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 Product Interchangeability in Demand Planning

Use

Demand Planning has a suite of functions with which the discontinuation and supersession of products can be modeled. These functions are integrated in the APO Product Interchangeability component.

Prerequisites

Contrary to general Demand Planning (DP), each product that you want to use together with the Interchangeability functions must have a product master record. These products must have been assigned to the model with which you want to work.

You have created an interchangeability group in Master Data → Maintenance of Interchangeability Groups.

Features

Demand Planning integrates with supersession chains. These are the only type of interchangeability group that are relevant for DP. FFF classes are not of interest for DP, since demand is planned more generally and for instance the question of which supplier a particular product is bought from is less important.

There are several types of supersession chain (see Supersession Chain ). The only one that is compatible with Demand Planning is the Product-Product chain. Similarly only 1:1 relationships are permissible. If you require more complex features, we recommend that you use the standard Demand Planning features, such as lifecycle planning or realignment.

There are four functions in Demand Planning that are connected with the initial and final phases of a product’s production lifecycle.

Like modeling

Phase-in/out modeling

Product split

Realignment

Within the Interchangeability transaction you can go directly to the maintenance transactions for these functions. Alternatively you can also automatically generate profiles using existing data. For more information on when to use which function see Which Interchangeability Method Should I Use? .

DP plans in time buckets. A change such as a discontinuation step is valid for a complete bucket. This means that DP may not model discontinuation within a time bucket as you expect. For instance, you use a phase-out profile with monthly buckets, and the discontinuation date is the 15th of the month. DP reduces the demand for the successor product as from the 1st of the month. (In the case of product split the split is then valid from the start of the next month.)

Since DP does not work with actual stocks the use-up indicator in supersession chains has no effect.

Activities

All of the functions available here work for one discontinuation combination. You select a combination and then the profile/function that you want to edit.

Before you edit any settings for lifecycle planning, that is for like profiles or phase-in/out profiles, you must have edited the basic settings for the planning area. If you have not done this or want to check the basic setting choose Basic Settings . For more information, see Setting Up Lifecycle Planning .

Like Profiles

For general information on lifecycle planning and like modeling see Lifecycle Planning and Forecasting with Like Models .

There are three options:

Display All Entries

The system displays all the like profiles that exist in the system. You can select an individual profile from the list and edit the details.

·         Create Entry

You enter the planning area in a dialog box. The system then goes to like profile maintenance for the planning area to let you create a like profile for the successor product using as a default both the predecessor product and the successor product as reference products. It sets the action S – Sum and the factor to 100% for both reference products. This means that as historical data becomes available for the successor product this is taken into account for the forecast.

You can change the default reference product or add another reference product to the profile. You must enter a name and description for the new profile. For more information, see Creating Like Profiles . When you choose , the system goes to the assignment screen and assigns the profile to the successor. If you have set the Location-Dependent indicator and the location characteristic is in the basic settings, the location value from the interchangeability group is entered in the assignment . For any other characteristics it enters ‘*’, but you can enter a discrete value if you wish.

Generate Entry

The system generates a like profile automatically for the discontinuation combination. It asks you for the planning area and a name for the profile. It then uses the predecessor product as the reference product and creates a profile with action S- Sum to 100%. It automatically assigns this profile to the successor product. This happens in the background. To change the profile you must go to lifecycle planning.

Phase-in/out Profiles

The functions that are available here are very similar to those above for like profiles. For general information on lifecycle planning and phase-in/out modeling see Lifecycle Planning and Phase-In/Phase-Out Modeling .

Display All Entries

The system displays all the like profiles that exist in the system. You can select an individual profile from the list and edit the details.

Create Entry

As above once you have entered the planning area, the system goes to maintenance of phase-in/out profiles. Once you have created the profile (see Creating Phase-In/Out Profiles ), you choose . The system goes to the assignment screen and assigns the profile. It checks whether the profile is a phase-in profile, with increasing values or a phase-out profile with decreasing values. A phase-in profile is assigned to the successor product; a phase-out profile to the predecessor product. As with like modeling the location is copied to the assignment, if the indicator has been set.

Generate Entry

You can generate a phase-in/out profile for a discontinuation combination. The system does this by checking whether a phase-in profile exists for the successor product or a phase-out profile for the predecessor product. It then copies this profile to the missing profile and reverses it. For instance if an existing phase-in profile consists of 3 periods: 10, 50, 90, the phase-out profile for the predecessor is generated as: 90, 50, 10.

ProductSplit

The product split function enables you to replace a product that you have planned in Demand Planning with one or more other product when you release the plan to SNP/PP-DS. This means that this feature is generally of use for further planning in SNP and PP-DS. It is of less importance in DP. For more general information, see Product Split . In contrast to the two options described above, a product split is not restricted to a planning area.

Display All Entries

This opens the Product Split maintenance transaction. You can create or edit entries in the table.

Create Entry

As above, but the system automatically creates entries in the product split table with the predecessor product as the source product, the successor product as the target product, and a proportional factor of 1. It also creates an entry for the period up to the first discontinuation date. In this entry the predecessor product is both the source and target. You must manually specify the planning version for all entries that the system creates.

Generate E ntry

The system creates the entry as above, but without opening the transaction. A dialog box appears asking you for which planning version the entry is valid.

Realignment

In realignment you create new characteristic value combinations as copies of existing ones. The system then copies the data of all key figures to the new combination. Realignment consists of two parts:

Editing the realignment table.

You create steps where you define for instance the source and target characteristic values and the copy factors.

Executing the realignment run

The system executes all realignment steps for which the relevant status has been set consecutively. This can be done immediately or as a background job.

Only the first part is carried out from the Interchangeability transaction. Since the second part in general is scheduled to run regularly as a background job, it cannot be started from the Interchangeability transaction.

Display All Entries

The system displays existing entries in the realignment table that correspond to the discontinuation combination.

Create Entry

The system creates an entry in the realignment table and displays the step in change mode. It sets the following defaults:

Source and target product as in the discontinuation combination

If you have set the location-dependent indicator, where possible it sets the location in the From and To fields.

The validity date of the realignment step is the valid from date of the discontinuation combination.

Depending on your business scenario you may to bring this date forward in order to ensure that the new characteristic value combinations are available at an earlier date and thus to allow you to plan before the validity date of the discontinuation combination.

Copy Factor is 100%

Copy Logic is M – Move

The source is not deleted

Generate Entry

The system creates an entry as above, but does not display it.

For more details on realignment see Realignment and Copying of Data and Realignment .