Review Availability Check Result – Insights

You may have already heard or read about Review Availability Check Result, the new explanation screen for availability check results in SAP S/4HANA. Have you?

If not, please check out the introduction blog post at https://blogs.sap.com/2020/08/24/review-availability-check-result-racr/.

Recap

Let’s take a moment to recap on the Review Availability Check Result screen and  understand what has actually been added to it with the most recent increment:

As of SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2008, you can display an overview on the requirements that have been sent to an Available-to-Promise (ATP) check and their corresponding confirmation(s). The overview includes an indication that an alternative shipping location may have been used to confirm the requirement.

Continuous Enhancements

Between SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2008 and SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2108, we enhanced the capabilities of the Review Availability Check Result screen with each release. This blog post summarizes the enhancements to reflect the SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2108 and SAP S/4HANA 2021 releases.

Customers and partners regularly requested that we address an increase in transparency on which basic method is executed during an ATP check and how this basic method is influencing the overall confirmation. With the Intermediate Results subscreen, you can now see which basic method (sales product allocation, product availability check or capacity allocation) was executed for each requirement and how the resulting confirmation situation is. This allows the user to understand why, for example, there is a delivery proposal as sales allocation constraints apply or the supply demand situation does not allow a full confirmation:

Intermediate result graph

The graph itself can be enlarged to give the full picture:

Enlarged intermediate result graph

The graph reflects the path the requirement takes during the ATP check. In this example, the request for 40 pieces of “Canopy Swing” has been sent to a plant in Warsaw. The existing sales allocation of 10 pieces per week for the requesting customer restricts the request. The subsequent product availability check limits the confirmation further in line with the supply demand situation and finally leads to a partial confirmation of 11 pieces on two delivery dates.

By clicking on the colored interconnected icons – each of which represents a basic method – you get a condensed overview of the initial request and the resulting confirmation. If further details are required, for example, which allocation was applied or how the actual consumption of the allocation planning data happen, click “Show Details” to navigate to the detailed explanation component.

Basic method overview

The additional explanation components offers insights to both Product Allocation (PAL) and Supply Protection (SUP).

To get a feel for the new screen and to identify how the Review Availability Check Result screen can help you in your daily work, check out the following video:

* Video has been recorded in an internal test system, UI may slightly differ from your systems Fiori/UI experience.

When working with Alternative-Based Confirmation (ABC),a central goal is the determination of the best alternative based on constraints and ratings. To set the frame for determining the best possible alternative, the building rule is set up within the substitution strategy. Internal sales representatives can now use calculated alternative confirmation proposals to select the proposal that offers the best fulfillment of the customer request by simultaneously following the once defined rule for alternative determination.

Alternative confirmation proposal

The screenshot shows an example where two alternative determinations are used in the substitution strategy to determine the best alternative. We can see that the alternative determination “On-Time Confirmation” has been chosen as it is the preferred determination according to the strategy’s building rule. However, the alternative calculated using alternative determination “Maximum Confirmation Earlier” can confirm more as it considers future supply. The user is free to choose between both alternatives and can therefore switch to the alternative offering a higher confirmed quantity:

Choose between alternative confirmation proposal

What’s next?

We will continue our incremental approach and provide new capabilities to the Review Availability Check Result, such as:

• Confirmation adjustment capabilities within the Chosen Confirmation tab on the requirement details page.
• Further details on basic methods such as Product Availability Check.
• Strengthened usability.

Please forward this article to whomever it may concern. Thanks for your feedback and continued interest!

Additional links

SAP S/4HANA advanced ATP – https://www.sap.com/products/aatp.html

Product Assistance: SAP S/4HANA Cloud – https://help.sap.com/viewer/32da8359c8ee4e8b8e8c5e15cacba5aa/LATEST/en-US/c5004759c06f478fb2b0f8840229f60f.html