Interactive Supply Network Planning Desktop 

Definition

The interactive planning desktop in Supply Network Planning (SNP) is where you display both aggregated and detailed planning information, and where you make manual modifications to your data. You can also execute SNP planning runs (such as optimization-based or heuristic-based planning) directly from this screen.

Structure

The interactive planning desktop has two major components: The selector and the workspace.

The Selector

The selector is your primary tool for locating, sorting, and organizing information. You find the selector on the left of the screen. To show/hide the selection area, in the application toolbar, choose  Switch Selector On/Off. The selection area comprises the following areas:

●     InfoObjects (with the shuffler)

●     Selection Profile

●     Data Views

●     Components

InfoObjects

The InfoObjects area shows you all of the characteristic values for which data can be planned and viewed. Examples of InfoObjects in Supply Network Planning are specific products, locations, resources, production process models (PPMs), or transportation lanes. You populate the InfoObjects area by opening the shuffler (see below) and making a selection, or by choosing an existing selection from the selection profile.

The InfoObjects area has a toolbar with icons representing different functions:

Icon	Function
	Toggle between the InfoObjects area (where the selection profile is found), the data views area, the macros area, and the overview. You can resize the areas by dragging their borders.
	Open the shuffler. You make and save new selections in the shuffler (see below).
	Display dependent objects, such as all locations for a product.
	Select all the characteristic values in the InfoObjects area.
	Deselect all the characteristic values in the InfoObjects area.
	Return to the previous selection.
	Redo the last selection.
	Determine the format in which you want the characteristic values in the InfoObjects area to be displayed.
	Show the definition of the current selection.

If you right-click one of the selected InfoObjects, you will see further options, such as set or delete processing indicator. You can use the processing indicator to select location products that you have already processed. You could then select location products in the shuffler by processing indicators, for instance. The indicator is reset during the next SNP run.

The Shuffler

The shuffler is the window in which you select the InfoObjects you want to plan. You select the types of information fulfilling specific conditions from dropdown boxes in the sort statements (Show...; that fulfill the following conditions...). For example, you might want to show all location products in version XYZ for a particular SNP planner. In the shuffler, you choose:

Show...	APO location products
that fulfill the following conditions...
APO – planning version	XYZ
APO SNP Planner	Paul Smith

In the shuffler, you can save selections that you intend to use frequently and load existing selections. To open the shuffler, in the InfoObject area toolbar, choose  Selection Window.

Selection Profile

The selection profile shows selection IDs used by the current planner. The supply chain planner uses the selection profile to quickly access frequently used selections. To add selection IDs to the selection profile, choose Selection Profile. See also: Selection Management.

Data Views

The data views area is where the planner selects planning books and data views. If you access interactive Supply Network Planning by selecting: Supply Network Planning → Planning → Interactive Supply Network Planning (All Books) from the SAP Easy Access screen, all planning books that are available for selection are listed in the data views area. However, SAP also provides standard planning books and data views for the different types of planning in Supply Network Planning. You can choose the following ones directly from the SAP Easy Access screen:

●     Interactive Supply Network Planning

In interactive Supply Network Planning (from the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Supply Network Planning → Planning → Interactive Supply Network Planning), you see the standard planning book 9ASNP94 with the views SNP94(1) - SNP Plan and SNP94(2) - Capacity Check (capacity view) in the data views area. The planning book SNP94 provides the standard functionality to execute interactive Supply Network Planning.

●     Sales & Operations Planning (SOP)

In Sales & Operations Planning (from the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Supply Network Planning → Planning → Sales & Operations Planning (SOP)), you see the standard planning book 9ASOP with the views SOP(1) – SOP Location Products, SOP(2) – Lanes, SOP(3) – SOP PPM, and SOP(4) – SOP Resource in the data views area. You use this planning book to run SNP planning method, supply and demand propagation.

●     Distribution Resource Planning (DRP)

In Distribution Resource Planning (from the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Supply Network Planning → Planning → Distribution Resource Planning (DRP)), you see the standard planning book 9ADRP with the views DRP1 - DRP in the data views area. This interface is practically identical with interactive Supply Network Planning, however here you can also view the distribution receipts and distribution issues.

●     Transport Load Builder (TLB)

In the standard planning book 9ASNP94, the Transport Load Builder (from the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Supply Network Planning → Planning →Transport Load Builder (TLB), or  Transport Load Builder on the Interactive Supply Network Planning screen) provides the standard interactive Transport Load Builder planning functionality.

●     Interactive VMI

In interactive VMI (from the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Supply Network Planning → Planning → VMI → Interactive VMI), you see the standard planning book 9AVMI with the view 9AVMI(1) - VMI in the data views area. In addition to the typical SNP data that you can display, you also can display the values for your VMI receipts and demands (planned, confirmed, and TLB-confirmed).

●     Interactive Scheduling Agreements

Interactive Scheduling Agreements (from the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Supply Network Planning → Planning → Scheduling Agreements (Procurement) → Interactive Scheduling Agreements), has planning book 9ASA and view SA(1). You use this planning book to display and change all data that is relevant for scheduling agreement processing.

The data views area has a toolbar with icons representing different functions.

Icon	Function
	Toggle between the InfoObjects area (where the selection profile is found), the data views area, the macros area, and the overview. You can resize the areas by dragging their borders.
	Set a filter on the data views that are shown in this area
	Display only the data views you created yourself
	Remove filter in order to reshow all the planning books and data views
	Make settings for data view, such as planning buckets profile and planning start
	Specify a planning version for key figures for which you have defined a variable planning version as a key figure attribute in the planning book settings If you work with different planning versions, you can use this to compare the planning results.
	Close data views area

Components

The components area shows macros that are active both for all data views in this planning book and for this data view. For each of these categories you see:

●     Directly executable macros

You can execute these macros by double clicking. Direct execution is not possible for the standard macros (that is, for start, default, level change, or exit macros).

●     Start macros

●     Default macros

●     Level change macros

●     Exit macros

For more information about macros, see Advanced Macros.

Toggling Between Selections and Data Views

You can toggle between different selections and data views without saving. If you do this, the data is saved temporarily and the individual selections are locked for other users. If you choose  Refresh, the system resets the data to its last active save status and removes the lock from the selection.

Note that this only applies if you are working with SNP planning areas.

The Workspace

The workspace is the main data display and planning area. It is on the right of the screen and consists of one or more tables (depending on the planning book and data view) and a graphic. By default, only the tables are shown.

Toolbar

The workspace has a toolbar with icons representing different functions, some of which are supported by Supply Network Planning and Demand Planning (DP):

Icon	Function
	Populate the table and/or graphic with data for the current selection
	Switch to design mode
	Toggle between the table and the graphic
	Save graphical settings
	Display dependent objects, such as all the PPMs for a resource (in the capacity view)
	Apply a standard mathematical operator or a self-defined distribution function to a value to distribute the value across a row
	Save the data currently visible in the table to an Excel file. The system prompts you to enter the file name and path.
	Send the data currently visible in the table to another user
	Show/hide/refresh alerts
	Open the Alert Monitor and Notes Management
	Maintain/show a note relating to a point in the graphic
	Show one key figure, multiple key figures, or all key figures
	Execute macros

Others are specifically for Supply Network Planning:

 

Icon	Function
Location	Run location heuristics
Network	Run network heuristics
Multi-level	Run multilevel heuristics
Optimizer	Run the optimizer
Deployment	Run deployment
Deployment settings	Make (or alter) your deployment settings

Drilldown Function

You use  Header On/Off to access the drilldown function for the tables of the workspace. For more information, see Using the Header in Interactive Planning.

If you navigate using the drill down function or the  Display Dependent Objects function, you can save the navigation path for future work. Right click Save Navigation Path in the top left cell of the planning table. You can also temporarily deactivate navigation path, or delete it again.

Detail View

If you right-click on a cell in the table and select Display Details (or call up the detail view with a double click), an extra table is displayed showing the order details for the selected cell. This table shows the individual orders and includes information about quantity, source of supply, and the order availability or demand date. You can also set the fixing indicator in this table (see Order Fixing), change the quantity, date, and time of orders, and assign alternative sources of supply to orders. Note that an order may move to a different period if you change the date and time. This may also mean that the order disappears from the current (cell-based) detail view.

The standard display of fields changes according to the type of order, that is, depending on whether it is a planned order, a stock transfer, or a planned independent requirement. You can design the layout of the display yourself and show or hide specific fields. The detail view also has sorting, filtering and search options for your orders.

Personalized Settings

If you choose  Maintain User Settings from the menu bar, you can personalize your settings for the interactive planning desktop. You can define settings, such as showing and hiding specific key figures, for certain planning books, data views, and selections. For more information, see the relevant help documentation (choose  Information).

If you want to personalize settings, from the SAP Easy Access screen, choose User Settings for Interactive Planning.