Preparation Period for POS Outbound Processing 

Use

The preparation period is the time period for which the SAP system determines master data changes that have to be transferred to the stores.

Features

During initialization (or the direct request) and the change message, the SAP system takes account of both the store lead time in the POS outbound profile and (if available) the store-specific logistics calendar to determine the preparation period.

The system uses different methods to determine the preparation periods for initialization (or the direct request) and the change message. This is due to the fact that the system must read the change pointers in the change message in sequence to ensure that they are not selected twice. In contrast, for initialization (or the direct request), the logistics calendar can be viewed as a whole, as change pointers are not required here. This has the following effects:

Initialization or direct request

The start of the preparation period is today’s date. If this day is not a working day, then the start of the preparation period is the next working day according to the logistics calendar.

Using this day as a basis, the system calculates the end of the preparation period as follows:

End date = start date + store lead time in working days – 1

Alternatively, for the direct request, you can enter the preparation start date and end date directly in the program.

You can configure your system so that POS outbound processing does not take the logistics calendar into account. In the POS outbound profile, set the indicator No Factory Calendar. POS outbound processing will then work on the basis that every day is a working day.

Change Message

The start of the preparation period is today’s date.

Using today's date as a basis, the system calculates the end of the preparation period as follows:

End date = today’s date + store lead time in calendar days – 1

If the end date is not a working day, then the system sets the end date of the preparation period as next working day according to the logistics calendar.

You should always take account of the preparation logic of the change message when configuring the lead time in the store’s POS outbound profile. In addition, the lead time must always have a value greater than 1, as the algorithm works with time intervals, and a value of 1 would only provide a point in time.

If preparation for a day is to take place in advance then set the lead time to two days.

If you want to ensure that data for Friday is prepared on the Monday before, set the lead time to five days.