Product Information
SAP S/4HANA Product Allocation Process
Dear SAP Friends,
Welcome to another interesting topic, Product Allocation
In this blog, I would like to share process steps involved in Product Allocation
If you would like to know first what exactly product allocation is, Hear is a high-level overview
Competitive order processing that aims to deliver the required quantity to the customer at the requested time demands precise planning and control mechanisms. Unpredictable problems, such as breakdowns in production or increased demand, can lead to critical situations in order processing and must be brought under control before they arise.
Product allocations provide this sort of control and enable your company to avoid these critical situations in demand and procurement. Equal allocation of products in short supply must be possible, as must speedy reaction to bottlenecks and changing market situations.
Depending on the period, you can allocate products for specific customers or regions. Using product allocations in situations in which a product is in short supply, you can avoid allocating the entire available quantity to the first customer, which either delays the confirmation of subsequent sales orders or makes confirmation impossible.
Source SAP Library:- Product Allocation
Now let’s see how to activate Product Allocation
The system I used to execute PAL is S/4HANA 1909 FPS01
Once Activated PAL in SPRO rest everything needs to be done in Fiori there is no GUI transactions for PAL
Below are 5 Applications required to execute PAL
- Open Configure Product Allocation App
Click Create
Maintain Required Fields as per business requirement
Based on the requirement we can select both Sales orders and Stock Transfer Orders as well
Once General Information has maintained Click Characteristics and maintain
We can select characteristics based on the business requirement from the available list, if the available list is not compatible with the business we can add more characteristics via “Manage Characteristic Catalogs” app
Once maintained General Information & Characteristics save
- Open Manage Product Allocation Planning Data App
Click on Go to see previously created Allocation
Click on edit and then Add option to add characteristics which we have selected previously
In the Selection Range, we can select as per requirement
In allocation planning Data maintain Characteristic values and planning figures
The graph will be generated as per the values maintained in planning its Planned and available Quantity
Once all data maintained Save
- Now Open Manage Product Allocation Sequences App
Click on Create
In General, Information Tab maintain Required Fields
Backward consumption & Forward Consumption data need to be given
Its how many months system need to consider for allocating, System first goes backwards if no quantity available then system checks in forward
From 1909 onward Capacity Sequence groups have been introduced
Sales sequence groups are checked against product allocation before the product availability check. Capacity sequence groups are considered after the product availability check.
Open Sales sequence groups and from the drop-down select the Allocation Object which we created in 1st step
The time period can be given as per requirement
Once maintained all values click apply and save
- Open Assign Product to Product Allocation App
From Name itself, we can understand what needs to be done ?
We need to assign Material to Allocation Object
Note:- Unit of measure which we given initially while creation allocation object and materials which we add must be same or else system will give an error
We can add materials as per requirement and once added click save
- Open Product Allocation Overview App
To see allocation consumption
Allocation Object RUTHVIK PAL consumption is 0 now let us create a sales order and see
Created Sales order for FG126 with 20 Qty, but we have allocated only 10 in the month of April
From march to may it considered and allocated as per our allocation object
Now we can see Planned Qty Consumed Qty & available Qty
In this way, we can allocate product and delivery to customers without any delays
Please share, Like and Comment anything else you want to share or add points.
Thanks & Regards
Ruthvik Chowdary
SME – S/4HANA Logistics
SAP Ariba P2P
Hi Ruthvik this a very good info.
Thank you ?
Which document to share ?? By the way remove your mail id from comment as per SAP community policy mail id or personal information should not be posted
Ruthvik is correct. We have removed the email address. Please see rules of engagement: https://community.sap.com/resources/rules-of-engagement.
Kind regards,
--Jerry (SAP Community moderator)
Nice document ! thanks for sharing
Glad you liked Pravin Mandgaonkar?
Hi Ruthvik,
I was expecting confirmation of qty 10 in the month of April, as per allocation data..isn't it?
Yes But in March unused 5 Qty is available so taken that in to account and 15 it has taken
Nice documents. Can you make a video on it??? I have one more question. What are the new features in product availability check as it was in already in classic ATP.
Hello Ruthvik,
Very very nice document..keep it up, learning from your day by day.
Hi Ruthwik,
Really a good blog to understand the product allocation process in new environment of S4 HANA.
Once we allocate 50 Pcs qty based on certain levels (say Sales Org/Dist Chann/Customer Group 1000/10/ZA) Is this 50 qty available for any other customer from other customer group ZB?
I tried all the configuration as per your blog and did allocated qty as i said above, and observed that it can be consumed by other customer group ZB. How we can avoid consumption by cust group?
Please suggest.
Venkat Ch
If you want to control a cross customer group, that needs to be maintained in paramaters while maintaining
Hi Ruthvik,
Thank you for sharing!
Is there a function or similar application to Product allocation Overview App for product allocation in SAP S4 Hana 1709 FPS02?
We really need an option not necessarily in fiori, for our implementation.
Regards
Hi Oriana Mercado,
Product Allocation functionality is available from 1909 version
Hello Ruthvik,
I have maintained the same settings, but still sales order qnty is getting confirmed more what ever i give.
Is there additional set up required?
Please let me know if you need some other screen shots.
Hi venu gopal,
Apart from the above-mentioned steps other aspects also matter like in Manage Product Allocation Sequences allowing past will also matter
as you said from Feb you allocated 10 CS so the system will consider JAN and December as well that might be the reason for getting allocated full stock for SO you create
Hi
The new product allocation design is really very much simplified in terms of set up.
In case there is a return of a product due to a quality issue, then the customer would return back and be sent a new replacement product. How do we make the system update quantities based on returns as well.
In the above case, without the return being updated ( as increase in allocation ), the system would update the replacement being sent out to the customer resulting in an incorrect update of consumed quantity.
How do we handle this in S4 HANA. ?
I'm Not sure this can be handled in PAL, If it's Customer Return it has to be having a Quality issue so bringing it back to stock is up on quality clearence.
Hi Rutvik
The issue is if you want to use Product allocation to manage "customer quota" arrangement where you want to control the quantity of products that a customer can purchase in a given period ( say for products that have a promotional pricing and you need a balanced market spread ).
In principle, you may be able to assign a product allocation object in the sequence that temporarily "bumps up" the quantity allowed for the same period based on the returns received, but that would be offline process.
ECC allocation had possibility to define incoming returns as a key figure with update rules and with a move to S4 HANA, the clients would tend to loose that functionality.
Let me know what you think.
Hello Ruthvik,
Thanks for your effort and your post helps a lot . We are in middle of upgrading to S42020 and we want to ensure that our system delivers the same results as earlier.
In S41809 we are using PAL successfully by using two sequence groups in the Manage prodicut allocaiton sequences.app with different product allcoation objects .
Here the system used to confirm the max available qty which was available from both the allocation objects (e.g Req del date 01.05.2021 , order qty 300, 100kg maintained in Obj1 and 50 maintained in Obj 2) so system confirmed 150 .
but now if I read the below information for S42020 (https://help.sap.com/viewer/f132c385e0234fe68ae9ff35b2da178c/2020.001/en-US/da2927df848e4aa98818ec1aa737c35e.html) , it says it will only confirm the max qty which is available in both the objects which means ( it will check Obj 1 and Obj 2 both but confirm only 50, as common qty on the same date across two objects is 50 )
Can you throw some light on this if you have come across such case ? or my understanding is incorrect
Manoj
Hi Manoj
There is a flag on the Allocation Sequences where you can specify that it should take the values with the Consume overlapping quantities only.
Does that use help you in this case ?
Regards
Hello Ruthvik,
Thanks for this helpful information.
I am wondering if I can set planning data for product allocation as a percentage from the available stock not quantities.
Thanks.
Hi Ruthvik,
There is a Business requirement in one of the clients, where they want product allocation to be set up based on the customer classification in customer master (Classification: Group1 & Group2). Is it possible to bring this field into the characteristic catalog to be used in product allocation planning data? If yes could please let me know the steps to follow?
Thanks,
Abishek
Hi Abishek Gubbi Murugappa
in the standard PAL, that field is not available to make rules, but we can get those fields in selection rules by doing app extensibility by enhancing
Hi Ruthvik,
Thanks a lot for your response. I have another requirement for one of the client, where we have activated 4 weeks of backward scheduling & 1 week of forward scheduling. But the problem is if the customer does not consume the quantities allocated to him during the allocated period. The system should not consider these allocated quantities for the future, in which case the allocation does not exist for this customer/material combination. Is there any settings where there is no allocation existing for this customer for that period, the consumed quantity can be made void?
Hope to get a positive response! 🙂
With regards,
Abishek
I'm not sure let me check and get back to you
Hi Ruthvik,
Thanks for this blog. What would a customer that does not go for aATP but chooses to stick with basic ATP have as alternative? Is Product Allocation also available there? Especially interested for customer using S4HANA Cloud.
Would be great if you could provide some kind of overview comparing the features of aATP with basic ATP (both in S4 on prem and S4 cloud).
Kind regards,
Wouter
Hi Wouter Van den Branden
firstly aATP is the same in S/4HANA and S/4HANA Cloud
Product allocation is not available in basic ATP
in aATP we have 4 components
Hi Ruthvik,
Great Blog.
I have a query.
Suppose I have a total quantity of 1000 PCS in a particular month which I wish to allocate among various customers.
I allocated CUST 1 (200 PCS), CUST 2 (300 PCS), CUST 3 (100 PCS). So total 600 PCS allocated. to CUST 1, 2 and 3.
Now the balance 400, I don't want to allocate to any specific customer. Any customer (excluding CUST 1, 2 and 3) can purchase the balance 400. How to achieve this functionality ? Kindly suggest.
Br,
Raj.
Hi Raj kumar,
balance 400 you can utilize like normal Sales process system will show available Qty to other customers other than CUST 1, 2 and 3 no need to do anything else
Hi Ruthvik,
Thanks for blog...!
I have Activated PAL in SPRO (1909) and follow all the steps still confirmed qty in sales order its not show in consumption just want to know its only after invoicing its show as consumed ? and if the Qty is not confirmed so how it will show in bar chart please guide what is missing.
can we link IBP forecast planning data with aATP PAL check is there any scope for Automation ?
Thanks
Hi Afreen,
Until if the Sales order is confirmed with the proposed Qty or the Qty is Delivered it wont show as consumed.
Yes we can Link IBP and can Automate
Hi Ruthvik,
Thanks for the blog. It was very helpful.
I have configured the Product allocation and maintained the allocation quantity in the Manage Product Allocation Product data App (say 100 qty) for the customer A.
In the Assign Product to Product Allocation App, maintained three materials.
When creating the sales order for customer A. For 1st material, it got confirmed for 100 qty based on the allocation quantity. For the 2nd material, nothing is confirmed as the quantity is already allocated for the 1st material.
I have a requirement that the the allocation quantity should be applicable to each material. Like 1st material - 100 qty, 2nd material - 100 qty & 3rd material - 100 qty. Currently the allocation quantity is applicable to all the three materials.
Could you please help on how do I achieve this requirement.
Thank you.
Nishanth
Hi,
It is very informative.
What are the t-codes which corresponds to these apps in S/4 HANA?
Thanks,
there is no t.code onlu works and available in fiori
Hi Ruthvik,
Thanks for the blog. It was very helpful.
How can we add new characteristics into the list. My requirement is, I have to use SO and STO both but when I select both then I dont see Sales office field. I can see it when I select either SO or STO.
Regards
Sharath
Hello Sharath,
you have to extend the Mixed characteristic catalog via app Manage Characteristic Catalogs. Precondition is that the field Sales office is part of both catalogs, the SO and the STO catalog.
Then press Edit on the Mixed catalog. Next press Create and enter an Alias (the alias will be the name of the new mixed characteristic). Then assign a base characteristic for both characteristic catalog types by pressing button Assign Base Characteristic for each of the items. In the pop-up select the corresponding base characteristic (in your case the Sales Office). After you saved your changes, you have created a new mixed characteristic which can then be selected and used in the Configure Product Allocation app.
Best regards,
Carsten
Allocation for Made to Order based on Capacity
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Hi,
The Product allocation works fine for stock items that you would like to control for distribution. However, in the configuration, the assignment of the check rule can also be to made to order. Does this work for made to order items where we would like to control the quantity that you can be confirmed based on the capacity constraints only ? So, you would have an allocation strategy that does not have sales constraints, but for made to order, you only maintain the capacity constraints.
What does the forum think ?
Regards
Rohit Zalani
Hi,
I have activated the configure product allocation application in SICF and the services are activated in maint services tcode, when I try to add the characteristics, a popup is opened with the list of options in a tree structure where most of the fields are In disable mode, I got the requirement to enable those fields that are in not active. kindly anyone help me to resolve this issue .
Characteristics Popup
HI Ritwik,
Nice Blog.
Is there any BADI or user exit in S4 HANA 2020 where i can skip the PAL check under certain conditions.