One of the key innovations in SAP S/4HANA 1610 is that it’s capable of Plan to produce in one system. PP/DS functionality used to be a part of the SAP APO product but now it can be accessed as an embedded feature on SAP S/4HANA as of release 1610 under manufacturing planning functionalities. I will make an attempt to learn what is being offered & how it can be of value for business. Below are the key features of PPDS in S/4HANA.
- Create procurement proposals for in-house production or external procurement to cover product requirements.
- Optimize and plan the resource schedule and the order dates/times in detail by considering resource & component availability.
- Plan critical products, such as products with long replenishment lead times or products that are produced on bottleneck resources.
- Create executable production plans.
This way PP/DS offers reduced lead times, increased on-time delivery performance, increased throughput of products and reduce the stock costs, through better coordination of resources, production, and procurement.
Additionally, as a bonus S/4HANA 1610 also offers 3 new PP/DS relevant apps which supports the usage of the functionality like never before. These apps are
- Production Scheduling Board
- Monitor Capacity Utilization
- Create Optimal Orders for Shipment
Production Scheduling Board
With this app, you can optimize and plan the resource schedule and the order dates and times in detail by taking resource and component availability into account.
Key Features
- Select a period of time for scheduling production
- Select a resource that you want to use for production scheduling
- Define conditions for the resources
- Choose how and where you want to place your production order
- View the utilization of the resource and sort the results based on the given filters options
- Set or modify scheduling options manually or through Heuristics
- Create an order or delete/modify an existing order
- View additional data: Details about an order Relationship between two or multiple orders Receive notifications
- Adjust timeline view by expanding or reducing timelines
- Publish changes to the LiveCache
- Save a draft version or save as a new production order
- Apply predefined application settings by choosing relevant application profile
- View activity logs for monitoring purpose
Monitor Capacity Utilization
With this app, you can monitor the utilization of resources in a selected area of responsibility. The list provides you with a quick overview of which resources are already being fully utilized or have a capacity overload so you can react quickly to critical situations. Furthermore, you can easily discern which resources have a capacity underload and whose utilization is in the normal range.
The evaluation profile you choose defines which orders or operations the system takes into account as well as the utilization rate percentages it uses for calculating the capacity utilization of the resources. By selecting an evaluation horizon, you can restrict the time frame of your evaluation.
Key Features
- Select an area of responsibility
- Select an evaluation profile to determine which resources you want to monitor
- Specify an evaluation horizon to determine the time frame for evaluating the resources
- Narrow down the scope of the result list using filters
- Personalize the table by choosing which table columns are shown and how table entries are sorted
- Display a color-coded chart showing the capacity utilization of the resources
- Configure the utilization chart to show a certain number of days or weeks
- Tailor the app to your needs and save the combination of evaluation profile, evaluation horizon, utilization chart settings, and filters as a variant
- Save your personalized variants as tiles on your home page from which you can access this app
- Navigate to the back-end transaction to maintain the resource planning table of a selected resource
- Navigate to the Production Scheduling Board app for a selected resource to schedule and reschedule orders using dates or time as scheduling attributes
Create Optimal Orders for Shipment
With this app you can see at glance which materials in your area of responsibility need to be ordered based on the specified shortage definition and filtered by the optimal order date. The app displays essential information about the material, such as the stock availability, the preferred vendor, and the alternative vendors, so you can order several materials from the same vendor in one purchase order. You can even temporarily change the preferred vendor for this purpose. You can then optimize the shipment of the materials by changing the order quantities. This enables you to use the full capacity of the means of transport (such as a truck), which is ecological and saves delivery costs. By adjusting the quantities you can also maximize the time until the next order from this vendor is due. Once you enter the capacity limit, the app assists you by proposing quantities and converting the base unit of measure into the logistical unit of measure. To complete the process, you can create a purchase order for several materials from this vendor.
Key Features
- Select an area of responsibility
- Select a shortage definition and specify the time frame in which the optimal order date of the materials occurs
- Narrow down the scope of the material list by using predefined filters
- Choose which table columns are shown and how table entries are sorted
- Display and configure a chart that shows the stock availability of a selected material
- Tailor the app to your needs and save the combination of shortage definition and filters as a variant
- Save your personalized variants as tiles on your home page
- Display a legend that explains the colors used in the availability chart
- Open a quickview for the material
- Navigate from the projected stock quickview or material quickview to the Manage Material Coverage app by choosing Check Material Coverage
- Open a quickview with a list of alternative vendors for a material if there is more than one
- Open a list of vendors for this material with information about the delivery, lot size, price, and contract, for example
- Select a different preferred vendor for this material for the current purchase order
- Create a purchase order for one material
- Navigate to the Order Several Materials screen to create a purchase order for several materials from the same vendor
- Choose whether you want to see all materials, only compatible materials, or only incompatible materials in the list
- Enter the capacity limit of the means of transport in the logistical unit of measure
- Change the order quantities to best utilize the capacity of the means of transport
- Use or change the quantities proposed by the system
