Planning Horizons, Planning Calendars, and Timings in SAP APO

Screenshots and examples from SAP APO.

What The Book Covers

APO is the most fully-featured supply chain planning suite on the market, and its sheer number of lead time and timing settings makes it one of the most complex as well! Keeping these settings straight and associating the lead times and timings across the modules—as well as coordinating the lead time and timings with the connected systems—is a challenge in APO. If you would like to better understand the lead time and timing settings in APO and other advanced planning systems, or if your company is planning to implement APO, this book is for you. Here you will learn about the lead time and timing settings, planning horizons and planning calendars in four of the most commonly-implemented APO applications (DP, SNP, PP/DS and GATP), and how timing settings in one APO module interact with and impact upon the timing settings in the other APO modules.

By reading this book you will:

• Gain a comprehensive overview of lead time and timings in the four most popular APO applications: DP, SNP, PP/
• DS and GATP.
• Get an overview of what is created in each application and what is passed between the modules.
• Understand how the planning horizons, planning calendars and timing settings of DP, SNP, PP/DS and GATP
• relate to each other, how they influence the planning output, and how they connect with SAP/ERP.
• Be able to differentiate between the various lead time and timing settings in APO and explain how they relate to
• one another.
• Benefit by getting a head start on understanding timing settings before the demo or proof-of-concept
• stage of a project.
• Avoid costly implementation errors by learning how to navigate APO’s complex lead time and timing settings.
• Understand lead time and timing setting directions (backward and forward).
• Learn how to support a global business with a single APO application.

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A Book Based in Reality

The book provides many examples from real life project experiences, the emphasis being on the reality of APO projects.

Interconnected to Web Information

In order the keep the book at a manageable and easily readable length, the book also provides numerous links out to the Brightwork Research & Analysis site, where supporting articles allow readers to get into more detail on topics that interest them.

Chapters

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: DP Planning Horizons, Planning Calendars, and Timings
• Chapter 3: SNP Planning Horizons, Planning Calendars, and Timings
• Chapter 4: PP/DS Planning Horizons, Calendars, and Timings
• Chapter 5: Resource Calendars and Timings
• Chapter 6: GATP Planning Horizons, Planning Calendars, and Timings
• Chapter 7: Transfer Timings Between SAP APO and SAP ERP
• Chapter 8: Critical Timing Topics
• Chapter 9: Timing Integration Between DP, SNP, PP/DS and GATP
• Chapter 1o: Forecast Consumption, Allocation Consumption, Scheduling Directions and Timings
• Chapter 11: Conclusion

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

• Why a Comprehensive Timing Book is So Important for SAP APO
• Using This Book to Get a Leg Up on Timing Discussions on Projects
• Timing Field Definitions Identification
• Choosing the APO Modules for the Book
• The Book’s Roadmap
• Timings Not Covered in This Book
• The SCM Focus Site
• How Writing Bias Is Controlled at SCM Focus and SCM Focus Press

Chapter 2: DP Planning Horizons, Planning Calendars, and Timings

• Storage Buckets and Planning Buckets
• Storage Bucket Profile in the System
• The Planning Bucket Profile
• Initializing Planning Area
• DP Period Split
• Releasing the Forecast from DP to SNP
• DP Planning Calendar/Time Stream
• Demand Planning Frequency
• Conclusion

Chapter 3: SNP Planning Horizons, Planning Calendars, and Timings

• Supply Planning Horizon for S&OP, the Rough Cut Capacity Plan and the Initial Supply Plan
• SNP Heuristic Time Stream
• CTM Time Stream
• Cost Optimization Time Stream
• The Deployment Planning Thread
• The Deployment Heuristic
• The Deployment Optimizer
• Other Deployment Time Settings
• Understanding the Time Settings and Profiles on the SNP 2 Tab
• Forecast-related Supply Planning Timings
• Planning Calendars/Time Streams
• Supply Planning Timings Related to Lead Time
• Planning Delivery Time in Days
• Transportation Lanes for Location-to-Location Lead Times
• Padding the Time Prior to the Item Becoming Available
• Processing Time
• Transportation Calendar
• Supply Planning Timings Related to TLB
• Storage Bucket and Planning Bucket Profiles
• When Using CTM
• Production Lead Times
• Conclusion

Chapter 4: PP/DS Planning Horizons, Planning Calendars, and Timings

• Understanding the Planned (Production) Order Creation Process
• The Factory and Distribution Center Calendars
• The Frozen Period
• Conclusion

Chapter 5: Resource Calendars and Timings

• Understanding Resources
• Time Settings on the Resource
• Bucket versus Time Continuous Resources
• Mixed Resources
• Single (Activity) versus Multi (Activity) Resources
• Single-mixed or Multi-mixed Resources
• Resource Settings and What This Means for Time Continuous versus Bucket Planning
• The Time Orientation Flexibility of Capable to Match (CTM)
• The Conversion of SNP Planned Orders to PP/DS Planned Orders
• The Resource Timing Field Definitions
• PPM and PDSs and Resources
• Resource Planning Calendars
• The Factory and Distribution Center Calendars (Resource Calendars)
• Conclusion

Chapter 6: GATP Planning Horizons, Planning Calendars, and Timings

• Definitions for the GATP Product Location Master Timing Fields
• Multiple Values GATP Uses for Obtaining the ATP Checking Horizon
• Setting the Length ATP Checking Horizon for Make-to-Stock Environments
• GATP for Actual Stock and Orders or Planned Stock and Planned Orders?
• Plan Quality and How to Configure GATP to Work
• Basing GATP Strictly on Orders
• APO Availability Check Simulation
• APO Product Availability Overview
• Conclusion

Chapter 7: Transfer Timings Between SAP APO and SAP ERP

• Transfer Settings from APO to OLTP
• Sending Transaction Data to APO
• Conversion of Recommendations to Orders within APO
• Conclusion

Chapter 8: Critical Timing Topics

• Planning Buckets versus Planning Update Frequency
• Initializing the Planning Area
• Weekly Display or Weekly Order Batching?
• The Planning Update Frequency versus the Manual Adjustment Frequency
• Firming or Fixing
• How Does Firming Work Between SAP APO and R/3?
• Types of Firmed Orders
• Where Firming is Set
• Is There Such a Thing as Semi-Firm?
• Integrating the Timings of SNP and PP/DS
• SNP Production Horizon
• Extended SNP Production Horizon
• Conclusion

Chapter 9: Timing Integration Between DP, SNP, PP/DS and GATP

• Controlling the Overlap with the PP/DS Planning Horizon and the SNP Production Horizon
• The Background on Time Synchronizing SNP and PP/DS
• The Time Horizon Location Differences Between SNP and PP/DS
• Where the SNP Production Horizon and PP/DS Horizon Do not Overlap
• Where the SNP Production Horizon and PP/DS Horizon Overlap
• Setup Times in PP/DS versus SNP
• Mapping Out the Work and Timing of Recommendations and Orders
• Conclusion

Chapter 1o: Forecast Consumption, Allocation Consumption, Scheduling Directions and Timings

• Backward and Forward Forecast Consumption
• The Example
• Implications to the Question of Backward Forecast Consumption
• Alternatives to Forecast Consumption
• Consumption in GATP
• Backward and Forward Production Scheduling
• Understanding the Primary Benefit of Forward Scheduling
• Scheduling Direction and Its Implications
• Backward and Forward Scheduling with Procurement and Stock Transfer Planning in SNP
• Forward Scheduling in the Deployment Planning Run: Push versus Pull Deployment
• Controlling the Application of Scheduling Direction to the Product-Location Combinations
• Forward Scheduling and Capacity Leveling
• Scheduling Direction and PP/DS
• Conclusion

Chapter 11: Conclusion

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Questions about the Book?

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