Executing the Planning Run in SAP S/4HANA

You can execute the planning run at two levels, such as total planning for a plant or for an individual material. You can execute a total planning run for several plants and MRP areas (planning scope).

You can execute a single-item planning run for one BOM level only (single-level) or for all BOM levels (multilevel). Interactive planning of a material is also possible.

Multilevel single-item planning can also be executed for a Sales and Operations Planning (SOP) product group.

You can execute total planning online or as a background job.

Total planning for a plant encompasses all MRP-relevant materials for this plant and includes the BOM explosion for materials with BOMs.

From the MRP menu, you can execute total planning online or as a background job.

To execute the total planning run as a background job, select a report variant to restrict it to the relevant plant, and schedule the job.

You can use a user exit to restrict the total planning run to materials that fulfill certain freely definable criteria. For example, you can select all materials for which a particular MRP controller is responsible.

The total planning run can be triggered for each plant, for example, as a background job with a variant for each plant to be planned. If, however, there are mutual dependencies (for example, due to stock transfer), plants may have to be planned several times.

It is, therefore, possible to group together several plants (or MRP areas) in the scope of a planning run in a planning sequence and to plan on a cross-plant basis in a total planning run. The system takes mutual dependencies, such as those arising through stock transfer, into account automatically.

You define the scope of planning for total planning in the Customizing activity Define Scope of Planning for Total Planning for Material Requirements Planning. If you have activated MRP with MRP areas, you can group together plants and MRP areas in a planning scope. You can plan all materials in an MRP area.

You can use the planning scope to execute a total planning run online or as a background job for one plant, for several plants, for an MRP area, for several MRP areas in Material Requirements Planning, in master production scheduling, and in long-term planning. The planning run with planning scope must always be started with parallel processing.

When planning with planning scope, you must set the Parallel Processing indicator in the planning run. Parallel processing means that the planning run is divided into several independent work packages that run parallel to each other in different sessions. You define the sessions in the Customizing activity Define Parallel Processing in MRP. You can access this activity directly from the MRP menu.

The advantages of parallel processing are as follows:

• Improved performance:

  If several computers or processors are available for these sessions, the time required for a planning run can be reduced significantly.

• Robustness:

  The planning run continues even if a runtime error occurs for a material. This material is given a corresponding entry in the material list. (Without parallel processing, the planning run terminates and the remaining materials are not planned.)

The work packages are divided up by low-level code. The improvement in performance is noticeable if the BOMs have a wide structure, that is, if the individual elements in the BOM are made up of many components.

The low-level code is the lowest level at which a material appears in any BOM structure. The low-level code of a material is always higher than the low-level code of all its predecessors in all the BOM structures.

The low-level code controls the planning sequence: The system plans the materials with low-level code 0 first, then those with low-level code 1 and so on. All materials are thus planned in the correct sequence in a planning run.

The low-level code is calculated and saved at client level during BOM maintenance. You can display the low-level code in the material master from the MRP 1 view by choosing Information on material or in the planning file entry, if there is an entry for that material in the planning file.

You need to specify the following control parameters for MRP when you start the planning run:

• Processing key: You define the planning type as regenerative planning or net change planning within the total Horizon or within the planning Horizon only.
• The Create purchase requisition and Schedule lines indicators are only relevant for materials that are procured externally. You can determine whether or in which period purchase requisitions and schedule lines are required as a result of the planning run.
• You can determine further whether the planning run is to generate MRP lists. It is possible to have the system create MRP lists only when certain exception messages are issued (you define the exception messages that are to trigger the generation of an MRP list in the Define and Group Exception Messages customizing activity).

• With the planning mode, you define whether the existing planning data should simply be adjusted, whether BOMs and routings should also be reexploded, or whether the existing (unfirmed) plan must be deleted and rescheduled from the beginning again (caution - performance).

• You can also set the creation indicator in the MRP group for purchase requisitions, scheduling agreement schedule lines, and MRP lists. The materials assigned to this MRP group are then planned accordingly in the total planning run.

With regenerative planning, the system plans all the materials in a plant. This is useful for the first planning run and also during day-to-day operation of the plant if data consistency cannot be guaranteed due to technical errors. During the day-to-day operation of a plant, it usually makes sense (particularly with many materials) to execute MRP for only those materials, which have undergone MRP-relevant changes (for example, due to goods issues, new sales orders or changes to the BOM structure). Due to its short runtime, net change planning (which is used to plan only these materials), allows you to execute the planning run at short intervals, so that you always have the current planning result.

Due to the performance of SAP HANA, this is no longer necessary. Therefore, this processing key (NETPL) is no longer available.

Net change planning only plans those materials that have been subject to a change relevant to MRP. Changes relevant to MRP lead to a planning file entry being created specific to the plant and material. Examples of MRP-relevant changes include changes to the procurement type, changes to the operation times, and also the creation of sales orders, dependent requirements, stock changes, and so on.

The respective entries in the planning file are made automatically by the business application of the system. They can, however, also be made manually from the MRP menu in individual cases. (When doing this, you should remember that a change in the routing does not automatically cause an indicator to be set in the planning file.)

The planning file entry contains information such as the following:

• The low-level code of the material
• Whether the material has been subject to an MRP-relevant change (NETCH indicator)
• Whether the BOM has to be rereexploded to be deleted

You can use the Display planning file entry transaction from the MRP menu to analyze the contents of the planning file entry record for the materials.

During the planning run, the system checks every entry for a material in the planning file.

• With regenerative planning, the system plans all materials contained in the planning file without taking the indicators into account.
• With net change planning, the system only plans those materials that have been flagged with the "NETCH planning" indicator.

When the planning run has been executed, the entry in the planning file is automatically deleted. The NETCH planning indicators are reset when regenerative and net change planning is used.

During single-item, multilevel planning, the system explodes the material’s BOM and creates and plans the dependent requirements of the assemblies and components. If the components also have BOMs, these are also exploded and the components are planned. This is repeated until all BOM levels have been exploded. All materials are planned according to the parameters entered in the initial screen of single-item, multilevel planning. Planning is carried out as top-down planning. During multilevel planning, the MRP controller has the option of displaying and manually changing the planning results of assemblies or components before planning is resumed.

During single-item, single-level planning, the system generates dependent requirements for materials at the next BOM level. "Single-item, interactive planning" is available as a variant in which the system displays the current planning situation before the planning run can be triggered manually.

You can check and process planning results for single-item, single-level, or multilevel planning before saving them (Display results before they are saved indicator in the initial screen). The MRP controller can create, change, delete, and reschedule procurement proposals before planning is resumed.

You have the following options for influencing the planning result interactively:

• Single-level planning, interactive: You plan on a single-level. The system displays only the current planning result when you call the function, you trigger the planning manually from the menu for single-item, interactive planning and save the result when closing the function.
• Single-item, multilevel: Setting the Display results before they are saved indicator (the function can also be used for multilevel planning) has the advantage that the results are not saved until they have been checked and, where necessary, changed by the MRP controller. The materials to be planned this way are displayed as breakpoints, and you can choose at which point (material) you would like to stop. You are then able to display the planning result for the desired breakpoint and change it before proceeding with further planning. The changes take immediate effect on subsequent planning.

  If you do not set the Display results before they are saved indicator, the planning results are automatically written to the database in the planning run. In addition, you have the option of checking the result for all planned materials directly at the end of planning by selecting Display matl. list on the initial screen.

• Single-item, multilevel with the simulation mode indicator set: You can plan a planned order on multiple levels.

You can use the firming period to protect the master production schedule for master schedule items (in the MPS run) and for non-master schedule items (in the MRP run) from being changed automatically, and you can therefore stabilize your planning. Within the firming period, which is defined individually for each material, procurement proposals are no longer changed automatically during the MRP run.

You can define the firming period based on the total lead time of the material. In the shown example, assume that the order finish date of the planned order for E1 lies one day before the end of the firming period. The system treats it as firmed and does not automatically reschedule it. The master production schedule for the components is, therefore, stabilized.

You can define the firming period using the planning time fence or a manual firming date. Planned orders can also be firmed and unfirmed manually. The system draws your attention to any possible changes to the master production schedule in the form of an exception message in the MRP list. It is then up to the MRP controller to process these changes.

If a planned order is changed manually, the system automatically sets the firmed indicator for this planned order. This means that the header data of the planned order will remain unchanged in the next planning run.

If a component in a planned order is changed manually, the system also sets the firmed indicator for the components. This means that the components of the planned order will not be changed in the next planning run.

The firming indicators for the planned order or the components of the planned order can be changed manually. If the planned orders are flagged as firmed through the definition of a firming period in the stock/requirements list and the MRP list, this occurs independently of the firming indicator for the planned order or its components.

By resetting the conversion indicator in the planned order, you can prevent the planned order being converted into a production order or purchase requisition.

The firming type determines how the procurement proposals (especially planned orders and purchase requisitions) are to be firmed for the planning run and in which order they are to be scheduled within the firming period.

You specify the firming procedure to be used for each material using the MRP type. The firming type is defined in Customizing for the MRP type.

You can use firming for materials planned with both master production scheduling and material requirements planning. Corresponding MRP types are available for this in the standard system.

• With firming type "0", no firming period is effective.
• With firming types "1" and "2", "automatically firmed" indicates that any procurement proposals inside the firming period will now be firmed automatically. They can therefore no longer be changed by the planning run, only manually. Likewise, all procurement proposals that are moved into the planning time fence are firmed automatically.
• Firming type "1": The planning run covers all new shortages that have occurred within the planning time fence at the end of the firming period.
• Firming type "2": The planning run does not cover any new shortages that have occurred within the planning time fence.
• Firming type "3": All procurement proposals that have not been manually firmed within the planning time fence are moved to the end of the firming period. If new shortages occur within the firming period, they are covered at the end of the firming period.
• Firming type "4": All procurement proposals that have not been manually firmed within the planning time fence are deleted. If new shortages occur within the firming period, they are not covered.

In contrast to the planning time fence, the manual firming date is also effective for materials with MRP types with firming type 0, or without a firming type.

You can use the firming period to protect the master production schedule for a material from being automatically changed soon. Procurement proposals within the firming period are no longer changed automatically during the MRP run. You can define the firming period using the planning time fence. The system calculates the finish date of the firming period based on the MRP date.

You can specify the planning time fence either for each material in the material master record or using the MRP group assigned to the material master. The length of the planning time fence (in working days) should be based on the total lead time of the material. The planning time fence is only effective in connection with an MRP type that has a firming type.

The firming type determines how the procurement proposals are firmed for the planning run and how the dates are set within the planning time fence. Existing procurement proposals, which slip into the planning time fence are firmed automatically with firming type 1, as shown in the figure, Planning Time Fence, when the date of the procurement proposal falls at least one day before the end date of the planning time fence.

The date for new purchase requisitions that were created within the planning time fence and not created manually, is postponed to the final date of the planning time fence with firming type 1. This means that these new procurement proposals are not firmed.

A planned order is only planned in the period BEFORE the firming date if it is manually rescheduled and put there by the MRP controller.

You can also define the firming period by manually entering a date lying in the future. This date then acts as the manual firming date. The manual firming date causes automatic firming of the procurement proposals for materials with firming types 1 and 2 that lie before the manual firming date.

Unlike the planning time fence, materials without a firming type (firming type 0) are treated like materials with firming type 1 as far as the manual firming date is concerned. This means that the procurement proposals that lie before the manual firming date are firmed, and new procurement proposals are moved to the manual firming date. If you have set a manual firming date and a planning time fence is active, the firming period is determined by the end of the planning time fence, providing this date is later than the manual firming date. If the manual firming date is the later of the two dates, then this defines the firming period. You can set and reset the manual firming date in the stock/requirements list, in the planning results, or in interactive single-item planning. You can use the manual firming date in material requirements planning, master production scheduling, and/or long-term planning.