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 Product Allocation with Direct Check of Planning Area

Purpose

In the ERP system, you create sales orders for which product allocation (a check against product allocations) is carried out within an ATP check. Planning and product allocation take place together in the planning area in this scenario. The product allocation group is no longer used for storing data for product allocation; rather, the planning area that reads the liveCache directly is used for this purpose.

The advantage of direct online access to the data in the planning area is that changes both in planning and the check against product allocations are visible immediately and additional transfers of the product allocation time series’ from planning to product allocation are no longer made. The disadvantages are that this method has a negative effect on the system performance and that checking and planning cannot be carried out simultaneously, since the product allocation time series and planning are stored together. Planning and product allocation can block each other.

Prerequisites

ATP Check in ERP System

You defined the settings for the transfer of requirements and the ATP check in the ERP system. Choose all relevantIMGactivities in Customizing for Sales and Distribution under Start of the navigation path Basic Functions Next navigation step Availability Check and Transfer of Requirements End of the navigation path . Check in the relevant requirements class or schedule line category if the check against product allocations is activated.

ATP Check inSAPAPO

  • You defined the settings for the ATP check in SAP APO . Select all relevant IMG activities for the general settings , transportation and shipment scheduling and the product availability check in Customizing for SAP Advanced Planning and Optimization ( SAP APO ) under Global Available-to-Promise (Global ATP Check) .

  • You created product allocation objects. For more information, see the Implementation Guide (IMG) forSAPSupply Chain Management (SAPSCM) under Start of the navigation path Advanced Planning and Optimization Next navigation step Global Available-to-Promise (Global ATP) Next navigation step Product Allocation Next navigation step Maintain Product Allocation Object. End of the navigation path

  • You created a product allocation group (characteristics and consumption periods). For more information, see Creating Product Allocation Groups .

  • You created product allocation procedures. For more information, see Creating Product Allocation Procedures .

  • You created a sequence of product allocation procedures. For more information, see Creating Sequences of Product Allocation Procedures .

  • You set up the connection to planning areas. For more information, see Maintaining Connection to the Planning Area .

Demand Planning

In Demand Planning, you created planning areas with the relevant planning books and characteristics. On the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Start of the navigation path Supply Network Planning Next navigation step Environment Next navigation step Current Settings Next navigation step Administration of Demand Planning and Supply Network Planning End of the navigation path .

  • You created planning object structures with characteristics under Start of the navigation path Edit Next navigation step Planning Object Structure End of the navigation path .

    Select Master Planning Object Structure via the context menu (right mouse button). Save and activate the planning object structures. For more information, see Working with Master Planning Object Structures .

  • You created planning areas and assigned these to the planning object structures.

    Choose Start of the navigation path Edit Next navigation step Planning Area End of the navigation path . Select Create planning area via the context menu (right mouse button). Choose, for example, the storage buckets profileas follows: Months, statistics currency: EUR, exchange rate type M, unit of measure PC. On the Key Figures tab select the incoming orders quantityand the product allocation quantityas key figures for the planning hierarchy and make an assignment in the Key Figure Assignment tab. For more information, see Creating Planning Areas .

  • You created a planning book for each planning area.

    On the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Start of the navigation path Demand Planning Next navigation step Environment Next navigation step Current Settings Next navigation step Define Planning Books End of the navigation path . For more information, see Planning Book Maintenance .

  • You created characteristics combinations for your planning areas.

    On the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Start of the navigation path Master Data Next navigation step Demand Planning Master Data Next navigation step Maintain Characteristic Values. End of the navigation path For more information, see Characteristic Values Combination .

  • You have planned the product allocation time seriesusing Demand Planning.

    On the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Start of the navigation path Demand Planning Next navigation step Planning Next navigation step Interactive Demand Planning. End of the navigation path For more information, see Interactive Demand Planning .

For more information, see Demand Planning . Two macro operations analogous to the macro operations in Flexible Planning are defined for Demand Planning: ALLOC and ALLOC_MISQTY. For more information, see Functions for InfoObjects and Planning Folders .

Direct Check of the Planning Area

You have set the Check planning area indicator in the product allocation group. The product allocations are thereby read directly from the planning area. The same area is used for planning. Changes to the incoming orders quantity and the product allocation quantity are visible immediately.

Note Note

A transfer of the characteristic values in the product allocation group is still made.

End of the note.

Note Note

If you set this indicator when the system is running, without changing the connection to the planning area, you must transfer the content of the product allocation group (especially the incoming orders quantity) to the planning area beforehand, in order that the product allocation quantities allocated there currently are known. The data in the product allocation group is ignored afterwards.

If you reset this indicator, you must transfer the content of the planning area (incoming orders quantity and product allocation quantity) to the product allocation group so that it has an up-to-date status.

End of the note.

  • You copied the characteristics and time series into the connected product allocation group.

    On the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Start of the navigation path Global ATP Next navigation step Environment Next navigation step Product Allocations Next navigation step Connection Next navigation step Copy Data from Planning Area End of the navigation path or Characteristics Combination from Planning Area . For more information, see Copying Product Allocation Quantities from the Planning Area .

  • You have checked the data for the product allocation group.

    On the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Start of the navigation path Global ATP Next navigation step Reporting Next navigation step Product Allocations. End of the navigation path For more information, see Displaying Product Allocations .

Master Data

  • You entered the product allocation procedure in the location-specific product master.

    On the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Start of the navigation path Master Data Next navigation step Product End of the navigation path .

Process Flow

The process is described in the scenario Product Allocation Without Direct Check of Planning Area .The scenarios differ in that the check against product allocations accesses the planning data in liveCache online.