Determining Activities and Durations

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to determine activities and durations for Labor Management in SAP EWM

Activities

For calculating the planned duration for activities in the warehouse, the system offers different possibilities for calculation:

External process steps and work step sequences:
Standard times assigned to work steps are enhanced with conditions and formulas.
Labor activities:
A labor activity is a series of tasks performed in a warehouse. A labor activity can be relatively simple, such as changing a battery, or relatively complex, such as picking a product, packing it, and bringing it to the loading zone. Labor activities can be determined in two ways:
- Directly:
  This is used if there is a 1:1 relationship between a labor activity and an external process step. This is always used for indirect labor, for example, changing a battery.
- Using a decision service in BRFplus:
  If there is no 1:1 relationship between a labor activity and an external process step, for example, in the case of picking or staging, a decision service in BRFplus determines the labor activity at runtime. It does this by considering context-dependent information such as external process step, activity area, material group, location, or reference document data (such as a warehouse order).

A flowchart with two columns divided by a blue and white dashed line. The left column consists of boxes with text starting from the top: Direct or from warehouse activity, leading to Process step. From Process step, a line points down to Work step sequence. To the left of Work step sequence, a box labeled Constant time, conditions, formulas connects to it. From Work step sequence, a line points down, ending at Normal time (planned duration). The right column consists of boxes with text starting from the top: Labor activity, leading to Direct or from BRFplus. From BRFplus, a line points down to Rulesets, Expressions (decision tables, formulas, loops, value ranges). From Rulesets, Expressions, a line points down, ending at Normal time (planned duration).

With labor activities you use BRFplus for the time calculation.

For the travel time calculation and the determination of factors for personal needs, fatigue and unavoidable delays (PFD) BRFplus can be used together with work step sequences.

Engineered Labor Standards (ELS)

Note

See the following video to learn more about engineered labor standards (ELS):

The normal time is calculated twice, when:

The result of the engineered labor standards (normal time) is stored as the planned duration in the planned workload.
The result of the engineered labor standards (normal time) is stored as the adjusted planned duration in the executed workload.

The standard time is the result of multiplying the normal time (adjusted planned duration) by the PFD factor and adding the PFD allowance. The standard time is stored as the adjusted planned duration in the executed workload.

Summary

A labor activity is a series of tasks performed in a warehouse, which can be determined directly if there is a 1:1 relationship between a labor activity and an external process step, or using a decision service in BRFplus if there is no 1:1 relationship between a labor activity and an external process step.
You use engineered labor standards (ELS) to define the normal time that is required to execute an activity in the warehouse.
The normal time is the expected time required to perform a work activity at a normal pace, under normal operating conditions, and using a prescribed method. The standard time is the normal time adjusted for allowances. These include time for labor fatigue and personal needs, equipment breakdown, rest periods, and information delays. The standard time is calculated by multiplying the normal time by the personal fatigue and delay (PFD) factor and adding the PFD allowance.
In EWM, the normal time has two approximate technical equivalents: the planned duration is the time within which an activity is to be completed, and the adjusted planned duration is the time in which an activity is to be completed once the related document (for example, the warehouse order) has been confirmed and, therefore, the executing resource is known.
The result of the engineered labor standards (normal time) is stored as the planned duration in the planned workload. The result of the engineered labor standards (normal time) is stored as the adjusted planned duration in the executed workload.

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