Product Allocation Group
Product Allocation Group
Definition
A product allocation group defines a group of characteristics.
Use
You create a
product allocation group for product allocations in APO.Rule Control Example
Structure
Communication structure
The communication structure determines the hierarchy level of the sales order (header, item or schedule line), from which the checking date is taken for product allocations. Only the schedule line level is currently supported.
Check date
The check date is the date on which the product allocations check is carried out. Possible check dates include the product availability date, the goods issue date and the delivery date. The check date is used to select periods with the product allocation quantities. The check date is the start of the consumption period. The consumption period situation is determined anew for each product allocations step of the product allocations procedure and for the schedule line of the sales order.
Time buckets profile
Indicator that specifies into which periods the key figures (quantities, product allocation quantities or capacities) are copied (for example, daily, weekly, monthly, posting periods).
Characteristics
The product allocation is chosen by a characteristics combination. The values of the characteristics combination are copied from the sales order to the availability check. If the characteristics combination does not exist in the characteristics directory, the system searches for a collective product allocation using the masking indicator.
The structure /SAPAPO/KOMGO contains the largest number of allowed characteristics that can be used for the rules-based availability check and for product allocations. The field catalog includes the characteristics used.
The majority of characteristic values are copied from the calling system. Via a
user exit in the calling system, special characteristics must be determined from the sales order and the master data and added to the list.Characteristic values from customer-specific characteristics must be supplemented by a user exit.
Characteristics sequence
The item determines the characteristics sequence in the product allocation group. The sequence is used for displaying characteristics and for searching for collective product allocations.
Characteristics are displayed by item in ascending order. Characteristics without items are displayed at the end in alphabetical order. When searching for collective product allocations, the system fills the characteristics by item in the opposite order using the masking indicator.
Characteristics without items are not taken into account by the system when searching for collective product allocations. The product allocations object must be the first characteristic in the product allocation group. The product allocations object is not taken into account by the system when searching for collective product allocations.
Consumption periods
Consumption periods consist of the number of past (backward consumption period) and future (forward consumption period) periods:
Consumption Period Example
The number of periods before the product allocations check date from the sales order that can be used to calculate the current product allocation quantity. Unused product allocation quantities in these periods are cumulated before checking product allocations for the current period.
The number of periods after the product allocations check date from the sales order that can be used for the current consumption period. The schedule lines, together with the confirmed quantities, are postponed by product allocations at the latest until the specified period.
The period type (day, week, month and posting period) is defined in the settings for the product allocation group. If you have set the Without past periods indicator, product allocations from past periods (before today) are not used - even if they lie in the consumption period.
You can use the consumption periods as follows
Past periods |
Future periods |
Results |
999 |
999 |
unlimited consumption |
999 |
0 |
unlimited cumulation of unused quantities from past periods and no future product allocation quantities |
0 |
999 |
no cumulation of unused product allocation quantities from past periods, unlimited future product allocation quantities |
Consumption period functionality is not available for the old product allocations method.
The check date and consumption period are determined per product allocation group. You can use the product allocation group in different product allocations procedures. The product allocation group always has the same consumption settings.
See also:
Product Allocations During Sales Order Entry
Creating Product Allocation Groups