This video provides a high level overview of BRFplus and how to manage incompatibilities during transportation planning.
Using Conditions and Incompatibilities
Objective
After completing this lesson, you will be able to use conditions and incompatibilities to model business requirements
Introducing Conditions and Incompatibilities Using BRFplus
Conditions
Business Rules Framework plus (BRFplus)
The Business Rule Framework Plus (BRFplus) is a sophisticated tool for defining, managing, and executing business rules. Its user-friendly interface facilitates the modeling and reuse of rules, thereby streamlining decision-making processes. BRFplus supports various features, including simulation, tracing, transport, and XML export and import.
Typical Use Cases for BRFplus:
Validation of data and detection of invalid data and states
Matching responsibilities, suitable products, and locations
Calculation of costs, overhead, and risks
Conditions Using the Business Rules Framework Plus (BRFplus)
The Business Rules Framework plus (BRFplus) is a comprehensive, rules-based engine widely used within SAP Transportation Management (TM) for managing complex business rules. This framework significantly reduces the need for extensive development, customization, and configuration by providing a streamlined approach to handling SAP TM conditions. These conditions act as filters for automated decision-making processes, mapping input values to corresponding output values.
In SAP TM, conditions are logical evaluations applied to various objects, such as transportation requirements or freight units. These evaluations assess whether specific criteria are met, guiding whether particular actions or decisions should be executed during transportation planning. By automating the validation of compatibility between different elements and ensuring adherence to business rules, conditions enhance efficiency and minimize manual intervention.
Note
The conditions in the transportation management system (TMS) are not based on the condition technique used in SAP ERP. In the transportation management system (TMS), the condition is a proposition on which another proposition depends or what data will be fetched based on the filters and selection. Objects like tables, access sequences, or procedures are not available. Instead, SAP provided predefined conditions, and one can assign or set selection filters to fetch or determine a specific value.
Key applications of conditions include:
- Filtering freight units
- Determining freight unit building rules (FUB Rules)
- Managing incompatibilities
- Establishing sales organizations
- Setting rate tables and agreements with charge calculation rules
Origin of Condition: Condition Area
There are various types of conditions used for different areas, such as document type determination, order type determination, loading and unloading durations, incompatibilities, printing, approvals, tolerances, and custom rules.
Origin of Condition: Condition Type
The condition type defines the area in which the system takes the condition into account. SAP delivers several condition types in the standard system. A condition type defines possible input values as well as the output of conditions of that type. So-called data access definitions define the input values.
The Origin of Condition slide explains how conditions in SAP TM are evaluated based on input data, processed through an origin source (Direct Business Object Access or BRF+ Decision Table or Expression), and result in a specific output or action.
Input Values
Input Values: The input values available each time depend on the chosen condition type. The input values are defined by data access definitions, which specify what data exists and where to get it when evaluating the Condition.
Output Values
Output Values: The output values are determined by the condition type. For example, the org unit results from the org unit determination.
Three Key Methods for Condition Origin Determination
Direct Business Object Access
This approach retrieves values directly from predefined data definitions without additional evaluation. The system adopts the input values of a condition as its output values.
BRFplus Decision Table
This method evaluates input values against a decision table maintained through the condition user interface. It's commonly used in Transportation Management (TM). The system translates input values into corresponding output values based on the mappings defined in the decision table.
BRFplus Expression
This method evaluates input values against a decision table maintained through the condition user interface. It is commonly used in Transportation Management (TM). The system translates input values into corresponding output values based on the mappings defined in the decision table.
Watch the simulation Review Conditions to learn how to display a condition by filtering for the appropriate condition type.
BRFplus Decision Table
A condition maps input values to output values. This condition can be a single Boolean value used to select a business object or can consist of multiple output values derived from input values through a decision-making process.
The system creates a BRFplus decision table using these input and output values. It then processes this table sequentially from top to bottom during determination. When the system encounters a row where the input values match the current input values, it copies the associated output values and processes them in the calling area.
The slide exemplifies this by demonstrating the condition type "/SCMTMS/TOR_ORGUNIT." Utilizing a BRFplus decision table, the system automatically generates this table by employing standard data access definitions configured in Customizing. Users can then input specific values into the table to determine organizational units based on the source location specified in the freight order.
Incompatibilities
Incompatibilities
Incompatibilities define the compatibility of planning data that must be considered during transportation planning. For instance:
- Freight units with different Incoterms should not be transported together.
- A container of a specific equipment type cannot be transported on a particular resource due to size constraints.
- Refrigerated goods must only be transported using appropriate means of transport, such as refrigerated trucks.
- A specific means of transport cannot be unloaded at a location lacking a suitable loading ramp.
- A truck requiring side unloading cannot be unloaded at a location that does not offer the appropriate facilities for side unloading.
- A driver must not transport dangerous goods or operate a truck without a license.
During transportation planning, companies establish guidelines for shipping. For example, products requiring refrigerated containers cannot be shipped with frozen freight units. When planning transportation shipments, companies define rules for consolidating loads into a single freight order. Various factors, aside from capacity, influence how freight orders are constructed. In SAP Transportation Management (TM), these rules are known as incompatibilities. This data defines the parameters controlling when to consolidate loads and when not.
As illustrated, a company may have diverse products to ship, each with specific storage temperature requirements that dictate whether items can be consolidated. A test determines the optimal shipping temperature for each product. According to a rule, items classified as chilled cannot be shipped with items classified as frozen to prevent damage or spoilage.
Incompatibilities are used with conditions to influence outcomes in SAP TM during freight unit building, transportation planning, transportation proposal generation, and carrier selection. They are crucial for defining load-building requirements. For instance, freight units with different Incoterms must not be transported together. Refrigerated goods must be transported using appropriate means. Certain means of transport cannot be loaded at specific locations due to the absence of suitable loading ramps.
When creating an incompatibility definition, you must specify a validity area and type. The example in the image above shows Products (FUs) and Vehicle Resources. Incompatibilities can be defined in the following way depending on the transportation planning requirements:
Defining Incompatibilities Between Two Attributes:
You can establish incompatibilities between any two attributes of two business object nodes. This involves setting up two conditions and specifying the relevant results. Two business objects will be incompatible if the condition results match these criteria.
Defining Incompatibilities for Identical Values:
Alternatively, you can define incompatibilities for instances of the same business object by entering a single condition and selecting the "Ident. Values Only" (Identical Values Only) checkbox. This approach is utilized, for example, to define incompatibilities between two freight units. The two instances will be deemed incompatible if their attribute values differ.
Incompatibility Definition
When creating an incompatibility definition, you must specify a validity area, which consists of an incompatibility area and an incompatibility type.
Incompatibility Areas:
Incompatibility areas determine where an incompatibility can be applied. There are four incompatibility areas within SAP Transportation Management (TM):
- Automatic Planning (formerly known as Vehicle Scheduling and Routing (VSR))
- Manual Planning
- Freight Unit Building
- Carrier Selection
- Delivery Proposals
Incompatibility Area
| 01 - Automatic Planning and Manual Planning | 04 – Freight Unit Building | 05 – Carrier Selection | 07 – Delivery Proposal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 – Freight Unit – Freight Unit (Vehicle Level) | 52 – Transportation Request Item | 81 – Carrier –Transportation Order | 51 – Transportation Request Header – Transportation Request Root |
| 02 – Freight Unit – Freight Unit (Compartment Level) | 82 – Transportation Order – Transportation Order | 52 – Transportation Request Item – Transportation Request Item | |
| 03 – Freight Unit – Freight Unit (Means of Transp. Combination) | 53 – Freight Unit – Freight Unit | ||
| 04 – Freight Unit – Vehicle Resource | |||
| 05 – Freight Unit Transshipment Location | |||
| 06 – Freight Unit – Vehicle Compartment | |||
| 07 – Vehicle Resource – Vehicle Resource | |||
| 08 – Vehicle Resource – Location (Stay Level) | |||
| 09 – Vehicle Resource – Location (Loading/Unloading Level) | |||
| 10 – Vehicle MTR Combination – Location | |||
| 11 – Freight Unit – Freight Booking | |||
| (…) |
Incompatibility Types:
SAP provides predefined incompatibility types that specify the objects to which a rule applies. Examples include:
- Freight Unit to Freight Unit
- Freight Unit to Vehicle
- Freight Unit to Transshipment Location
- Carrier to Transportation Order
In addition to defining the validity area, the incompatibility definition can also specify how the rule is enforced during manual and automatic planning. This includes setting the reaction to the incompatibility, such as whether it's ignored, a warning is issued if ignored, or it must not be violated.
Incompatibilities can be defined between two attributes of two business objects by setting up two conditions and specifying relevant results. Two business objects will be incompatible if the condition results match the criteria.
Setting the Identical Values Only check box in the incompatibility definition allows for an incompatibility to be defined between two instances of the same business object, for example, two freight units. In this case, a single condition is defined as incompatibility. The two business object instances are then only incompatible if their values differ.
Incompatibility Settings
Incompatibility settings can be maintained in planning profiles, carrier selection settings, delivery profiles, and the freight unit building rule. Transportation planning profiles specify when the system allows incompatibilities to be violated during manual planning, VSR optimization, or background processing. Incompatibility settings are assigned within these profiles. The incompatibility settings combine several definitions that can apply to a planning run. Only incompatibilities for the same incompatibility area can be combined.
Watch the simulation Review Incompatibility to learn how to display Incompatibilities and review the essential settings needed.
Log in to track your progress & complete quizzes