Explaining Shift Planning

Schedule Labor supports operator- and operation-oriented labor scheduling.

With Schedule Labor, you can:

• Assign labor directly to work centers
• Assign labor to resources
• Assign shifts to production operators
• View production operators assigned at the detailed user level

Schedule Labor focuses on answering the question:

"Which operator works on which work center/resource during the selected planning period?"

Schedule Labor 2.0 supports work center–oriented shift planning.

With Schedule Labor 2.0, you:

• Assign operators to shifts
• Assign operators directly to work centers
• Plan labor coverage per work center and shift
• Review labor assignments in a shift × work center view
• Adjust assignments to ensure work center coverage during execution

The following table summarizes when to use each scheduling approach.

To use labor scheduling, the following objects must exist and be correctly linked:

• Orders
• Workcenter
• Resources
• Shifts
• Certifications
• Users
• Supervisor responsibility

Authorization Requirements: Business role "SAP_DM_LABOR_ADMIN"

App: Manage Work Centers

Work centers represent the locations where production operations are executed and are a prerequisite from SAP Digital Manufacturing Execution.

Configuration steps:

1. Create work centers for the plant.
2. Ensure work centers are active and correctly assigned.
3. Choose Minimum /Maximum Number of People.
4. Save the work centers.

Result:

• Work centers are available for execution and labor assignment.

App: Manage Shifts

Shifts define the time structure used during labor scheduling.

Configuration steps:

1. Create shifts (for example, Early, Late, Night).
2. Define:
   • Shift start time
   • Shift end time
   • Break times (if applicable)
3. Assign the shift to the relevant plant.

Result:

• Shifts are available for assignment in Schedule Labor and Schedule Labor 2.0.

App: Manage Resources

1. Resource Name: Unique identifier following naming convention.
2. Resource Description: Clear description of resource capability.
3. Efficiency Factor: Set resource efficiency percentage (typically 85-95%).
4. Resource Type: Assign Resource to Workcenter.
5. Shift Assignment: Assign Shifts to Resource.

Certifications in SAP Digital Manufacturing for REO serve as critical control mechanisms that determine the required expertise level for operators to work with specific materials, operation activities, or resources.

Certifications enable precise resource allocation in Schedule Labor by filtering qualified personnel for specific work centers and ensuring only certified operators are assigned to critical tasks. They provide compliance assurance and quality control by preventing unauthorized personnel from performing specialized operations.

App: Manage Certifications

1. Certification Name: Descriptive certification title (e.g., "CERT_ASSEMBLY").
2. Description: Detailed description of certification requirements.
3. Status: Set to "Enabled" for active certifications.
4. Duration Type: Temporary or Permanent certification.
5. Assignment Certification to of Material / Operation activity or Resource.

App: User Assignments

Configuration Steps:

1. Open Manage User Assignments app.
2. Select Create New User.
3. Enter user details:
   • User ID
   • Personal Information: First Name, Last Name, Employee ID
   • Availability Status: Active
   • Certifications: Add Certifications if required
   • Work Center Assignment:Select manufacturing Work center
   • Supervisor Assignment:Select the workforce you are responsible for. This step is essential to see the workforce in Schedule Labor and Schedule Labor 2.0.
4. Save and activate User.

Result:

• User created and available in system
• Person appears in workforce directory for labor assignment

App: Manage User Assignments

Work center assignment defines where labor resources are allowed to work showing as well their respective certifications.

Configuration Steps:

1. Open the User.
2. Adding Certification to User.
3. Assign eligible labor resources to Work center.
4. Save the User settings.

Result:

• Labor resources can be scheduled for the assigned work centers.
• Schedule Labor derives the work center via the operation, while Schedule Labor 2.0 uses this assignment explicitly.

App: Manage User Assignments

Schedule Labor only displays labor resources within the supervisor’s responsibility. Define one or more Supervisor.

Configuration Steps:

1. Select the user which shall be defined as Supervisor.
2. Assign labor resources to the supervisor context (depending on the role model).

Result:

• Supervisors only see and plan the operators they are responsible for.

In this example, Zhirong serves as the supervisor of these 5 users.

App: Schedule Labor (Labor based)

Use the Schedule Labor app to view production operators assigned to you and to assign shifts and resources to the production operators for a given calendar week. This app helps the production supervisors to create a shift plan for a production operator, and to reassign the resources based on the availability of a production operator during shop floor events. You can filter the assignments based on shift and work center.

Prerequisites: You have the role of Production_Supervisor or Manufacturing_Admin.

1. Open the Schedule Labor app.

   The shift plans of production operators (assigned and unassigned) are displayed on the dashboard. Optionally, you can filter the list by name and qualification.

2. Choose a production operator from the list.
3. Choose a calendar week from the planning calendar (choose the month to view the calendar).
4. To assign a shift, choose a shift from the Assign Shifts dropdown list.
5. Choose a work center or resource from the Assign Work Center.

   If a production operator is assigned to a specific work center, you can choose reassign them or add another work center as needed.

6. After you have assigned multiple work centers, you can define the working intervals using the Set Time Slots feature.
7. Choose OK and save the changes.

The saved assignments are updated on the planning page of the app for the relevant week.

• Capacity: Total available working hours of all production operators for the selected calendar week.
• Demand (Planned): Total planned labor demand for the selected calendar week based on planned orders.
• Demand (Scheduled): Total labor demand that has been scheduled for the selected calendar week.
• Capacity Requirement: Total labor hours required to execute the scheduled operations at the work center.
• Work Center Allocation: Total time assigned to work centers across shifts, independent of the number of operators assigned.
• Number of Hours per Shift: Total assigned working hours per shift for all production operators during the working week.
• Absent: Total hours of unavailability of all production operators during the working week.
• Day Shift: Total working hours assigned to production operators during the day shift.
• Evening Shift: Total working hours assigned to production operators during the evening shift.
• Night Shift: Total working hours assigned to production operators during the night shift.
• Shift Overtime: Total overtime hours worked by all production operators during the working week.

More detailed information: https://help.sap.com/docs/sap-digital-manufacturing/resource-orchestration/schedule-labor

Result: Labor assignments are prepared for View Labor and consumed by Dispatching and Monitoring Application.

App: Schedule Labor 2.0 (Workcenter based)

Prerequisites: You have the role of Production_Supervisor or Manufacturing_Admin.

Execution steps for shift planning:

1. Open the Schedule Labor 2.0 application.
2. View the available Work Centers and their planned labor capacities in the canvas.
3. Switch from the Display tab to the Maintain tab.

   

4. A pop-up appears: select the Shift to be planned.
5. Click the Configure Rules icon.
6. (Optional) Select Rules for Workforce Selection to fetch the complete workforce.
   1. Default selection is the current shift
   2. Click Run.

      

7. Select the required Certifications for the Work Center to be planned and choose Run.
8. The workforce with the corresponding certifications is displayed below.
9. Select the Workforce and Work Center to be planned, then choose Allocate.

   

App: Manage Skill Matrix

Use the Manage Skill Matrix app to improve workforce planning. Assign skills to workforce members and manage competency levels.

• You've added employees or operators to be supervised in the Manage User Assignments app.
• You've uploaded the skill data using the Manage Skills Template app.

Procedure:

1. To open the app, select the Manage Skill Matrix tile.
2. Go to the Skills column to provide a rating based on defined ranks for different skill levels. This helps identify potential skill gaps within your workforce. Use skill groups to maintain groupings of skills, allowing you to organize them in a way that is meaningful for your organization. Apply changes as needed to keep skill data accurate and up to date.
3. Save the changes

App: Manage Skill Template

Purpose: Enables you to define and manage skills at various proficiency levels for resources.

Use the Manage Skills Template app to define and organize skills of employees within an organization. With its proficiency levels, skills definition, and template management features, the app enables accurate resource allocation and optimization, leading to improved productivity and efficiency in manufacturing operations.

• Proficiency Levels: The app provides you with proficiency levels, ranging from a minimum value of 1 to a maximum value of 5.
• Skills: You can define and update the skills of workforce
• Download Template: The app offers the functionality to download a spreadsheet template.
• Upload: You can upload spreadsheets with two different file categories: Initial Load and Delta Load. The Initial Load category is used for the initial setup of skills and proficiency levels, while the Delta Load category is used for updating or adding new skills and proficiency levels.
• Custom Data Configuration: Allows you to tailor data fields and parameters to meet specific organizational needs.