Issue with Product Allocation Scenario

somnath_manna · ‎05-24-2007

I am Trying out Product Allocation in APO (SCM 5.0).

Relevant setup in SPRO - Product Allocation Object, Group, Procedure, Sequence etc., Planning Object Structure, Planning Area, CVC generation, Connection between Planning Area and Product Allocation object in GATP, assignment in Location Product Master (at Customer Location) Product Allocation Procedure, Check mode, ATP Group has been done in APO.

After entering data in appropriate keyfigures (Allocated Qty) it shows up under GATP>> Reporting >> Product Allocations >> Time Series per CVC

Have carried out ATP Simulation to check that for a given product at Customer the Product Allocation against a Required Quantity takes place correctly.

Now trying to carry out the Product Allocation check by creating a Sales Order in ECC. In that case during the material availability check screen in APO, the product allocation does not show up.

I believe it is related to master data settings for the product in ECC. My questions are as follows:

1. In ECC the product exists at the manufacturing plant only (and not at customer as in APO). There in MRP3 tab Strategy Group is maintained. Is this along with Availability Check field responsible for determining the check instruction (combination of check mode + business event) in APO for the Product Allocation check.

2. If so (which I guess it is) I can see the check instruction picked up in APO while creation of sales order in ECC is different from the check instruction I ran simulation with. How can I ensure the same check instruction is chosen (in which case I believe the availability check result will be same as the ATP Simulation carried out in APO).

3. In APO I ran simulation for the product at customer location (and maintained the required ATP settings in the product master). In case of Sales Order creation in ECC how does system pick up the Check Mode and Business Event for the product (having Sold-to as customer and Supply Plant as the plant code) and use it in APO.

4. Any other setting/configuration that is missed causing this behaviour.

I guess some of the questions is a bit hazy but I would appreciate if someone can outline the Product Allocation Scenario. I am trying out based on Building Block S59 Demand Planning for Product Allocation but of course it does not detail out enough.

Disclaimer: My knowledge of GATP is almost nil but am exploring.

Thanks,

Somnath

Former Member · ‎05-29-2007

Hi Somnath,

I will try to post all the matter in the WIKI page sometime later as I am busy with my project

Let me answer your questions:

Answer 1:

In general in R3 material master, you can assign any strategy group depending on your business.

My suggestion for 041 check mode on APO is and only in 2 cases

(1) When you have a blank on APO check mode because of " No strategy group on R3 Material Master".

(2) SD transaction always determines Check Mode 041

Also please remember that a check mode in APO can be of any value as long as the CHECK INSTRUCTIONS for this CHECK MODE+ BUsiness Event is defined properly- Meaning that the first step is defined as Product Allocation and the second step is defined as Product Availability****

This CHECK MODE+ BUSINESS EVENT in APO only defines what kind of checks have to be done in APO- Allocation, Availability, RBATP, Multi ATP,etc .

It is only in the PRODUCT AVAILABILITY that the true availability checking is done similar to R3 by means of the setting- AVailability Checking Group on R3 material master+ BUSiness Event. **
CHECK MODE IN APO is the REQUIREMENTS CLASS in R3**

You need not worry If 050 check mode is determined on your APO product master as during the sales order, you will see that the check instruction 041 is determined.

Now let me tell you why you are getting 050 check mode when you assign Strategy Group 041.

In R3, you will see that the SPRO>Production>Production Planning>Demand Management>Planned Ind Requirements>Plannning Strategy>Define STrategy Group.

In your system, 041 strategy group is assigned a 0XX planning strategy.

and Now when you go into SPRO>Production>Production Planning>Demand Management>Planned Ind Requirements>Plannning Strategy>Define STrategy.

You will see that the 0XX planning strategy has a requirements class of 050.

Answer 2: Yes it is mandatory, you will see for yourself that the scheduling dates on the schedule line in R3 make no sense

The scheduling dates in R3 on the line item schedule line are MATERIAL AVILABILITY DATE, LOADING DATE, GOODS ISSUE DATE, DELIVERY DATE

For best results, compare the dates with the following

(a) Sales Order Line item whose availability check is done in R3

Vs

(b) Sales Order Line item whose availability checking is done in APO

Answer 3: No you dont need to have the stock at Supplying location for Product Allocation.

However you need to have allocation in the DP- Allocation Planning Book in the weekly( or whichever period you have defined) buckets.*

When you dont have stock, what will happen is that the MATERIAL AVAILABILITY DATE will be shown at TODAYS DATE+ Lead time on R3 material master or Checking Horizon on APO product master.

Answer 4: Perfectly Alright. The CVC level which I have given was just an example.

Just remember that allocation can be done on any CHARACTERISTIC unlike R3-Allocation where in you have predefined characteristics.*

Answer 5: Yes, we dont need any APO Product Master at the Customer Location.

The product master in APO must be present at the SUpplying Location.

You need to define the correct CVCs

Hope this helps.

In case of further questions, please get back to me

Regards

Kumar Ayyagari

Former Member · ‎05-24-2007

Hi Somnath,

It will be a pleasure to help you out.

Firstly I will list out all the steps which I can think of:

(1) R3-You have moved all the ATP customizing from R3 to APO via ATP integration model.

(2) APO- goto SPRO>APO>GATP>General Settings>Maintain Check Instructions

Here go to Check Mode- 041 and Business Event- A and maintain the following settings manually in development and migrate it all the way to Production

I am assuming here that you want to first do an allocation check and then availability check**

Product Allocation: Change from NO CHECK to First Check

Product Check: Change from First Check to Second Check

This check mode and business event is the most common one which is triggered while placing a sales order

See the following blog for DETERMINATION OF CHECK MODE

http://solution-timezone-issue.blogspot.com/

There might be other check modes( 030, 050) which might also require this change. However you can judge that while placing a sales order and when you go to the availability screen, You have the tab - SCOPE OF CHECK CONTROL where you can see the Check Mode + Business Event

Following guidelines can be used to modify Check Instrctions after Customizing Import from R/3 –

1. Business Event A* is Sales Order Entry (The main scope of GATP) so define check instructions for all check modes since it is not possible to identify the requirement class that may come over on an order. For Business Event A* if availability check was being done in R3, then define check instructions with Allocation as first step, then Availability check as second step. Else if no availablity check in R3 then define check instructions with no availability and no allocation checks.

2. Business Event B* is normally for deliveries but is also required for Rush Sales Orders. An R/3 configuration showed that 041 is the only requirement class that will come across for this business event. Hence defined only for 041 check mode. For Business Event B* if availability check was being done in R3, then define check instructions with Allocation as first step, then Availability check as second step. Else if no availablity check in R3 then define check instructions with no availability and no allocation checks.

3. Business Event 03 required for Inventory Transaction availability check such as MB1C. For such transactions, the APO Product Master Check Mode is used. Hence check instructions for all Check Modes are maintained. For Business Event 03 if availability check was being done in R3, then define check instructions with Availability check as first step. Else if no availablity check in R3 then define check instructions with no availability checks.

******

(3) Maintain the Product Alllocation Procedure:

a- Create a Product Alloc Object -- Example: PAO-001

In this step, we define the product allocations objects - product allocations are saved per object for a characteristics combination in the product allocation group.

Product Allocation Procedures can be used to maintain different Product Allocation Objects for different time validity periods.

Generally Product Allocation Objects are used to model the different ‘reasons’ for the need for allocation – material shortage, capacity constraint, etc.

b- Product Alloc Group--PAO-1234

A product allocation group defines a group of characteristics against which allocation checking is done.

Creating a Product Allocation Group creates a characteristics directory in the APO database and an area in Live Cache where the key figures are maintained.

If ‘Check Planning Area’ is set to No then allocation and incoming order quantitiy data can be seen in table /SAPAPO/QTTAB. If the ‘Check Planning Area’ is set to Yes then no data is stored in this table and the allocation check is done directly against the data in the Planning area.

Detials of allocationconsumption by sales orders are maintained in table /SAPAPO/QTVB in APO and in QTVB in R/3.

If ‘Check Planning Area’ is set to ‘Yes’ and if there are users are in the change mode in the Planning Book, Sales Order Entry can get locked out.

If ‘Check Planning Area’ is initially set to yes and then deactivated later you will no longer see data in /SAPAPO/AC42.

Settings:

Check Planning Area – Yes. The reason being that users are not expected to lock planning books as they would be defaulted into the display mode (through a development object). Also most allocation uploads will be through batch jobs. Setting it to ‘Yes’ reduces one step of moving data between the planning area and the allocation group.

Check Date - Material Availability Date. Consumption of allocation quantity and checking of available allocation quantities is determined by the check date.

Time Bucket Profile – Week

Characteristics – Product Allocation Object (1), Product (2), Plant(3), Customer(4)

Consumption Period – Bwd Consumption 1

Meaning that first the order will consume from current week allocation and then go 1 week backward to consume.

c- Product Allocation Procedure --- PAO-4567

Step Sequence:

Step -

Step Name- -

Prod Alloc Group -

Wild card

1 First Step PAO-1234 9

Alloc Procudure - PAO-4567

Prod Alloc Step -1

Control

Valid from -

Valid to---- -

Object -

Active -

Factor

12/31/2037 PAO-001 Check the Box 1

d- Maintain Connection to Planning Area (APO)

In this step, we maintain the assignment of the planning area to the product allocation group. We must make this assignment because characteristics of the product allocation group have different names from the info objects of the planning area.

All characteristics of a product allocation group must be assigned to an info object. But multiple info objects can be assigned to one info object. It is not always necessary to assign every info object to a characteristic. It is possible for aggregation and disaggregation (depending on the direction of transfer) to take place with info objects that are not assigned.

Product Alloc Group -

Planning Area -

Version -

Time Buckets

PAO-1234 xxxxx 000 W

Characteristic

KONOB - Prod Alloc Obj

MATNR --- Material

WERK -

Plant

XXXXX---- Customer

Key Figures

Order Qty - AMENGE

Alloc Qty - KCQTY

e- Check the Product Alloc Settings

This is only a check- Everything should be green and OK .

(4) You have planned the Characteristic Combination on which you want to do ALLOCATION.

Create a new POS- Which has your chracateristics as PRODUCT, PLANT,CUSTOMER, Product Alloc Object ( 9AKONOB)

Planning Area,- Key figures required are Alloc Qty, Order Qty( Sales Order Qty)

PLannig Book, Data View which has the following characteristics- Product, PLant

Assuming you are allocating at the following CVC level- Product, PLant,Customer

Step 1:

/n/sapapo/MC62-Create Time Series- Basicallly your CVCs -

Example: Product 1234, Plant INDIA, CUstomer WALKART

Step 2:

Move Characteristic Values Combination to Allocation Group (APO)

/SAPAPO/ATPQ_PAREA_K

INput :

Planning Area: xxxx

Prod Alloc Group: PAO-1234

(5) In the INtegration MOdel - Activate the ATP CHECK Integration model for the Plant and material

THis is the KEY which decides whether availability should be done in R3 or APO

Material Active in the integration model -- Means Availability( GLOBAL AVAILABILITY: Prod Alloc+Prod Availability) is done in APO

Material not active in the integration model --- Means Availability Check is done in R3

(6) APO MASTER DATA SETTINGS:

Material Master: On the ATP Tab, Assign Loc Dep Procedure ( Prod Alloc Procedure)

Location Master: Calendar Tab> Create a shipping time stream calendar

******************************************************

Additional Info: Please contact your R3-SD people as this involves a lot of understanding and I have not listed all the details here.

This config shown here is a very basic one which not even 25% of the companies might be using.

If you have any questions on this part- please see my business card and email me**

(7) SCHEDULING: This is a major task which determines the route and transit times for calculating the

Material Availability date

Goods Issue Date

Delivery Date

on the sales order line item- schedule line

I dont know whether you need info on this**There are many ways of doing this

a- Configurable Scheduling

b- COndition records

c- User Exit

You can find documentation in SPRO or else let me know*

For simplicity- Let me take the easiest to create and difficult to maintain master data- Condition Records

Step1 --Define Field Catalog for Condition Table (APO)

/SAPCND/AU01

Require Plant and Route defined here in the field catalog

Step 2- Define Condition Table for Scheduling (APO)

/SAPCND/AU03

Create a new table- 901

901 - Pick Time based on Route with key as Route

902- Route Time based on route

Step 3- Maintain Access for Scheduling (APO)

/SAPCND/AU07

Take the important ones- PICK and TRAN

I am assuming again as I dont know what kind of Scheduling is maintained on R3 Side. Mostly 80% companies have only two lead times- Pick and Route Transit time.**

PICK- Select pick and click on accesses > Acno-10-- Table-901

>> Then save it > and go in again

Select PICK and click on Fields> A popup will appear > Enter the access sequence as PICK--- Enter the access as 10 and click on the GREEn ARROW and save it

TRAN- Select TRAN and click on accesses > Acno-10-- Table-902

>> Then save it > and go in again

Select TRAN and click on Fields> A popup will appear > Enter the access sequence as TRAN--- Enter the access as 10 and click on the GREEn ARROW and save it

*******

Now coming to maintaining the Condition records in APO EASY ACCESS

/SAPCND/AU11

Create SCheduling Step for PICK : Enter condition type- PICK

Enter Route- USCAN --- Duration -24:00 (Hrs)

Create SCheduling Step for TRAN: Enter condition type- TRAN

Enter Route- USCAN --- Duration -48:00 (Hrs)

***********************************************************************************************

Now Let me answer your questions:

(1) Question 1- In ECC the product exists at the manufacturing plant only (and not at customer as in APO).

I did not undertsand what you mean here. As we can create a Material at the following locations in APO( Dist Center(DC), Manu Plant(PL), Cusomter, Vendor, etc)

For GATP all we need is the material at a PLant location

STrategy Group on MRP3 tab: This is purely used for determining the CHECK MODE value on APO Product Master.

When this is blank on R3, the check mode will be blank on APO.

However SAP recommends Putting in a strategy group value on R3 Material Master

or

a default Check MOde value for all those Products who have blank check mode- 041 is the best value * This piece SAP hasnt recommended but I found that there is No harm in anyway and it is MANDATORYfor inventory transactions like GOODS ISSUE otherwise you will get a QUEUE in SYSFAIL **

Even if this is blank this has no effect on the GLOBAL ATP as the Check mode for a SD transaction is determined as follows

98% of the SD transactions will generate a CHeck mode of 041 and Business Event- A ***

Through the item category and the MRP type in the MRP view

The item category is derived from the item category group in the Sales view of the material master record and from the order type of the sales document. Together with the MRP type in the MRP view of the material master record, the item category determines what requirements type is selected. The advantage of this method is that the selection of the requirements type depends on the business process (such as quotation, sales order, or repair).

(2) Question 2 - I guess now you must have understood why when you do a simulation in APO, it is taking the Check mode from APO product Master

and when you do a ATP Check from R3, the check mode(041) is different

You dont need to ensure that they are the same- It doesnt matter in anyway.

(3) Question 3- In APO I ran simulation for the product at customer location (and maintained the required ATP settings in the product master).I

When you run ATP simulation- AC04, you generally run it for the plant as that is the supplying location and not the customer.

In case of Sales Order creation in ECC how does system pick up the Check Mode and Business Event for the product (having Sold-to as customer and Supply Plant as the plant code) and use it in APO.

PLease look above for this answer.

(4) Question 4 - Any other setting/configuration that is missed causing this behaviour.

To my best knowledge, whatever I could remember I have listed out. However there are some more steps which might be needed.

Follow all the steps as I have mentioned and whenever you get struck somewhere, shoot me a message and I will help you.

*****************************************************************

ONe more pointer here to what you have mentioned

Relevant setup in SPRO - Product Allocation Object, Group, Procedure, Sequence etc., Planning Object Structure, Planning Area, CVC generation, Connection between Planning Area and Product Allocation object in GATP, assignment in Location Product Master (at Customer Location) Product Allocation Procedure, Check mode, ATP Group has been done in APO.

After entering data in appropriate keyfigures (Allocated Qty) it shows up under GATP>> Reporting >> Product Allocations >> Time Series per CVC

Have carried out ATP Simulation to check that for a given product at Customer the Product Allocation against a Required Quantity takes place correctly.

Somnath, I believe you might have a wrong picture here. The concept of allocation is Controlling Supply against huge Demand which is in this case coming from SALES ORDER

When you place a sales order, the supplying location is your plant and that is where you would like to put in allocation quantities

Say for example for a material 12345 - You have stock of 100 Qty in Plant KING fo this week and it shows as follows in the planning book

Customers say are WALKART, GE-FUG, MACROGUN

The CVCs which we have to create are as follows

Similar to Demand PLanning**

Material 12345 -PLant KING-Cust WALKART-Prod Alloc Obj

Material 12345 -PLant KING-Cust GE-FUG-Prod Alloc Obj

Material 12345 -PLant KING-Cust MACROGUN-Prod Alloc Obj

And this is how it appears in the planing book when you go into DETAILS ALL

You basically enter the Allocation Quantities just as how you enter forecast quantities in DP Book*

-

Wk1 | WK2 WK3 WK4 WK5

-

Alloc Qty |

-

Material 12345 |

-

Plant KING |

-

Cust WALKART 50 |

Cust GE-FUG 30 |

Cust MACROGUN 20 |

-

Incoming Order Qty |

-

Material 12345 |

-

Plant KING |

-

Cust WALKART 50|

Cust GE-FUG 25 |

Cust MACROGUN 20 |

50 : Say the Cust WALKART has ordered 250 for this week, however only the allocated quantity -50 will be confirmed for him and the remaining 200 qty will be confirme at a later week when he is given the allocated amount.

25 :Similarily say this customer GE-FUG has ordered 20 qty. So his remaining allocation is basically 5 which cannot be used by any other customer.

20 : Say this customer MACROGUN has ordered exactly the allocated amount of 20. So his remaining allocation will be 0.

This is the basic idea of how Allocation Concept is used in GATP.

Ofcourse you can add the other functionalities like

Rules Based ATP(LOcation Substitution, Product Substitution)

Multi ATP( BOM-COmponents)

Check Aginst Forecast

Etc Etc

Like any other module of SAP- this module has much to offer which unfortunately I cannot list here**

GOOD LUCK and let me know If you need additional help.

Regards

KUMAR AYYAGARI

Message was edited by:

Kumar P Ayyagari

Issue with Product Allocation Scenario

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