Inspection Lot

Order for a quality inspection of a specific quantity of a location product, where the processing of the quality inspection and inspection lot takes place in SAP R/3.

The SAP APO planning applications consider an inspection lot as a planned receipt. Inspection lots can only be created and processed in SAP R/3 and transferred from SAP R/3 to SAP APO. In a SAP APO planning application, inspection lots can neither be created, changed or deleted manually by the user, nor automatically by the system.

Note Note

It is only possible to delete inspection lots in SAP APO as part of data synchronization between SAP R/3 and SAP APO. For more information, see the documentation for the SAP APO Core Interface under Integration of Inspection Lots.

End of the note.

Each change to the quantity, dates/times or the status of an inspection lot in SAP R/3 is automatically transferred to SAP APO. An inspection lot is deleted in SAP APO if you reduce the inspection lot quantity in SAP R/3 to zero; this can occur in SAP R/3 either through cancellation of the inspection lot or through a usage decision.

Structure

Representation of an inspection lot in SAP APO

In SAP APO, an inspection lot is modeled as an in-house production order (order category in SAP liveCache 1F); therefore, an inspection lot – unlike in SAP R/3 – is not modeled as stock. The order has the following elements:

The order consists of only one receipt of the category BU (category text QM Lot) for the product to be inspected. The receipt is fixed; that is, the receipt quantity cannot be changed in SAP APO. The order has no requirements and no activities; in other words, it does not occupy any resources.

Note
To map an inspection lot in the system with regard to structure and planning behavior, the order consists of one fixed activity internally in the system.

End of the note.
The order dates (start, end) correspond to the dates of the inspection lot in SAP R/3.
Since the inspection lot dates in SAP R/3 are only defined by a date without a time, but SAP APO also requires a time, the system automatically sets the start and end time to 00:00 as standard when the inspection lot is transferred to SAP APO. You can modify the time using the SAP R/3 customer exit QAPO0003.
The order is not linked with a source of supply.
In contrast to the inspection lot in SAP R/3, the order does not display the sales order or manufacturing order for which the inspection lot was created.
If you release the inspection lot in SAP R/3, SAP APO displays this status in the inspection lot. SAP APO does not display other inspection lot statuses.
For planning configurable products with characteristics-dependent planning (CDP), the characteristics of the product to be inspected are also relevant for an inspection lot. The characteristic value assignments of the receipt of an inspection lot result from the characteristic value assignments of the assigned batch. The prerequisite is that the value assignment of the batch takes place in SAP R/3 before or while the inspection lot is assigned to the batch. If the value assignment of the batch takes place later, the inspection lot receipt in SAP APO does not adopt the characteristic value assignments. Subsequent changes to the characteristic value assignments of a batch in SAP R/3 are not transferred to the inspection lot receipt in SAP APO either.

Inspection Lots in Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling (PP/DS)

The following tables give an overview of the planning-relevant features of inspection lots and the inspection lot display using interactive PP/DS planning tools.

Inspection Lots in PP/DS Planning

Function	Aspects Specific to Inspection Lots
Status	Since an inspection lot is not changed in SAP APO and, in particular, the receipt quantity and the dates/times are fixed, an inspection lot in Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling (PP/DS) has the statuses firmed output and fixed date. These statuses cannot be reset.
Net Requirements Calculation Pegging	The system considers an inspection lot as a fixed, planned receipt.
PP Planning Procedures	If an inspection lot is changed in SAP R/3, the system executes (for the location product) the action that is defined in the planning procedure of the location product for the event changing an inspection lot.
Heuristics	The standard heuristics do not change inspection lots. In PP/DS, however, you can define heuristics that are based on algorithms that you have programmed yourself. Note that these heuristics do not change, create or delete inspection lots. Unlike the transfer from SAP R/3 to SAP APO, SAP does not support the transfer of changes from SAP APO to SAP R/3.
Campaigns	An inspection lot may neither be assigned manually nor automatically to a campaign.

Display of Inspection Lots in PP/DS

Tool	Aspects Specific to Inspection Lots
Order view	You can display an inspection lot in the order processing view. Since an inspection lot is mapped in SAP APO as an in-house production order and not as stock, an inspection lot is not visible on the Stock tab page in the product view.
DS planning board	Inspection lots can be displayed in the charts of the detailed scheduling planning board (DS planning board) as orders, which represent orders or stock data in the diagram section. These include the product chart, the network display for orders and the product stock chart. (Note that planned receipts are also part of stock in the DS planning board.) Since an inspection lot has no operations and is not assigned to any resources, inspection lots are not displayed in charts containing operation- and resource-related data (network display chart for operations, resources chart, resources fill level chart and resource utilization chart).
Product planning table	The system displays a row in the product view for an inspection lot. Since an inspection lot is not assigned to any resources, an inspection lot is not visible in the periodic resource view.

Tool

Aspects Specific to Inspection Lots

Order view

You can display an inspection lot in the order processing view. Since an inspection lot is mapped in SAP APO as an in-house production order and not as stock, an inspection lot is not visible on the Stock tab page in the product view.

DS planning board

Inspection lots can be displayed in the charts of the detailed scheduling planning board (DS planning board) as orders, which represent orders or stock data in the diagram section. These include the product chart, the network display for orders and the product stock chart. (Note that planned receipts are also part of stock in the DS planning board.)

Since an inspection lot has no operations and is not assigned to any resources, inspection lots are not displayed in charts containing operation- and resource-related data (network display chart for operations, resources chart, resources fill level chart and resource utilization chart).

Product planning table

The system displays a row in the product view for an inspection lot. Since an inspection lot is not assigned to any resources, an inspection lot is not visible in the periodic resource view.

More Information

For more information about Inspection Lot Creation for SAP ERP, see SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com Quality Management (QM) Quality Inspection (QM-IM) Inspection Lot Creation (QM-IM-IL)
Integration of Inspection Lots in the SAP APO documentation