches:

Up until the start of the planning period, if order start is later than the start of the planning period
Up until order start, if this is earlier than the start of the planning period

Backlog

The system considers the backlog if you set it to do this in Customizing (Time profile and strategy profile in the overall profile).

Dispatching sequence

You specify in Customizing, using Dispatching sequence (Strategie profile in the overall profile), in which sequence the system searches for new dates for the operations in the order. In the standard setting, the system processes the operations in their numerical order, that is, in their time sequence. You should always use this dispatching sequence.

Scheduling procedure

The following procedure is valid in the case where all operations in an order have capacity requirements.

The system first searches for dates with feasible capacities for the first operation (planning direction forward) or the last operation in the order (planning direction backwards).

If sufficient capacity is available on the scheduled dates, the operation continues to hold these dates.

If the system finds new dates with sufficient capacity, it dispatches the operation to these dates temporarily; that is, the operation is temporarily given the status dispatched. The capacity availability check is based on a period split; therefore the system always dispatches the operation at the start of a period (planning direction forward) or at the end of a period (planning direction backward).
If the system does not find any new dates, the operations continue to hold the scheduled dates.

The system then executes finite scheduling for the next operation. When you work with the standard settings for the strategy profile in the Overall profile , the system dispatches temporarily this operation at the earliest after the operation that was just dispatched (planning direction forward) or at the latest before this operation (planning direction backward), thereby maintaining the time sequence of the operations. When the system does not find sufficient capacity in the search period, it dispatches the operation temporarily in any case to this earliest or latest point in time. Otherwise, the system dispatches the operation to the date with sufficient capacity.

The system repeats this procedure until all operations are scheduled in terms of capacity. During finite scheduling, the system does not shift operations with the status dispatched - that is, operations that you already dispatched before the capacity availability check in the planning table. The system shifts operations whose scheduled dates lie in the past and that have not been dispatched, to the current date or into the future using 'today' scheduling.

When all operations have been scheduled according to capacity, the system executes for the order midpoint scheduling on an exact time scale. During this procedure, the dispatched operations, that is, operations that were already dispatched before finite scheduling and also temporarily dispatched operations are fixed. After midpoint scheduling, the system withdraws the status dispatched from the operations that were temporarily dispatched during finite scheduling.

You can generally not achieve 100% utilization of capacity in a period. To achieve this, the capacity requirement of an operation in a period would have to be exactly the same as the free capacity in this period.

Operation sequence after scheduling

If all operations in an order have capacity requirements and you use the standard settings in the strategie profile, the time sequence after scheduling corresponds to the operation sequence in the order. This is the case described in the section Scheduling procedure.

In general, the system maintains the time sequence of the operations when the following conditions are met:

The operation belongs to an order with the following characteristics:

The order is an order that does not have relationships (planned orders, production orders, maintenance orders and service orders without explicitly maintained relationships), and in which the first operation (planning direction forward) or the last operation (planning direction backward) has capacity requirements.
The order is an order with relationships that have to be maintained explicitly (process orders, networks, maintenance and service orders with relationships), and in which all operations have capacity requirements.

You use the standard settings in the strategy profile of the overall profile for the availability check; that is, you have activated Consider operation sequence in the order and have entered the numerical operation sequence as the dispatching sequence.

If these conditions are not met, the time sequence of the operations can be violated during scheduling.

Activities

Interactive order processing

After finite scheduling, the dialog box Operation dates appears, in which the new dates and the date shift are displayed. The CapConfimed indicator is set for the operations for which the system has found dates with feasible capacities; that is, the operations have confirmed capacity at the moment. You can cancel this indicator at any time or set it again for any number of operations, even when capacity is insufficient. You can now decide whether you want to incorporate the new dates in the order, and for which operations you confirm the capacity; that is, you decide which capacity requirements you incorporate into the basic load.

Collective processing of production orders

After finite scheduling, the capacity availability check is finished. The system incorporates the newly determined dates into the order. Depending on your Customizing settings for the Production control profile, the system incorporates the capacity requirements of the operations that are feasible according to capacity into the basic load. The following is possible:

The system only incorporates into the basic load the capacity requirements of the operations in an order that are feasible according to capacity.
When all operations in an order are feasible according to capacity, the system incorporates all capacity requirements; otherwise it does not incorporate any.