Industry solution functionalities available in standard S/4 HANA
When we research about S/4 HANA, we find a lot of information about the simplified scenarios or about the cool new features, such as MRP Live, Embedded PP/DS or Accelerated ATP.
However, there is an relevant topic which is very often forgot, that is the fact the standard business functions and many industry solution functionalities are active by default in S/4 HANA.
The standard PP business functions were already available in the previous ERP releases, but they had to be activated in the Switch Framework and many users and consultants don’t even know that they exist. A list of the available business functions can be found on the following link:
https://help.sap.com/erp2005_ehp_04/helpdata/EN/87/9dce5314894208e10000000a174cb4/frameset.htm
Considering the Industry Solution functionalities, I have already answered many threads in SCN telling that a specific functionality would be only available in an Industry Solution and now these are available in S/4 HANA. Here are some examples of the most useful of these functionalities that are relevant for manufacturing:
Order Combination
We can find many threads in SCN of users asking how two orders could be processed in parallel in the same work center. The answer was always that the order combination functionality was available in the DIMP industry solution and that those orders could be combined with transaction MILL_OC. We can combine operations of different production orders and even from different materials, posting a single confirmation, as the work is executed together, in the same work centers.
More details about the order combination can be found in the following link:
https://help.sap.com/saphelp_erp60_sp/helpdata/en/5b/cec353b677b44ce10000000a174cb4/content.htm
Parts Interchangeability
In some situations, the same part can be provided by different vendors and a different material is created in the system for each vendor. With the creation of a Manufacturer Part Number MRP Set (MPN-MRP Set) in transaction PIC01 we allow MRP to plan together those different materials. It will add the stock and consider planning elements of different materials, only suggesting the replenishment when there is not enough stock for all the materials under the MPN-MRP Set.
You can find more information about this feature on the following SAP Help link:
https://help.sap.com/erp2005_ehp_03/helpdata/EN/15/d8c353b677b44ce10000000a174cb4/frameset.htm
Fast Entry of Characteristics and Co-Products in Production Orders
For companies using classification of batches and co-products, there is a new tab in the production order transaction, which allows you to include new co-products on the order and quickly classify the order batches.
More information about the Fast Entry can be found below:
https://help.sap.com/saphelp_erp60_sp/helpdata/en/58/cfc353b677b44ce10000000a174cb4/content.htm
Mass Processing of Manufacturing Orders with Characteristic Selection
Another interesting DIMP feature that is now available is the mass processing of production and process orders with characteristics. Basically, in the mass processing transactions for production and process orders (COHV and COHVPI) we have an option to select order based in characteristics.
The picture below shows the new selection option in transaction COHV.
https://help.sap.com/saphelp_erp60_sp/helpdata/en/1b/eac353b677b44ce10000000a174cb4/content.htm
WBS Grouping, Pegging, Distribution (GPD)
This functionality was available for project manufacturing in IS-ADEC. It allows you to combine material requirements from different work breakdown structures (WBS) elements (across several projects or plants) into one or more grouping WBS elements for common inventory management and material requirements planning (MRP).
https://help.sap.com/erp2005_ehp_05/helpdata/en/78/f5c353b677b44ce10000000a174cb4/frameset.htm
Hi Caetano,
Very nice blog and well explained.
SAP has not provided only one thing and in every project I miss that. like Scrap generation in confirmation or in quality UD.
Regards,
Solomon
Hello Solomon
Stay tuned for the customer connection projects in https://influence.sap.com/
Whenever PP is part of the customer connection you can submit your suggestion for the desired functionalities.
Regards,
Caetano
Thanks Caetano for sharing ur knowledge, this is helpful to all SAP PP consultants. Thanks again.
Nice blog. Thank you for Sharing such a wonderful document .
Hi Caetano,
As on today, does SAP offer industry specific versions or now only S4HANA with industries in core? Like earlier we had SAP IS-OIL. Does it co-exist? Any industry which is now fully covered in S4HANA core? (I understand they are adding newer industries to the core so that industry specific installation is no longer needed for those industries).
And how is the licensing impacted? I guess SAP must be charging for select additional functionalities if they are selected in scope items. Please confirm if this understanding is correct.
Regards.
Rajesh
Hi Caetano!
Great article (as always)!
I found the fast entry feature potentially useful for my current client and tried to activate batch characteristics display in sandbox system (using customizing steps described in .help) but did not succeed. Columns are displayed with no values
Now I am wondering if this feature is relevant for configurable materials only?
BR,
Igor
Hi Igor
This feature is available for variant configuration characteristics only (class 300). See details on the thread below:
https://answers.sap.com/questions/99743/coois-with-selection-by-characteristics.html
Regards,
Caetano
Hi Caetano!
Thanks a lot for your response! However I need to ensure I got you right.
The thread under the link you shared contains expaination regarding feature "Mass Processing of Manufacturing Orders with Characteristic Selection" while my initial question was about feature "Fast Entry of Characteristics and Co-Products in Production Orders".
Should I suppose that both functionalities are relevant only for materials with class 300 assigned (configurable)?
BR,
Igor
Hi Igor
The question is not exactly the same, but the answer gives an overview of how DIMP works with characteristics for production orders in general, so it address your question.
Regards,
Caetano
Hi Caetano,
Does material interchangeability work with embedded PP/DS?
In this case the planned order is created in PP/DS and hence the BOM explosion happens also in PP/DS layer.
Regards,
Ninad
Hi Caetano,
thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. it was nice blog.
i would like to highlight one more functionality which was available as part of S/4 HANA system.
Supply to production line (S2L) , which is very useful for Automotive Industry, where we can do the replenishment up to the minute for high volume production scenarios.
https://help.sap.com/erp_hcm_ias_2013_01/helpdata/en/db/f8ca3b2ad83542e10000000a114084/frameset.htm
Best Regards,
Kumar Semmalai
Hello Kumar
Thanks for your input!
Regards,
Caetano
Hello Caetano,
Thanks one more time for such a helpful article!
Do you have an idea if Parts interchangeability functionality works well with PP-PI?
Basically it should as MRP works the same for process and production orders but I didn’t find neither clear statement on that in OSS notes nor on SCN.
Many thanks in advance!
BR,
Igor
Hello Igor
There is no option to trigger the interchangeability in the process order, like we can do in the production order.
Regards,
Caetano
Hi Caetano,
Thanks for your response!
Does it mean that it is also impossible to implement automatic component substitution based on MRP sets during MRP run?
Sorry, I never worked with DIMP functionalities before and not even sure it worked this way in old DIMP solution.
Thanks in advance!
BR,
Igor
Hello
Interchangeability works during the MRP run, but not in the process order. In the production order, there is a button to manually switch between the interchangeable components and this option is not available in the process order.
Regards,
Caetano
Many thanks for sharing
Could you please update broken link for WBS Grouping
Thanks Caetano