Is VMI in SCM-APO able to Handle High Volume of Data (as in Retail Stores)

[Former Member]

Hi,

I have used VMI functionality of SCM-APO in Past in many Implementations ... but the Experinece being in CPG Industry was largely for data volume of the kind of 500-1000 Products and maybe 50 Shipping DC & 300 VMI Customer Locations.

The Question I have is whether if ANYONE has any Idea of if VMI has been Implemented in SAP SCM-APO with a Large Volume of Products and Locations e.g. : In Typical Retail Stores Number of Products would be 1.2 to 2.6 Million Products and Number of Retail Stores would be 500 to 3800 - as in Walmart, Costco, Best-Buy in US) .. so Product-Location combinations are very very high. Actually I don't think most Retail Companies need VMI as the Stores sell directly to the Consumer and VMI is needed only when you sell to Distributors. The Need is for a MEDIA Industry of a Company that can make DVDs and Sell to Many Retail Stores and this Company wants to do VMI. Since the Number of Movies can be very large number of Products,

Hence we wanted to know if this has been done. I only need a "Yes" or "No" and the Name of such a Customer if SAP SCM-APO is Capable of Handling such a Large Data Volume (Interfaced using CIF with ECC or R3) for the VMI Process.

Regards,

Ambrish Mathur

[Former Member]

We have already approached SAP ... the Problem is we are not yet Engaged with the Customer and so Customer is asking us if SAP can do this ... before they go in the Direction of SAP SCM-APO. SAP is known to not help unless it is a Paid Assignment ... but anyway we've thrown SAP AG the Question thru our Alliance with no answer for a week now.

We know SCM-APO can handle such High Volume in Demand Planning (DP) Projects ... but not sure of SNP though (of which VMI is a part).

Can anyone out there with SCM-APO VMI Implementation Experience confirm if VMI can be done in APO for such a High Volume of Products and Locations ? (3-5 million Products and 3500-5000 Store VMI Ship-To Customer Store Locations for different Retails). The verification is needed for a Media Company who sells DVDs to Retail Stores for Consumers and want to Implement VMI.

If for confidentiality reasons, you cannot share the Customer where VMI is Live for so many Products and Store Locations, I am OK ... but I need to know at least a 'Yes' or 'No' if you've seen this in your own Experience on a Project.

I know Sizing the Hardware should be sufficient ... but I am aware of several Problems with even 1000 Products and 300-400 VMI Customer Store Locations ... and they were related largely to the Core Interface - CIF and Queues in my Experience so did not seem to be only Hardware / Memory Related.

Any help would be much appreciated and we can touch base 'offline'.

I am afraid if no clear answer comes thru ... the Customer is likely to not choose SAP SCM-APO and go with some other Product out there like Teradata or Vision ... and I don't want to see that happen to SAP SCM-APO until I am 90% sure of SCM-APO being inacapable of handling such a Large Volume of Products.

Thanks,

Ambrish Mathur

[Former Member]

Ambrish,

I will say up front that I have never done such an implementation.

The implementation to which I refer was DP, PPDS (part of SNP), and GATP. CIF was never a problem. Initial data loads will obviously take a long time for large datasets, but I have never seen an APO limitation that couldn't be solved with hardware. Our biggest interface problems had to do with non-CIF interfaces.

If there ever would be an ongoing CIF volume problem, it would not be with the number of sites or products, but with the number of transactions. If the APO servers (livecache and app) are in the same room as the ERP servers, and your infrastructure people can give you good bandwidth between all the boxes, CIF should not be a problem at all. SAP can give you lots of recommendations about sizing. Start with the Quicksizer.

Your question is a bit strange. You are the first consultant I have ever dealt with who worried that an implementation might not be do-able. Most of them just say "Of course we can do it. Write the check". When all is said and done, ANYTHING can be done if you throw enough resources and money at it. SAP, and any other software product, will always have some kind of problem, that is why they hire you.

Rgds,

DB49

[Former Member]

Hi Ambrish Mathur,

I also think SAP is the one that could help you.

I don't know where you get that SAP does not help before you by the system; SAP has to answer this kind of question to sales their software...

Again the customer (with your help) should contact SAP, which should give you an answer...

I personnally don't have it... sorry

Thanks and Regards

Julien

[Former Member]

Ambrish,

I hope you get the detailed answers you are seeking. I for one have signed non-disclosure agreements that would not allow me to divulge the type of information you request. I would imagine that others in this forum could have the same limitations.

I suggest you and your client approach your SAP account manager. I have found that they are usually willing to find an SAP customer who will discuss his implementation info with you.

To speak in general terms, I have worked on a (non-VMI) APO solution with over a million material/plant combinations, and 10s of thousands of transactions per day between ERP and APO. There was no inherent problem with the software that SAP (the company) couldn't solve for us. I have never heard anyone mention an upper limit for the size of an APO implementation that could not be addressed with hardware.

Rgds,

DB49

[Former Member]

Yes Thanks I've already seen this in Online help (I've implemented VMI many times in past).

The example I have given you is just an Example. The Question is more on the Capability of SCM-APO to handle such a Large volume for Key Customers of MEDIA who will have 30,000+ DVD Movies (each with a Separate Material Number) and spread across 1000-3000 Retail Stores (e.g. : Best -Buy or Walmart Stores) who are customers

The Question is more in Relation to the 'Scalability' to handle such High Volume of Transactions and whether SCM-APO is physically capable of doing Planning for such a Large Volume of Products. Our Media Customer has expressed no success with such Projects. Ideally anything should be possible with Proper Hardware Sizing and enough Support Staff to manage the Support of the Core Interface (CIF) Monitoring needed.

However we need a Real-Life example where such a thing has been done to Validate SCM-APO's capability to handle such a Large amount of Product-Locations for VMI Planning.

Regards,

Ambrish

[Former Member]

Ambrish,

I have not implemented VMI many times. But one of my past VMI scenario was with almost 2000 customers. But yes, no of products was less (hardly 1000).

As yo said " Ideally anything should be possible with Proper Hardware Sizing ..." so what I am trying to say, no of products should have less impact on this case,, coz' most of the products are going to be common for most of the customers.

"However we need a Real-Life example where such a thing has been done to Validate SCM-APO's capability to handle such a Large amount of Product-Locations for VMI Planning."

Just think about 'CATFORD' the first ever SPP implementation, And go for your scenario ( the first 'large VMI implementation')..... All the best.

Thanks,

Satyajit

[Former Member]

Hi Ambrish,

SAP APO supports to handle Large handle of data volume from VMI prospective. BUT IS-Retail is menat for same and effictively manages the large volume of data.

VMI menat for Key customers not for all. if you are doing VMI for large customer/vendor base(Product location large base is not a constraint) it is not per standard SAP APO practice.----

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You have to implement VMI in following scenarios:

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· If key customers constitute a high percentage of the vendoru2019s sales figures. This would apply to producers of consumer goods who supply large retailers for instance.

2.----

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· If the products are standardized and requested repeatedly.

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· If product growth is not excessive, meaning that the requirement patterns are stable and you can assume that requirements will not occur spontaneously. You can use a collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR) scenario to map sporadic requirements (caused by promotions for instance) and integrate these in VMI.

4.----

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· If the transaction costs for order processing and production planning are high.

Please read the 3rd point carefully. So as per case discussed by you VMI is not applicable .

Regards,

Santosh Kumar Mishra