A time profile defines the time dimension of the planning view; it defines the various levels of time buckets in which data can be managed. The timeline is an ordered sequence of non-overlapping buckets or periods. These periods must be continuous with no gaps in the timeline, and they cannot overlap. The periods are identified by an integer and follow a linear sequential order.
The time profile itself is identified by a unique ID, which is an integer between 1 and 999999999.
All time profiles are made up of time profile levels, such as, months, quarters, and years. Each level is made up of periods, which are identified by an integer and describe the start and end time of the time period. Time profiles can be customized.
The SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain solution offers great flexibility for organizing data. Each time profile level is identified by an integer to form a sequence for each level. A sequence is required for multiple levels. Therefore, you must choose a number range that doesn’t overlap with another level’s sequence. The periods on different levels must form a hierarchy, and a period on a lower level can have exactly one parent at the next higher level. The exception to this rule is technical weeks. If these are used, then the normal hierarchy has an extra level with multiple parent IDs. This is used to split weeks correctly over the months. The technical weeks are split in time periods matching the monthly splits. Weeks and technical weeks are then both used as parents for days, and the months are parents for the technical weeks. This allows the system to show days aggregated to weeks, and days aggregated to correctly split months. You must specify the parent ID when uploading data.
Guidelines for Creating a Time Profile
Here are some basic guidelines to keep in mind when creating a time profile:
Each time profile has a unique ID, and this ID is always an integer (for example, 1, 133, and 5001).
To define a timeline, choose a Start Date value and an End Date value.
For time profile levels, the most granular level has an ID of 0, and the largest level has an ID of 1, progressing then to 2, 3, and so on (from the largest to smallest). For example, if a time profile is defined with the levels week, month, quarter, and year, the assignment is as follows:
MTHIODID0: Weekly period
MTHIODID1: Yearly period
MTHIODID2: Quarterly period
MTHIODID3: Monthly period
To create a time profile, you can cut time in different buckets or periods. They do not need to be the same size.
The system creates the hierarchy for you based on the time buckets you choose to model in your time profile.
The default display horizon that you set for a time profile level determines the default time period that is
preselected for the relevant time profile level on the Time Settings tab of the Create New Planning View
screen of the SAP Integrated Business Planning, add-in for Microsoft Excel.