Transportation Management ( TM) without implementing APO

[Former Member]

Hello Gurus,

Hope somebody could shed some light here. Below are the few business scenarios for which we tring to implement the solution in TM.

We are trying to implement TM in ECC 5.0, and with the intension of accomplishing the following key functionalities. Would like to get you experts feedbacks. Looking for your valuable inputs. We are NOTplanning to implement APO at this time.

Shipment planning & optimization- Is this better in APO ( TP/VS) or TM? Can we go to a top down approach using APO later after implementing TM?

We like to optimize outbound shipments by selecting a carrier based on cost OR predefined routing guidelines.

Rating Engine- or Rate Repository- We are trying to use this functionality to rate & cost what if and actual outbound shipments for all modes and tariffs on file.

Tracking shipments

Thanks

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Saj,

If you refer to my earlier replies on the subject matter, you will notice the main difference between R/3 & APO is that R/3 is an execution toll where as APO is planning tool. Obviously planning functionality in R/3 will be limited compared to APO.

Coming back to your questions,

1) R/3 LES is an extension of SD. You very well can plan the shipments in R/3. You can also configure basic constraints in R/3 for shipment planning but they will not be as diversified as APO can have. Also R/3 LES does not give any optimization functionality. It is available only in APO. I do not understand what do you mean by Top Down approach. Pl. elaborate so that I can explain in details.

2) You can automate carrier selection process in R/3 based on routes or cost (Pricing Conditions). But the real optimization of carrier selection is available only in APO where you can select carrier based on number of parameters.

3) You can do what if analysis through APO only (using different optimizer & cost profiles) but not in R/3.

Hope this helps you.

Regards

Sandeep Patil

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Sandeep