Introduction
This solution process enables you to use the scheduling agreements in the procurement process.
Using scheduling agreements can shorten processing times and reduce the paperwork you are faced with. One delivery schedule can replace many discrete purchase orders or contract release orders. Delivery of the total quantity of materials specified in a scheduling agreement item is spread over a certain period in a delivery schedule, consisting of lines indicating the individual quantities with their corresponding planned delivery dates. Inventories can be reduced to a minimum. You can perform your manufacturing operations on the Just-in-Time (JIT) principle. Your suppliers require shorter lead times. Smaller deliveries are needed, which can be spaced out over a longer period. Delivery scheduling enables suppliers to plan and allocate their resources more efficiently.
A scheduling agreement is a long-term outline agreement between the supplier and ordering party over a predefined material or service procured on predetermined dates over time.
Usage of Scheduling Agreements
While using scheduling agreements, you can work with or without release documentation. The following table provides information about both scheduling agreements with and without release documentation.
| Without release documentation | With release documentation |
|---|---|
| The delivery schedule lines have official character; they are transmitted to the supplier as they are saved in the system. The system does not document releases against the scheduling agreement sent to the supplier in detail. Therefore, in the case of the document type without release documentation, the message control facility should be set up so that a message is immediately sent to the supplier if any changes are made to the delivery schedule stored in the system. All open scheduling agreements are always output. | If you use scheduling agreements with release documentation, the delivery schedule lines are not transmitted directly to the supplier. Initially, the delivery schedule lines stored in the system for an LPA scheduling agreement are for internal information only. A message informing the supplier of your material requirements cannot be transmitted to the supplier until you explicitly create an SA release, that is, a forecast (FRC) or Just-in-Time (JIT) delivery schedule. Through this process, you can change how the schedule lines are represented. With the release documentation, you can display the SA releases (delivery schedules) transmitted to a supplier over a certain period at any time. This enables you to trace precisely when you sent which information to the supplier. |
Creating a Scheduling Agreement
You can create a scheduling agreement as follows:
- Manually : You enter all data on the scheduling agreement manually.
- Using a reference : As a reference document (the document you copy from), you can use:
- Purchase requisitions
- RFQs/quotations
- Other scheduling agreements
- Centrally Agreed Contracts
If you wish to set up a scheduling agreement not with one of your suppliers but with one of your own plants, you should create a stock transport scheduling agreement (scheduling agreement for longer-distance stock transfers).
The following picture shows the key process steps of the scheduling agreements in procurement.
You can find the complete Solution Process Flow on Process Navigator - SAP for Me:
Scheduling Agreements in Procurement (BMR)