Some special features are required in the component supplier industry (particularly for the automobile component supplier) in business and data processing. SAP has enhanced the functionality of sales and distribution processing for Release 3.0 to include these special features.
These enhancements have been designed to meet more of the requirements of the component suppliers in the area of sales. This particularly affects
Outline agreements exist between the automobile companies and their component suppliers for the probable total delivery quantities of materials within a period. These materials are released by schedule lines. The delivery schedules are subject to frequent changes which are communicated to the supplier by EDI or on paper (fax) in the form of normal delivery schedules, JIT delivery schedules and delivery schedules that are synchronous with production. The current delivery schedules in each case can completely or partially replace the dates and quantities in preceding delivery schedules.
The different delivery schedule types, their structure and usage are defined in the various VDA or ODETTE guidelines. These delivery schedules are planned automatically when using EDI.
Cumulative quantities are an essential tool for gaining an accurate picture of continuously changing business transactions in which delivery schedules and their schedule lines are involved. They allow you to look past constant changes to dates and quantities for a clear picture of the transaction. They are also used in agreements between the automobile manufacturer and the component supplier concerning the quantities of materials to be delivered on open dates. Cumulative quantities are used by both the component supplier and the automobile manufacturer in the decision-making process.
The following cumulative quantities are managed in the system:
The cumulative released quantity can be calculated for the schedule line dates from these cumulative quantities and the individual schedule lines.
At the end of each fiscal year, cumulative quantities are reset to zero. The system recognizes that
To create a scheduling agreement with delivery schedules proceed as follows:
How you procede from this point depends on whether or not you enter delivery schedules with schedule lines manually.
To change a scheduling agreement proceed as follows:
Constant changes to individual materials are common in the component supplier industry sector. In this case, the material keeps the same material number as far as the customer is concerned, but the respective engineering change statuses (details on the material number) must be specified for the delivery. Engineering change statuses are determined on the basis of a date or a cumulative quantity. Only definitions on the basis of a date are possible in Release 3.0.
To manage engineering change statuses, you first select the order item on the overview screen, then choose the menu option Item --> Schedule lines --> Engineering change statuses. Enter the internal serial number here. You can also choose this by pressing F4 = Possible entries . You then assign the external engineering change status number agreed on with the customer and which must be included in the shipping documents.
You then enter the date from which the engineering change status becomes valid. Using the active indicator, you specify whether the change status is to be transferred to MRP and shipping, or whether it is only used for statistics. If the change status is marked as active, it is transferred to MRP. The valid change status in each case is copied as a default into the delivery.
When you first start the R/3 System or when deviations occur between your cumulative quantities and those of the customer, you must adjust the cumulative quantities by selecting the menu option Edit ---> Correction delivery on the delivery schedule screen. A dialog box appears in which you can enter the correction date and the correction quantity.
The delivery history can be listed by pressing F6 = Display, to indicate where the correction delivery is to be included. After initializing the function F5 = Delivery , a delivery is generated which is not relevant for MRP, shipping, goods issue,and billing. The delivered quantity is simply corrected.
In the component supplier industry, there are usually regulations on how and in what quantity a material is to be packed. To enter such a proposal, go to the overview screen for scheduling agreements. In the field Rounding quantity , enter the quantity of the item to be packed. Then choose Edit --> Packing proposal to reach the packing screen. Further information on packing can be found in release note Packing in shipping. The functions described there can also be used in the scheduling agreement.
Shipping units which you enter are copied as a proposal to shipping. If complete shipping units cannot be created for shipping, the rounding quantity for the respective scheduling agreement item must be set back to 0 on the overview screen.
The order type RZ must be posted for returns for a scheduling agreement with delivery schedules. There are two possible scenarios:
By selecting the item in the returns document and choosing Item ---> Business data you can set the appropriate switch. If the switch is set, the cumulative delivered quantity is corrected. If the switch is not set, the cumulative delivered quantity is not corrected.
You have various evaluation tools at your disposal to analyze the current situation or compare histories.
To compare different generations of delivery schedules, choose Edit --> Analysis on the delivery schedule screen in Change or Display of the scheduling agreement. You reach the analysis screen, on which the left-hand side shows all the delivery schedule generations and the right-hand side shows all the JIT delivery schedule generations, each starting with the current delivery schedule at the top.
You can make the following comparisons:
To carry out a comparison, select two delivery schedule generations, and choose Goto --> Compare . You reach the numerical comparison display. If you also want to display the comparison graphically, choose Goto --> Graphic display. You reach the graphic display.
To show the schedule lines of a delivery schedule select them and then choose Goto --> Display . You reach the display of the schedule lines that belong to this delivery schedule. You can also display this in graphic form.
To show the go-ahead quantities (production go-ahead, material go-ahead, delivery go-ahead), choose Goto --> Display go-ahead qties. You reach the display of the numerical development of go-ahead quantities. This can, if required, be displayed as a graphic.
To display the current situation regarding cumulative quantities, early/late deliveries, plant stocks, and so on, select the item in the overview screen, then choose Item --> Schedule lines --> Short display. By choosing Goto --> Deliveries, you can also list the delivery history.
When entering new delivery schedules or when automatically generating new delivery schedules, various system checks are run which can cause warnings or error messages. The seriousness of an error for some checks can be modified in Customizing for each customer or for each customer/unloading point.
You can modify the following checks:
After one year, the cumulative quantities are normally reset to 0. A year does not necessarily mean the calendar year (for example, at OPEL, 8/1 is the date on which figures are reset). The year-end is automatically carried out when planning is performed using EDI. The basis of the year-end is the field Fiscal year version in the customer master of the ship-to party. If this field is filled in the customer master, the entry is adopted. If the field is not filled, the date 12/31 is assumed to be year-end.
Planning delivery schedules or JIT delivery schedules is started automatically by workflow management as soon as data is transferred by a preconnected EDI subsystem. Some Customizing settings are required for planning to be processed correctly. Please read the sections on EDI in the Basis documentation and the Implementation Guide.
The delivery schedules / JIT delivery schedules, which normally contain several reference numbers and the corresponding schedule lines in the original from the customer, must be divided up by the EDI subsystem into one transaction per reference number. This is then stored in a so-called IDOC (Intermediate Document). The process described below is carried out for each reference number.
Each IDOC is transferred by workflow to the application. The IDOC is opened in the application modules and the data contained in it is imported. The sold-to party is determined in the SAP System by the data that has been imported. Any special processing needed for this sold-to party is imported. These accesses must be defined in Customizing. If no settings are made, the IDOC cannot be planned. The system then tries to determine an appropriate scheduling agreement. If one particular scheduling agreement can be determined, the IDOC is planned in the background. If no one scheduling agreement can be determined or, more generally, if development errors occur, then a mail is sent to the inbox of the user responsible. The IDOC must then be processed from the mail (foreground processing online for error messages or display of the warning messages/notes that occurred).
In shipping, deliveries are created from the scheduling agreement for component suppliers on the basis of the delivery schedule or JIT delivery schedule. The relevant engineering change statuses are copied from the scheduling agreements if they are maintained there. Shipping units (for packing purposes) are also created automatically taking the delivery quantity and the instructions in the scheduling agreement into account.
If the field Rounding quantity is maintained in the scheduling agreement, the delivery quantity is rounded up so that full shipping units can be delivered. If a change status different to one copied for the scheduling agreementis delivered, this can be corrected by selecting the respective delivery item and choosing the menu option Item ---> Status. Corrections to the shipping units, that is to the proposed packing, can be carried out with Edit --> Packing.
Billing is performed using the usual standard functions.
Prices in the component supplier industry are set at specific intervals (for example quarterly, every 6 months, annually) but they normally become valid some time later.
Example: Old price: $10; New price: $11 from 10/1
However, price negotiations are only completed on 11/15. Until then, billing uses the old price. All billing documents from 10/1 until 11/15 must be re-evaluated with the new price. An additional billing document is needed for billing the difference.
By choosing Logistics ---> Sales/distribution ---> Billing ---> Billing document ---> List billing docs you can obtain a list of the billing documents from a certain period by payer or by payer/material. After listing the billing documents, choose Edit ---> Subsequent billing . All the listed billing documents are then evaluated with the new price and, where there are differences, these are included in a subsequent billing list.
A further development in the area of the automobile industry is delivery via an external agent. The external agent is, in most cases, a forwarding agent who has a warehouse in direct proximity to an automobile manufacturer's plant. The component supplier delivers to the external agent's warehouse on the basis of the automobile manufacturer's delivery schedules. The external agent delivers to the automobile manufacturer from the warehouse according to JIT delivery schedules. In the SAP System, processing involving external agents is performed using a scheduling agreement with external agent (order type LK). In the LK scheduling agreement, the external agent is defined as the ship-to party and special stock partner. Consignment stock is set up for the external agent when the goods are issued. If the external agent supplies the customer with materials, he also sends the deliveries to the component supplier (by FAX or EDI) for adjustment. A consignment issue order with reference to the scheduling agreement is posted in the SAP system (order type ED) and a consignment issue is initiated. This increases the cumulative issued quantity. A billing document is created for the customer when consignment issue takes place. The order type EDKO (external agent issue correction) is used for the comparison and correction of withdrawals. The item category EDK is used for positive corrections. The item category EDK1 is defined for negative corrections. These must be entered manually.
The following output has been defined in output control in the standard system:
For EDI inbound processing, the seriousness of an error for some checks is variable. In Customizing, it is possible to define whether some of the messages from message class V4 result in an error or a warning message. The allowed messages are normally entered as warning messages. The variable messages can be assigned to specific sold-to parties for EDI processing by component suppliers using their version.
By maintaining new version numbers, message types of individual messages that are different to the standard message types can be assigned to different sold-to parties.
For further information on this point, read the section on Define variable messages in the Implementation Guide.
The automobile manufacturers generally do not send their customer number in the component supplier's DP system. To determine the sold-to-party number in the SAP R/3 System, an access definition must therefore be managed on the basis of the data sent in by the customer.
The following access criteria must be defined:
For further information on this point, read the section on Assign sold-to party for scheduling agreement releases in the Implementation Guide.
Some automobile manufacturers send in delivery schedules from their component suppliers in the form of weekly quantities. They also give additional indicators, which specify that the weekly quantities are to be split up and delivered on certain days of the week. These delivery intervals are defined using the code for the distribution function and by selecting the individual delivery days. When delivery schedules are planned using EDI, weekly quantities are automatically divided into daily quantities and distributed among the relevant days by the distribution function.
For further information on this point, read the section on Define delivery intervals in the Implementation Guide.
Different processes for checking particular fields or data need to be taken into account when you plan delivery schedules or JIT delivery schedules for the various automobile manufacturers. You can define these specifications for each sold-to party or for each sold-to party/unloading point.
For further information on this point, read the section Define special features for sched. agreements with releases in the Implementation Guide
You can make special settings for deliveries involving external agents in the same way as for delivery schedules / JIT delivery schedules.
For further information on this point, read the section Defining special features regarding external agents in the Implementation Guide.