Planning Offline and Uploading into the SAP System (SAP Library

Planning Offline and Uploading into the SAP System

Use

You can create your planning data in multiple files on your PC and upload those files later into the SAP System.

Prerequisites

To be able to upload the files, you must specify the characteristic values in the lead column of the corresponding planning layout. It is not enough to simply specify the characteristic text.

Procedure

Setup

The data you enter in Excel is uploaded into the SAP System using a suitable file description. You are therefore required to use an Excel template defined in Customizing for your offline planning. You need to proceed as follows:

Follow the procedure outlined in the section Setting Up Integrated Excel and structure you Excel sheet template according to your needs.

Enter a generic file name under Generic file. This name must consist of a string of characters (upper case), an asterisk (*), and the file suffix ".TXT" (example: PLANNING*.TXT).

When you later upload Excel files into the SAP System, this generic file name links the file on your local PC to the file description.
Note

The name ranges of the various generic file names cannot overlap, because this would mean that the assignment of file name to file description would not be unique. For example, if you assigned the generic file name PLAN*.TXT to one file description and PLANS*.TXT to another, file PLANS03.TXT would not be uniquely assigned.

For an overview of all file descriptions together with the generic file names, you can call up the program RKCDPREO with the ABAP Editor for the ABAP Workbench. From the list drawn up by the program, you can delete any file descriptions and generic file names that are no longer used.

In Excel, save a copy of the file on your PC and assign it a name that matches the generic file name. For example, if the generic file name is SALES*.TXT, you can name the downloaded file SALES1, SALES2, or SALES_NW.

Caution

You have to save your copy of the Excel template as an Excel file (suffix ".XLS") for the template to be opened correctly. The text format (suffix ".TXT") becomes necessary when the file is uploaded back into the SAP System. For this reason, you must save the file with file type "TXT" before uploading it into the SAP System.

Once you have downloaded the Excel template, you can make copies of it or give it to other users for the purpose of offline planning. The name of each new file you create must still adhere to the generic file name so that they can be uploaded later.

Local Planning

Enter your planning data offline using the downloaded Excel file (or copies of this file). Whenever you want to save your planning data but are not yet ready to upload it, save in .XLS-format.

Note the following for local planning:

You must avoid any use of the following Excel functions:
- Delete
- Paste
- Sort
Use of the above functions prevents data from being imported correctly into the SAP System.
You can perform additional calculations or add diagrams on a second spreadsheet since only the first spreadsheet is saved when the Excel folder is saved as a TXT file before uploading. The additional spreadsheets are therefore not relevant for uploading.
During the upload, the SAP System interprets each row as an object. This means that, before you upload the file, you must delete any totals or subtotals rows. Otherwise the system will try to interpret these as separate planning objects and import them into the database as well.
If you want to delete a characteristic value (such as a product or cost element) in the SAP System, enter a zero in that row. This is necessary because the system uploads exactly those objects that are contained in the Excel file. If you remove the individual object completely, its values will not be reset to zero in the SAP System.

When you are ready to upload your data, save the file in text format (suffix ".TXT").
Make sure that the file name adheres to the generic file name, so that it can be assigned to the file description correctly.

Uploading Files

To import planning data into the SAP System, call up the uploading function:

By choosing Extras ® Excel Planning ® Upload in the planning menu for Cost Center Accounting
By choosing Planning ® Integrated Planning ® Upload from Excel ® Execute in the Profitability Analysis menu.
By choosing Planning ® Plan values ® Upload from Excel in the Special Ledger menu.

Specify the file or directory that you want to import.
In the file description field, you can specify the file description with which the file(s) are to be imported. If you leave this field blank, the system will automatically create a file description using the generic file name.
Upload your files.