OBP configuration entails the creation of certain profiles, planning levels, and specific settings for order-based planning.
These activities are listed under SAP IBP UI Order-Based Planning Configuration Menu.
In this section, we cover all the apps listed above, except "settings for order-based planning", which is covered in the next section.
OBP Planning Levels App
OBP Planning Levels App is used to create planning levels in order-based planning (OBP). A planning level consists of a list of attributes of the static data model of order-based planning. For example, MATNR, WERKS, and KUNNR from the sales order field catalog.
OBP planning levels are independent of planning areas. Regarding the planning areas, ensure that all attributes that are used in your OBP planning levels are mapped to attributes in these planning areas in the Settings for Order-Based Planning app under the Sales Order Field Assignments.
OBP Planning levels define the aggregation level at which key figures are read for specific purposes. This level is relevant for other profile settings, namely:
- Forecast Consumption Profiles
- Allocation Profiles
- Fair-Share Set Profiles
In the example above, we selected Location, Location Type, Material, and Customer as an aggregation level, that is, PERPRODLOCCUST.
We will see how this is used.
Forecast Consumption Profile
Forecast consumption replaces forecasted demand with actual sales order demand. Each time you create a sales order line, you create actual demand. If the actual demand is already forecasted, the forecast demand must be decremented by the sales order quantity to avoid counting the same demand twice.
The prerequisite to creating a Forecast Consumption Profile is a Planning Level, which we saw in the previous figure.
The forecast consumption profile in the case of Supply Planning with Allocation Creation run, defines the level at which the forecast key figures are read, in this case, Location, Location Type, Material, and Customer which is the planning level PERPRODLOCCUST.
In the Supply Planning with Order Confirmation run and the Deployment Run, the forecast consumption profiles define how incoming sales orders are deducted from the estimated future demand (forecast).
In the following example, Forecast Consumption Profile is defined at the Location/Material level.
The forecast is at the Location/Material level, but the sales orders are at the Location/Material/Customer level. The sales orders are aggregated to Location/Material and then deducted from the Forecast to derive Open Forecast.
Sales orders are aggregated to Location/Material, in this example as the Forecast Consumption Profile has been defined at the Location/Material level.
You need to assign a forecast consumption profile to each location material to use forecasts as placeholders for anticipating future sales or demands. Forecast consumption profiles can be associated with master data directly in SAP IBP.
Using real-time integration, you can also transfer profile attributes with a BAdI.
Allocation Profile
When products are "allocated" it means that the amount that a single customer can purchase of a product is limited. This type of allocation is put on products that are in short supply (or have the potential to be in short supply) while being in high demand to ensure the stability of the supply chain.
In essence, Allocation priority is the first level of supply distribution. Depending on the level of allocation plan being derived, these priorities can be applied at various levels, for example, among various sales channels or geographies, or even at a customer level. In these cases, we start distributing supply to allocation groups in the order of priorities defined so that the higher priority demand sets get satisfied first.
Product allocation profiles can be associated with master data directly in SAP IBP (not in an external system). Using real-time integration, you can also transfer profile attributes with a BAdI.
Available to Deploy Profile
When production is complete, the system first checks what product quantities are available at the source locations (locations where there is stock). The sum of these product quantities is known as the available-to-deploy (ATD) quantity. The system then determines how the ATD quantity is to be distributed to destination locations (locations where there is demand).
Using the Available-To-Deploy profile, you can configure which order types are considered "available to deploy" during the deployment run.
Source of Supply Selection Profile
The source of Supply Selection profile determines how you want to peg or use up available supply for demands.
Using the Source of Supply Selection Profile, the mode that should be used for a source of supply selection is defined.
These three types of Source of Supply are shown in the following figure.
Planning Run Profiles
Planning Run Profiles are used to define settings that are applied during planning runs.
The planning run profile is a mandatory job parameter for application jobs.
Demand prioritization rule, a maximum lateness rule, and cost rules could also be defined in the Planning Run Profiles app.
We will now see how a Planning Run Profile is used to View Demands by Priority.
We first describe what is Demand Prioritization in the next figure, and then how a Planning Run Profile is used to Simulate Demand Prioritization.
Demand Prioritization Overview
If you have multiple demands during the planning runs, the system should be configured to know which demands have a higher priority versus other demands, and then put the demands in certain in a sequence. This is demand prioritization.
Demand prioritization and rules behind it will vary for each customer. The rules are flexible and can be configured according to customer requirements.
The demands that enter the system need to be prioritized for the planning algorithms based on the business requirements.
- Demand prioritization rules are used during the Planning run to prioritize the demands
- The Simulate Demand Prioritization app can be used to simulate prioritization
Examples:
- Give Sales Orders a higher priority than forecasts
- Give Sales Orders with a Requested Date within the next week a higher priority than Sales Orders which are requested later
Demand Prioritization rules are part of the planning run profile. In many areas of the planning run profile, we will come across the concept of segments.
Segments help with grouping. In demand prioritization, segments are used to group demands and putting them in a certain order. In the following example, the demand segment with priority 0 has the highest priority and is covered first. The demand segment with priority 999 has the lowest priority and covered last.
By default, the system has segments 0 and 999. The segments between 0 and 999 can be configured according to customer requirements.
Conditions and Sort Attributes
Conditions used within segments are similar to Select statements. In the example, for Object type Ship To Customer, the Classification is used as a grouping criteria within that segment, and all demands with Classification of 01 are assigned to that segment. Different kinds of demand may fall within the same segment.
Let’s assume that five sales orders fall in that segment which satisfies the condition. Now, we must sort again within those five sales orders, and this is managed by Prioritization Settings.
There are two options in Prioritization Settings.
The first option is Demand Sequence Segment, where sorting is done using ‘sort’ attributes. In the case of five sales orders, they are sorted by Requested Date and Time in an Ascending manner. Alternatively, they can be sorted in a Descending manner.
The second option to sort is Fair Share Set Profiles this is discussed next.
Fair Share Set Profiles
The fair share set can also be created using the Fair Share Set Profiles app. Within the Fair share set, you define at which level of granularity fair shares set are created. The next step is to define the "portion size key figure".
The portion size is a dimensionless quantity that defines for demand fair share the maximum demand fulfillment of a fair-share set in one round-robin turn. It controls the proportions between fair share sets and how close you can get to achieving fair share. A basic rule is that the smaller the portion sizes, the closer you can get to achieving fair share, and the likelier it is that the proportions between the sets are kept. However, to increase performance, portion sizes should not be too small in comparison to the demand quantities.
Illustration of round-robin:
The total available supply is 60; the portion sizes are 100 for set A and 50 for set B. In the first round-robin turn, A gets all the supply, and nothing is left for set B. With a total available supply of 60 and portion sizes of 2 for set A and 1 for set B, set A gets 2, and B gets 1 in the first round-robin turn. In the next turn, they again get 2 and 1. These iterations are repeated until the supply is used up. In this scenario, set A receives 40, and set B gets 20.
Simulate Demand Prioritization
The Simulate Demand Prioritization app can be used to verify whether the demands are being prioritized according to the rules that have been configured in the Planning Run Profile. The demands are sequenced according to segment priority.
Maximum Lateness
In a Planning Run Profile, you can configure the maximum allowed lateness of primary demands.
Lateness can be configured by segment. Each segment is defined by a condition, for example, by material number or location number. Different demands can have different maximum lateness settings, according to their segment condition.
By default, the maximum lateness for sales orders and forecasts is 365 days.
Exception: The confirmation mode on the sales order level can set the maximum lateness for an order to 0 days. You may want to change the default behavior to achieve different maximum lateness handlings for different independent demands.
For example, some of your materials must be fulfilled in time or not at all, while other materials can be shipped late. For such use cases, you can create a rule to define the maximum days of lateness allowed, depending on demand attributes like locations, materials, the MRP controller, the plant type, or custom attributes.
