Industry wise applicability of APO functionalities

[Former Member]

Hi Everyone,

I am looking for a source/ document, which could help me with the industry wise applicability of multiple APO functionalities for all 4 modules: GATP, DP, SNP & PPDS. For e.g. Characteristics Dependent Planning of PPDS is applicable in Automotive industry and High Tech Industry, Life cycle plannning of DP is used in Consumer Products industry etc.

Is there a comprehensive document available like that (preferably with explanation of the rationale).

Regards,

Avijit Dutta

[Former Member]

Avijit,

To add to Guru's comments, I believe it would be somewhat misleading to your audience if you attempted to somehow tie APO modules to specific Industries.  Just about any module can be used in just about any industry.

I am not aware of any single document produced by SAP that includes the data you seek.

In the old SCM 5.0 Best Practices (which is no longer available), SAP linked industries to Scenarios. Here is what they said (and this is quoted from the old SAP documents)

Consumer Products
S35 - Make-to-Stock
S40 - Order Fulfillment
S24 - Vendor-Managed Inventory
S46 - Responsive Replenishment
S51 - Available-to-Promise with Product Allocation
Chemicals
S24 - Vendor-Managed Inventory
S35 - Make-to-Stock
S37 - Make-to-Order with Component Availability Check
S38 - Make-to-Order with Capacity Check
S40 - Order Fulfillment
High Tech
S37 - Make-to-Order with Component Availability Check
S38 - Make-to-Order with Capacity Check
S52 - Contract Manufacturing Procurement and SNI
Automotive
S39 - Advanced Rep. Manufacturing
S41 - Supplier-Managed Inventory
S47 - Release Processing
S48 - Service Parts Order Fulfillment
S53 - KANBAN Replenishment
S66 - Service Part Supersession
S72 - Service Parts Backorder Processing
IM&C
S37 - Make-to-Order with Component Availability Check
S38 - Make-to-Order with Capacity Check
Logistic Service Providers
S45 - Fulfillment Visibility
S68 - Multi-Modal Shipment with Routing Guide
S70 - Multi-Drop Shipment Using Truck and Trailer 

Each of the 'S' docs included Scenario overviews, Business Process Procedures, and configuration guides, which in some cases used functionalities from multiple APO modules.  Of course, this list is now woefully obsolete, SAP now offers much richer functionalities.

If you still wish to 'link' industries with SCM modules, I suggest you go into help.sap.com and research each industry solution.

Best Regards & Good Luck,

DB49

[Former Member]

Hi Dogboy,

Thanks for getting back. You might want to read my response to Guru and see if that explains what I need.

Let me know, if you can provide some lead.

Otherwise, so many thanks for everything.

Regards,

Avijit Dutta

[Former Member]

Avijit,

Your remarks to expert Guru clearly indicate the extent of your knowledge of where SAP functionalities are actually being used in business.  Sadly, I am not competent to propose anything additional that would meet your exacting standards.

Once your presentation is complete, you should publish it on SCN, so as to benefit other users. 

Best Regards & Good luck,

DB49

[Former Member]

Avijit,

These application functions are generic and valid for any industry as the business case itself can mandate use of e.g. CDP even in a cola manufacturing company...and even a plain vanilla SNP can also be useful for an automobile company. It all depends on

- What alternatives were evaluated by the client  in 60's, 70's, 80's, 90;s and 2000's.. failing which

- What alternative were sold to the client by SAP and / or its partners as the answer to the problem.

Having said that some "industry specific funcitonalities can be activated in a standard APO... This is called enhancement within switch framework. Further, some preconfigured heurisrics within SNP and PP can be relevant for certain businesses and certain industries because the nature of business itself could be very different. e.g. a Autombile company may like to schedule using Model mix planning... which is one of the several methods available for planning.  A cola manufactuer may find another heuristic more relevant. But that doesnt mean that model mix planning cannot be relevant for cola maker. It depends on his manufacturing set up, technology on shop floor etc.. e.g. black cola followed by organe cola followed by blue cola.. can be scheduled in one production "line".

Further the applicability of these modules and the functions within the modules can differ by products a company makes, the type of customer service organization and practices and the "model" of the supply chain.

For more useful information, you can refer to the following documents in service.sap.com

-Business Maps and Engagement Tools

-Solution Realization Alternatives

-Scenarios Guides

-And other guides.

I hope I didnt confuse you.

Thanks

Guru

[Former Member]

Hi Guru,

Thanks for your response. However, I beg to differ that all APO Functionalities are applicable in all industries. While it may be possible technically but it doesn't happen in business.

When I say, 'APO functionalilies' I do not mean APO Modules, as that would be at a very high level. For e.g. CDP as one of the functionality of 'APO PPDS' will never ever apply to Banking Industry. Similarly, there are functionalities which are mostly used in a particular industry for e.g. DP BOM is heavily relevant for Industries like Consumer Products, Automobile industry where Variant configuration is there. Now, this does not mean that Automobile industry will have to necessarily have to go for DP BOM.

I find an absolute analogy of what I am looking for in SAP Help-> SAP Best Practices->Industry Packages->'Choose the particular industry'-> Business Information-> Business Blueprint->Function List.

You will find that if you choose 'Retail' you will not find anything of PP functionalities, for the very right reason. However, unfortunately I could be figure out something similar for APO functionalities.

While its true that every business is unique and SAP functions needs to be mapped to the uniqueness, yet, there exist a pattern and based on that some functionalities are heavily applicable and some are not. Let me know, if this explains my requirement little more specifically and if you could assist.

Once again, so many thanks for answering.

Regards,

Avijit Dutta

[Former Member]

Hi Avijit,

You landed on the right node viz. SAP for Industries.. to begin with.

APO is largely used by manufacturing companies.. any company that makes/assembles/value adds large number of products at number of places.and buys stuff from large number of vendors incl, intracompany to service their customers demand. When I say manufacturing, even a simple activity like labelling a product is no different from melting steel in the system

I heard of an interesting case of APO DP use by a well known bank in europe.. to forecast cash requirments at its various ATM's in various denominations on a weekly basis and then use SNP to create a cash replenishment plan. This would have been one the cleanest uses of APO 🙂 given the "model" of bank cash supply chain included treasury branches (vendors), transportation lanes (branch to ATM), means of transport (armoured vans, human), cutomers (ATM's) and other resources (e.g. security personnel). What we then get is a daily cash requirements and supply requisitions in the network of locations in SNP.

I have seen VC is use in Food Production company. Infact the sales orders were VC sales orders and APO also was based on variants. I didnt assimilate much of it but it was used for umpteen reasons. This company was not in end consumer sales business.

Most important thing here is to make a distinction between Industry, Business, Company and Enterprise. The line can be very blurred when it comes to making the business case and scope for implementation purely from a non-commerical (license sales) perspective. E.g. A Retail company like Walmart can have several "businesses" other than retailing to support the main business of retailing. Probably they might find APO EWM useful. There is also APO F&R that could be useful to create a merchandise plan which is then executed in ECC-IS retail.They may also be doing quite some value addition and production activities in their own or subcontracted warehouses e.g. packing home brands. This is clearly a regular production activity and a case for SNP and PP can be made for a company that "belongs" to Retail industry. A utility company in electricity distribution probably has little use of APO.. but still they can use DP for forecasting future power requirements. A company that also generates powers can possibly use all of APO incl. EWM to manage their scrap. Your matrix should have lot of example companies. e.g. An Automobile spares manufacturer and Automobile Assembler can have completely different use cases of APO even though both are Automotive Industry.. but could be similar in that both may find APO SPP (service parts planning) relevant.

I recall a conversation between two SAP stalwarts. They were talking of using a major part of IS-Beverage functionality in a Steel Mill to address a major requirement. The steel mill in this cases was using ECC-IS Mill.

You embarked on a useful exercise. Since no one has made such a comprehensive scientific "matrix" of possibilities before in one single document, your attempt will be highly recognized. You can create a "realization wizard" using modules, functions, IS extensions, enhancements available, ERP and its extensions, SCM, CRM, PLM, BI, Auto-ID MII... etc and see where you end up. You will eventually see that there are multiple possibilties in a given "Industry"...Size of the company is another major criteria but I believe you can assume that most of these companies who are consumers of such advisory are big, has a full time CIO and loads of cash to adopt the "latest" offerings and releases.

You would need to seriouly dwell on help.sap.com and service.sap.com for a significant period to come up with some useful document (more useful than whats already available). I would love to see one myself.

Let me know if I can be of any further help.

Thanks

Guru