Planning Package

Definition

Group of location products that must always be planned for procurement together.

Use

Planning packages are relevant for procurement planning with the product heuristic and for procurement planning in the MRP planning run with the product heuristic, that is:

For the execution of the MRP heuristic SAP_MRP_001 or SAP_MRP_002 in the production planning run or in interactive planning. You need to have selected the Product Heuristic option in the MRP heuristic.
For calling the product heuristic in interactive planning
For calling the product heuristic using the action Execute product heuristic immediately

Without planning packages , the system plans the selected products one after the other and completely independently of each other. For example, in the MRP planning run, the system calls up the product heuristic for each selected product, one after the other. The sequence is defined by the low-level codes of the products. (Within a low-level code, the sequence is automatically determined according to internal system criteria.) Therefore, the system performs the complete procurement planning process for each product, from the net requirements calculation to scheduling the procurement proposals, before it does the same for the next product. This procedure may not be appropriate if the products are produced on the same finitely scheduled resource. The products planned first may consume the entire resource capacity. There is then no capacity, or only very late capacity, for the products planned last (these products are known as “loser materials”). The sequential processing of products is also problematic if different products are produced in the same production process (manufacture of co-products), or if several products are procured from the same supplier.

With planning packages , you necessitate the common planning of products in the procurement planning run. The system always plans all products in the planning package, even if the product selection only contains one product from the planning package. With planning packages, you can avoid the disadvantages of sequential or independent product planning. Planning packages can be used to group products with a common bottleneck resource or to group products for joint processes. Planning packages are mandatory for interchangeable products and the system therefore creates them automatically.

Structure

Planning package type

Depending on how a planning package has been created, the system assigns a planning package to a specific planning package type. For example, a planning package, which you create manually in the location product master on the PP/DS tab page in package maintenance, belongs to the planning package type 000. A planning package that the system creates automatically for products in a supersession chain belongs to the planning package type 001. In Customizing for Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling (PP/DS), under Maintain Planning Package Types , and depending on the planning package type, you can define whether the assignment of a product to a planning package can be changed in package maintenance. In the standard system, for example, planning packages of the type 000 can be changed. Planning packages of the type 001 cannot be changed and this corresponds to the requirement in product interchangeability that products in a supersession chain always have to be planned together.

Package heuristic

In package maintenance in the location product master, you assign the heuristic to the planning package that you want the system to use to process the package if the product heuristicis called in the MRP planning run, in interactive planning, or in automatic immediate planning. This is a procurement planning heuristic for a manually created planning package (type 000). The system uses this heuristic as product heuristic for each product that belongs to the planning package. A heuristic should be used for a planning package of the type 001 that plans the products in the supersession chain in the sequence specified by the supersession chain. The dispatcher heuristic SAP_PP_I001 is available in the standard system for this purpose. It calls the product heuristic for each product one after the other in the supersession chain.

Integration

When determining the low-level codes using the standard heuristic SAP_PP_020, the system sets the low-level codes for the products in a planning package to the same value. This prevents the products in a planning package being planned several times in multilevel planning.