Performing Cost Planning of Dependent Objects

As of SAP ERP enhancement package 3, you can plan statistical key figures for WBS elements in the Project Builder.

You can use statistical key figures to plan and monitor related data apart from costs and time, such as the area of wall to be painted, number of employees to be recruited, or kilometers of road to be constructed.

In the Project System, you can plan, post actual, and monitor statistical key figures for WBS elements, networks, network activities, and activity elements.

Orders are a type of business transaction. The characteristics of an order are determined by the order category, for example, a network. Order types are created for specific order categories and are available for the relevant applications.

You can define order types within an order category. The order type describes how the order is controlled. Customizing includes two tables: one for the order type and another for the order type/plant contribution.

You use the order type to control the following:

• Number assignment

• Default value settings

• User-specific status management

• User-specific field controls

You use plant and order type parameters to control the following:

• If the network is assigned to an activity or header

• Planned and actual costing variants

• The settlement rule strategy

You can assign various SAP orders to a project, including networks, internal orders, production orders, and plant maintenance orders. You can use project hierarchy reports to evaluate these assigned orders with the WBS.

Each order is a cost object with its own costing parameters, such as planned costing variant, actual costing variant, and overhead sheet. The planned costs of assigned orders are used to determine the planned costs of the project.

You assign orders to the project either by assigning a WBS element to the order header or by assigning the order to a network and activity as a sub-network. If the assignment is required only for cost control and analysis, you need to assign the order to the relevant WBS element. If the assignment is required for both scheduling and cost control, you need to assign the order as a sub-network. The WBS element is derived from the network activity.

Any type of assigned order can affect the project cost plan.

When customizing the order value update, you can stipulate if the order or network is appended and when an order is apportioned for each order category and type. This controls how the planned cost of an order affects the planning and assigned values of the assigned WBS element.

When an order is appended, planned values for the order are included in the planned value of the corresponding WBS element.

• If the appended indicator is set, the order planned value increases the WBS element planned value. The information system displays the total as the WBS plan. When cost planning is taken over as the budget, the values from the appended order also contribute to the budget.

• If the appended indicator is not set, the order planned value is not added to the WBS planned value. In budgeting, the plan total for such orders must be manually added so that these orders can use funds later.

When an order is apportioned, planned order costs increase values for the relevant WBS element. These values bind the budget until you close the order.

• When the funds commitment in plan indicator is set, the plan value of the order is added to the committed value of the WBS element as soon as the order has the status Created.

• When the funds commitment in plan indicator is not set, the plan value of the order is not added to the committed value of the WBS element until the order has the status Released.

Tables of Order Values

You can use the Appended indicator to specify, per order category, if an order is appended or if planned values for the order are included in the planned value of the corresponding WBS element.

After all of the orders are released, they are apportioned, which means that their plans, commitments, and actual values are fund assignments against the funds in the project. The order value table provides an indicator that is used to apportion orders earlier, at the Created stage.

You can set the Appended and Apportioned indicators based on the order category, order type, and controlling area.

An exception to apportionment at release is in the case of networks for preliminary planning. In Project System Customizing, you can specify the network types to be used for preliminary planning. Preliminary planning networks are never apportioned. Their related plan values do not increase the assigned value for the relevant WBS element.