Preparing Excel Integration (SAP Library - Merchandise and Assortment Planning)

Preparing Excel Integration

Prerequisites

You have already defined a planning layout.

Caution

If you want to make changes to your planning layout after it has been defined and an Excel template has been created, you can no longer use the existing Excel template. You have to create a new template.

Planning data that corresponds to your planning layout must exist in your SAP System before you can create a template Excel worksheet, for technical reasons. If planning data does not exist, you must create it (for example, by using the relevant layout to enter data without integrating Excel).

Procedure

Activating Excel

Use the following procedure to activate Excel:

Choose a manual planning variant for a planning layout. In maintenance for manual planning variants, mark the indicator Excel integration: this activates Excel as the interface for your planning session. When you start planning, the template defined in the planning layout is displayed in the Excel worksheet.

The file name for the manual planning variant is named automatically by the system when the data is stored.

You must define a suitable template before you can use a specific worksheet in planning.

Design an Excel Worksheet as a Template

In maintenance for manual planning variants, change to Default values and enter values for the variables defined in the planning layout. This step is important for opening the worksheet in the next step (you can delete the values after creating the Excel template).

Use This graphic is explained in the accompanying text to open Excel within the SAP interface.

On the Maintain file name screen, create an Excel worksheet as a template for your planning session.

Note:

Use the SAP function only to move planning data in the Excel worksheet. Use to select the data you wish to move. Choose to place the data in the desired position. Choose Save file name to save the data after it has been moved to its new position.

The first Excel worksheet you create is protected. Only the cells that are ready for input in the SAP interface (for example, cells that can be defined in the planning layout) are not protected in Excel. Therefore, if you want to use Excel functions that refer to more than simply processing the cells that are ready for input, you have to deactivate the worksheet protection function in Excel.

Recommendation

Re-activate worksheet protection in Excel after processing so that only the data defined in the SAP System needs to be entered in future planning sessions.

Use the Excel formatting functions to design your interface. This enables you, for example, to change the font or the colors used.
Use Excel to create diagrams, macros, and formulas to create, for examples, additional calculations. SAP recommends that you add this to a second worksheet. This prevents problems at a later date with actual SAP planning data that is only ever imported to the System from the first worksheet.
If you enter formulas in the SAP data area in Excel, they are lost when the results of the formulas are overwritten.
Choose Save Excel layout to save your Excel worksheet in the SAP System.

Choose in the symbol bar. This function enables you to save the file name and the worksheet layout. Data is saved indefinitely.
Choose .

This takes you back to the default values. Delete the values that you entered for the variables if the values are not to be displayed as defaults for planning. Choose This graphic is explained in the accompanying text .

Caution

Default values are only saved temporarily at this stage. Save the manual planning variants. The file names are assigned to the planning layouts only when the manual planning variants have been saved. The values for the variables are then saved.