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 Use of Activities

Use

You use activities to determine how you want the system to calculate the values for the combined key figure. Each branch of the decision tree ends with a finish activity.

Prerequisites

If you use user-specific activity classes and activity parameters, you define them in Customizing for Demand Planning under Start of the navigation path Basic Settings Next navigation step Demand Combination Next navigation step Specify Activity Classes End of the navigation path and Specify Activity Parameters.

Features

Activities consist of an activity class, its activity parameters, and parameter values. The activity class specifies which parameters belong to an activity. SAP delivers standard activities, activity classes, and activity parameters for demand combination. You can, however, also use user-specific activities, activity classes, and activity parameters.

Activity Types

Demand combination distinguishes between the following activity types:

  • Finish activity

    This activity is at the end of a branch of the decision tree. It checks the combined key figure for the entire demand combination horizon and completes the key figure values for this time frame.

  • Additional activity

    You can use activities as an addition for conditions. These activities calculate values for the combined key figure in specified time frames. You can specify an additional activity for the TRUE case and one for the FALSE case.

  • Condition activity

    This activity corresponds for the most part to a condition, since it does not calculate a value, but issues the result TRUE or FALSE. The condition activity is intended for decisions that the system cannot cover using existing condition definitions.

    You specify condition activities in the node definition of the decision tree under Condition . You process the parameter values for the condition activity on the Start of the navigation path Activities Next navigation step Parameters End of the navigation path tab page. The condition activity can be distinguished from other activities by the indicator C .

    SAP delivers the condition activity TRUE as standard.

Parameters and Parameter Values

You specify parameters and their parameter values for the key figures and time frames for which demand combination carries out the activity. For example, you can specify the baseline forecast key figures with the parameter DS_BASELINE and the forecast key figures of the various data sources with the parameter DS_EVENT.

You use the parameter PERIOD_SELECT to restrict the valid calculation time frame depending on the activity type:

  • For an additional activity, PERIOD_SELECT refers to the processing horizon of the activity’s condition.

  • For a finish activity, PERIOD_SELECT refers to the demand combination horizon.

You can use parameters in more than one activity, for example DS_BASELINE and PERIOD_SELECT. You can first define the corresponding parameter values independent of the decision tree. You then select the concrete parameter values when you assign the activity to a specific decision tree.

You can therefore process activity parameters in two different places in the master data maintenance for demand combination.

  • On the Start of the navigation path Activities Next navigation step Parameters End of the navigation path tab page, you enter all the parameters you need to execute the activity. You can also define all the parameter values you need for the various decision trees. For example, you can specify key figures from different planning areas.

  • On the Start of the navigation path Decision Tree Next navigation step Parameters End of the navigation path tab page, all the activities of the current decision tree are displayed with their corresponding parameters. You can assign the parameter values here that you want to be valid for this decision tree. You can assign one parameter value for each data source.

    When you have assigned the parameter values, the symbol on the Parameter Values pushbutton changes from a green circle to a pin.

You can find information about the activities and parameters that SAP delivers as standard in this documentation (for example, Activity DECISION_SOURCE ).

Executing Activities

When the system executes an activity in the demand combination run, it checks whether periods within the specified time frame in the combined key figure still do not contain values.

Note Note

The following activities cannot overwrite values in the combined key figure that a previous activity already determined in the same decision tree.

End of the note.

The system transfers the values that were determined based on the activity to the combined key figure period by period.