Consumption Based Planning Process in SAP MM

The below SAP Tutorials help to know the consumption based planning procedures in detail. These are used in areas without in-house production and/or in production plants for planning both B- and C-parts and operating supplies. The consumption based planning Includes Recorder Point Planning, Forecast based Planning, and Time Phased Planning,we can discuss below in detail.

Reorder Point Planning

In the reorder point planning procedure, the system compares available warehouse stock with the reorder level. If available stock falls below the reorder level, an order proposal is generated. The reorder level (also known as the reorder point) is made up of the sum of the safety stock plus the expected average material consumption within the replenishment lead time. Therefore, when determining the reorder level, you must take safety stock, previous consumption values or future requirements and the replenishment lead time into account.

Safety stock must be set at a level which covers both excess material consumption within the replenishment lead time and the additional requirements which may occur during delivery delays. You must, therefore, take previous consumption or future requirements, and the vendor’s delivery timeliness or that of production into account when determining the safety stock level.

Forecast Based Planning

Like reorder point planning, forecast-based planning operates using historical values and forecast values as future requirements are determined via the integrated forecasting program. However, in contrast to reorder point planning, these values then form the basis of the planning run in forecast-based planning.

The forecast, which calculates future requirements using historical data, is carried out at regular intervals. This offers the advantage that requirements, which are automatically determined, are continually adapted to suit current consumption needs. If, during the current period, material has already been withdrawn from stock, then the forecast requirement is reduced by the quantity of material that was withdrawn. This mean that the quantity of the forecast requirement that has already been used is not included in the planning run again.

You can specify the period split for the forecast (daily, weekly, monthly or per accounting period) and the number of periods to be included in the forecast individually for each material. It is possible; however, that the forecast period split is not specific enough for planning purposes. Therefore, for each material, you can determine that the MRP forecast requirement values should be divided according to a finer period split. You can also determine how many forecast periods are to be taken into account during requirements planning.

For a monthly forecast, the requirements date would be set on the first workday of the month because, for planning, it is assumed that the total requirement must be available at the beginning of the period. You can then divide this monthly requirement into either daily or weekly requirements.

The requirements quantities forecast by the system are used in the planning run to carry out the net requirements calculation. During this calculation, every period is checked to make sure that the forecast requirements are covered either by available warehouse stock, by planned receipts from purchasing or by production. If the requirements forecast by the system are not met by these above mentioned possibilities, then an order proposal is generated.

Time Phased Planning

If a vendor always delivers a material on a particular day of the week, it makes sense to plan this material according to the same cycle in which it is delivered, but displaced by the delivery time. This is possible with the time-phased planning procedure. If a particular material is to be planned using this procedure, you must set the MRP type for time-phased planning and you must enter the planning cycle in the material master record. You enter the planning cycle in the form of a planning calendar in the Planning cycle field. You must also define a planned delivery time and the Lot-for-lot order quantity as the lot-size key.

You can also use the optimum lot-sizing procedures for time-phased planning. They are used here in the same way as in Reorder Point Planning. Materials that are planned using the time-phased planning technique are provided with an MPR date in the planning file. This date is set when creating a material master record and is re-set after each planning run. It represents the date on which the material is to be planned again and is calculated on the basis of the planning cycle entered in the material master record. For materials that are planned using the time-phased planning procedure, the two indicators, the total change indicator and the net change planning indicator are irrelevant. Therefore, they are not set by the system even if changes that are relevant to the planning run are made.

By using this planning technique, you can set the system so that it only plans materials on specific pre-defined days. For example, if you assign the same planning cycle to all the materials of a particular vendor, the system will always plan these materials on the same day. The purchase requisitions that are created in the planning run to cover material shortages can be processed, per vendor, by the MRP controller in the SAP purchasing system.

If you use the SAP Merchandise Management System, the system proposes the planning cycle from the vendor sub-range when you create a material master record. The vendor sub-range contains all the goods of a particular vendor that, from a logistical view, can be planned similarly.

You can also enter an MRP date during the planning run, meaning that you can bring the planning run forward to an earlier date, if necessary. For example, if the planning run is set for Monday, you can bring it forward to Saturday instead

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Outline agreement in SAP

This post explains general background information on the “outline agreements” (which, outside the SAP System, may also be referred to as blanket, master, framework or umbrella agreements) that are used in the SAP MM Purchasing component. In basic Outline Agreement can be classified with 2 different types. Contract and Scheduling agreements.

Contract is nothing but where you can have contract with the vendor,and this might be predetermined quantity. For example whenever you need the material the you need to make PO reference to this contract and asking for the delivery of the material.

Scheduling agreement is nothing but long term purchase agreement, where you can keep issuing the delivery schedules whenever there is change in requirement or predetermined time intervals. We can classify the delivery schedule on hour or daily or weekly or monthly basis.

An outline agreement is a longer-term arrangement with the vendor regarding the supply of materials or the performance of services according to predetermined terms and conditions. In MM Purchasing, such agreements are subdivided into “contracts”and “scheduling agreements.” Outline agreements may be subject to a release (approval or clearance) procedure.

To Create Contract following the below steps:

Path to create Contract:
Logistics => Materials Management => Purchasing => Outline Agreement => Contract => Create
Transcation Code: ME31L

The Structure of an outline agreement

As in the case of other purchasing documents, an outline agreement consists of the following elements:

Document header:

• It contains information specific to the entire agreement.
• For example: the vendor information and header conditions are in the document header.

Items:

• Items that contain the information specific to the material or service. For example:
• Statistics on ordering activities for the item
• Quantity or price of the item
• Pricing conditions, such as quantity discounts and surcharges

Texts in outline agreements

You can create your own texts from scratch in an agreement or change a text that has been suggested by the system. There are two kinds of agreement text: header text and item text. The texts are further subdivided into text types, for example, shipping and delivery instructions. The text type determines the print sequence on the document printout.

Outline agreement is nothing but long term purchasing agreement with vendor in containing certain terms and conditions regarding the raw material that is supplied by the vendor. Outline agreement which is valid up to certain period of time with some predefined quantity or value.

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SAP ERP: Technosap

SAP ERP is enterprise resource planning software developed by the German company SAP SE. SAP ERP incorporates the key business functions of an organization. The latest version (SAP ERP 6.0) was made available in 2006. The most recent Enhancement Package (EHP7) for SAP ERP 6.0 was released in 2013.

Business Processes included in SAP ERP include Operations (Sales & Distribution, Materials Management, Production Planning, Logistics Execution, and Quality Management), Financials (Financial Accounting, Management Accounting, Financial Supply Chain Management) and Human Capital Management (Payroll, e-Recruiting)

Development

SAP ERP was built based on the former SAP R/3 software. SAP R/3 through version 4.6c consisted of various applications on top of SAP Basis, SAP's set of middleware programs and tools. When SAP R/3 Enterprise was launched in 2002, all applications were built on top of the SAP Web Application Server. Extension sets were used to deliver new features and keep the core as stable as possible. The Web Application Server contained all the capabilities of SAP Basis.

As a result of marketing changes and changes in the industry, new versions of SAP have been released. The first edition of mySAP ERP was launched in 2003 and bundled previously separate products, including SAP R/3 Enterprise, SAP Strategic Enterprise Management (SEM) and extension sets. The SAP Web Application Server was wrapped into NetWeaver, which was also introduced in 2003.

A complete architecture change took place with the introduction of mySAP ERP edition in 2004. R/3 Enterprise was replaced with the introduction of ERP Central Component (SAP ECC). The SAP Business Warehouse, SAP Strategic Enterprise Management and Internet Transaction Server were also merged into SAP ECC, allowing users to run them under one instance. Architectural changes were also made to support an enterprise service architecture to transition customers to a services-oriented architecture.

ERP advantages and disadvantages

Advantage

• Allows easier global integration (barriers of currency exchange rates, language, and culture can be bridged automatically)
• Updates only need to be done once to be implemented company-wide
• Provides real-time information, reducing the possibility of redundancy errors
• May create a more efficient work environment for employees
• Vendors have past knowledge and expertise on how to best build and implement a system
• User interface is completely customizable allowing end users to dictate the operational structure of the product

Disadvantages

• Locked into relationship by contract and manageability with vendor - a contract can hold a company to the vendor until it expires and it can be unprofitable to switch vendors if switching costs are too high
• Inflexibility - vendor packages may not fit a company's business model well and customization can be expensive
• Return on Investment may take too long to be profitable
• Implementations have a risk of project failure 

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SAP Purchasing info Records Types: Technosap

The purchasing info records is source of information for purchasing. It contains information on a specific material and a vendor supplying the material. For example, the vendor’s current pricing is stored in the info record. The purchasing info records referred to in abbreviated form as called Info record.

Types of SAP Purchasing info records, There are two types of info records available in sap

Info records with a material master record (e.g. for stock material), This type of info record represents the relationship between a material or service (for which a master record exists) and a vendor.

Info records without a material master record (e.g. for consumable materials), This type of info record represents the relationship between a material or service for which no master record exists and a vendor.

Sucontractor info records
A subcontractor info records contains ordering information for subcontract orders. For example, if you subcontract the assembly of a component, the subcontractor info record would include the vendor’s (subcontractor’s) price for assembling the component.

Pipeline info records
The pipeline info record contains information on a vendor’s commodity that is supplied through a pipeline (for example, oil or water) or via similar means (for example, electricity through the mains). The info record contains the vendor’s price for the consumption of such commodities by the buyer (“pipeline withdrawals”). You can store withdrawal/usage prices for different validity periods.

Structure of an info records
An info record contains general data and organizational data:

General data -Data that is valid for each purchasing organization or each plant (for example, origin data, reminder levels, and the order unit). Organizational data – Data such as prices and pricing conditions that you can store for the relevant purchasing organization or plant.

Texts in the info records
The info record contains the following text types: Info record memo.. An internal note that is adopted in the PO item. The info record memo is not printed out

PO text in info records
This text serves to describe the order item and corresponds to the PO text in the material master record. It is adopted in the PO item and included in the printout.

Short text
For material that has a material master record, the short text (short description) is copied directly from the material master record into the PO or the outline purchase agreement.

Purchasing info records stores information on the material and vendor supplying the material. For Example, vendors present price of particular material is stored in info record. Purchase info record can be maintained at plant level or other end its at purchasing organization level.

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SAP SD Online Training Tutorials

Free SAP SD (Sales and Distribution) Training Tutorials

SAP SD ( Sales and Distribution ) Training tutorials by the real time functional consultant and experts . The SAP SD module handles all the processes starting from an Order to delivery. The main operations of this SAP SD module handle Customer Sales Orders processing, pricing, Picking, packing, Shipping, billing and risk management etc.

Sales and Distribution (SD) is one of the core and most-used modules of SAP R/3 products beside Financial (FI), Controlling (CO), Material Management (MM), and Production Planning (PP) modules. The Sales & Distribution (SD) module consists of various components also called sub-modules. Which are follow as below,

(SD-BF) Basic Functions and Master Data in SD Processing. (Also subdivided in several components as: Pricing, Output…etc)
(SD-BF-PR) Pricing and Conditions
(SD-BF-EC) Extra Charge
(SD-BF-CM) Availability Check and Requirements in Sales and Distribution Credit and Risk Management
(SD-BF-AS) Material Sorting
(SD-BF-OC) Output Determination
(SD-SLS) Sales
(SD-SLS-OA) Scheduling Agreements for Component Supplierssap sd training tutorials
(SD-SLS-OA) Customer Service Processing
(SD-FT) Foreign Trade/Customs
(SD-BIL) Billing
(SD-BIL-IV) Payment Card Processing
(CAS) Sales Support: Computer-Aided Selling
(SD-EDI) Electronic Data Interchange/IDoc Interface
(LE-SHP) Shipping
(LE-TRA) Transportation
(SD-IS-REP) Reports and Analyses

SAP SD (Sales and Distribution) module and with the sub module are

• Pre-sales activities, including Inquiry and Quotation creation.
• Sales Order processing, including Sales Order (SO)
• Shipping, including Outbound Delivery document creation.
• Billing, including Billing document and invoice creation.

Sales and Distribution (SD) is a module highly integrated with other SAP Modules as FI, CO, MM, PP & more. This can make SAP SD complex module, so as part of this Introduction we will also try to detail a normal sales process and how the activities integrate and are covered by this module.

Pre-sales activities: It starts when a customer or a prospect requests information by any source about a product or service offered by the company. This request is processed through SAP and the first integration we have is by the creation of an Inquiry Document or a Quotation Document. At this point of the process we still haven’t effectively made a sale that’s why it is considered as a presale activity.

Sales Order processing: Our quotation document previously created is send to our customer so they can make effective their purchase procedure. At this point they may want to negotiate payment terms, price, dates or any adjustments to the original document created by us.

As soon as we receive a Purchase Order (PO) from our Customer we create a Sales Order (SO) which makes reference to the previously created Quotation Document. Now scenario  is adjusted based on the business requirements. In some cases depending on the business Sales Orders (SO) can be made without a previously created quotation document as also in other scenario this can be a requirement.

Inventory Sourcing: The product requirement from the Sales Order at the required date needs to be available by one of the following options:

To fulfill the products requirement from an SO at the required date, we can obtain them by one of these options:

• Taking from Available stock at warehouse. At this point the SD module may trigger stock transfers between warehouses.
• Triggering a production order to produce the products in-house.
• Triggering a purchasing order to purchase the products from vendor.

Here is where the integration between Production Planning (PP) and Material Management (MM) starts.

Shipping: When the product we sold is available at the warehouse, the sales personnel can start shipping activities by creating an outbound delivery document (Delivery Order/DO). Now this Deliver Order (DO) can be created by referring to our original Sales Order (SO). This will trigger the preparation of the product by the personnel of the warehouse. If the Warehouse Management (WM) module is integrated, a Deliver Order (DO) can trigger a Transfer Order. When the products are ready to be sent, the warehouse personnel will post the Goods Issue (GI) transaction that refers to the DO. The GI transaction will reduce the inventory level of products and then the warehouse personnel sends the products to the customer by transportation mode that has been determined in Sales Order (SO) document.

Billing: This whole process will be managed before the delivery date specified in the Sales Order (SO) document. The finance department will generate a billing document and send an invoice form to the customer. The invoice will request the customer to pay the products we have sent at the price condition and terms of payment we have agreed in SO document.

SAP Sales and Distribution consists of all business processes required in selling, shipping the goods, and final billing of the item. This SAP SD module is closely integrated with other SAP Modules.

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