Creation of Decision Tables

Decision tables are an important basis for stocking and destocking decisions made by the inventory planning service. In these decision tables you define criteria according to which the system decides to either stock or to destock.

Process

You create decision tables in Customizing for Advanced Planning and Optimization under Supply Chain Planning Service Parts Planning (SPP) Inventory Planning Set Up Decision Tables for Stocking/Destocking .
1. For each table, you determine a table ID and assign a description to it.
2. You define an attribute for the x-axis and an attribute for the y-axis for each table. Attributes can be, for example, the price, the demand in pieces per period, the demand in order items per period, or the product group type.
3. You can define intervals under X-Axis Value and Y-Axis Value. For all numerical intervals, the inventory planning service checks whether you have specified intervals without gaps. If this is not the case, the system creates an alert. During the stocking and destocking decisions, the system considers a product according to the interval in which it lies.
4. Under Decision Profiles, you assign a profile description, for example Stocked or Not Stocked, to each table. In the Rule for Combination of Decision Tables field, you specify the table ID (irrespective of whether it is a combination of multiple tables).
You fill the decision tables, which you created in Customizing, with values on the SAP Easy Access screen under Advanced Planning and Optimization Service Parts Planning (SPP) Planning Inventory Planning Stocking/Destocking Decision Tables for Stocking/Destocking . To do so, you select the row that you want to fill and choose the Change pushbutton.

If you selected Product Group as the attribute of the x-axis or the y-axis, you cannot define intervals, you must specify exactly one product group.

Example

In Customizing, you choose the price in dollars as the x-axis attribute and create the following intervals:

0 to 50
50 to 100
100 to 9999999

You choose the demand in pieces as the y-axis attribute and create the following intervals:

0 to 100
100 to 400
400 to 1000
1000 to 9999999

On the Decision Tables for Stocking/Destocking screen, you fill the table with values as follows:

This graphic is explained in the accompanying text.

If you have assigned the table to a stocking profile, the result is as follows: The system can build up stock of location products in the value of 0 to 50 dollars, independent of demand. The system can only build up stock of location products in the value of 50 to 100 dollars if there is a demand greater than 400 pieces. The system can only build up stock of location products that cost more than 100 dollars if there is a demand greater than 1000 pieces.