SOP: General Concepts (SAP Library - Release Notes for Release 3.0A)

SOP: General Concepts

Description

Release 3.0 sees the planning functions available in Release 2.2 of the Logistics Information System and Sales and Operations Planning combined and considerably enhanced in a universal planning and forecasting tool, named Sales & Operations Planning (SOP). You can use this tool to plan any area of logistics; for example, sales, production, purchasing, inventory, and so on.

Common User Access

The user access is now the same whether you are planning the production quotas of different plants, the quantities purchased by your purchasing groups from a particular vendor, or the value of the incoming orders placed by each of your customers. structures provide a universal framework for your planning activities.

Menus

The functionality of Sales & Operations Planning is offered in two menus: the standard SOP menu and the flexible planning menu.

The standard SOP menu is so called because you work with just one organizational unit, the product group hierarchy, and plan predefined key figures in a planning table with a set layout. All plans in standard SOP are based on information structure S076. The functionality in this menu is based on the functionality of Sales and Operations Planning in Release 2.2.

Planning carried out in flexible planning can be based on any information structure of your choice, that is, on any self-defined information structure or standard information structure. This means that you can plan any characteristic value combinations and any key figures that you want. In addition, you can design your own planning screen layouts, known as planning types.

Planning Methods

Vital to your planning results is the planning method you use. There are three possible planning methods:

consistent

level-by-level

delta

You define which planning method is used for which information structure in Customizing for Sales & Operations Planning, the step Planning parameters for info structures .

Consistent Planning

In consistent planning, planning levels are interdependent, that is, the values of the selected planning objects are automatically aggregated and disaggregated to the other levels at run time. The system stores data at the lowest level in the structure only. In the example of the characteristic values combination below, this would be the material level.

One advantage of this method is its ease of use: you enter planning figures at one level and rely on data consistency being maintained at all the other levels. A second advantage is that you create planning data from any perspective that you want. For example, you can quickly plan the sales quantities of all materials in the distribution channel "retail", or the value of incoming orders in the division "textiles".

Level-By-Level Planning

In level-by-level planning, the planning levels are independent of each other, that is, the sum of the member values may be different from the owner value. The system saves data for every level in the hierarchy. No automatic aggregation or disaggregation takes place.

The advantage of this method is that you can check your data at every level before, if necessary, aggregating or disaggregating it.

Delta Planning

This is the planning method that was available in Release 2.2 of the Logistics Information System. Data entered at one level is aggregated automatically to higher levels at run time. However, if data is changed at a higher level, the new value is not disaggregated automatically. The difference remains between the sum of the individual values at the lower level and the total shown at the higher level.

Which Planning Method for Which Type of Master Data?

Which planning method you choose depends on the type of master data you want to plan and the perspective from which you want to plan it.

Do you want to plan a characteristic values combination, or a product group, or both?

Do you want to plan comprehensively, that is, many characteristic values on several levels, or would you prefer to plan each hierarchy level separately and therefore fewer characteristic values at a time?

For a precise definition of the different types of master data in SOP, see SOP: Master Data.

Non-Hierarchical Perspective on Characteristic Values Combination

The consistent planning method is designed for the planning of combinations of characteristic values from a non-hierarchical perspective.

Example

You plan sales of all materials in sales organization NORTH. What interests you is the details - that is, the materials - and the sum of the details - that is, the total of all materials in sales organization NORTH.

Hierarchical Perspective on Characteristic Values Combination

The level-by-level planning method is designed for the planning of characteristic value combinations from a hierarchical perspective.

Example

You plan the sales of all distribution channels in sales organization NORTH. In a second step, you plan the sales of all product divisions in distribution channel RETAIL. In a third step, you plan the sales of all materials in product division FOOD. In a fourth step, you plan the sales of all materials in product division BEVERAGES. You continue planning top-down until you have planned the whole hierarchy.

Product Group

The level-by-level planning method is predefined for the planning of product groups in standard SOP. SAP recommends that you do not change this.

Planning Hierarchy Containing Product Groups

If you want to plan product groups as part of a planning hierarchy, you must adopt the following approach:

1. In standard SOP, create product group hierarchies, starting with top-level product groups and finishing with materials.

2. In flexible planning, create a characteristic values combination, defining the most detailed planning level as product groups or materials and their plants. These must be the product group(s) or materials of one of the planning levels in the product group hierarchies you created in step 1.

3. In flexible planning, plan the characteristic values combination. The planning method can be consistent planning or level-by-level planning.

4. Copy the planning data from the most detailed level (that is, the product group or material level) to information structure S076 using SOP's key figure copy function (see SOP: New Ways to Plan).

5. In standard SOP, aggregate and/or disaggregate the copied data up/down the product group hierarchies. Since you are planning information structure S076, the planning method in this step is always level-by-level.

Change system parameters in customizing

You set the planning method of an information structure in Planning parameters for info structures .

For full information on the configuration of Sales & Operations Planning, see Sales & Operations Planning.

Changes to the interface

You access the standard SOP menu with Logistics -> Production -> Standard SOP.

You access the flexible planning menu with Logistics -> Logistics Controlling -> Flexible planning .

You can switch directly between these two menus.

Further notes

For the relevance of planning methods to your choice of planning strategy (single-level or dual-level planning), see the section "Description" in SOP: Planning Types and Macros .