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Process documentationAnticipated Demand Coverage

 

You can use anticipated demand coverage to smooth seasonal demand. If the forecasting service forecasts seasonal demand, distribution requirements planning (DRP) covers the demand of the affected periods in advance by creating fixed demands for these periods.

If you want to work with anticipated demand coverage, you can schedule this in the Planning Service Manager (PSM). Triggers for anticipated demand coverage are changed forecast results and changed inventory planning results.

Prerequisites

  • You have carried out all activities in Customizing for Advanced Planning and Optimization, under Start of the navigation path Supply Chain Planning Next navigation step Service Parts Planning (SPP) Next navigation step Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP) Next navigation step Anticipated Demand Coverage End of the navigation path.

  • You have scheduled the following planning services in Customizing for SCM Basis, under Planning Service Manager:

    • SPP: Anticipated Demand Coverage (SPP_PFR)

    • SPP: Prof. Assgmnt Anticipated Dem. Cov. (SPP_AUTO_ASS_SP)

      This planning service automatically assigns a profile for anticipated demand coverage to location products depending on your settings in Customizing under Define Decision Table for Automatic Assignment of Profiles.

    For more information, see Use of the Planning Service Manager for Service Parts Planning.

  • You have implemented the Business Add-In (BAdI) BAdI: Automatically Assign Profile for Automatic Demand Coverage (/SAPAPO/AUTO_ASS_SP). The planning service SPP: Prof. Assgmt Anticipated Dem. Cov. can only automatically assign a profile if you have implemented this BAdI.

Process

  1. The system selects the location products that are planning-relevant for anticipated demand coverage. Planning-relevant location products fulfill the following conditions:

    • A profile for anticipated demand coverage has been specified in the location product master data.

    • The forecast for the location product uses a seasonal forecast model.

    • None of the child locations of the location product use a seasonal forecast model.

  2. The system starts the planning in the forecast period that contains the current planning date and ends in the forecast period that contains the DRP planning horizon. The system calculates the daily forecast for each forecast period. To do so, it divides the forecast result either by the number of work days or by the scaling factor, depending on your settings in Customizing.

    For more information, see Customizing for Advanced Planning and Optimization, under Start of the navigation path Supply Chain Planning Next navigation step Service Parts Planning (SPP) Next navigation step Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP) Next navigation step Anticipated Demand Coverage Next navigation step Make Settings for Anticipated Demand Coverage End of the navigation path.

  3. The system calculates the delta value of the daily forecasts. To do so, it subtracts the daily forecast of the previous forecast period from the daily forecast of a forecast period.

    • If the calculated delta value is negative or less than the daily forecast difference threshold, anticipated demand coverage does not occur for this forecast period.

    • If the calculated delta value is positive and lies above the daily forecast difference threshold value, the system continues with step 4.

      You can specify the daily forecast difference threshold value in Customizing in the profile for anticipated demand coverage (see prerequisites).

  4. The system determines the periods that you have defined with the period indicator and that overlap with the current forecast period. If a period already lies completely in the past, the system does not consider this period.

    You can define the period indicator in Customizing in the profile for anticipated demand coverage in the Period Indicator field (see prerequisites).

  5. The system determines the period for which it wants to cover the demands in advance. To do so, it goes back from the periods determined in step 4 by the number of periods that you defined in the Number of Periods field in the profile for anticipated demand coverage.

    • If the resulting period is already overdue in the DRP matrix, the system checks whether there are already fixed demands in the time frame of the period. If there are, the existing fixed demands remain in this period.

    • If the resulting period is not overdue, the system generates fixed demands for this and the following periods for the demand quantity that it wants to cover in advance. You see these fixed demands in the DRP matrix under Total Gross Demand in the Anticipated Demand row. If fixed demands for one of these periods already exist in this row, the system replaces these fixed demands with the newly calculated fixed demands.

      The demand quantity that the system covers for a period in advance is the delta of the daily forecast multiplied by the number of work days of the period, from which the system takes the demand, and a percentage defined by you.

      You can define the percentage in Customizing in the profile for anticipated demand coverage in the Percentage of Forecast Difference field (see prerequisites).

      The system creates fixed receipts for the periods from which the system brings the demands forward. You see the fixed receipts in the DRP matrix under Total Gross Receipt (Confirmed) in the Anticipated Demand Coverage row.

The following figure shows steps 3 to 5. The forecast periodicity in this figure is months, the percentage of forecast difference is 100, and the number of periods is 4.