Characteristics-Dependent Planning (CDP) 

Purpose

You can use characteristics-dependent planning (CDP) to plan in-house production for products using characteristics. The products are configurable in the ERP system. You can configure planned orders and production orders for these products in SAP APO. The system includes the configuration when planning and consume requirements with the matching receipts (production orders, purchase orders, purchase requisitions, batch stock).

There is an incoming sales order from the R/3 system for the product Pipe that has the value red for the characteristic Color and the value 100 for the characteristic Length. In SAP APO, you have already created a production order for this material with the same valuation. If the sales order is now planned in SAP APO, the sales order is consumed with the production order.

CDP supports both make-to-order production and make-to-stock production.

Implementation Guidelines

You have created a configuration model in the ERP system that you can use for CDP in SAP APO. The classes and characteristics must exist in SAP APO. You should transfer the classes and characteristics from the ERP system to SAP APO, in order to ensure that this data is consistent in both the ERP and SAP APO system (see Transferring Classes and Characteristics).

You can use production data structures (PDS) or product process model plans (PPMs) as the source of supply for in-house production. These structures are used to map the BOMs and routings of the ERP system in SAP APO. In the integration model, you define which structure you would like to use (see Productions Process Model Plans for CDP and Block Planning and Production Data Structures (PDS) for CDP and Block Planning).