gATP: Product allocation against forecast

[Former Member]

Hi experts,

I am working on a simple demo forproduct allocation in gATP. I want to demonstrate sales order entry against product allocation. I went through all customizing steps for product allocation in IMG SCM APO. But unfortunately I do not see any quantities passed from ECC to APO in planning area. I expect to see the qunatities from sales order entry in them month derivedx from mateial availability date (MBDAT).

Did I missed something here?

Thanks for your support.

Aban

[Former Member]

Aban,

gATP: Product allocation against forecast

Product allocation is not carried out against a forecast. It is possible to configure the product check to check against forecast, but this is unrelated to allocation.

Allocation does not usually happen in the Planning area. Normally, allocation happens in the ATP Group. Under these circumstances, for it to be visible in the planning area, you must copy the data from the group into the PA from time to time. For technical reasons, it is seldom advisable to perform allocation checking in a productive system directly in the planning area. I guess it might be OK for a demo....

This setting is made in configuration at IMG > APO > GATP > Product Allocation > Maintain Product allocation Group. Select the group you have configured, Select Details. If you wish to check directly in the planning area, select "check planning area".

If you choose to use the more standard approach, leave this box unchecked. Then, to make the Allocation data visible in the planning Area, copy data from the Group into the PA using /SAPAPO/ATPQ_PAREA_W

More info in Best Practices

Allocation

http://help.sap.com/bp_scmv250/BBLibrary/Documentation/S57_BB_ConfigGuide_EN_DE.doc

DP for Allocation

http://help.sap.com/bp_scmv250/BBLibrary/Documentation/S59_BB_ConfigGuide_EN_DE.doc

Best Regards,

DB49

Edited by: Dogboy49 on Mar 8, 2011 8:05 AM

[Former Member]

Dogboy,

Thank you for the hints; I must say you are an asset for this forum I will check the BP you sent me; product allocation group looks ok. I also run TX SAPAPO/ATPQ_PAREA_W. But still am not able to see nay quantities in planning area.

Regards

Aban

[Former Member]

Aban,

Go through the steps in the BP guides. If you follow the steps religiously, you will always get a working allocation demo.

Generally, when you perform the ATP in the OLTP (such as ECC) you should be able to see the allocations, and the quantities of allocation that have already been consumed by existing ATP'd sales docs. Can you? They should also be visible in SCM in /SAPAPO/AC42. If they do not exist, then you haven't yet successfully completed an ATP for Allocation.

If allocated quantities are visible in the group, then there is a defect with copying between allocation group and planning area. Common culprit is that the CVCs are not consistent between the PA and Product Allocation group. Secondary culprit is an improperly mapped KF between the group to the PA.

Best Regards,

DB49

[Former Member]

Dogboy,

I checked TX /n/SAPAPO/AC42. It seems that allocation does not work properly (I see 0 quantities). I will go through BP docus and will keep you posted.

Best regards

Aban

[Former Member]

Aban

Make sure you copy CVC's to the allocation area first using /SAPAPO/ATPQ_PAREA_K (and validate them using /SAPAPO/ATPQ_CHKCHAR) before transferring allocation quantities to planning area using /SAPAPO/ATPQ_PAREA_R.

Rishi Menon

[Former Member]

Aban,

We were talking about Sales docs that had already been allocated.

You say you see zero in /SAPAPO/AC42. This implies that not only do the allocated sales orders not exist in the Allocation Group, but also the Allocation itself does not exist.

I suspect you have skipped some of the steps required to properly update the Group. Here is the general list:

1. Create CVCs in planning area.

2. Copy CVCs to Allocation Group

3. Create collective CVCs within allocation group.

4. Copy CVCs back into planning area

5. Maintain allocation data in planning area (planning books). Save book.

6. Copy data from PA into Group

7. Now you can perform ATPs as necesary.

When it becomes time to update allocations, (assuming no new CVCs)

8. Copy data back into PA.

9. Open book, perform maintenance. 'Incoming order quantity' (sales orders already allocated) will appear in the book, as well as allocation qtys. After maintenance, save.

10. Copy data back into Group.

Rinse. repeat.

Best Regards,

DB49

[Former Member]

Dogboy,

When I create a sales item in ECC and afterwards check the CIF cockpit (TX /SAPAPO/CC), I see a warning message, which most probably refers to allocation issue. The message is:

"Message incomplete (seriousness, area, number, or exception missing" and Message no. BL203

Any idea what is the cause and if this is the root of missing allocation transfer in APO?

Thanks

Aban

[Former Member]

Dogboy,

Now I see my allocation quantities in /n/SAPAPO/AC42 (these quantities are entered in planning book). But incoming order quantity is still missing.

Regards

Aban

[Former Member]

Aban,

If you cannot see incoming order quantities in the allocation group (forget about the PA for now, get allocation fixed first), that means you have not confirmed any sales orders that consume allocation. Go into a sales order in the OLTP and do an ATP.

You may want to think about taking a basic class in GATP. Learning this subject via forum is not optimum.

SAP Switzerland Education:

http://www.sap.com/swiss/services/education/index.epx

GATP class:

http://www.sap.com/swiss/services/education/Schulungskatalog/SAP_Kurse/groups/globaltabbedcourse.epx...

I am going to discontinue responding to this thread. I reiterate, if you execute the BP configuration step-by-step, it will work. I have done it myself several times.

Best Regards,

DB49

[Former Member]

Aban

For Incoming orders to be visible, the sales order ATP check should have been done through GATP product allocation. If you simply CIF sales orders to APO without a GATP check, then the incoming orders will not be seen.

Rishi Menon

[former_member1231391]

Hi Experts,

I do understand that this forum is not for asking basic questions and I hope mine is not one. Really appreciate if you can help me out here.

I followed the steps mentioned in this thread and have finished transferring the collective CVCs to the planning area. I am able to view the same in the planning book and maintain product allocation quantities against this collective CVC which have also been transferred to the allocation group

My discrete CVC is : ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - LOC1 - SHIPTO1

My collective CVCs are:

1. ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - LOC1 - ##########

2. ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - #### - ##########

3. ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - #### - ##########

4. ALLOCOBJ - #### - #### - ##########

and all are active in the CVC directory.

When I create a sales order with the ship to as SHIPTO1 (which is in the discrete CVC), allocation seems to work perfectly fine. However, if I create a sales order with the ship to as something other than SHIPTO1, (which will fall within the collective category), the committed quantity is '0'. AC42 also shows the same status. I am unable to view the allocation quantities in AC42 for collective.

Any help on what the missing link is, would be great...Thanks a ton in advance.

[Former Member]

Praveen,

??? You entered an allocation quantity in your planning book against a CVC ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - LOC1 - SHIPTO1. You moved this quantity to the Allocation Group. You entered a sales order in which all Characteristics contained in the Sales Order match that CVC. You are successful in confirming against allocation. So far so good. This means that Allocation is working!

Now you enter another sales order against 'not-specifically-allocated" CVC. Let us say, for instance, that the last characteristic in the sales order that you wish to see confirmed is SHIPTO2. For you to get a confirmation, you must have entered an allocation quantity against any of the following

ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - LOC1 - SHIPTO2

ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - LOC1 - ##########

ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - #### - ##########

ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - #### - ##########

ALLOCOBJ - #### - #### - ##########

You say you cannot see any allocation against ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - LOC1 - ##########. Did you enter one? If you didn't, and you didn't enter any allocations against the lower rows, then you won't get a confirmation.

Each CVC must have an allocation quantity assigned to it, or you won't get a confirmation against that particular CVC. That is the whole point of allocation.

Best Regards,

DB49

[former_member1231391]

Hi DB,

Thanks a ton for your quick response. Yes, I have maintained allocation quantity in the planning book against ALLOCOBJ-MAT1-LOC1-######### but not against the other collective combinations. I thought that all other customers, other than SHIPTO1 for which I have a discrete CVC, will fall under the above collective category and hence would be subjected to the limit determined by the allocation quantity against this specific collective CVC.

I am sure of the fact that allocation check is happening because, on displaying the product allocation details from within the availability check result screen of a sales order and looking at the characteristic combination against which the result is displayed, I can see ######## as the customer.

Another strange observation: I performed these steps.

1. Created CVC using MC62 for ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - LOC1 - SHIPTO1

2. Transferred the combination from the planning area. I am able to see a single CVC in the directory with Active status.

3. Created collective CVC. Got 3 more CVCs created as Active in the directory

ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - LOC1 - #########

ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - #### - #########

ALLOCOBJ - ##### - #### - #########

4. Transferred these CVCS to the planning area. I am able to select and maintain product allocation quantities against ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - LOC1 - ######### and ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - LOC1 - SHIPTO1.

5. Copied data from the planning area to the group.

At this juncture, I got 3 more duplicate CVCs created in the directory but in inactive status.

ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - LOC1 - #########

ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - #### - #########

ALLOCOBJ - ##### - #### - #########

Could this be the problem? I have tried changing the status to active. But no change in the result of allocation check. What is with the status Neutral? How different is it from inactive? When I transfer data/CVCs from the planning area, should I always keep the No status adjustment check box ticked?

[Former Member]

Praveen,

Take everything one step at a time.

AC42 also shows the same status. I am unable to view the allocation quantities in AC42 for collective

This is the problem. You have entered a value in for a detailed CVC in the planning book (ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - LOC1 - #########) and this value is not being transferred into the Allocation Group.

It sounds like you have an inconsistency somewhere in your transfer routine. I suggest that you follow these steps: Delete all CVCs from your Allocation group. //ATPQ_CHKCHAR. Then re-generate all of your objects //ATPQ_RESET then //ATPQ_GENER.

Close all planning books. Delete all CVCs from your planning area containing any 'collective' ('###*') values using //MC62. You will lose data, but this is a dev system. Keep all CVCs in which all values are specific (not '###*'). Best to start with one detailed CVC, such as ALLOCOBJ - MAT1 - LOC1 - SHIPTO1. Always let //ATPQ_COLLECT create your collective CVCs unless you really know what you are doing, especially if you haven't fully debugged your process. Don't be tempted in the beginning to use a shortcut and create a collective CVC yourself in //MC62. It is too easy to create a value of the wrong length.

Now start from scratch. Copy CVC to group. create collective. copy CVCs from group to Pa. Maintain all required allocation quantities in your planning book, including some collective entries. copy data from pa into group. review group. All values should match Pa.

Best Regards,

DB49,

[former_member1231391]

THanks a lot DB. Allocation works fine by tracing the steps you had mentioned.