Planning with Characteristics in SAP APO 

Use

You can plan products in SAP APO in one of two ways, that are described in detail by characteristics:

·        Characteristics-Based Forecasting (CBF)

·        Characteristics-Dependent Planning (CDP)

Although both functions have similar descriptions, they are technically very different. You can therefore not use both functions together in one client.

Prerequisites

When configuring the client, decide which type of characteristics you want to use. Characteristics-Based Forecasting uses the “classical” SAP R/3 characteristics while Characteristics-Dependent Planning uses CDP characteristics.

Make the setting in SAP APO Customizing under Basis Settings → Define Class System (CDP or Classical Characteristics).

Features

Characteristics-Based Forecasting (CBF)

CBF executes planning in the SAP APO component Demand Planning. The majority of the demand planning functions used for forecasting future requirement are available here. For more information, see Demand Planning).

In this process, you create a forecast in demand planning based on the characteristics of the configurable products. If, for example, you know that 100 red, 200 green, and 300 blue cars are sold each month, you can execute a probability distribution of the characteristic values. You can use the probability distribution to calculate the number of parts needed (motors or gearboxes, for example). You can also forecast the requirement for a combination of several characteristics, by considering the mutual dependency of the requirement for this characteristic. The results of the characteristics-dependent forecast cannot, however, be displayed in the Supply Network Planning component.

CBF uses the Integration Product and Process Engineering (iPPE) or the R/3 production data structure to display the production process and the bill of material.

For more information, see Characteristics-Based Forecasting.

Characteristics-Dependent Planning (CDP)

CDP uses characteristics for planning in the refinement industry (for example, steel and paper industries). A particular feature of these industry production processes is that many end products are produced from a single output product. The characteristics required by the preliminary product are derived either from the characteristics that a customer determines for a particular product in the order, or from the planned process steps and considerations regarding the optimal use of resources and materials.

In CDP, the characteristics of the end product determine the characteristics of the preliminary products. As the configuration of preliminary products is not known at the time of sales order acceptance, the characteristics are determined by the selected production process and propagated from the end product. Similar products with the same basic characteristics can be combined, and the particular features of these products are described with characteristics. These types of products are called configurable products.

For more information, see Characteristics-Dependent Planning

Technical Overview

For a technical description of both processes and the corresponding objects, see Classes and Characteristics.