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Process documentationFRP Dispatcher

 

The FRP Dispatcher controls the individual process steps of the F&R Processor. When you use the FRP Dispatcher, you benefit from the following additional features – in contrast to scheduling the FRP run as a background job:

  • Buffering of data during the forecast process to keep system load to a minimum

  • Greater flexibility to adjust the execution of the F&R Processor to suit your process control (controlling of the sequences)

  • A monitoring tool to call the current status of all process steps (for example, transfer of master data, transaction data, or forecast run)

Prerequisites

You have to configure the following profile and administration settings before you can activate and start the FRP Dispatcher:

Note Note

  • You can leave the SAP default profiles (SAPDEFAULT) unchanged or copy them, adapt them to your requirements, and save them as your own profile. You can create your own profiles in Customizing.

  • All times entered in the profiles relate to the time zone of the location concerned. The system always uses the time zone that is defined for a location. If the time zone of the location is different from the settings in the user data, there may be differences in time from the user's point of view.

End of the note.

  • Dispatcher profile

    In the dispatcher profile, you define the sequence of the individual process steps according to which the F&R Processor works.

  • Process control profiles

    For each sequence or location, you have defined the day of execution (planning day) and the time frame in which the system is to execute this process step. As the process control profile defines the time frame for location processing, the start times you enter here must match the times specified in the start profile.

  • Start profile

    Here you define how the F&R Processor is to work for a location.

    • If you want to execute the F&R Processor in a single step (the system executes all process steps sequentially at the same time), you only need one start profile. For each planning day, the day of execution and the time frame in which the system starts the F&R Processor is defined.

    • If you want to execute the F&R Processor in several steps (the process steps are performed at different times), you need the relevant number of start profiles. For each planning day, the day of execution and the time frame in which the system is to perform this process step is defined.

    According to the settings you have made in the start profile, the F&R Processor starts as soon as the sales data has arrived, provided the earliest start time has already been reached. The F&R Processor does not start until this time is reached. If the sales data for a location is not available at this time (for example, due to a technical problem), the F&R Processor starts when the latest start time is reached. If you want the system to take the sales data into account, you have to set the Consumption Update Required flag.

  • Administration

    You have assigned the following objects to the location that is to be processed automatically in Administration under Location Data:

    • Dispatcher profile

    • Process control profile

    • Start profile

    • Processing level

    Note Note

    • If you have selected processing level S, you must assign a start profile to each sequence in the dispatcher profile.

    • If you have selected processing level P, assign the start profile to the location in FRP administration.

    End of the note.

Process

To activate and start the FRP Dispatcher, go to the SAP Easy Access screen and choose Start of the navigation path Forecasting and Replenishment Next navigation step Forecasting and Replenishment Processor Next navigation step Activate and Start Dispatcher End of the navigation path.

The FRP Dispatcher works as a background process within the F&R Processor. Once it has been activated and started, the FRP Dispatcher is always active. The Controller and the Event Handler support the FRP Dispatcher in its function. Depending on your settings in the start profile, the FRP Dispatcher starts the F&R Processor. The system repeats the following process steps according to the settings you have made in the start profiles:

  1. The FRP Dispatcher checks whether a change of day (planning day per location) has been produced by the settings in the process control profile. If a change of day has taken place, the system reconstructs the worklist for the FRP Dispatcher.

  2. The FRP Dispatcher checks whether there is a location in the worklist for which it is to start replenishment planning. If system resources are available for processing (depending on the system resources and the settings in administration for location data), the F&R Processor starts for this location.

  3. The Controller always checks whether the FRP Dispatcher is active. If it is inactive, the Controller restarts it.

  4. The Event Handler checks whether there is any new consumption data for the F&R Processor and forwards the information for each location to the FRP Dispatcher.

To check the result of the F&R Processor, on the SAP Easy Access screen choose:

Start of the navigation path Forecasting and Replenishment Next navigation step Forecasting and Replenishment Processor Next navigation step Check Location Status End of the navigation path.

Result

The F&R Processor produces order proposals and new time series values.