Configuring Labor Management

• Detailed reporting by defining LM-specific master data, such as processors and shifts.

• Calculate planned execution times using engineered labor standards, travel time, and personal needs, fatigue and unavoidable delays.

• Determine labor activities to better structure your engineered labor standards and your reporting.

• Perform operational planning, labor demand planning, and strategic planning in SAP BI.

• Record execution, for example, the actual duration and additional information such as indirect labor and time and attendance.

• Evaluate employee performance.

• Analyze execution. For example in the warehouse management monitor.

Each task in the warehouse has a certain workload. You can plan this workload only if the scope of the task is fixed: for example, if a warehouse order with one or several warehouse tasks has been created. SAP EWM automatically creates a document for the planned workload for each external process step and activity. This document is a basis for resource planning. After the work is executed, additional data becomes available, such as which worker executed the work, the exact start and finish times, and the resources used. When the planned workload is completed each day, you can use the executed workload to compare the planned and the actual duration.

In the executed workload, you can compare the planned and actual duration for the following:

• Warehouse orders
• Value-added service orders
• Quality inspection documents
• Physical inventory documents
• Indirect labor

You can use the indirect labor task to plan or capture indirect labor, that is, work that is not directly related to the standard warehouse activities. When the indirect labor task is completed, the system automatically creates an executed workload. This enables you to evaluate indirect labor together with direct labor in the warehouse management monitor node for executed workload. It also allows you to consider indirect labor during the creation of employee performance documents.

You can use engineered labor standards (ELS) to define the normal time that is required to execute an activity in the warehouse.

Preprocessing gives you an overview of the workload that arises at a particular time for inbound and outbound deliveries or in the physical inventory for Cycle Counting. When you have created warehouse tasks, QM inspection documents or physical inventory documents, the planned workload of these documents and from preprocessing can be used in operational planning.

With operational planning, you define calculated planning goals based on the workload, processors, and a calculated measurement service (CMS). In the simulation of planning you find out how changes in the planning environment, such as expected workload, would affect the result.

A performance document enables you to perform an employee-related evaluation of the executed workloads (EWL) for a chosen time period. It contains the cumulative planned and actual execution durations of the assigned executed workload, and the labor time of the employee, and therefore enables you to draw conclusions about the performance or utilization of the employee.

A customer always defines external process steps with reference to internal process steps. If various external process steps are assigned to the same internal process step, they are all activated for labor management through the single activation of the internal process step. You can then deactivate individual external process steps for your warehouse.

This means that the system must find the external process step in a warehouse order or other document to determine if the document is labor management relevant.

The following possibilities exist for this situation:

• Warehouse Orders Using process-oriented storage control:

  For warehouse tasks for process-oriented storage control, the external process step is determined from the storage process. For each step defined in the storage process, the system creates a data record for the planned workload, even if no document exists yet for this step. For optional steps, such as deconsolidation, the system only generates the workload records when it is clear that the step is to be performed.

• Other Warehouse Orders:

  For warehouse orders for warehouse tasks that were not created through process-oriented storage control, or for physical inventory warehouse orders, the external process step is determined using the activity.

• Quality Management:

  For the workload for inspection documents, the system takes the external process step of the document itself. For this, you have to specify an external process step for the inspection document in the inspection rule. For subordinate elements of the inspection document, the system takes the external process step of the inspection document. This does not apply if an external process step is assigned to the element using a sample-drawing instruction.

• Value-Added Service Orders (VAS Orders):

  For VAS orders, you can configure an external process step for each activity. You maintain this in the packaging specification of the VAS order.

• RF Receiving HU from Vendor or from Production:

  In RF receiving HU from vendor or from production, the system determines the external process step from the warehouse settings in this Customizing activity.

• Indirect Labor:

  In indirect labor tasks, the user enters the external process step manually.

• Labor Management provides a series of functions to help warehouse managers plan labor times and resources effectively.
• Using engineered labor standards (ELS) in Labor Management, the performance of warehouse employees can be evaluated.
• Functions specific to Labor Management (LM) include: creating a planned and an executed workload, and creating documents for indirect labor. And also: calculating planned execution times using engineered labor standards (ELS). Employee performance measurement can be supported by creating performance documents. A last labor management function to mention now, is supporting planning and simulation processes.
• To use Labor Management in SAP EWM, it has to be activated in Customizing. This can be done either at the beginning of an SAP EWM implementation or for a warehouse where SAP EWM is already in use.
• When active, Labor Management allows you to plan, track, and measure the labor times for the following processes: warehouse order processing, physical inventory, VAS order processing, quality inspection processing, receiving an HU from a supplier or from production using radio frequency (RF), and indirect labor tasks.