Tips and Tricks 

General Information

Note the following regarding production and process orders:

●     Production orders without material numbers are not taken into account.

●     All production orders belonging to an order network can be transferred to SAP APO. No true integration of order networks has been realized. In SAP APO, the orders are treated as individual orders.

●     The parallelization of teardown and wait time is taken into account via the APO Core Interface (CIF).

●     If mandatory splitting has been specified in the routing, the normal calculated processing time is divided by the number of splits and set in the PPM as the processing time.

●     The operations of parallel sequences are taken into account via the CIF as operations with relationships to the standard sequence.

●     Suboperations are taken into account as separate operation types in the production process model (PPM).

Certain restrictions apply to the mapping of suboperations and secondary resources.

Because SAP APO is unable to map the R/3 scheduling logic for suboperations and secondary resources, their dates/times and statuses are always determined in SAP R/3 using the R/3 logic and are not adopted from SAP APO.

●     In the case of subcontracting with subcontracting components, the latter are not transferred to SAP APO. This is because duplicated procurements, which can be triggered in SAP APO and SAP R/3, are otherwise liable to occur. (See SAP Note 354493 – Treatment of Subcontracting Components for Manufacturing Orders).

We recommend carrying out subcontracting completely in SAP R/3.

 

●     If individual scheduling-relevant operations are not transferred to SAP APO and if these operations are not at the start or end of the order but in the middle, this has the following effects:

○     In the case of backward scheduling, in SAP R/3 these operations necessarily lie parallel to the precedessor operation, because the start of the APO-relevant successor operation corresponds to the end date/time of the non-APO-relevant predecessor operation.

○     In the case of forward scheduling, these operations lie parallel to the successor operation, because the end date/time of the APO-relevant predecessor operation corresponds to the start date/time of the non-APO-relevant successor operation.

APO-relevant operations cannot be moved by SAP R/3.

Orders Without APO-Relevant Operations

When an order without any APO-relevant operations is transferred to SAP APO, an order containing just a dummy activity (meaning that the activity does not occupy a resource) is created in SAP APO. The order is assigned the same duration as the R/3 order. Confirmations relating to the R/3 order lead only to a change in status of the APO order (partially or fully confirmed), not to a change in the duration of the APO order. In this case, ensure that the components are assigned to the start of this activity. As a result, the requirement dates/times in the R/3 and APO orders may differ.

See SAP Note 427842 - No Date/Time Transfer APO -> R/3 Without Operations

Using PPMs in SNP and PP/DS Orders

If PP/DS orders are transferred from SAP R/3 to SAP APO, in-house-production sources of supply are exploded.

If only one SNP PPM exists in SAP APO for the relevant material/plant combination, explosion date, and production version, no in-house-production source of supply is exploded. The order is created with just the data transferred from SAP R/3.

Mixed resources with bucket consumption can be used in PP/DS orders in the following situations only:

●     The order is generated with an in-house-production source of supply.

●     Correct continuous and bucket consumptions are stored in the in-house-production source of supply for the operations that occupy mixed resources.

For more information on the transfer of PPMs with bucket consumptions, refer to SAP Note 321474 – PPM Transfer: User Exit Example Code for Bucket Capacities.

Integration of External Processing Operations

External processing operations that are to be integrated with SAP APO are supported by SAP APO only if the scheduling of the external processing operation is carried out via the work center in SAP R/3.

See SAP Note 490769 ‑ Planned Delivery Time for External Processing in Production Orders.

Modeling of Alternative Items

See SAP Notes 494239 ‑ PPM: Components with Consumption 0 Cannot be Mapped and 448465 ‑ Alternative Component Without Usage Probability to PPM

Use of Continuous Receipt/Requirement (CONTI-IO) and Distribution Key

See SAP Note 456278 – Distribution Key/Continuous Receipt, Requirement

Scheduling/Deallocation and Fixing (Firming) of In-House Production Orders in the Case of R/3 Integration

See SAP Note 456756 ‑ R/3 -> APO: Scheduling Status for In-House Production Orders and 312923 – Retain Fixing Upon Release from R/3

Setup Information

In the integration of production and process orders, both the R/3 setup information from the order and the APO setup information from the PPM or PDS are taken into account.

These changes in order integration have different effects when an upgrade is carried out.

●     If you have hitherto stored the setup information in SAP APO only in the Production Process Model (PPM) or in the Production Data Structure (PDS), nothing will change as a result of the upgrade.

●     If you have previously stored the setup information in SAP R/3 only and do not use a PPM or PDS in SAP APO, the setup information from the R/3 order is transferred to SAP APO after the upgrade.

●     If an order in SAP R/3 contains setup information and you are using a PPM or PDS in SAP APO, R/3 setup information from the order is used in SAP APO – not the information from the PPM or PDS.

Please note that the addition or deletion of data in SAP R/3 has the following effects:

○     If you add an operation with setup information to an order in SAP R/3, this operation with the setup information is adopted in the order in SAP APO, even if you are using a PPM or PDS in SAP APO and a master data explosion has taken place for this order.

○     If you delete setup information from a production or process order in SAP R/3, setup information in the order is retained in SAP APO.

Please note that certain prerequisites must be fulfilled for the integration of process orders.

You must have stored the same setup information for the following objects in SAP R/3:

■      First operation and first phase

■      First phase only

■      Operation only (in this case,  no sequence-dependent setup activity is created at the time of order integration in SAP APO.

Inconsistent Setup Information

Inconsistent setup information in SAP R/3 is not allowed in the order integration (would lead to errors). Avoid any such errors by adhering to the following rules:

●     Do not assign different setup information to an order and the associated phases.

●     Do not assign different setup information to different phases of an operation.

The Compare/Reconcile function checks that the operations of production and process orders match up. (See Comparison of Operations and Phases)

Setup Information in Production and Process Orders

The integration of the setup information from production orders and process orders differs in the following respects:

Integration of Production Orders from SAP R/3

The operations may contain setup information.

●     Production order without setup information

If the order from SAP R/3 does not contain any setup information, but setup information has been stored in the PPM or PDS in SAP APO, the APO setup information is used in SAP APO.

●     Production order with setup information

In the transfer of setup information from production orders from SAP R/3 to SAP APO, the setup information from an operation in SAP APO is passed on to all activities/phases.

If a Setup activity exists for the operation, this activity becomes a sequence-dependent setup activity in SAP APO.

Integration of Process Orders from SAP R/3

Operations and phases of a process order can contain setup information.

●     Process order without setup information

If the order from SAP R/3 does not contain any setup information, but setup information has been stored in the PPM or PDS in SAP APO, this setup information is used in SAP APO.

●     Setup information at operation

During the transfer of the setup information from process orders, in SAP APO the setup information is passed of an operation is passed on to all activities/phases.

●     Setup information at operation and at the first phase

If the setup information exists for the operation and the first phase in SAP R/3, the first phase becomes a sequence-dependent setup activity in SAP APO. Furthermore, in SAP APO, the setup information is passed on to all activities/phases of the operation (and to the operation itself for display).

●     Setup information at the first phase only

If, in SAP R/3, the first phase contains the setup information, this becomes a sequence-dependent setup activity in SAP APO. Furthermore, in SAP APO, the setup information is passed on to all activities/phases of the operation (but not to the operation itself for display).

For more information on sequence-dependent setup activities, see Determining the Setup Time for Sequence-Dependent Setup Activities.

Changing the Duration of Operations

If standard values of an operation are changed in the R/3 order and this leads to a change in the processing time of the operation, this does not lead to a change in the operation/activity duration in the APO operation. The durations of the APO operation are always determined using the PPM.

For more information on the durations of operations, see SAP Note 419947 - Changing Operation Durations for Integrated Orders.