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Process documentationRunning the Heuristic in the Background

 

The heuristic in Supply Network Planning (SNP) is used to create a mid term procurement, production, and transportation plan.

Prerequisites

  • You have set up the planning area and planning book. For details see, Planning Area Administration.

  • You have maintained the heuristic profiles (optional)

  • You have set up master data for the heuristic. For more information, see Master Data Setup for the Heuristic.

  • You have created a planning model or version. For more information, see Model/Version Creation.

  • You have set up a supply chain model. For more information, see Supply Chain Model Setup.

  • You have released the demand plan to SNP. For more information, see Release of the Demand Plan to SNP.

  • You have run low-level code determination. For more information, see Low-Level Code Determination.

  • You have locked any inbound or outbound queues in the ERP system for the time of the heuristic run:

    • If you cannot rule out that data is transferred from an ERP system to the SAP SCM system (or from SAP SCM to ERP) using the Core Interface (CIF) during the heuristic run, you can lock inbound or outbound queues in the ERP system from the SAP SCM system. This should prevent plan inconsistencies due to transaction data that is transferred from ERP to SAP SCM during the heuristic run, which the heuristic then ignores. During the CIF transfer, you can also prevent planning objects being locked for either CIF or the heuristic.

    • To lock outbound queues, you can use the /SAPAPO/CIFSTOPQUEUES and /SAPAPO/CIFSTARTQUEUES reports in SAP SCM. Reports RSTRFCI1 and RSTRFCI3 are available for locking inbound queues (see also, SAP note 487261).

Process

  1. On the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Start of the navigation path Supply Network Planning Next navigation step Planning Next navigation step Supply Network Planning in the Background Next navigation step Supply Network Planning in the Background. End of the navigation path The Supply Network Planning: Planning Run screen appears.

  2. Enter the planning book and data view.

  3. Enter an SNP planning profile that you may have defined in Customizing for SNP. This contains basis settings for the SNP planning procedures. If you do not specify a profile, the system uses the default profile activated in Customizing.

  4. Enter a parallel processing profile that you may have defined in Customizing for SNP. This determines how the background jobs are divided into parallel processes.

  5. Specify that you want to use the horizon you defined as the planning buckets profile in the planning book for planning (choose Entire Planning Horizon) or specify a shorter planning horizon.

  6. Enter the planning version and the product or range of products that you want to be planned during this planning run. If you choose the location heuristic (see step 7), you also have to enter the location or range of locations for which you want the heuristic to be run. If you leave this field blank, the system plans all eligible locations. Alternatively, you can specify a selection profile that you have saved in interactive Supply Network Planning.

    If you choose the location heuristic, you also have the option of restricting planning to specific low-level codes (see step 7).

  7. Define the scope of the planning run:

    • If you choose Network (Heuristic), the system plans the specified products at all locations of the supply chain model where these products are assigned.

    • If you choose Location (Heuristic), the system plans the specified products at the specified locations. You can thus choose to plan only a part of the model for example.

    With both heuristic options, you can specify whether you want the system to take into account all the bill of material (BOM) components of the chosen products during planning. To do this, set the Take into account found components in planning run check box. The system then also plans the dependent demand of the products. However, with the location heuristic, the system plans only those components that have been assigned to the specified locations.

    The planning sequence is governed by the low-level codes of the location products. You use the Determine Low-Level Code function to determine these low-level codes before running the heuristic (see also: Low-Level Code Determination).The heuristic first plans the product with the highest low-level code 0 (such as a finished product at a customer location), then the one with the second highest low-level code 1 (such as a finished product at a distribution center), and so on. This ensures that demand is fulfilled properly, even if a partial model has been chosen.

    Note Note

    If you want to run the heuristic in interactive Supply Network Planning, you have the option of running a network heuristic, a location heuristic, or a multilevel heuristic. The multilevel heuristic is a network heuristic that also takes into account BOM components. Interactive Supply Network Planning does not have a location heuristic that takes into account BOM components.

    End of the note.

    Furthermore, you can specify that you also want to plan all the products of a supersession chain as part of product interchangeability in SNP. For more information, see Product Interchangeability in Supply Network Planning.

  8. If you want to run net change planning, select Net Change Planning. This means that the heuristic run plans only those location products for which a planning file entry has been set. The system sets this planning file entry if a planning-relevant change has been made to the location product since the last heuristic run; for example, if the demand situation of the location product has changed.

    Note Note

    Net change planning can be performed only if you set the SNP: Change Planning Active check box beforehand in the planning version. The active planning version is the only version to support net change planning.

    End of the note.

  9. In the Source Determination field, select the level of a source of supply hierarchy at which you want the system to consider sources of supply for in-house production. The default value is All Levels. You can use this field in the planning with aggregated resources process, for example.

  10. In the Temporary Low-Level Codes field, you can specify the way the system deals with temporary low-level codes. For more information, see Low-Level Code Determination. You can choose from the following options:

    • Do not use

      The system always uses the last available complete set of low-level codes, calculated for the whole planning model.

    • Process chain propagation

      The system calculates low-level codes in a predecessor process of the process chain. The results are automatically passed on to the subsequent SNP heuristic process. If you want low-level code determination to continue even if there is an error in the calculation process, implement Business Add-In (BAdI) /SAPAPO/SNP_LLC. For more information, see the BAdI documentation in the BAdI Builder.

    • Calculate for current selection before planning

      The system calculates low-level codes only for the set of master data specified in the Object Selection group box. Low-level code determination stops if an error occurs in the calculation process.

  11. Choose whether you want the heuristic to also consider a maximum vendor capacity (that may have been specified for scheduling agreements) when taking into account scheduling agreements as supply sources. The following options are available to you:

    • If you choose Unrestricted Capacity, the system does not take into account vendor capacities.

    • If you choose Transportation Lne SA Capacity, during planning, the heuristic, takes into account the vendor capacity specified in the Key Figure: Maximum Capacity field for the transportation lanes of a scheduling agreement item. When working with scheduling agreements, you use this option, for example, if you want to restrict the capacity of means of transport that have been maintained for transportation lanes.

    • If you select Location Product SA Capacity, during planning, the heuristic, takes into account the vendor capacity for the entire scheduling agreement item that you specified in the key figure entered in the Key Figure: Maximum Capacity field.

  12. If necessary, enter the appropriate key figures for determining maximum vendor capacity, plus the planning book and data view that you want the system to use to derive these key figures.

  13. Make settings for the application log generated in the planning run. In the Log Availability field, enter the number of days you want the log to be saved for. The default value is 30 days.

    You can also define whether the log contains detailed information, such as data for SNP planned orders and stock transfers created, and whether this is displayed directly at the end of the planning run. You can also display the log after the heuristic run by choosing Display Logs.

  14. Choose Execute.

More Information

Application Logs