Planning Capacity

In PPM, you face a number of constraints. You must complete items and projects on time and within budget. However, capacity demand and resource allocation have an impact on your item. Capacity planning can be crucial for an item when resources are limited. Based on capacity data, you may decide which product of your portfolio item is required to be updated, which project is required to be terminated, or in which product you want to invest.

In PPM you can enter, aggregate, and analyze capacity data at different levels. For example, you can plan capacity demand for items, for initiatives, and for buckets. You can either enter capacity data manually, roll up data to superior objects, or use integration of subordinate objects like portfolio projects. Capacity data is planned along a timeline. You can use a period breakdown for capacity planning. Capacity data is planned with respect to a certain unit. However, you can convert units in portfolio management.

The capacity planning process in PPM is not just about planning demand, but also about forecasted values, assigned resources, and actual values. Therefore, you can compare planned data with actual data.

Capacity planning in PPM is based on categories, groups, and views, which are predefined.

Examples of Categories, Groups, and Views

• Category:

  Management, development

• Group:

  ABAP developer, Java developer

• View:

  Demand, allocated

As a PPM administrator, you can set up your own categories for your company. You can subdivide your own categories in your own groups. Finally, you set up views as per your company's needs. As a portfolio manager, you can start planning from different points of view. The preceding graphic displays capacity planning with three different hierarchies. During capacity planning, you can switch between these hierarchies.

Once categories, groups, and views are predefined, you can start capacity planning. The preceding figure demonstrates manual capacity planning for a portfolio item. In this case, the Forecast view is predefined for manual planning. Thus, you can enter forecasted capacity demand for all periods within the planning interval.

You can use predefined units for capacity planning. Conversions of units can be calculated with PPM. Manual capacity planning is available for portfolio items, initiatives, and buckets. You can set up specific views for different objects. For example, you can set up the views Forecasted Demand of Items, Forecasted Demand for Buckets, and Forecasted Demand for Initiatives.

As additional information, you can define portfolio buckets as sponsors by default for the various capacity groups. In this way, you can document that another portfolio bucket has made resources available for execution.

In Portfolio Management, you define portfolios as hierarchies built from different levels of buckets (where items are assigned to the lowest level buckets). Capacity data planned at the level of items can be rolled up to the superior bucket. For example, you manually enter the capacity planning view Forecasted Demand for an item. The Forecasted Demand view is rolled up to the respective view of the bucket. You cannot manually change the Forecasted Demand view for the bucket.

A view is either rolled up to the bucket or maintained manually. The rollup of planning data is possible from an item to the superior bucket. The rollup is also possible from a bucket to a superior bucket. If you make use of initiatives, a rollup is possible from an initiative item to a superior initiative, and to a superior bucket. Details of the rollup process are set up in the configuration of views.

In PPM, capacity planning data is entered manually, is rolled up, or is calculated by integration of capacity planning of subordinate objects (for example, a portfolio project that is assigned to a portfolio item). The demand planning based on the roles of a project can be integrated with a capacity planning view of the superior item.

Integration of capacity planning is set up in the configuration of views for capacity planning in PPM. However, integration can be enabled for items only. You cannot use integration for buckets or for initiatives.

In addition to roles and allocation of assigned projects, you can integrate cost planning data, budget, actual cost, and commitments for a number of SAP ERP cost objects. The preceding figure shows typical objects assigned to portfolio items. For example, based on confirmations of working hours of an assigned internal order, you can calculate the Actual view in the capacity planning of an item.