Safety Stock as a demand element

[Former Member]

Hi,

We want to prioritize safety stock as a demand element during the CTM run just like we do for sales orders and forecast. Currently depending on the part, the safety stock methods are different, for some we are keeping constant safety stock or for some we keep Days of Supply.

We want a generic solution which could address these problems.

Thanks

Harsha

[abhay_kapase · Accepted solution]

Hi Harsha,

There are couple of options which I can think of. Evaluate yourself if it fits your scenario.

First of all, with CTM there are two ways of planning for safety stock, depending on your setting in /SAPAPO/MVM.

There are two options in MVM in PP/DS section for taking safety stock into account.

1) If your setting is 3 Consider Safety Stock Requirements in SAP liveCache, you will not be able to use "Build safety stock" option in the CTM profile. It is simply not supported for the right reasons.

If you are working with this option, you make have to create safety stock requirements in live cache in order for CTM to consider safety stock requirements. That can be achieved by PPDS heuristics (SAP_PP_018).

It will create safty stock requirements with category SR and you can prioritize your safety stock requirement based on ATP category on CTM demand prioritization.

(You may not be able to use MB safety stock method for this)

2) If you have option 2 Consider Virtual Safety Stock Elements in MVM, you can use "Build safety stock" option in CTM profile. in this case, you can utilize option in Supply tab (Do not plan Demands and consider supply shortage) to prioritize your safety stock requirement.
There is single phase and double phase planning method to plan for safety stock requirement based on the settings in Supply tab. you can choose one of this based on your scenarion.

Thanks,

Abhay

[Former Member]

Thanks everyone for your answers. We will evaluate the PPDS heuristics and the custom key figure approach for safety stock order and then decide which way to go forward with.

[schandna]

You can try the transaction /SAPAPO/AC08 to create the safety stock requirements as an safety stock order category and prioritize it as you want to

[thamizhchelvan_gunasekara]

Hi Harsha,

You may try custom key figures for safety days,safety stock and macro to calculate your final safety stock considering your business logic. Copy the final safety stock as a order series with custom ATP category and do prioritization. If you do not want to use PPDS heuristics.

BR

Thamizh

[Former Member]

Hi All,

Thanks for your responses. We want to have Safety stock as a separate demand just like sales order and forecast. We have different SS methods (Static, Days of Supply, Time phased) for different parts but for all of them we want to create safety stock order so that it can be easily identified in product view and planning book.

We have DP and SNP implemented and our business users are very conservative and skeptical so running PPDS heuristic is something which they may not accept easily. Also looks like there are limitations in using the PPDS heuristic with respect to some safety stock methods.

Do we need a custom program which can generate safety stock orders based on the safety stock values maintained in the planning book or material master ?

[Former Member]

Harsha,

and our business users are very conservative and skeptical so running PPDS heuristic is something which they may not accept easily

Do we need a custom program which can generate safety stock orders based on the safety stock values maintained in the planning book or material master ?

By your final question, you are implying that your users would be less skeptical of a custom program than they would be of a 'SAP-standard' heuristic (which has already been used in production by hundreds of SAP customers).

Your users are different from any that I have ever seen.....

Best Regards,

DB49

[Former Member]

Harsha

I understand why your users may be skeptical of running a PP/DS heuristic. This is because users (and some consultants) tend to think of APO modules as water-tight compartments. Thats how projects are scoped, funded and implemented.

However, thats not how SAP builds their systems. As an example, if your users use /SAPAPO/RRP3 they are, technically speaking, using a PP/DS transaction. And I've not seen a APO project where this transaction is not used no matter what modules are in scope.

My suggestion is to go ahead and use the PPDS heuristic if it meets your business requirements. This does not mean that you are suddenly implementing the Production Planning/ Detailed Scheduling process - all it means is that you are using an SAP defined method to generate some data in livecache based on master data.

Rishi Menon

[Former Member]

Hi DB49,

I knew this would be coming at me. I am not implying that the users will be less skeptical of a custom program as compared to a SAP standard PPDS heuristic.

What I meant was isn't there any other way within SNP itself which we can use to meet our requirements ? I don't know anything about PPDS heuristics and some of the people in this discussion have mentioned that it doesn't support all the safety stock methods.

For us "Time phased safety stock (MB)" is the most important method so if PPDS heuristics doesn't support it then it won't be useful to us. But if it supports that then I will have a detailed look at it and see if I can get buy in from the users.

[Former Member]

Hi,

Abhay has provided the feasible options very well. Just to add, based on our implementation for a dairy major CTM planning only considers the safety supply when you have specified a safety stock methhod in the location product master (safety supply method). The SS method determines how CTM planning determines the value for the safety supply:

• When you have specified SS methods SB or SM, CTM planning uses the value from the location product master.
• When you have specified SS methods MB, MM, AS, AT, BS or BT, CTM planning uses the values that you have specified in interactive planning of Supply Network Planning (SNP) in the SNP key figure for the safety supply.
  You have already made the SNP key figure available for the safety supply in CTM Customizing.
• If you have specified a different SS method, CTM planning does not consider the value for safety supply.

Do note that CTM planning ignores the set indicator if you have specified SS method SB or SM and selected in the current planning version under PP/DS: Consider Safety Stock, the option Consider Safety Stock in liveCache. The system then builds up safety supply demands in the liveCache. CTM planning handles these safety supply demands in the demand prioritization as it does all other demands.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Vinod

[thamizhchelvan_gunasekara]

Hi Harsha,

Safety stock prioritization in CTM can be done only when you create the safety stock as the demand element in live cache. Not all the methods are supported for creating safety stock in live cache you can use only the basic method SB,SM and SZ.

I hope you do not want to maintain both safety days and stock try maximum of these.

BR

Thamizh

[Former Member]

Hi Harsha,

Do you want to create a "Safety Stock order" based on the safety stock values maintained for a particular safety stock method ?

Regards,

Mitesh

[former_member187488]

Hi Harsha,
In CTM profile, Supplies tab, you have the option to build up safety stock by CTM, with good explanation in the F1 help. Should this meet your requirement?
BR, Ada