SAP is releasing Fiori Apps on several different application areas as part of UI FOR EHP7 FOR SAP ERP 6.0.

We can find many useful apps in Production Planning and Control area and particularly, the new SAP Fiori Apps for Material Requirements Planning (MRP) should make the job of the MRP controller easier

On the following link it's possible to take a look on the MRP apps using a click-through demo:

Simply with Fiori:A Day in the Life of an MRP Controller

There is also a demo available on YouTube:

Fiori MRP Demo - YouTube

If you are intersted, you can find more information about SAP Fiori on SAP Help, on the link below:

Getting Started - SAP Fiori for SAP ERP 1.0 - SAP Library

See also the following note for additional release information for SAP Fiori Apps for Material Requirements Planning (MRP):

http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/1955289

I am often inundated with requests for career guidance from those aspirants wishing to enter the amazing world of SAP ERP. While this article covers the dynamics of Pakistan's SAP ERP market, a lot of same challenges apply elsewhere in the world. Let's get straight to the article.

Its every professional’s dream to choose a right career that is not only professionally satisfying but also financial rewarding. However, access to career counseling to make better and informed career decisions is one of the areas where we don’t have or find many resources to turn to. As a result, we turn to our friends, family, peers, or mentors to help us choose a career path or make a transition to a different career. A career in SAP ERP can bring great professional satisfaction, while also being financially rewarding.

What is SAP ERP?

SAP stands for Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing and is the largest database software company in the world. SAP is based in Waldorf, Germany. ERP is an abbreviation of Enterprise Resource Planning. ERP helps an enterprise or an organization or a company runs its business effectively by planning its resources efficiently. These resources may be material, manpower or services. SAP ERP is database software that integrates various business functions of a company to eliminate the need of redundant or duplicate data entry. SAP ERP stores all the activities and business functions that the users perform in its database. Eventually all this data helps in making better business decisions in the form of large number of standard reports available.

Current SAP ERP Implementation in Pakistan

ERP market in Pakistan has started to show significant understanding and maturity towards the benefit of implementing a comprehensive and integrated ERP solution. As a result, not only multinationals but also many national companies have now implemented or are considering implementing SAP ERP. Some of the companies with SAP ERP already implemented are Shell Pakistan, Unilever Pakistan, National Foods Limited, Getz Pharma, Ali Gohar Pharma, Herbion Pharma (in process these days), Macter Pharma, Martin Dow Pharma, Aisha Steel Mills, Pakistan Refinery, National Refinery, Pakistan Beverages, Punjab Beverages, Haidri Beverages, Atlas Honda Limited (motorcycles), Indus Motors, Sitara Chemicals, Fauji Fertilizers and Panthar Tyres. There are several potential and upcoming SAP ERP implementation projects in just about all the important industrial sectors.

This article provides a sneak preview of a career in SAP ERP and will be of interest to you, if

• You are in college or just out of it and considering a career in SAP ERP.
• A seasoned professional with extensive industry experience and want to know how working with SAP ERP can give your career a boost.
• You want to understand the demands and dynamics of a consulting career in SAP ERP.

Major Components of SAP ERP

SAP ERP consists of several important components and to effectively segregate the business functions of the company. These components are:

Financial Accounting (FI): It covers the basic accounting business functions of the company such as general ledgers, accounts payable, accounts receivable, cash & bank and asset accounting.

Managerial Accounting (CO): Managerial accounting is alternatively referred as Controlling (CO). It covers business functions such as cost centers, profit centers, internal orders and product costing.

Materials Management (MM): It covers business functions such as procurement or purchasing and inventory management. The procurement can be for materials or for services, and can be both local or imports (foreign procurement).

Sales and Distribution (SD): Its covers business functions such as inquiry, quotation, sales order management, and credit and debit memos. It also includes rebates handling, as well as exports sales.

Production Planning (PP): It covers all aspects of production, including time it takes to set up machine, the product manufacturing time as well as labor hours consumed in producing a product. Production wastages, scrap, by-products and co-products are all within the scope of PP component.

Quality Management (QM): Its covers business processes involving quality control and quality checks in all aspects of logistics and supply chain management.

Plant Maintenance (PM): It covers preventive maintenance, predictive maintenance and shutdown maintenance. The PM component enables companies to maintain their production facilities in optimum conditions through timely maintenance.

Project System (PS): It covers business processes to effectively manage project of any size, and includes Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Network, milestones, and confirmation on the progress of project completed.

Human Capital Management (HCM): It includes business processes involving all aspects of managing company’s employees. Time management, personnel development, organization structure and payroll are some of the sub-components of HCM component.

NetWeaver (Basis): It entails the SAP ERP software installation, taking timely backup, disaster recovery. It also includes authorization management to control which process owner is authorized specific set of business transactions.

Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP): ABAP is the programming language of SAP ERP and is used to create custom-developed reports, layouts, screens or scripts.

What Business Process Knowledge, Educational Background or Professional Experience do I need?

Table 1 relates to the SAP ERP components and the corresponding business process knowledge, educational background or professional experience that helps in attaining greater success in SAP ERP career.

Table 1: Professional experience or educational background needed for relevant SAP ERP component

What does an SAP ERP Implementation Project like?

When a company implements SAP ERP project, it entails going through the five phases. These five phases are the following:

Project Preparation: In this phase, initial training and overview sessions on SAP ERP are held to provide greater understanding of components-specific features and functionalities and how they integrate with each other.

Business Blueprint: In this phase, the existing business processes or business functions of the company are mapped in SAP ERP. In other words, how business process owners will eventually perform the business functions in SAP ERP system. For example, if company is currently using work order to produce a material, this work order will now be referred as production order in SAP ERP.

Realization: In this phase, the SAP ERP system is built to company’s business processes, and massive data collection exercise initiate. The data can be customers, vendors, employees or products of the company. Several rounds of testing are also held in this phase.

Final Preparation: The final SAP ERP system, known as production system, is readied in which the business process owners will enter live and actual data. Final round of SAP ERP system testing and end-users training also take place in this phase.

Go-Live and Support: This is the most critical phase of the project when users are entering live and actual data and occasionally get stuck in the system. Helping users by quickly attending to any errors or problems encountered ensures that the SAP ERP system runs smoothly.

How do I step my foot in the world of SAP ERP?

If you work in a company that plans to implement SAP ERP system, then you should strive to be part of implementation team. You will gain invaluable experience by going through all the five phases just covered and learning what efforts and activities each phase entails. Your biggest asset will be your in-depth and comprehensive business process knowledge of your area of working.

If and when you come to know that a company plans to implement SAP ERP system soon, try to join that company and be a part of the implementation team. You can improve your chances of being hired in such a company if you get the necessary training and certification to stand out from the crowd. See next section on available SAP ERP training options.

If you want to make a consulting career in SAP ERP then try to find opportunities available in several authorized consulting firms in Pakistan. Some of these are Siemens Pakistan, IBM Pakistan, AbacusConsulting, SuperNova, Excellence Delivered (EXD) and Allied VMS. Your chances of getting a break in consulting fields improve if you acquire the necessary training and attain certification from these consulting firms. If you enroll in training program of any of the authorized SAP ERP consulting and training companies, there is a good chance that they will offer your internship, subject to availability of current or upcoming projects or other vacant positions.

SAP ERP Training Options

There are several SAP ERP authorized training centers such as Siemens Pakistan, IBM Pakistan, AbacusConsulting, Imperial Soft, SuperNova, Excellence Delivered (EXD) and Allied VMS. The fee ranges from approximately Euro 5,000 for an intensive 21-days Instructor-lead training (ILT) to approximately Euro 2,100 for 5-months of eAcademy. The eAcademy is computer-based training (CBT) and the trainee can spend as much time as possible to learn approximately 200 hours of training content.

At the end of instructor-led training or eAcademy, the candidate can appear for certification exam. This exam is for three hours and consists of 200 multiple choices questions. Successfully clearing the exam entitles candidates to declare themselves as “Certified SAP Associate Consultant”.  There’s a certification fee of Euro 450. It is always a good idea to check for latest fees schedule, be it training or certification, from your preferred training institute. Also, check to see their hiring policies for certified SAP ERP consultants and current or upcoming SAP ERP projects, so you can get a career break.

As a word of caution, you must refrain from considering or attending unauthorized SAP ERP Training institutes as they offer little in terms of career value addition or jobs or projects placement. You must also avoid private tutoring by individuals offering SAP ERP training with steep discounts as well as online and virtual training. In fact, companies accord much lower selection priority to candidates of such unauthorized institutes/outlets.

Career in SAP ERP Consulting or on Client Side

If you work in a company that plans to implement SAP ERP soon and you are part of the implementation team, you will gain enormous value addition to your career when you’ll leverage your business process knowledge to ensure the same is mapped in SAP ERP. However, when the SAP ERP implementation is complete, the SAP ERP system has matured and users are able to routinely perform their business functions in SAP ERP, you’ll have little to contribute except occasional troubleshooting or implementing new functionality. If the company is large enough and have its in-house SAP ERP helpdesk or Competency Center, you’ll be part of the troubleshooting team, at best.

If you work as SAP ERP consultant and in a consulting firm, you’ll have endless opportunities to travel, meet new clients, implement SAP ERP projects for various industries and learn new features and functionality of SAP ERP with its each new release. With each new project or implementation, you career graph will exponentially rise and so will be your compensation. However, a career in SAP ERP consulting has its own limitations, such as you’ll never know how you’ll remain on bench if there is no new project, or when you have to look after more than one projects at a time. Further, as a SAP ERP consultant, it is often unpredictable as to where your next project will be. For example, you are currently deployed to a project in Karachi, but may be your next project will be in Peshawar, Rahim Yar Khan or even in Dubai, or Riyadh (International deployment). This may affects your career planning, for example, if you want to continue further studies or have family commitments that prevent you from being away from home for too long. Obviously, you’ll not be able to move your family with every new project at different locations, as such projects are of normally 6-8 months.

Compensation of SAP ERP Professional

If you work for a company that is implementing SAP ERP, you may be financially rewarded for a lot of hard and long work that goes into implementing the new system. Further, the company wishes to retain such resources to take advantage of all the knowledge and experience gained from SAP ERP implementation for its business continuity.

In the first two years of SAP ERP consulting career, you will often see little or almost no compensation. But this changes dramatically in your favor as you amass more projects’ experience and start taking lead roles. It is also important to highlight that regardless of your industry or professional experience, when you initiate your consulting career in SAP ERP, you are still considered a “Fresher” and must start from the bottom-of-the- ladder.

Table 2 is the general salary break-up of number of projects with compensation. Here a project refers to end-to-end SAP implementation in which the consultant has gone through and managed all the five phases of the project.

Table 2: Number of SAP ERP implementation projects and salary breakup

A career in SAP ERP is not just intellectually enriching but also professionally and financially rewarding. However, the start and the initial few years are slightly challenging before you are able to establish yourself as an expert or experienced professional. But, isn’t the learning curve in SAP ERP any different than any other profession, wherein one spends the initial few years digging the knowledge and experience trenches to gain expertise?

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns that I can possibly answer. You can also share your own success (and trials) stories of a career path in SAP ERP in the comments below.

Meanwhile, if you have found this article useful and informative, I encourage you to share it with others so that it benefits greater number of aspirants wishing to enter the amazing world of SAP ERP. Thank you!

*This article first appeared in DAWN's Spider Magazine.

Sometimes we have taken MRP run but it can't create Planned Order, Purchase Requistion for Material. Below are the some of the reason behind it:

1. Check the Planning file entry for Material. If not exist, maintain in MD20 by manually.

2. Check Plant level Setting, MRP is activated or not in OMDU.

3. MRP type should not be 'ND'. It should be 'PD'.

4. Check field 'MRP dep.requirements' in MRP4 tab. if it is '1' then can't consider dependent requirement

5. Material should not be under Reorder planning.Materials will be considered for planning only if stock falls below reorder point.

6. Check the user exit M61X0001 is activated for certain MRP Controller then it exclude that Material .

7. Check the Plant specific status in MRP1 view should allow for Planning.

Thanks,

SAP PP-QM

Purpose:

This is about the Function module ‘MVER_MAINTAIN_DARK’ and the how I have used it for our project. This FM is used to load the Consumption data of a Material/Plant. And then to use this Consumption data to run forecast in ECC.

Details on how to use this standard function module.

Details:

This function module is used to Load historical consumption data of a Material/Plant.

This FM can load ‘Total Consumption data’, ‘Unplanned Consumption data’ & their respective Corrected values.

For example, when we deliver stock against a sales order, system updated the “Total Consumption Data” for this Material/Plant. (For ex: Movement type 601).

During GO live, in the new client/system we will do the data conversion and create Material Masters.

As this master data is new, subsequently we need to upload the Consumption data.

When we initially create a material in ECC for a plant, the ‘Total Consumption’ Field is open for data input.

However, when we upload the data for total consumption, for a single period or many periods, or if we manually enter a value in a period and save, then all the periods of ‘Total Consumption’ will be closed for data entry/upload.

So, ‘Total Consumption’ is available for upload only for newly created materials

Note: if we are not able to upload or cannot upload for all periods, then we can use ‘Corrected Value’ Column to load the consumption data. That’s a roundabout option for closed periods of Total Consumption.

Procedure:

In the FM we have three tables:

AMVEG_UEB is for uploading ‘Total Consumption Data’

AMVEU_UEB is for uploading ‘Unplanned Consumption Data’.

AMERRDAT_F is for Error Messages.

Data Upload:

AMVEG_UEB contains:

Period Indicator:

In the Forecasting View, we need to maintain the Period Indicator for Material/Plant, which means, we cumulate all the consumption data for that ‘PERIOD’ and forecast based on those periods.

Period Indicator & Dependency:

Note: Check the behavior of the FM when Period Indicator – P is used in conjunction with FY variant.

For other Period Indicators, system used the Calendar assigned to the plant.

Kindly note the Public holidays, and the working days defined in that calendar (either 5 days a week or 6 days a week etc.).

If Period Indicator – M, then in the data maintenance sheet, you can use any date of that month which is not a holiday as per the assigned Plant Calendar. Cumulate all the data of that month and upload.

If Period Indicator – W, then data can be uploaded only on a Monday of the week. That is a cumulated total of that week.

If Period Indicator – T, then data can be upload for any day which is a non-holiday as per Plant Calendar.

If period Indicator – (BLANK) Initial Value, then Consumption data cannot be uploaded/maintained.

Data Maintenance:

Example Data maintenance/upload sheet:

Create a Z wrapper program to upload this data.

Advantage of a Z wrapper program is to do a pre validation check on the data being uploaded.

We did a validation based on the period Indicator in Material master, Factory Calendar of Plant & posting date value maintained in conversion file. If any constraint is not met, then we will not upload the consumption data of that Material/Plant at all. And conversion log file provides the details of the error. As per the log rectify the data and try to upload it again.

Observations:

When you change the existing period indicator, say from W to M, then system will refresh and open the ‘Total Consumption data’ field.

You can upload the data for the new period indicator (say for M) and save the data.

But, if we change it back to W (that means to its pervious Indicator), then ‘Total consumption’ is not going to open, rather it brings back the previously saved values.

So, using this standard function module and limitations, we can upload data in System.

Related Programs:

MVER_DI can be used to upload data.

It uses the above FM (also MVER_UPDATE_ALL), but, has its own limitations/constraints. And data need to be adapted accordingly.

Related Notes:

200547 - Program: Direct input for consumption values

1400249 - MVER_DI: Poor performance for corrected consumptions.

Hi All,

I have read the SFC related chapters from the SAP Press book about production planning. I thought, that I'll make a visual summary about the contect and expand the illustration of the process.

Through this, I hope you can better identify the Shop Floor Control within the production planning.

Did you know that SAP-ERP offers excellent functions and tools to implement flow? These functions are well hidden (I really don't know why) and not documented too elaborately. So let me take a shot here to introduce you to that kind of functionality and maybe you find it useful for the scheduling of your production line. It's probably taking me a couple of blog posts before I get the entire process together, so here is part 1:

Flow is usually desired on production lines which manufacture products in a sequential fashion. There may be feeder lines for components and these, more often than not, make products available for final assembly or, as in process manufacturing, the packaging lines. So, very often you have a value stream that look something like this...

In this example, two feeder lines flow into the main line and the finished product is held in a Kanban super market. As you can see, the processing times at the various work stations are all different, and therefore WiP will build up in front of some stations and other stations will starve... if the line is fed jobs without WiP control.

And here I'd like to point out a few things:

First: A push system is defined by the fact that the Throughput is controlled (scheduled) and WiP is measured. On the other hand, in a pull system WiP is controlled and Throughput is measured. This is a fundamental statement (from the people at Factory Physics) to describe the difference between push and pull.

Second: A Kanban control cycle does not guarantee pull. The disadvantage of a Kanban system is that when the container is empty, Kanban simply says "make me", and does not tell us when or in what sequence to make the product. So you'll end up with a bunch of jobs at the beginning of the line and no one knows in what sequence and at what time to introduce the jobs into the line.

So back to push or pull... if you do what many companies do, you collect the Kanban cards at the beginning of the line and tell the people who introduce the jobs into the line to start that job first that is furthest behind (often Kanban cards are stacked into a board where each product has its own column. If a products Kanban cards pile up to push these above a red line, then that is taken as a signal for highest priority). As a result, the jobs are introduced according to what's needed at the supermarket and not according to what's flowing the line.

Look what happens in the line when you keep starting jobs...

... WiP builds up in front of the station with the longer processing time. The WiP corresponds to the difference in processing time and it increases with every new job introduced...

...and grows without bounds!

Meanwhile other stations are starving because their processing times are shorter and the previous station can't feed them fast enough. As a result, if you look on the shop floor, there is WiP everywhere, therefore it takes long until the finished product shows up at the supermarket (Mark Spearman from Factory Physics calls WiP 'visible cycle time'), and t looks like you never get what you need.

So what can you do to flow the line? You need to control the WiP and make sure that you only introduce another job into the line if there is room in the line to let it flow! The way I recommend doing this in SAp is the following:

1. Figure out a future forecast for the Kanban supermarket. Based on the forecast you can calculate the Kanban quantities for each product. You are also using that forecast to create a sequence for your product mix, but before you do so...

2. Balance the line (SAP transaction LDD1) and create a product mix with rates that exactly meet the forecasted demand. In LDD1 you can use the forecast to calculate a needed product mix and bottleneck rate that stays below the maximum rate the production line can take.

3. Based on this production rate we can now figure the takt time (the inverse of the production rate) by which we need to introduce the jobs into the line - this is the time we need to wait before we let another job into the line. If we do that, the jobs can flow through the line without getting stuck, because we gave each station a work content that allows for the line to flow (if nothing unforeseen happens in the line)

4. Now we put together the planned sequence of the jobs (with SAP transactions MF50 or LAS2). This can be done using setup optimization, heijunka or a FIFO lane.

What's important here is that we use this planned sequence ONLY to procure raw materials for the schedule and to reserve capacity on the line (yes, this is capacity planning... ). We are not executing - or introducing jobs into the line - by the plan, but rather wait for the Kanban signal. Therefore...

5. Use a replenishment strategy in the control cycle that does NOT create an order, but rather looks for an order on the Sequence and attaches itself to it.

Now we have a system that is controlling WiP - because we only introduce a job into the line when one comes out - adheres to a planned sequence that guarantees material availability and enough capacity, and  is demand driven to avoid the waste of overproduction.

Sounds too simple to be true? I try to get into more detail in follow up blogs... but it works! with standard SAP!

On the standard MRP procedure, when material variants are used, the configuration should be copied directly and only from the material master classification. Note 416174 provides the following explanation of the system standard design:

"System design: When you create order proposals using the material requirements planning, always the more specific characteristic valuation of the requirements is preferred over the general characteristic valuation of the material. This is valid both for planning configurable material as well as for planning configured materials.

For configured materials (material variants, storage types) the material requirements planning assumes that all existing requirements do not have any characteristic valuation or are valuated according to the configuration of the material. This is at least ensured in the BOM explosion of the material requirements planning, where the configuration of the order header is only inherited by the configurable components, not by the configured components.
In addition to dependent requirements there can also be planned independent requirements for configured materials that have a configuration not corresponding to the material master. Therefore, the configuration of the sales order item of a configured material can be changed at any time in the sales order. The changed configuration of the sales order is also transferred for configured materials to the corresponding order proposals.

The usage of the characteristic valuation of the requirements when planning a configured material is relatively unproblematic if the master data (BOMS, routings) of the configured material is not configurable itself.
If, however, the master data of the assigned configurable material is used in the planning, the material variant behaves exactly like a configurable material in the planning, that is, the master data is exploded according to the configuration of the requirements.
In scenarios where the configured material is basically planned with a planning strategy, that provides for a sales order planing or individual project planning, the usage of the configuration of the requirements does not result in planning errors.
The usage of the requirements configuration, however, becomes problematic in scenarios where planning strategies are used for a make-to-stock production. Due to the requirements grouping on a daily basis, requirements with different characteristic valuations can be combined to an order proposal. The order proposal receives the characteristic valuation of the first valuated requirement. Furthermore a differentiation of the various configurations in the inventory management (plant stock or storage location stock) is not possible."

Due to a program error, the configuration of the requirement was copied instead of the material master configuration. This program error was corrected on the standard system by note 1712759, which is included on the latest support packages. Now, the configuration is correctly copied from the material master, as explained above.

However, many SAP customers were used with the old system behavior, without the correction. This bug was used like a feature and the configuration was always copied from the requirement. In those cases, when there is no configuration on the material master, after the implementation of the correction, the BOM explosion may be affected, leading to the exception message "53: No BOM explosion due to missing configuration" for the planned orders.

Therefore, the following modification note was created, to bring back the old system behavior, where the configuration is copied from the requirement, even for a material variant:

1972831 - Exception message 53 in MD05: No bill of material explosion due to missing configuration

Please observe that this is a modification note, which must be re-implemented after each upgrade or support package.

See also "Strategies for Variants - Demand Management (PP-MP-DEM) - SAP Library" for more details about material variants.

Dear All,

I am compiling this blog for the purpose of summarizing common errors that I have come across with respect to standard SAP PP module tcodes and their remedial SAP Notes. Most of the inputs I have got only from this forum threads.

Hope this will be useful.

Regards,
K.Arun Prabhu.
“Never calculate the height of a mountain before you climb it. When you reach the top, you will realise how low it was”

The behaviour of the Reduction Period (CUSTOM_T437S-HORIZ) is not clear.

The described behavior is defined in the below source code:

Include LBARMF0E
Form    READ_PLAFZ

HZENDE = BUDAT + T437S-REDHZ.
MOVE HZENDE TO PLAF_SEL_DAT.
...

SELECT * FROM PLAF INTO TABLE PLAFZ
   WHERE MATNR = MATNR
     AND
PWWRK = WERKS
     AND PLWRK = PLWERK
     AND PEDTR <=
PLAF_SEL_DAT
     AND SOBKZ EQ SPACE
     AND KBNKZ = SPACE
     AND
PLSCN = SPACE
     AND SOBES NE 'V'
     AND VRPLA EQ space.

If you would like to reduce a particular planned order by backflushing in the transaction MFBF:

Enter the planned order number in the Section:

               "Selection data"

Without entering any planned order number, the system would select all open planned orders valid until the backflush date (normally the current date) plus
the reduction period maintained in the REM profile. This means that all the planned orders for the assembly will be taken into account when reducing the
production quantities if the order finish date is equal or smaller than current date + Reduction horizon days. This includes planned orders in the past, even
when you have planned orders dated on the same day than confirmation date.

See more details about this topic in the note1932420.

Sorry the link was wrong , now it should work.

Best regards

María Núñez.

It can occur that in MF12 or MF41 you want to reverse a document and you receive following errror message:

Error message RM213 "Document is postprocessing document and cannot be cancelled" while reversing a document in MF12 or MF41

Example: BOM with

1. Assembly confirmation with transaction MFBF:
   Material document
   4900000001:
   

   B	UN	Material	Description		Movement
   1	1	PP_REM_FERTM	pp-rem-fert	1000	131
   2	2	PP_REM_RAW	pp-rem-raw	1000	261

   
   A document log for a second component ,
   sent to transaction COGI:
   

   9000000001

   2

   2

   PP_REM_RAW2

   pp-rem-raw2

   261

   M7 018

2. 
   Correction of movement in transaction COGI:
   Go to COGI and postprocess the
   above entry. A new document is created:
   

   4900000002

   1

   UN

   PP_REM_RAW2

   pp-rem-raw2

   1000

   261

3. 
   In MF12 you can see the postprocessing document 4900000002 type N
   and
   4900000001
4. 
   Reverse material document 4900000002 --> error message RM213 is
   displayed

In the standard the system does not allow reversal of processed material documents. The posted reprocessing document has the processing type N which you can find inEvaluation -> display document

When you reverse this material document, system will check the processing type (mdbp-vaart) and if it equals N (charn)-reporcessing document, error
message RM213 is issued. Posting a reprocessing document unfortunately results in losing some information, most notably the version-id - hence a reversal, i.e. the original status before posting, is not possible.
In detail:

• Before posting the reprocessing doc all information relevant for PP  (production planning) is available
• After posting the reprocessing doc the original reprocessing doc is deleted and a material doc is created. The material doc contains only information
  relevant for (MM) material management.
• Therefore it is not possible to reverse the reprocessing: the  material doc lacks information necessary to recreate the original reprocessing document

There are two alternatives to this situation:

• The recommended way is to reverse the original backflush document.The original backflush, the reprocessing docs (created at backflush) and the
  material documents (created when posting the reprocessing docs) form one logical unit and belong together. Thus by reversing the backflush all the reprocessing docs and material docs are reversed as well.
• The other option is to post a Neutral document in MFBF. With this option you can post with a reversal movement type with the same quantity of the
  postprocessing document. To do this, go to the transaction mentioned and go to menu path 'Edit/Document Neutral Reversal'.

Please see note 1867502for additional details.

Sorry, the link was wrong , now it should work.

Best regards

Maria Núñez

One of my favorite clients runs a mix of production orders and repetitive manufacturing. As I visited their distribution center last week, I saw that they have a fairly simple assembly and kitting operation going on in the warehouse before the ship bundled spare part kits to the customer or the manufacturing plants.

My suggestion was to use repetitive manufacturing for the scheduling of the assemblies (and kitting) to make it easy and automated. With only little customizing necessary, we put the whole thing together within 3 days. Actually, the only customizing effort that was required was for the layout key and a setup matrix (using setup group category and setup group key), so that we can dispatch a sequence that is build automatically according to 'like' setups.

The first thing we did was switching from reorder planning to the deterministic PD. the previous V1 had the effect that inventory holdings (how much to put into the reorder level) had to be calculated based on the two demand sources:

- Stock transport order requests from Manufacturing Plants

- After Market requests from Customers

With a changing demand situation it was very difficult to find the right reorder point and assembly was only triggered when a reorder point was broken. Since then a forward scheduling is executed, the inventory left, after the reorder point was broken, had to be enough to fulfill the demand. This is a very difficult planning situation and requires a lot of inventory.

That is why we decided to plan these products with PD, where future demands (from STOs or customer orders) result in the generation of supply orders in exactly the quantity and exactly the date, they are demanded. Using safety stock to buffer any variation in lead time and demand, we can now schedule production to exactly meet demand. With a fixed lot size FX that corresponds in quantity to the smallest possible run, the MRP run generates supply proposals into the order pool that are a multiple of the minimum run quantity. In scheduling we can then flexibly sequence run quantities in feasible lot sizes

after the MRP run you can then see all the various demand elements in MD04 and the supply that covers them.

Now we can move onto scheduling and in MF50 we can see - tabular or graphically how MRP, which works without any consideration of capacity, sequence or material component availability, fills the pool of orders.

using the previously customized layout key for sequencing according to 'like' setups, we can now simply select three weeks worth of orders and click the 'dispatch button. The system uses the sequencing profile and first sorts all the orders and builds a sequence, then it distributes the orders within the limits of available capacity defined in the individual work orders.

Note that there are three work centers that can be scheduled. If you define alternative routings and production versions, you can use the dispatching strategy in a way that, in case of missing capacity, the dispatching can resort to another work center and therefore perfectly distribute the orders.

since we are working with repetitive manufacturing, there is no need for a planned order conversion to production orders. The orders you see here are executable. Now you may perform a collective availability check using MDVP on the schedule and expedite missing parts for next week.

All that's left is MF51 where you can prnt the schedule and hand it to the operator who will be happy to receive instructions on a feasible plan that's checked for capacity and materials availability.

Scenario

This document explains how to implement on SAP a very simple kanban system to procure materials from vendors.

Kanban system is a “smart” system that could be used for example to procure materials with low value and a short lead-time. This kind of materials need to be procured when is requested and without added cost of management. Kanban system call the procurement when requested directly from shop-flor without any MRP run and the purchase order could be sent directly to the vendor.

To complete the solution we developed a Web-dynpro Abab forms. They are used directly on the shop-flor from the vendors itself (when they arrive weekly):

• Kanban change status – from FULL to EMPTY
• Good-receipt from Purchase Order

Customizing activities

In order to set-up the kanban system is necessary to create a Kanban replenishment Strategy from tcode OM12. In order to manage better the message, we created a Purchase order type ZKB. The Purchase Order ZKB has a setting on message conditions to send the from by mail to the vendor address.

Master Data activities

To set-up the kanban is necessary to create the following Master Data:

• Production Supply Area that will contains the kanban – tcode PK05
• Set the MRP Storage Location Indicator to 1 – Material Master Data  - from view MRP4 – tcode MM02
• Create Kanban Control Cycle from tcode PKMC

Control Cycle Kanban

From PKMC is necessary to mantain the Control Cycle Kanban.

Insert at list: material, Production Supply Area, Kanban Qty, No Kanban, WM info. Than External procurement type, vendor.

The kanban Quantity could be fixed initially with a nr 2 pcs. Than with the specific Kanban Calculation procedure is possibile to calculate the kanban no based on requirements.

In Kanban Calculation tab is possible to enter some parameters to calculate the number of kanbans or the kanban quantity (calculation type 1 or 2 rispectively).

Insert the Production Supply areas to select the requirements for Kanban Calculation.

The Kanban Calculation procedure will read the requirements on inserted Producion Supply Area and will determine the kanban nr with the following formula.

K = kanban nr

RT = Lead-Time (from Kanban Cycle or if missing from material master data)

AC = Average Consimption

CONT = Qty of material in a Kanban

SF = Safety Factor (default 1)

C = Cycle Control constant

Kanban Calculation

Is possible to calculate the nr kanban (or the kanban quantity depending on calculation type into control cycle) from the tcode PK07 and PK08.

PK07 = create proposal

PK08 = display the proposals and update the kanban control cycles

Consider that the proposals could be created reading consumption/requirements from MRP or from LTP scenario.

Kanban initialization

When the Control cycles are created is necessary to print the kanban by PK17. Than is necessary to initialize them from kanban board PK13N.

Is very important to link the kanban printing with the box and update the kanban status from PK13N. This operation need to be done directly in the shop-flor and is a good exercise to train the people on kanban management. This operation need to be done accurately.

Procurement by kanban

We created a Web-Dynpro ABAP to manage the following processes:

• Change kanban status from FULL to EMPTY (WDA uses the BAPI_KANBAN_CHANGESTATUS1)
• Good-receipt against PO (WDA uses the BAPI_GOODSMVT_CREATE)

The WDA are used from vendors itself.

Otherwise you can use from classic GUI the tcode PKBC and read directly the barcode on Kanban printing (standar layout) to change the kanban status and MIGO to book the Good-receipt.

If "Display Stock" function is used in goods movement overview of CO11N, the base unit of measure is used to display stock quantities.

If you want to have the stock displayed in the unit of entry implement  BAdi WORKORDER_GOODSMVT and add the following coding in Method GM_SCREEN_OKCODE_CHECK:

DATA: wa_comp TYPE LINE OF ty_t_cowb_comp.

  if i_okcode = 'MMBE'.
    loop at ct_comp into wa_comp where mark = 'X'.
      set PARAMETER ID 'MMBE_ME' field wa_comp-ERFME.
    endloop.
  endif.

After the implementation of the correction note 1944811 some side-effects were observed by some customers.

The following simptoms can be observed on a production or process order confirmation on transactions CO11N or COR6N:

1 - When you click the button 'Actual data' the error message 'RU052 - The order header must be transferred for the confirmation' is triggered.

2 - The confirmation may be terminated with a short dump MESSAGE_TYPE_X of program SAPLCORF with error RU 888.

If you are observing one or both symptoms on your system, the following note should be implemented:

2020769 - CO11N: Program termination after message RU052 + determination of actual data

If you are observing errors related to the personnel number or if the error 'CO 469: Order [order number] is already being processed by [user name]' is triggered, the following note should be implemented as well:

2018945 - CO11N: Personnel number not saved in confirmation

Best regards

Caetano Schlabitz de Almeida

SAP Active Global Support.

The correction note 1944811 was delivered on a recent support package and some side-effects were observed during the order conversion in mass processing transactions, such as COHV.

The issue happens when, on the customizing transaction OPJK, you have selected the option '1 - User decides on creation if material is missing', as shown on the screenshot below.

When you try to convert a planned order using transaction COHV, the availability check is carried out and, if there is a component missing, the following popup screen is displayed:

User selects the option 'NO', even though, the planned order is converted to production or process order.

An additional symptom is that the capacity check is not carried out.

In this case, the following note should be implemented, to correct a program error that causes this issue:

2017459 - Error in mass conversion of planned orders

After the implementation of this note, the order conversion will be cancelled when the option 'NO' is selected on the popup.

Caetano Schlabitz de Almeida

SAP Active Global Support.

PP-SFC

PP-MRP

PP-REM

PP-CRP

The stock/requirements list (transaction MD04) is the most requently used transaction to analyze the MRP results. It's a very useful transaction because of it's flexibility, which allows you to see the MRP elements, stocks and change the MRP elements according to your business needs.

However, there is another transaction called MRL list (MD05) which is very often forgot during the MRP results evaluation. MD05 is quite similar to MD04, and the main difference is that MD04 is dynamically updated, while MD05 shows the results of the last MRP run. Basically, MD05 is a screenshot of the last MRP run. That means, if you create or change or delete any MRP element after the MRP execution, this change will be reflected on MD04, but not on MD05.

If transaction MD05 is not dynamically updated, then why should I use it?

First of all, keep in mind that transaction MD05 does not replace MD04, however, there are some scenarios where MD05 is very useful.

Below there are some examples:

1 - Analyze the exception messages triggered during the MRP run: The MRP List (MD05) is builded during the MRP and it shows the exception messages that were triggered by MRP. The Stock/Requirements List (MD04) is builded when the MRP elements are readed from the database and the MRP logic cannot be completely reproduced here. Therefore, the exception messages from MD05 may be completely different than the exception messages from transaction MD04.

This is especially relevant when evaluating the rescheduling exception messages and the differences will generally arise when lot sizing procedures different that EX are used. The difference between both transactions arise because the lot sizing procedure is not considered when importing the planning elements from the database on transaction MD04. Notes notes 29703, 1794796 and Question 3 of the FAQ note  550441 provide more detailed explanation of such differences.

The differences between the exception messages may also apper on another scenarios, such as discontinutaion or when a quota arrangement is used.

2 - To know exactly when this material was last planned by MRP: Sometimes it looks like some materials were not planned by MRP at all. Using transaction MD05 it is possible to know exactly when a material was last planned by MRP and if all the requirements were covered (tip: if the material was not planned by the last MRP run, check the planning file on transaction MD21).

3 - See the planning results exactly how they were after the MRP run: In some cases, you may observe uncovered requirements, missing planning elements or unjustified replenishment proposals after the MRP execution. Using transaction MD05 and comparing the results with MD04 allows you to know clearly when a requirement or planning element was created, changed or deleted after the last MRP run and this is a very useful tool for troubleshooting.

4 - Check errors that happened during the MRP run: When an error happens during the MRP execution, the planning run for this material is terminated. If you check the results on transaction MD04, you will simply find uncovered requirements, however, the termination error message is logged and it can be found on the MRP list.

5- Performace: Transaction MD04 reads each planning element it's respective database table on each call and. For a material with a huge number of planning elements, it means that long selections will be executed and it can take some time to finish loading. Transaction MD05 simply reads the MRP results stored encrypted on a table and this is generally faster than MD04. Therefore, MD05 can be used for a quick view of the planning elements, in case of performance issues on MD04.

You are running MRP for a material and you have defined a value for for the field "Create purchase requisition" on your variant. However, the value defined on the variant is not considered when you run MRP in background or in transaction MD01.

For example, you have defined the value "1 - Purchase requisitions" on your variant and you expect to have purchase requisitions created by MRP. However, after the MRP run, you observe that only planned orders are created. When you try to plan your material using MD02 or MD03, system correctly creates the correct replenishment proposals, according to the value defined for this parameter.

Why this is happening?

Besides the parameter defined on the MRP variant, it's possible to define a different value for the MRP Group. Therefore, if this is happening on your system, you should check the following points:

1 - Check if there is an MRP group assigned to your material on tab MRP1 of the material master (tab MRP2).

2 - On the customizing transaction OPPR, click the button "Creation indicator"

3 - Here, check if there is a value defined for the field "Create purchase requisitions"

There are some important remarks related to this issue:

1 - Even if there is no MRP Group assigned on the material master, when there is an MRP group with the key equal to the material type key, this MRP group is considered by MRP. For example, if you have created the MRP group FERT, it will be considered for all the FERT materials where an MRP group has not been defined. This system behavior is defined on the following note:

34013 - MD04, MD05: Material type as MRP group

2 - The values defined on the creation indicator customizing are not considered when running single-level MRP on transactions like MD02, MD03, MD41, MD42, etc. You can find more information about the system behavior on the following note:

23922 - MRP: Creation indicators, PReq. or planned order

3 - The same logic is valid for the indicator "Schedule lines". However, it is also possible to define a value for the creation of schedule lines at plant level on the customizing transaction OPPQ. You can find on the section "external procurement"

In some business scenarios, you need to control if an specific planning element will be relevant to MRP or not. For some MRP elements, there is no customizing or master data setting to control that, therefore, SAP delivered BAdI MD_CHANGE_MRP DATA, which allows you to add a custom logic to define the MRP availability of each planning element.

This BAdI is called during the MRP run and on the MRP transactions, such as the stock/requirements list.

On the screenshot below you can see that there is an element PRqRel. This element is MRP relevant, as it is turning the available quantity negative and a purchase requisition was created by MRP to cover it.

It is a very commomn business requirement to have only stock transfer order (not requisition) releases relevant to MRP on the supplying plant. On this document you will find an example of how this BAdI can be used to make a stock transfer requisition release not relevant to MRP on the supplying plant.

Firstly, open BAdI MD_CHANGE_MRP_DATA on transaction SE18. Clicking the button "documentation" you will find a detailed description of this BAdI.

On tab "interface" you will find a list of all the available methods. There is one method for type of each planning and, since this example is focused on stock transfer requisitions releases, we will use method CHANGE_MDPSX_MDUA.

Go to the menu GOTO, SAMPLE CODE and choose the option DISPLAY.

Here, double click the method CHANGE_MDPSX_MDUA.

Here you will find a sample code delivered by SAP that makes stock transfer requisitions releases not relevant to MRP (this logic replaces the old modification note 190298). This code will be used as a base for our BAdI implementation.

Get back to transaction SE18 intial screen, choose the menu IMPLEMENTATION and CREATE and choose a name for your BAdI,

On the next screen, write a short text and double click method CHANGE_MDPSX_MDUA, on tab interface. You may be prompted to save and choose a package to your BAdI. You may click the button "LOCAL OBJECT" if you don't have a package.

Now copy the sample code, make the desired changes and activate your method.

Go back to the previous screen and activate the BAdI. If the BAdI is correctly activated, you will see the text "Implementation is called" on field "Runtime Behavior".

Checking the same material from the first screenshot again after the MRP run, we can notice that the purchase requisition was deleted and that stock transfer requisition release does not affect the available quantity anymore.

The same logic can be used on another methods to control the MRP relevance of other planning elements. Basically, field VRFKZ from the internal table CH_MDPS controls the MRP relevance of an MRP element. Besides that, another fields of CH_MDPS can be changed and on the documentation you can find a list of the available parameters. If you don't want to see the planning element on MD04 you should use the parameter CH_EXIT.

You should consider that this BAdI will be called during the MRP run and a complex logic implemented here may affect the MRP overall performance. Also, changes made on planning elements within this BAdI are not saved on the database, however, they will be considered by MRP, therefore, this BAdI should be used very carefully.

For more details about all the BAdIs available on MRP, see the following document:

BAdIs for MRP

If you are facing any problem with a BAdI on MRP, see the following note:

Here I list some common tips and notes to check MRP performance issues:

1. Start analyzing MRP performance from reading through note 204517:

    204517 - MRP: Typical causes of performance problems

    It covers most causes of MRP performance problems.  Keep in mind with the following key suggestions:

       - Do not use the processing key NEUPL and planning mode 3 in the productive operation unless necessary.
         135788 - Planning mode in material requirements planning
         78867 - MD01: Documentation on the planning mode
         206666 - MRP: Control parameters during planning

        The blog post MRP: Why shouldn’t I use planning mode 3 on a productive system? explains more why planning mode 3 should not be generally used.

      - Consider whether for materials with many dependent requirements, a dual lot size should be defined. You can create this in customizing of lot sizes (Transaction OMI4).

      - Consider using the setting "Bulk Material" indicator in the material master. The dependent requirements of bulk materials are not relevant to materials planning.  See note 483672.

        483672 - Performance and bulk material settings

      - Archive old data to reduce RESB entries eg. production orders etc.

2. Analyze old MRP job processing time by reports RMMDMONI and RMMDPERF.

    1865330 - MRP: Performance issue - useful reports

3. See if you can improve MRP performance by using parallel MRP on several servers. t-code OPP1.

    568593 - FAQ: Parallel planning run (MD01, MDBT and so on)

4. Analyze MRP performance by t-code ST14.

    382037 - Performance in MRP, analysis via EarlyWatch

    Please go to transaction ST14 and select 'Production Planning', if there is no data to be analyzed, you should run the analyze by 'Schedule job' for 'Availability Check' and 'MRP run', then check the data after the job is finished.

    Please go to Core Functions -> Availability Check -> Receipts/Issues Reservations and dependent reqs (RESB), you would see which plants aremostly affected and the materials (Click the line of Top 100).
   

    You can also go to 'Production Planning' -> 'MRP planning' -> 'Reservations and dependent reqs. (RESB)' to check the same. Please also check other items for MRP there. This transaction also shows how many old data in 'Time distribution of record' which you can consider to archive.

Other related notes:
  23278 - MD01, MDBT: Performance during MRP run
  72647 - Perform. mat.reqs planning: Analysis questionnaire

550568 - FAQ: MRP run (MD01, MD02, MD03, MDBT,...)