Using /SAPAPO/LOCALI solution if plants sitting in same ERP system ?

[thomas_schulze2]

Hello experts,

we are underway to plan a solution where we want to make use of so-called "Cross-System Stock Transfer Using Purchase Order and Sales Order" solution. The basic idea is that we have 2 plants in 1 central ECC system sitting in different company codes and APO-SNP should plan replenishment between these 2 plants as they would belong to the same company code. The PReqs genrated in APO-SNP shall be translated back into ECC into IC PO and corresponding ALE/EDI IC Customer Sales Order to run replenishment in ERP. Reading the documentation the solution sounded promising until I found a "fresh" SAP OSS note from 10.04.2012 saying "unexpected error may happen" and therefore this solution is not applicable if plants are in same ERP system.

Can someone share if this means this won't work at all or what the "problems" could be ? Unfortunately the note does not explain this in details and it sounds to me that SAP customers have been trying to use such a scenario and now they run into problems there SAP says we support this only if the 2 plants are in 2 different ERPs.

Note 1705523 - Supported scenario using Location Alias

Regards

Thomas

[Former Member]

Thomas,

Let me say up front I have no experience in attempting to use //LOCALI but with a single ERP.  I can't find any documentation that states that this solution is applicable in such a scenario.  The note you cite specifically states that SAP will not support this scenario.

It is unclear to me why you persist with this solution.  It is rather complex, and will obviously require some custom programming to overcome the inherent problems (which are as yet unknown to you).

I will assume that you have a good reason for rejecting the standard intercompany STO solution, and must for some reason use Sales Orders and Purchase orders. 

The little voice in my uneducated head is telling me that it might be simpler to use a supportable solution, where the SD and MM data exchange take place entirely within your ERP.  The SNP Planning solution then would be very standard and straightforward.

You might want to speak to your local SD and MM experts about a possible ALE solution in ERP.  I am not an ALE expert, but I have seen such a solution in a production system.

Best Regards,

DB49

[thomas_schulze2]

Hello DB49,

we are extensively using SCM/APO-SNP for planning purposes already (company-wide) and therefore need to do the planning activities inside APO and not in ERP. Thats the reason why we are trying to understand the mentioned "problems" with the cross-company solution even using SCM/APO as the planning engine. So far the solution seems to work okay in SCM  - except the note posted recently by SAP in April this year.

It might all work well with /SAPAPO/LOCALI - I was only wondering if somebody knows what SAP is trying to tell customers with this note.

An interesting obsveration is that the official help from SAP (http://help.sap.com/erp2005_ehp_06/helpdata/en/d1/ddde87bedf11d4b579006094b9b9dd/content.htmhttp://help.sap.com/erp2005_ehp_06/helpdata/en/d1/ddde87bedf11d4b579006094b9b9dd/content.htm) is stating to support both scenarios - the one where the 2 plants are sitting in 2 different ERPs and the other one where both plants are sitting in the same ERP system.

"Process Flow...

The following scenarios will be supported:

·        Cross-System Stock Transfer (Intra-Company-Code) within an ERP System with Joint APO

·        Cross-System Stock Transfer Between Two ERP Systems with Joint APO

Regards

Thomas

[Former Member]

Thomas,

I was not talking about planning activities, I was talking about SD and MM exchange of data.  These subsystems can in turn be planned in either ERP or APO.  You have chosen APO, which I agree is a good choice.

Since you have been successfully implemented this solution, then no more discussion is required. 

To me, statements in the note are pretty clear.  I unfortunately cannot read the collective mind of SAP as to why they produced the note you mentioned.

FYI I also have read the documentation you mentioned.  The 'single ERP' system solution in these help docs is what I would call the 'Standard' solution.  I have some experience with this; aliasing is unnecessary in this solution.  SD orders are not necessary in this solution.

Best Regards,

DB49

[thomas_schulze2]

Thanks for checking the note and elaborating on the R3 side aspect of the solution. Let's wait if someone else in this forum has any specific hint or helper in regards to what type of road blocks might pop up using this /SAPAPO/LOCALI solution if 2 plants are sitting in 1 single ERP system. The chance might be low and worse case we need to test it out ... but I have some hope that this community has someone with experience to this specific case.

Regards

Thomas