Planning Process: Creating a Valuated Sales Plan 

Purpose

First of all, the planning coordinator must create appropriate planning elements. This includes a plan version that is created in Customizing for Profitability Analysis (see also the documentation on the activity Maintain Versions). This plan version makes it possible for different planning data to be stored in parallel for the same market segment. In this way, optimistic and pessimistic plans, for example, can be generated.

For each of the planning methods to be executed (such as Copying actual data or Displaying planning data), the planning coordinator has to decide for which planning objects the planning method is to be performed. The planning coordinator does this by creating appropriate planning levels and planning packages in the planning framework in Profitability Analysis. To execute a planning method, there has to be a parameter set specifying what the method is to perform and which value fields are to be affected. For more information on this subject, see the sections Planning Framework and Setting Up Planning Content.

1. Copy actual sales quantities to planning

The planning coordinator copies the actual sales quantities into planning to be used as the basis for valuated sales planning. It is October of the current year. Thus current actual data is available for the months January to September. For the outstanding actual data for the months October to December, we take the actual sales for the same respective months of the previous year.

The sales quantities are planned at a higher level, that is, each quantity is planned per combination of division, material group, and sales organization.

To copy the actual sales quantities for the current year into the plan version, the parameters for the planning method Copy need to be specified. In an initial run, the actual data is copied for months 01 to 09 of the current year. The planning coordinator then copies the actual quantities for the previous months 10 to 12.

For monitoring purposes, the planning coordinator then uses the method Display planning data to display the copied quantities in a planning layout (see the section Set Up Manual Entry of Planning Data).

2. Increase actual sales quantities by 10%

Since management has set a general target of a 10% increase in sales, the planning coordinator increases sales for all divisions by 10%.

To do this, he creates a revaluation key and runs the planning method Revaluation.

3. Integrate new material group into planning

The planning coordinator is informed that a new material group is to be marketed in the coming year and that this new material group should be included in planning. To generate a default plan value automatically for this new material group, the planning coordinator uses the planning method Copy. In the Transform characteristic values function, the necessary entries are then made so that the sales quantities for an existing, comparable material group are copied to the new material group.

4. Valuate plan sales quantities using average prices and costs

Alongside sales quantities, average actual values are then added to planning in a further step. Such values can be prices, average sales deductions, sales direct costs, and variable costs of goods manufactured. In this way, it is possible to perform contribution margin planning.

To valuate the planned sales quantities, the average actual values are first determined using the planning method Ratios and then multiplied by the planned quantities. For this, the planning coordinator creates ratios and a ratio scheme. A ratio can allow you to calculate average values. For example, you could set up a ratio so that average price = revenue/sales quantity, or average rebates granted = rebates/sales quantities. Ratios can be summarized in a ratio scheme so that the values can then be calculated in a single run.

The planning coordinator uses the actual data for periods 01 to 09 of the current year and the actual data for the months 10 to 12 of the previous year to determine the average prices, average sales deductions, and so on. Using the Ratios method with the Transform characteristic values function, the planning coordinator transfers the values of the existing, comparable material group to the new material group.

5. Price increase of 3%

As in the case of the sales quantities above, the targets set by management mean that certain amounts are to be increased by an equal percentage. Prices, for example, are to be increased by 3%.

For this increase, the planning coordinator first uses the Enter planning data method to look at the planning data in the planning layout. In the data entry screen, he/she then selects the Price division and executes the Change Values function (see also the section Execute Manual Entry of Planning Data).

6. Top-down distribution of planning data to products

The existing planning data were generated at the division/material group/sales organization level and were adjusted to meet the targets set by management. The planning coordinator breaks these targets down to the planning level at which the sales employees enter their planning data (in other words, down to the product/customer group level).

The planning data is saved in a separate version so that the targets from management (in one version) and the planning data entered by the sales employees (in a different version) can be changed independently of each other and yet still be compared against each other (in a shared report).

The planning method Top-down distribution is then used to distribute the values and sales quantities from the aggregated level (division/material group/sales organization) to the detailed level (product/customer group). The relationship for the distribution is dependent on the reference data (in this instance, the actual data from the current/previous year). To obtain values for the products in the new material group, the Transform characteristic values function in the Top-down distribution method was used.

7. Local manual planning by sales employees

The planning coordinator uses the Integrated Excel function to prepare planning in an Excel worksheet for the sales employees (see the section Setting Up Integrated Excel). This worksheet contains the management targets and - for comparison purposes - the past actual sales, actual prices, and actual sales deductions for products by customer group.

In the planning framework, the planning coordinator creates personalization profiles with which he assigns planning contents to the sales employees. In this way, when a sales employee calls up planning afterwards, only those planning tasks relevant to him/her appear.

Affected sales employees are then told by e-mail that planning tasks are to be completed in the SAP System by a certain deadline. During planning, they can then use the functions in CO-PA planning as well as the Excel working environment.

8. Plan reconciliation and agreeing upon the final plan