APO-MDM question

[Former Member]

Hello All,

I'm new to the APO. However, I've worked in SRM and working on MDM. Our company is in the process of implementing APO. I need to prepare white paper on how MDM can be used with APO. Can anyone explain me how is APO integrated with other systems like BI and other. How can be MDM utilized for APO ? Can the Master Material, Vendor Master and Customer Master data be provided to APO through SAP MDM ? Since we are also implementing SAP MDM, I would like to know if there is anyway that MDM can be related to APO? What does other companies do in terms of APO implmentation.

Shall appreciate the response.

Thks & Rgds,

Hemal

[Former Member]

Can you please publish the Article link

[Former Member]

Mani Suresh/Somnath: Waiting for SAP to Publish. Submitted Already. Will update with the link once published. thanks

[Former Member]

Hemal,

Can you please publish the link of the article .

Thanks,

Prabuddha

[Former Member]

Hi All,

I have the published the white paper within the org. and it has been approved. Any one needs it can write it back to me. Thanks for everyone's input.

Rgds,

Hemal

[Former Member]

Hi,

I would be interested to know your findings. Pls pass on the link where we can access your whitepaper.

Thanks

Mani Suresh

[somnath_manna]

Hemal,

Why don't you submit the whitepaper mentioned in SDN as an Article submission. Use the How to Contribute link at the top for article submission. Once the article is published (see under Articles tab) you can link it in the SCM Wiki space.

If you need any help or have any question around this feel free to contact me. My contact details are available in Business Card.

Also request you to assign suitable points to the replies done and close this thread.

Somnath

[Former Member]

Hi Hemal,

MDM basically uses SAP (R/3) data for its functionality.

In general, APO can be integrated to R/3 using Core

interface functionality.

I have not worked in MDM environment but I could able

to provide the below link (not sure whether this will be

useful for you)

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_scm70/helpdata/EN/cc/f04f3e065de946e10000000a114084/frameset.htm

Regards

R. Senthil Mareeswaran.

[Former Member]

Hello Senthil Mareeswaran,

The link is helpful indeed. Thanks much.

Warm Regards,

Hemal

[digambar_narkhede]

Hi Hemal,

SAP APO can be connected be to SAP R/3 and BI instances through standard SAP interfaces and has tight integration for the transfer of master data and transaction data .

Whereas MDM which has all consolidated and harmonized data it is connected to SAP R/3 system through XI interface and then required master data is CIFed to APO for further advanced planning and then planning results are again brought in R/3 for execution.This planning data is then extracted to SAP BI / BW for storage and analysis purpose.

Regdg question on 'Can the Master Material, Vendor Master and Customer Master data be provided to APO through SAP MDM ? - As per my understanding MDM is connected to APO via SAP R/3 and all the mentioned Master Material, Vendor Master and Customer Master data is CIFed to APO as relevant by CIF.

In other companies, normally SAP R/3 is first implemented which is a master data dominant system and then in APO only critical raw materials, long lead time Finished materials,critical resources /processes and locations are transferred (Via CIF) and planned that need global visibility for medium to long term whereas in SAP R/3 MRP planning is carried out for short term and for other R/W materials, Pkg and raw materials,consumables which are comparatively less critical and can be made available with very less efforts in planning.

please confirm if it helps..

Regards,

Digambar

[Former Member]

Thank you very much Digambar. Our company in this situation would like to be a close follower to other companies rather than be at leading edge. So, I want to know if there are other companies that sends the data from MDM->XI->APO rather than sending data from MDM->XI->ECC<->APO. Is it feasible to add all APO fields in MDM that are not avaialble in ECC and send all the relevent data directly from MDM to APO via XI without touching ECC and from APO to ECC using CIF (MDM->XI->APO->ECC). From higher level managment, they think it would be a better idea not to do anything in ECC rather do it in MDM. Is it possible to present the scenario whether or not other companies use such stretagy ?

Thks & Rgds,

Hemal

[digambar_narkhede]

Dear Hemal,

In my experience atleast I have not seen any linkage of SAP MDM and SAP APO for master data skipping ECC.But as we know ECC is not only a Master data feeding system to APO but all important transactions happen in this system.And to carry out all this transactions (data) it needs master data so we can not bypass this system(unless we some other legacy system for this) .

As you mentioned a path MDM->XI->APO->ECC and addition of fields - this could be technically possible,but to transfer transaction data (planning results ) from APO to ECC, ECC system need to be in sync with APO for all master data which would be transferred from MDM (as per path you mentioned). So as per my opinion this would not be reduction of efforts or so and don't think other companies do follow this strategy of skipping ECC system.

Regards,

Digmabar

PS:Above mentioned are my personal views based on my learning in SAP

[Former Member]

Hi Digambar,

As you mentioned that to transfer transaction data (planning results) from APO to ECC, ECC system need to be in sync with APO for all master data. This can be achieved by sending MDM Master Data to APO and ECC at the same time. This would feed data to ECC as well as APO, which will help to achieve what we want that is to eliminate manual interaction with ECC. So, the scenario would be MDM->XI-APO and MDM->XI->ECC for Master Data. This way when the planning results are sent back by APO to ECC, it would arelady have those master data that were supposed to be in it and it can further carry out the transaction based on these transactional data sent out from APO.

Please let me know incase you see any pros and cons in this structure. Do you think when the versions in any of these systems are upgraded they would be compatible with each other or impact the structure in any way ? Appreciate your help.

Thks & Rgds,

Hemal

[Former Member]

Hi,

Master data between ECC and APO are not exactly matching, you will have to do a number of mapping. In such a case there is every possibility that a particular master data might be valid in APO but not in ECC and Vice Versa. Moreover ECC is not just used to feed master data to APO but also a number of planning strategies are carried out in R/3 and then brought over to APO for further planning or detailed planning and brought back to ECC. Also, the Sales order are raised and maintained in ECC and so that data wud come in only from R/3.

Well that was the Standard flow SAP suggests. However there are n number of ways we can configure the available systems to achieve our results and also include a couple of third party tools or self developed tools as well and still make the systems work absolutely fine. If you are going with the Standard procedure, follow it from end to end. Incase you are opting for an out of the box solution, you might have to forego a number of standard options like the CIF now that you are moving master data away from ECC.

Bottom line, there is no hard and fast rule on how you want to architect your system. I have worked in projects where we have had master data coming in from multiple sources and we were still able to achieve our ends. But as I mentioned we had to forego the luxury of tight coupling provided by CIF.

Hope this helps.

Thanks

Mani Suresh

[digambar_narkhede]

HI Hemal ,

Could you please share what approach you followed for the requirement and your learnings if it is thru.MDM-->APO

Thanks in advance,

Digambar

[Former Member]

Hello Digamber,

Appreciate your follow up. Kindly excuse for the delay in replying. There was a response from Mani Suresh on this post stating that "ECC is not just used to feed master data to APO but also a number of planning strategies are carried out in R/3 and then brought over to APO for further planning or detailed planning and brought back to ECC. Also, the Sales order are raised and maintained in ECC and so that data wud come in only from R/3."

Hence, I've asked our APO team to confrim that after the Master data are sent from ECC to APO through CIF and APO send the transactional data with the planning results back to ECC does ECC carries out further transaction based on the planning results and other data sent by APO to ECC ? If yes, then what are those data ?

It seems obvious that ECC does processing of Master data before sending it to APO and after receiving the data from APO. Once this is confirmed, I would suggest the following setup:

1) MDM->XI->ECC ( Master data required for processsing when APO sends the planning result back will be sent to ECC first )

2) MDM->XI->APO ( Data that needs to be entered in APO through CIF can be sent from MDM bypassing CIF )

I also, need to prepare the white paper. Never done that before

Any input, pros or cons shall be appreciated.

Ward Regards,

Hemal

[Former Member]

Hemal,

One major thing you will have to handle with your proposed approach is exception management and consolidation between ECC and SCM with regards to Master data. Meaning, if there is an exception in APO or ECC the data must be corrected or removed and both the systems kept in sync.

This is turning out to be an interesting topic. Pls do keep up posted, I will watch this space.

Thanks

Mani Suresh