Replacing existing integration to APO with new solution

[Former Member]

Hi

We have a current integration solution to our APO ( SCM 4.0 )in which a legacy ERP system generates files in specific formats for master data feeds ( products, bill of materials, hierarchy etc ) . In APO, an info source has been configured to take in these files and then load these into z* infocubes. ( RSA1 setup ) . Then a std SAP program is scheduled to load the contents of the infocube into live cache.

Legacy system --> Master data Files --> InfoSource --> Custom Infocube --> SAP std program --> Live Cache

APO is being used for Demand planning and sales forecast is the output of the planning process with the foreacast being fed back to the Legacy system.

Now, the legacy system is replaced with SAP R/3 ( ECC 5.0 ) and we intend to use CIF ( core interface ) to integrate R3 with APO. I read in the SAP help documentation of CIF - that the setup of CIF - passes data back and forthe between R3 and APO in real time basis. So, with this setup,

1) Will the master data in this real time transfer go through the info cubes or go directly to the live cache of APO from R3 .

which one of these is a viable data flow using CIF

R3 -->Master data through CIF --> Infosource --> Custom Infocube -->SAP std program -->Live Cache

or

R3 -->Master data through CIF --> APO Live Cache

2) Can the data from R3 using CIF - be loaded into the custom info cube - so that the downstream process can still remain the same ? ( instead of loading directly into Live cache )

Any thoughts, pointers on the challenges that might face when replacing the existing solution with the CIF based integration are also welcome.

[Former Member]

KARTHIK MATHRUBOOTHAM,

Master data resides in APO tables. the CIF operates in the following way.

R3 -->Master data through CIF --> APO Tables.

CIF will first load data to APO tables directly so it will change the downstreams process cycle.

To keep downstreams process cycle same, you may design it this way:

R3 -->Master data extraction to flat files --> Infosource --> Custom Infocube -->SAP std program -->APO Tables.

CIF has its own benefits so best practice would be to integrate master data using CIF.

As far as use of APO DP for forecast is concerned, I guess you do not need any master data maintained in APO tables.

BR,

SB

[Former Member]

Hi

Thanks for your reply. Question - can CIF be configured to populate custom tables in APO ( from R3 ) - i.e can this setting be done in the data transfer section - setup in CIF ?

[aparna_ranganathan]

Karthik ,

Yes you can use the user exit associated with CIF and put in custom logic to populate custom tables. But that is not a simple and straightforward process.

But could you please let us know what is the business reason for loading data to custom tables ? In general when you are replacing legacy system with ECC , the most common approach that is widely used is to use CIF to pull the master data from ECC - APO. Also please be aware that master data flow is unidirectional that is it always flows from ECC -APO . Also you have to set up back ground jobs and run it the integration model creation and activation jobs on an ongoing basis .

Transaction data flow is bidirectional , it can flow from ECC - APO and vice - versa and transaction data flow is real time.

If you dont have any specific business reason for loading data to custom tables, the best approach would be to just set up the integration models and use them for pulling data .

Thanks

Saradha

[Former Member]

Actually, I found out that the current process is loading data into an APO custom infocube . From then onwards /SAPAPO/TS_PLOBS_GENERATE is being used to move data from the Infocube into planning area.

What I want to know is - what is the CIF equivalent flow to this ?

R3-->Integration model --> CIF --> APO Master tables --> ??

Can data be loaded into the planning area using CIF ?

Excuse me if I ask basic questions - but the end goal is to load data into planning area. Can this be done using CIF from R3 ?

[Former Member]

KARTHIK MATHRUBOOTHAM,

Data that goes in planning books is a transactional data. CIF can interface master & order based transactional data.

For demand planning you need time series transactional data. I guess CIF cannot transfer time series transactional data from R/3 to APO.

As far as CIF master data cycle is concerned it is:

R3-->Integration model --> CIF --> APO Master tables --> (Cycle ends)

BR,

SB

[Former Member]

Hi

Based on what you are saying in your latest answer, can CIF not be used to generate time-series data required for APO Demand Planning ?

[aparna_ranganathan]

Karthik ,

As SB has said in his last reply, CIF cannot be used to load data to planning area. CIF is a bridge that is used to transfer master data such as plants, materials, BOM's , work centers from ECC to APO and transaction data such as sales orders, po's, purchase reqs, stock, production and planned orders etc from ECC to APO. After all CIF jobs are complete , you can do forecasting using DP module , release the forecast from DP to SNP , generate supply using any of the SNP planning methods . The results of SNP will get transferred to R/3 automatically provided , the integration models are active and the publication settings are maintained correctly. After this you can do the execution in R/3 ie., conversion of PR's to PO's / Planned orders to production orders.

Since you already have a custom info cube in place , you can create the CVC's automatically by using tcode /sapapo/mc62 and by selecting option create CVC's from info provider (this is your custom info cube. This will generate the CVC's which is basically the DP master data.

Also to load the value of the key figures use tcode /sapapo/tscube and give the info cube in the input and load the key figure values to the planning area.

To make it more clear for you , the master data in APO that comes from R/3 resides in the data base tables . For example material data is stored in tables /sapapo/matloc and /sapapo/matkey. But the CVC's used in DP are basically stored in the master planning object structure. Also the DP key figures which are time series key figures , reside in the time series live cache and the SNP key figures which are order key figures , reside in the order live cache.

Thanks

Saradha

[Former Member]

Appreciate the detailed replies and patience in helping me understand the data structures in APO.

As I have mentioned before, our legacy system is being replaced with R3 and hence the data for the infocubes ( master data, sales history ) has to come through an extract file from R3 . ( Extract ABAP program to be developed in R3 for both master data and order history )

One final question :

While we are considering this - we thought we would take a look at CIF ( to load master data into the APO tables based on what I learn from your explanation ) and then is there is an option in APO to generate the CVCs in the POS from an info provider - which is a combination of data in master data tables ? i.e instead of using infocube ? Similary , can we generate key figures in DP ( in live cache ) from an info provider that looks at transaction data in APO ( that has been loaded by CIF ) ? I guess what I am asking is - in tcode mc62 - is there an option to create CVCs from any other source ? Or can infoprovider be defined to look at the master data tables in APO.

[aparna_ranganathan]

Karthik ,

An info provider is nothing but an info cube. So yes , you can generate CVC's from the info provider by using tcode /n/sapapo/mc62. Also yes there are other sources that can be used to generate CVC's ex a flat file .

Also you can use tcode /sapapo/tscube and give your info provider as input and load the key figure data to planning book .

Thanks

Saradha

[Former Member]

So, based on what you are saying - using t.code MC62 - an infocube essentially HAS to be defined - from the master data table contents ( which is updated by CIF ) and then CVC's generated from the infocube ( infoprovider ) . There is no way to generated CVCs from the APO master data table contents ?