Global Available-to-Promise with SAP guide

Sandeep Pradhan and Pavan Verma

Global Available-to-Promise with SAP
®

Functionality and Configuration

Bonn Boston

Contents at a Glance

1 Order-to-Cash Business Process ........................................... 19

2 Introduction to Global Available-to-Promise ........................ 43

3 How SAP APO Global ATP Technology Works ....................... 69

4 Basic Configuration and Master Data Required for
Global ATP .............................................................................. 83

5 Integrating Transportation Shipment and Scheduling
with Global ATP ...................................................................... 95

6 Designing Your Supply Chain ATP with Rules-Based ATP ...... 119

7 Managing Your Supply Chain ATP with Product Allocation ... 147

8 Keeping Your Order Confirmation Firm with Global
ATP Backorder Processing ...................................................... 177

9 Streamlining Your Manufacturing Planning with
Capable-to-Promise ................................................................ 203

10 Confirming Customer Orders with Multilevel ATP
Component-Level Check ......................................................... 231

11 Integrating Global ATP with Supply Planning ........................ 257

12 Integrating the SAP Customer Relationship
Management System with Global ATP ................................... 273

13 Accelerate Your Global ATP Implementation with
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Packages ...................... 289

14 Maintenance and Monitoring Procedure for Global ATP ....... 303

Contents

Preface ........................................................................................................ 15

1 Order-to-Cash Business Process ............................................. 19

1.1 Order-to-Cash Overview ............................................................. 19
1.2 Supply Chain Operation Reference Model ................................... 23
1.2.1 SCOR Order-to-Cash Model for Stocked Product ......... 25
1.2.2 SCOR Order-to-Cash Model for Make-to-Order
Product ........................................................................ 31
1.2.3 SCOR Order-to-Cash Model for Engineer-to-Order ...... 33
1.2.4 SCOR Order-to-Cash Model for Retail ........................... 36
1.3 Key Performance Indicators for Order-to-Cash ............................ 38
1.4 Available-to-Promise in Order-to-Cash ........................................ 39
1.5 Summary .................................................................................... 42

2 Introduction to Global Available-to-Promise .......................... 43

2.1 Global Available-to-Promise Overview ........................................ 43
2.2 Global ATP Capabilities ............................................................... 45
2.3 ATP in SAP ERP versus Global ATP .............................................. 47
2.4 Global ATP Basic Methods .......................................................... 49
2.4.1 Product Availability Check ............................................ 50
2.4.2 Product Allocation ........................................................ 53
2.4.3 Forecast ........................................................................ 55
2.5 Global ATP Advanced Methods ................................................... 55
2.5.1 Rules-Based ATP Check ................................................. 56
2.5.2 Multi-Item Single Delivery ........................................... 59
2.5.3 Production Capable-to-Promise .................................... 59
2.5.4 Production Multilevel ATP Check .................................. 60
2.6 Global ATP Extended Functions .................................................. 62
2.6.1 Backorder Processing .................................................... 63
2.6.2 Time and Scheduling Functions ..................................... 64
2.6.3 Global ATP Exception Management Alerts .................... 65
2.6.4 Global ATP Implementation Approach .......................... 66
2.7 Summary .................................................................................... 68

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Contents

3 How SAP APO Global ATP Technology Works ......................... 69

3.1 Global ATP Time Series ............................................................... 69
3.2 Global ATP Technical Landscape ................................................. 71
3.3 Core Interface (CIF) ..................................................................... 72
3.3.1 Core Interface Configuration Steps ................................ 73
3.3.2 Core Interface Enhancements ....................................... 76
3.4 Building Integration Models for Global ATP in SAP ERP .............. 77
3.5 Monitoring Core Interface Processing in Global ATP (SAP APO) ... 79
3.6 Summary .................................................................................... 81

4 Basic Configuration and Master Data Required for
Global ATP ................................................................................ 83

4.1 Basic Global ATP Configuration ................................................... 83
4.1.1 Business Event .............................................................. 85
4.1.2 Check Mode ................................................................. 85
4.1.3 Check Instructions ........................................................ 86
4.1.4 ATP Group .................................................................... 88
4.1.5 Check Control (Check Horizon, Categories, Scope
of Check) ...................................................................... 89
4.2 Master Data Requirement for Global ATP ................................... 90
4.2.1 Check Mode Determination .......................................... 90
4.2.2 Checking Horizon ......................................................... 91
4.2.3 ATP Group .................................................................... 93
4.3 Summary .................................................................................... 93

5 Integrating Transportation Shipment and Scheduling with
Global ATP ................................................................................ 95

5.1 Transportation and Shipment Scheduling Overview ..................... 95
5.1.1 Transportation and Shipment Scheduling using the
Condition Technique ..................................................... 98
5.1.2 Condition Technique Configuration ............................... 100
5.1.3 Condition Technique Scenario Testing ........................... 104
5.2 Transportation and Shipment Scheduling using the Configurable
Process Scheduling (CPS) Method ............................................... 105
5.2.1 Configurable Process Scheduling (CPS) Configuration .... 106

8

Contents

5.2.2 Additional Configuration Steps ..................................... 112
5.2.3 Configurable Process Scheduling (CPS) Scenario
Testing .......................................................................... 114
5.3 Summary .................................................................................... 117

6 Designing Your Supply Chain ATP with Rules-Based ATP ........ 119

6.1 Overview of Rules-Based ATP ..................................................... 119
6.2 Business Case Study I: Product and/or Location Substitution ....... 120
6.3 Basic Configuration ..................................................................... 121
6.3.1 Condition Technique ..................................................... 123
6.3.2 Define the Condition Table ........................................... 124
6.3.3 Define the Access Sequence ......................................... 124
6.3.4 Define the Condition Type ............................................ 125
6.3.5 Define the Rule Strategy and Assign the Condition
Type ............................................................................. 125
6.3.6 Define the New Rule Strategy Sequence ....................... 126
6.4 Basic Master Data: Rule Maintenance ......................................... 128
6.4.1 Rule Control ................................................................. 130
6.4.2 Calculation Profile ........................................................ 131
6.4.3 Activity Type ................................................................. 131
6.4.4 Maintaining Condition Records ..................................... 132
6.5 Scenario Testing for Location Substitution ................................... 133
6.6 Business Case Study II: Consolidation Location ........................... 136
6.7 Business Case Study III: Stock Transport Orders ........................... 140
6.7.1 Configuration in SAP ERP .............................................. 140
6.7.2 Configuration in SAP APO ............................................. 141
6.8 Business Case Study IV: Sales Scheduling Agreement .................. 143
6.9 Enhancements ............................................................................ 144
6.9.1 Enhancements in the SAP ERP Field Catalog for
Rules-Based ATP ........................................................... 144
6.9.2 Enhancement in SAP APO for Global ATP ..................... 145
6.10 Summary .................................................................................... 146

7 Managing Your Supply Chain ATP with Product Allocation ..... 147

7.1 Overview of Product Allocation in Global ATP ............................ 147
7.2 Business Case Study: Product Allocation ..................................... 149

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Contents

7.3 Basic Configuration of Product Allocation in SAP APO ................ 151
7.3.1 Creating a New Planning Object Structure .................... 152
7.3.2 Creating a New Planning Area ....................................... 152
7.3.3 Define a New Planning Book ........................................ 153
7.3.4 Maintain Field Catalog for Characteristics ..................... 154
7.3.5 Maintain the Product Allocation Object ........................ 155
7.3.6 Maintain the Product Allocation Group ........................ 155
7.3.7 Maintain the Product Allocation Procedure .................. 159
7.3.8 Maintain the Sequence of the Product Allocation
Procedure ..................................................................... 161
7.3.9 Maintain the Connection to the Planning Area ............. 161
7.3.10 Check the Product Allocation Settings .......................... 163
7.4 Basic Master Data for Product Allocation .................................... 163
7.4.1 Characteristics Combination for Demand Planning ........ 163
7.4.2 Characteristics Combination for the Product Allocation
Group ........................................................................... 166
7.5 Key Steps in Scenario Testing ...................................................... 169
7.6 Enhancement for Product Allocation ........................................... 173
7.6.1 Enhancements in the SAP ERP Field Catalog for
SAP APO Product Allocation ......................................... 173
7.6.2 Enhancements in SAP APO for Product Allocation ........ 175
7.7 Summary .................................................................................... 175

8 Keeping Your Order Confirmation Firm with Global ATP
Backorder Processing ............................................................... 177

8.1 Overview of Backorder Processing (BOP) in Global ATP .............. 177
8.1.1 Backorder Processing Comparison in SAP ERP and
Global ATP ................................................................... 179
8.1.2 Business Case Study Example ........................................ 180
8.2 Basic Configuration for Backorder Processing .............................. 181
8.2.1 Filter Type ..................................................................... 182
8.2.2 Sort Profile ................................................................... 183
8.3 Basic Master Data for Backorder Processing ................................ 184
8.5 Overview of Event-Driven Quantity Assignment (EDQA) ............. 192
8.6 Enhancements in Backorder Processing ....................................... 200
8.7 Summary .................................................................................... 201

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Contents

9 Streamlining Your Manufacturing Planning with
Capable-to-Promise .................................................................. 203

9.1 Overview of the Capable-to-Promise Process .............................. 203
9.2 Business Case Study Example ...................................................... 206
9.3 Capable-to-Promise: Basic Configuration ..................................... 209
9.3.1 Global ATP: Check Mode .............................................. 209
9.3.2 Global ATP: Check Instruction ....................................... 210
9.3.3 Global ATP: Rules-Based CTP ........................................ 211
9.3.4 Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling:
Production Planning Procedure ..................................... 212
9.4 Basic Master Data Requirements ................................................. 217
9.4.1 Product Location (SAP APO Transaction
/SAPAPO/MAT1) .......................................................... 218
9.4.2 Work Center (SAP ERP Transaction CS03) ..................... 219
9.4.3 Bill of Materials (SAP ERP Transaction CR03) ................ 219
9.4.4 Routing (SAP ERP Transaction CA23) ............................ 220
9.4.5 Production Version (SAP ERP Transaction C223) ........... 220
9.4.6 Resource (SAP APO Transaction /SAPAPO/RES01) ........ 220
9.4.7 Production Process Model (Transaction
/SAPAPO/SCC03) .......................................................... 222
9.5.1 Case 1: Block Planning Resource ................................... 225
9.5.2 Case 2: Location Determination Activity ....................... 227
9.6 Summary .................................................................................... 229

10 Confirming Customer Orders with Multilevel ATP
Component-Level Check ........................................................... 231

10.1 Overview of the Multilevel ATP Process ...................................... 231
10.2 Business Case Study Example ...................................................... 234
10.2.1 Fulfilling Business Logic and Rules ................................ 235
10.2.2 Variant Configuration .................................................... 236
10.3 Basic Configuration of Multilevel ATP ......................................... 236
10.3.1 Global ATP: Check Mode .............................................. 237
10.3.2 Global ATP: Check Instruction ....................................... 237
10.3.3 Global ATP: Rules-Based Multilevel ATP ...................... 239

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Contents

10.3.4
Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling:
Global Settings ............................................................ 240
10.3.5 Demand Planning (SAP APO DP): Planning Area and
Planning Book .............................................................. 242
10.4 Basic Master Data Rule Requirements ......................................... 244
10.4.1 SAP ERP Variant Configuration ...................................... 245
10.4.2 SAP APO Demand Planning: Characteristics-Based
Forecasting ................................................................... 247
10.4.3 SAP APO Product Location Master ............................... 249
10.4.4 SAP APO Production Data Structure ............................. 250
10.4.5 Rules-Based Condition Record ...................................... 251
10.5.1 Scenario 1: Multilevel ATP ............................................ 251
10.5.2 Scenario 2: Multilevel ATP with a Rules-Based Check .... 253
10.6 Summary .................................................................................... 256

11 Integrating Global ATP with Supply Planning ......................... 257

11.1 Integration between Supply Planning and Order Fulfillment ........ 257
11.2 Integrating Rules of Global ATP in the Capable-to-Match
Planning Run .............................................................................. 259
11.2.1 Configuration for Rules-Based ATP Integration with
CTM ............................................................................. 260
11.2.2 Master Data for Rules-Based ATP Integration with
Capable-to-Match ....................................................... 262
11.3 Integrating Global ATP in Transportation Planning and Vehicle
Scheduling .................................................................................. 265
11.3.1 Dynamic Route Determination (DRD) Profile ................ 267
11.3.2 Activation of Dynamic Route Determination ................. 270
11.4 Summary .................................................................................... 270

12 Integrating the SAP Customer Relationship Management
System with Global ATP ........................................................... 273

12.1 Overview of SAP CRM with Rules-Based ATP .............................. 273
12.2 Basic Configuration in the SAP CRM System ............................... 274
12.2.1 ATP Profile .................................................................... 275
12.2.2 Item Category .............................................................. 276
12.2.3 Item Category Determination ....................................... 276

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Contents

12.2.4 Business Partner Assignment ......................................... 277
12.3 Basic Configuration in Global ATP for CRM Integration ............... 278
12.3.1 Requirements Profile .................................................... 278
12.3.2 Rules-Based ATP ........................................................... 280
12.4 Master Data Maintenance ........................................................... 280
12.5 SAP CRM Business Scenario Testing ............................................ 282
12.6 Enhancements in CRM for Global ATP ........................................ 284
12.7 Integration Scenarios with CRM .................................................. 284
12.7.1 Kit-to-Order ................................................................. 285
12.7.2 Special Dynamic Safety Stock ........................................ 285
12.7.3 Third-Party Order Processing ........................................ 285
12.8 Summary .................................................................................... 287

13 Accelerate Your Global ATP Implementation with Service-
Oriented Architecture (SOA) Packages ..................................... 289

13.1 Introduction to Service-Oriented Architecture ............................ 289
13.1.1 Configuration Templates ............................................... 290
13.1.2 Ease of Integration ........................................................ 290
13.1.3 Business Process Library ................................................ 291
13.2 Modeling and Designing the Order Management Process in
SOA—Case 1: ATP Check Enterprise Services Bundle .................. 292
13.3 Modeling and Designing Order-Management Process in SOA—
Case 2: Availability Issue Resolution and Backorder Processing
ES Bundle ................................................................................... 295
13.4 Understanding SOA by Design .................................................... 298
13.5 Enterprise Service Repository ...................................................... 300
13.6 Summary .................................................................................... 302

14 Maintenance and Monitoring Procedure for Global ATP ......... 303

14.1 Monitoring and Maintenance ..................................................... 303
14.1.1 Backorder Processing (BOP) .......................................... 303
14.1.2 Temporary Quantity Assignment (TQA) ......................... 304
14.1.3 Persistent Quantity Assignment .................................... 304
14.1.4 SAP ERP Database and SAP APO liveCache ................... 305
14.1.5 Reorganization .............................................................. 308
14.1.6 SAP APO Planning Area ................................................ 310

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Contents

14.1.7 Product Allocation ........................................................ 311
14.2 Regular Transactions and Batch Jobs ........................................... 313
14.3 Disaster Recovery Plan ................................................................ 315
14.3.1 Switching the ATP Check from SAP APO to SAP ERP .... 315
14.3.2 Performing an ATP Check in SAP ERP for the Interim ... 316
14.3.3 Switching the ATP Check Back from SAP ERP to
SAP APO ...................................................................... 316
14.3.4 Postprocessing Sales Orders in Global ATP ................... 317
14.4 Performance ............................................................................... 317
14.5 Application Log .......................................................................... 319
14.6 Sizing .......................................................................................... 319
14.7 Summary .................................................................................... 320

Appendices ..................................................................................... 323

A Enhancements in Global ATP ................................................................ 325
A.1 Minor Enhancement Scenarios in Global ATP................................ 325
A.2 Major Enhancement Scenarios in Global ATP ................................ 329
A.3 Enhancements in SAP ERP Field Catalog for SAP APO Global
ATP and Product Allocation .......................................................... 330
A.4 Enhancements in SAP APO Field Catalog for SAP APO Global
ATP and Product Allocation .......................................................... 331
B SAP Notes for Global ATP .................................................................... 333
B.1 General ........................................................................................ 333
B.2 Rules-Based ATP ........................................................................... 333
B.3 CTP and Multilevel ATP ................................................................ 334
B.4 Scheduling Function ..................................................................... 334
B.5 Backorder Processing .................................................................... 335
B.6 Product Allocation ........................................................................ 335
B.7 Transportation Integration ............................................................ 336
B.8 CRM Integration ........................................................................... 336
B.9 Enhancements .............................................................................. 336
C The Authors ......................................................................................... 339

Index ......................................................................................................... 341

14

Preface

Companies face constant challenges in their order-fulfillment cycle to meet customer
order delivery dates. The goal of any company is to increase the reliability of deliv-
ery and also ensure the correct product availability to an exclusive customer base.
With the introduction of the global available-to-promise (which we will refer to as
global ATP) functionality in SAP, companies are moving forward from a traditional
manufacturing push-based supply chain to a market demand pull-based principle.
Global ATP introduces many innovative concepts for order-management processes
to fulfill market demand on time, increase delivery reliability, and keep inventory
levels low at the warehouse.

The objective of this book is to explain how the global ATP functionality within
the SAP Supply Chain Management (SAP SCM) suite can be configured and imple-
mented to meet a company’s order-fulfillment cycle. This book serves as a functional
and technical guide in explaining how global ATP from SAP can be integrated into
supply chain business process improvement initiatives.

Target Audience
The target audience for this book is the supply chain practitioners who are con-
sidering or are already involved in the implementation of global ATP—whether as
a project manager, a project member, or a consultant. The book assumes that the
reader has a basic knowledge of the order-to-cash (OTC) business process and an
understanding of the logistics process in supply chain management.

What Will I Learn?
The book provides comprehensive guidelines not only for implementing the ATP
solution within the order fulfillment business process, but also to maintain the
production environment. The book is based on functionalities available in SAP
ERP (ECC 6.0) and SAP SCM 7.0 versions. Each chapter explains global ATP func-
tionality, configuration, master data, and testing steps to fulfill customer business

15

Preface

requirements while integrating a specific business case. Most of the business
examples you will see are based on the authors’ project experiences.

The book starts with an introduction to the order-to-cash (OTC) business process
and explains how available-to-promise (ATP) fits in the overall process (Chapter 1).
Then the global ATP functionality and its core features are introduced in Chapter 2.
The next couple of chapters focus on global ATP technology (Chapter 3) and basic
configuration, along with master data requirements for global ATP (Chapter 4).

After this preliminary introduction, the book dives into the core capabilities functional-
ity within global ATP. Starting with transportation shipment and scheduling to derive
a correct availability date, based on logistics lead time (Chapter 5), the book next
introduces the rule-based mechanism for the ATP check. The rule-based functionality
(Chapter 6) allows a company to formulate its business rules to be based on product
and/or location substitution during the ATP check. Setting up business priorities during
order processing and proper product allocation (Chapter 7) is critical for a company
to make a profit from sales. Due to constant changes in the supply chain situation, the
backorder processing (BOP) (Chapter 8) provides the latest ATP corrections.

For some of the manufacturing scenario (make-to-order) variants, global ATP
directly integrates with production (Chapters 9 and 10) to calculate the capacity
and critical component checks necessary to derive the material availability check,
against which the ATP check needs to be performed. The integration with supply
chain planning (Chapter 11) and SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP
CRM) (Chapter 12) provides a foundation for global ATP to improve the current
business processes in OTC and planning function areas.

The closing section of the book provides an overview for how the global ATP
business process can be mapped in the service-oriented architecture (SOA) envi-
ronment (Chapter 13). Last, we explain in Chapter 14 how a good housekeeping
of the global ATP system is imperative for monitoring and maintenance in the
production environment.

The Appendix section contains some valuable information about the minor and
major technical enhancement possibilities in global ATP, and also lists some of
important SAP OSS developer notes.

16

Preface

Acknowledgements
I would like to offer very special thanks to my wife Imelda Linggawidjaja, daughter
Jessica Anna, and my parents for giving me the time and encouragement to write
this book.
Sandeep Pradhan

I would like to thank my parents for my existence and blessings; my wife Monika
Verma, and sons Aditya and Akshat for giving me the time and encouragement to
write this book.
Pavan Verma

Finally, we would like to thank Laura Korslund and Meg Dunkerley from Galileo
Press, as well as the production team, for helping us in all phases of the project and
providing encouragement. Also, a special thanks to Susanti Chandra for becoming
our technical reviewer and providing valuable corrections and comments on the
book.

17

The global available-to-promise functions are used with order promising and
fulfillment checking across the entire supply chain. This chapter explains
the SAP SCM global available-to-promise capabilities for use with order
fulfillment and checking methods in the order-commitment process.

2 Introduction to Global
Available-to-Promise

The need to provide commitment back to customers is called the available-to-promise
(ATP) capability, which is offered by a supply chain operations team to a sales
team. A strong ATP functionality is important to any manufacturing or distribution
company’s credibility with its customers. The truth is that often manufacturing and
distribution companies make promises to customers without knowing if they can
actually meet the demand.

This chapter introduces the global available-to-promise (global ATP) functionality
and its core capabilities that you can use to solve the complexities that arise during
the order-promising process. Besides explaining the basic differences of perform-
ing ATP in SAP ERP versus that of global ATP, the chapter highlights the basic and
advanced ATP check methods. We also outline a recommendation for a global ATP
implementation approach.

2.1 Global Available-to-Promise Overview

The aim of available-to-promise (ATP) is to determine if an incoming order can be
promised for a specified customer request date. ATP enhances the response time
for order promising and reliability of order fulfillment. It directly links the available
resources, including both material and capacity, to customer orders and enhances
the supply chain performance. The process helps by improving on-time delivery
performance, allocating sufficient inventory to buffer inventories, and planning
system integration.

43

2 Introduction to Global Available-to-Promise

With SAP global available-to-promise (global ATP), an application within the SAP
Supply Chain Management (SAP SCM) suite, global ATP not only provides basic
ATP checks, but also enhanced and extended flexible user decision-support features
to model different supply chain order-fulfillment business scenarios.

Global ATP, one of the core functionalities within SAP Advance Planning & Opti-
mization (SAP APO), provides an integrated planning and execution system. Figure
2.1 illustrates the five different functionalities within the SAP APO suite. The first
three functionalities in the figure (Demand Planning, Supply Network Planning, and
Production Planning/Detailed Scheduling) focus on aligning demand and supply
planning, whereas the other two (global ATP and Transportation Planning/Vehicle
Scheduling) are involved with order execution and fulfillment.

Production Transportation
Supply Global
Demand Planning and Planning and
Network Available-to-
Planning Detailed Vehicle
Planning Promise
Scheduling Scheduling

Alert Monitor

Figure 2.1 SAP Advanced Planning & Optimization Suite

Global ATP leverages an SAP APO technology of SAP liveCache, which is a robust
tool that processes a large volume of transactional data and enables data sharing
across several applications. The technology offers fast planning, simulation, and
what-if analysis. The SAP APO objective is to synchronize supply with demand
in the global supply chain by balancing demand and supply with management of
demand, distribution, and manufacturing planning. The SAP APO modules shown
in the figure are described here:

E Demand planning (DP): Improves the forecast quality and planning accuracy.
E Supply Network Planning (SNP): Improves visibility across the supply chain and
lowers inventory.
E Production planning and detailed scheduling (PP/DS): Supports the creation
of optimized production plans.
E Global ATP: Offers capabilities that support responding to customer order
requests.

44

Global ATP Capabilities 2.2

E Transportation planning and vehicle scheduling (TP/VS): Optimizes transporta-
tion loads and minimizes transportation costs.
E Alert Monitor: Powerful exception management tool integrated with all SAP
APO functionalities.

A company’s ability to provide an accurate delivery commitment on a customer
order is important for maintaining a strong relationship with its customer. Giving
reliable and accurate information concerning when customer orders will be deliv-
ered increases customer satisfaction and creates repeat business. SAP SCM provides
technology in the form of global ATP to meet the challenge of providing product
availability information across a company’s local and global supply chain.

2.2 Global ATP Capabilities

Global ATP provides a set of capabilities that support a company’s ability to respond
to customer order requests on a real-time basis. Global ATP offers the following
key features in its portfolio:

E Seamless integration with other SAP ERP applications and components
Global ATP can be integrated with SAP ERP 6.0 or SAP CRM where the order-
processing business process takes place. It can also be integrated with other SAP
APO functionalities (DP, SNP, PP/DS) for providing inputs to supply planning.
This offers seamless integration of business processes.
E Availability checks on various SAP ERP documents with defined scope
Global ATP can be used for various documents (sales order, delivery, stock trans-
fers, component check for production order, goods issue check). However, the
main use of global ATP lies more in the sales and distribution area than in the
manufacturing process. The ATP check can also be performed for replenishment
stock transport orders.
E Rule-based ATP for product or location substitution strategies
In a branched supply chain network, rules-based ATP allows manufacturing and
distribution companies to take advantage of shipping goods from alternative
sites. It also offers the flexibility of shipping substituted products as required to
successfully satisfy customer demands.
E Product allocation to control commitment to key customers
This feature allows distribution companies to distribute and sell their products

45


that are in short supply. Allocations for distribution can be defined on various
criteria such as distribution channels, geographic region, customer groups, or
key customers.
E Backorder processing (BOP) to manage the order portfolio
As a critical step in order confirmation to customer orders, this feature allows
distribution companies to prioritize their order fulfillment to align with business
goals. BOP also helps in performing re-ATP checks on customer orders, based
on current inventory situation.
E Multilevel ATP to trigger bill of materials (BOM) explosion and perform com-
ponent checks
This feature is helpful for business scenarios that require products to be config-
ured for individual customers. It is commonly used in the make-to-order busi-
ness scenario.
E Capable-to-promise (CTP)
Enables the business to call SAP APO production planning to produce the remain-
ing quantity from an ATP check or procure the item externally. This is commonly
used in the make-to-order scenario where the sales orders is pegged with the
production order for order fulfillment.
E Transportation and shipment scheduling
Involves backward scheduling to determine the requested material availability
date based on the customer-requested delivery date and then forward schedul-
ing to determine the committed delivery date based on the committed material
availability date. This feature helps business determine reliable loading and
delivery dates for the customer orders.

All of these global ATP functionalities offer the following key benefits to
customers:

E Less time to give reliable availability check results on the current supply chain
situation
E Prevention of over-commitment to customer orders
E Ability to search supply in multiple locations to reduce overall supply chain
costs
E Effective management of backlog to process all the sales orders
E Opportunity to prioritize customers and realign order commitments during
constraint supply chain situations

46

ATP in SAP ERP versus Global ATP 2.3

Now that we have seen the capabilities of global ATP, let’s see how it compares
with the ATP functionality available in SAP ERP.

2.3 ATP in SAP ERP versus Global ATP

The concept of ATP is not new in SAP ERP because the functionality is available in
Sales & Distribution (SD) and Production Planning (PP). The ATP check capabilities
in SAP ERP deliver great results for basic business scenarios, but they have some
functionality limitations in complex business scenarios when compared to global
ATP. The main functionality comparisons between the standard ATP in SAP ERP
and global ATP are highlighted in Table 2.1.

Business Process ATP in SAP ERP Global ATP
Requirement

Availability check The ATP check is With rules-based ATP, global ATP
across supply chain done on a single offers the functionality to perform
network locations. plant/product availability checks across multiple
combination. locations to minimize supply chain
cost and maintain customer-service
levels. Global ATP can also create
stock transfer orders between the
two locations during the substitution
process.

Product substitution Only manual With rules-based ATP, the requirement
in case of product product substitution can be modeled for a defined list
shortage situations. is possible. of product substitutions during the
online availability checks.

During production The feature is With product allocation, different
capacity constraint available in SAP characteristics combinations can be
or product launch, ERP with the use defined for the allocation of constraint
the business needs of a standard or supply.
to allocate supply self-defined info
based on various structure in the
criteria. flexible planning
module.

Table 2.1 ATP Functionality Comparison between SAP ERP and Global ATP

47


Requirement

Reallocation of SAP ERP offers BOP Global ATP offers more flexibility when
supply and sales on fixed criteria. filtering, sorting, and scheduling the
orders are required sales document using the BOP feature.
to better align with
current inventory
situations.

Integrate production Not available. Available in capable-to-promise (CTP)
and ATP check functionality.
functionality.

Check the Not available. Available in multilevel ATP
availability of lower- functionality.
level components
during the ATP
check.

Consideration of Not available. Global ATP supports reverse logistics
reverse logistics by considering customer returns as
in the availability planned receipts, increasing the ATP
check. quantity.

Continuous Not available. Global ATP offers the feature to
flow output consider material availability by taking
consideration in account of the continuous flow of
process industries production output with proportional
where the products distribution of ATP quantity in
are available in different time buckets.
different stages
with long-running
manufacturing
process orders.

Product availability SAP ERP offers a Global ATP simulation extends to both
simulation. simple simulation product availability checks based on
feature. the method designed and also on the
back-order processing.

Table 2.1 ATP Functionality Comparison between SAP ERP and Global ATP (Cont.)

48

Global ATP Basic Methods 2.4

Requirement

Integration with SAP ERP offers Global ATP can be integrated with
transportation delivery and the transportation planning and
during the product transportation vehicle scheduling (TP/VS) module to
availability check. scheduling feature. consider the transportation constraints
so that the system checks on product
availability and delivery route
simultaneously.

Scope of check Available for More granular than SAP ERP and
(receipts, defined material allows the business to choose more
requirements, requirements firm and reliable ATP categories.
stocks) elements planning (MRP)
during the ATP elements.
check.

Table 2.1 ATP Functionality Comparison between SAP ERP and Global ATP (Cont.)

SAP ERP does offer basic business requirements in performing ATP checks, but
lacks the ability to model complex business variants and rules. If the company
has a simple distribution network, the ATP functionality should suffice. The next
section explains the basic method in global ATP, which offers more flexibility than
standard ATP features in SAP ERP.

2.4 Global ATP Basic Methods

The basic methods for ATP generate good results if the ATP quantity is available on
the requested date. If the ATP quantity is not available, global ATP will propose a
new delayed delivery date. As shown in Figure 2.2, after the sales orders are cre-
ated, the ATP check is performed for product availability, which proposes partial
or full delivery proposals based on the receipt element’s availability. If the quantity
cannot be confirmed fully in the same date, separate partial confirmations will be
proposed on different dates. The communication between SAP ERP and global
ATP is managed by the Core Interface (CIF) (you can find a detailed explanation
of this in Chapter 3).

49


SAP ERP Global ATP

Sales Order ATP Check
Created

Partial or no
confirmation Is supply available
of requested for requested quantity
quantities in no
and date? Is there a
the delivery checking horizon
proposal defined?

Confirm full
quantity in yes
the delivery
proposal

Figure 2.2 Flow Between Order Processing in SAP ERP and ATP Check in Global ATP

The ATP check performed on customer orders can be using basic and/or advanced
ATP methods. We will look at the basic ATP method in this section. The following
three different basic ATP methods are explained in the following sections:

E Product availability check
E Product allocation
E Forecast

2.4.1 Product Availability Check
This availability check is one of the time-phased simplest checks in global ATP
and partially behaves in a similar manner to the SAP ERP availability check. This
method can be used in any industry using the make-to-order (MTO) scenario. The
ATP result is a simple calculation of the following:

Stock + Total receipts – Confirmed requirements elements

The scope of check can be defined for the business event and ATP group combina-
tion (explained later in Chapter 3) by following the menu path IMG • Advanced
Planning and Optimization • Global Available-to-Promise • General Settings •
Product Availability Check • Maintain Check Control, or by using Transaction
/SAPAPO/AC03 (see Figure 2.3). The scope of check not only defines which ele-
ments or categories are considered in the availability check, but also a company’s

50


degree of risk conservativeness toward the customer order confirmation. The scope
of check defines the requirements, receipts, and stock categories to be used in ATP
quantity determination.

Figure 2.3 Scope of Check

The ATP result in SAP ERP can be adapted to customers’ different business require-
ments with the help of enhancement (user exits), which are called before or after
the ATP functionality to better reflect the results. Similarly, global ATP uses SAP
liveCache and time series to give better results. SAP APO time series enables you to
combine characteristics during the availability check. A good example is in the steel
or pharmaceutical industries, where the products are configured with characteristics-
based planning. For these products, the product properties are stored at the batch
level where the ATP check can be performed.

Global ATP also supports transportation and shipment scheduling to determine
material availability date (backward and forward, see Figure 2.4) based on which
ATP check is performed for the customer orders. This functionality allows for proper

51


determination of the requested material availability date (MAD) using transportation
and loading lead times. The ATP check is then performed on this MAD to commit
a confirmed delivery date to customer orders.

Receipts
Backward Scheduling

Requested
Delivery Date
Today

Availability date
determined by Earliest possible
backward scheduling availability date
determined by
forward scheduling
Replenishment Lead Time

Issues

Figure 2.4 Date Scheduling Logic in Global ATP

SAP ERP Core
Requirement Interface (CIF)
Elements:
Sales Order,
Delivery
Global ATP
RFC ATP Call
ATP Check
ATP Check
Methods
SAP ERP
Receipts
Elements:
Stocks, Core
Production Interface (CIF)

Figure 2.5 Technical Architecture for Global Consolidation of SAP ERP and Global ATP Systems

On the technical architecture capability side, it’s possible to have one global ATP
communicating with consolidation of multiple SAP ERP environments. An example
of technical architecture is shown in Figure 2.5, where two SAP ERP systems are
connected with a single instance of global ATP. While the requirement and receipts

52


elements reside in a different SAP ERP system, these elements can be consolidated
in the global ATP environment for performing the availability check. This form of
technical architecture is commonly adapted for global consolidation and minimizes
the cost implication on hardware and maintenance.

2.4.2 Product Allocation
Product allocation is the second basic method, which is widely used by firms to
make decisions on how to distribute and sell products that are in supply shortage.
Distribution decisions are made based on distribution channels, geographic regions,
customer groups, or strategic customers. This method is widely used in high-tech,
steel manufacturing, chemical, automotive, oil and gas, and pharmaceutical sectors.
The strategy has gained business acceptance in environments where high-volume
items, high-value items, or products with long manufacturing lead times need to
be distributed on a consistent basis.

When a product is in short supply, distribution companies want to make sure that
each customer receives a proportional allocation of inventory and that the ATP
check isn’t reserving the entire inventory for one customer with a large order. This
situation is usually encountered during material or capacity constraint, seasonal
sales, good promotions, price changes, or new product launches where the sup-
ply chain may encounter supply shortages. Product allocation planning addresses
these business situations by restricting the first in, first out (FIFO) method of order
confirmation in SD. Allocation planning addresses the problem by restricting the
allocation to specific customers or other criteria such as customer groups or regions.
The restriction criteria are flexible to your company’s needs.

Global ATP integrates with SAP DP to deliver the allocation capabilities based on
characteristics combinations replicating marketing hierarchies for allocating the sup-
ply. The availability check with product allocations primarily follows two steps:

1. Perform the availability check.
2. Perform the product allocation check.
The lesser of the ATP and available allocation will be confirmed in the sales order
item. Table 2.2 provides an example of how the confirmed quantity is placed for
this business scenario.

53


Order ATP Allocation Confirmed Comments
Quantity Quantity Quantity Quantity

100 150 120 100 Totally confirmed

100 60 120 60 Partially confirmed (due
to ATP quantity)

to allocation quantity)

to ATP + allocation
quantity)

to ATP + allocation
quantity)

Table 2.2 Combination of Product Availability with Product Allocation

The allocation quantity for the preceding table is derived from the allocation object
(see Figure 2.6) in global ATP, which defines the quota allocation per the hierarchy.
The characteristic combinations are populated to define the hierarchy allocations
and serve as master data for the quota allocation maintenance. The sales order is
checked against the characteristic combination criteria for an existing product alloca-
tion quantity. The quota allocation is entered in the SAP APO DP book (Transaction
/SAPAPOAPO/SDP94) based on the characteristics combination master data.

There are two customer
Allocation Object groups: A and B. The
customer groups are further
broken down into individual
Customer Group sold-to party (customers).

A B A percentage quota can be
maintained at the customer
level for supply distribution.
Demand Planning is used for
40% 60% Customers 30% 70% maintaining the allocation
percentage.
A1 A2 B1 B2

Figure 2.6 Allocation Object in the Global ATP Product Allocation Functionality

54

Global ATP Advanced Methods 2.5

Another important feature is the allocation sequence that allows the system to
check for alternate allocation procedures when the first one cannot fully confirm
the quantity. This feature is part of the product allocation in the global ATP.

2.4.3 Forecast
The third check method is important for the MTO industries (e.g., a computer
manufacturer) where no physical inventory is available to confirm the custom-
ers’ orders. For a typical industry such as a PC manufacturing company, which is
market-pull driven, the primary production commences after the sales order is
received from the customer. During the initial ATP check, the quantity confirmation
is performed against the forecast or planned independent requirements. Similar
to product allocation, this check method can be integrated with SAP DP for get-
ting the consensus forecast, or SAP Demand Management for getting the planned
independent requirements.

2.5 Global ATP Advanced Methods

The global ATP basic methods form the baseline for the product availability check.
Building on these basic methods, we can introduce additional advanced ATP checks
to model supply chain constraints. For example, you can perform ATP checks across
multiple locations for fulfilling customer orders. The advanced availability check
methods include the following:

E Combination of basic methods
To distribute its products proportionately in the market, the company wants to
perform product allocation first, and then an availability check on its products.
The check sequence of either method is done via the check instruction configu-
ration. The product allocation first determines the resulting confirmed quantity,
which is checked against the relevant ATP quantity from the product availability
check, or vice versa.
E Rules-based ATP check
Establish rules to determine what, where, and when to deliver products using
location substitutions, product substitution, production process model (PPM)
substitution, and characteristics substitution.
E Production capable-to-promise (CTP)
Integrates manufacturing and ATP check functionality. During sales order

55


processing, CTP triggers product planning at the manufacturing plant and deter-
mines the delivery date based on the schedule of production capacity.
E Production multilevel ATP
Checks the availability of components and proposes substitutions. It is based on
the BOM explosion at the end item level to check ATP for each component.
E Availability check for kits
Kits are BOMs that are always shipped in complete and assembled form (e.g.,
palletized products). This process corresponds to the production process but
without any production resource to combine the components as a complete
kit.
E Third-party order processing
This method is helpful when the goods are shipped directly from the supplier
to the customer. The company takes the sales order and ships the products
directly from the external partner or supplier to the customer warehouse. Using
the source determination and product allocation method, this check enables the
company to ensure the requirements can be confirmed without having to take
into account backorders or cancellations.

In the following subsections, we will discuss three of the commonly used advanced
check methods in depth: rules-based ATP, CTP, and multilevel ATP checks.

2.5.1 Rules-Based ATP Check
The rules-based ATP check method was primarily designed for the consumer goods
industry and distributors, which have a complex distribution supply chain. The
business scenario supported by this feature allows the goods to be shipped to a
customer from different sources or with alternative product options. The rule main-
tenance master data drives the predetermined sequence for alternative locations
and alternative products. The substitution rules are the iterative availability check
process based on business rules. The check can be processed in several business
dimensions: product, location, batch characteristics, or production process model
for manufacturing.

A typical example for location substitution (see Figure 2.7) is the replenishment of
inventory for satellite warehouses from a regional hub warehouse based on market
demand. The business process steps include a sales order coming into distribution
center A, whereby the global ATP check confirms the order based on available
stock at warehouse A and balance ATP replenishment from warehouse B. Global

56


ATP also creates a stock transport order for shipping the products between the two
locations. You can also use location substitution to always replenish a customer
from a specific warehouse.

Sales Order Processing (Real Time)
Sales Order
Created in Stock Transport
SAP ERP Order
Warehouse B Warehouse A

Perform ATP
Customer= no in
ABC? Warehouse A

yes

Perform ATP Perform ATP Stock
in in no Available?
Warehouse B Warehouse B

Stock Stock
Available? Available?

yes no yes yes

Confirm No Confirmation Create ATP Confirm Sales
Sales Order from for Requirement in Order from
Warehouse B Sales Order Warehouse B Warehouse A

ATP Requirements Processing (Periodic)

Created ATP
Requirements
in APO

Convert ATP Req. Create Stock
to Stock Transport Combine STRs Transport Orders
Requisitions (STRs) (STOs) from STRs

Figure 2.7 Location Substitution Scenario Modeled in Global ATP Rules-Based ATP

The basis of the rules-based ATP check is formed by multiple rules that are executed
sequentially. The condition technique, which is commonly used in SD in pricing
determination, can be used to define business rules. A typical use of the condition

57


technique in a business scenario is to define different order fulfillment locations
for different customers. A rule maintenance is a master data created in global ATP
that primarily consists of below four elements:

E Product Substitution List/procedure: Defines the sequential list of substitution
products and the validity period.
E Location Substitution List/procedure: Defines the sequential list of substitution
locations and the validity period.
E Product/Location rule control parameter: Defines whether to use location or
product or a combination of both procedures.
E Calculation profile: User setting to define how the system should confirm the
order when the desired delivery date is not met. Defines allowed delay or early
confirmation days.

Figure 2.8 shows a Rule Maintenance screen (accessed via Transaction /SAPAPO/
RBA04), where we define the business rule for the sequence of the product loca-
tions where the ATP check needs to be performed. The figure shows that the same
product is checked across multiple locations first and then substituted by a different
product if the ATP check is still not successful.

Figure 2.8 Rule Maintenance for Location and Product Substitution

58


2.5.2 Multi-Item Single Delivery
Multi-Item Single Delivery (MISL), also known as complete delivery, provides the
functionality of shipping all the items in sales orders from a single location. This
is useful when a company wants to consolidate its products for to reduce costs
(e.g., transportation costs). During the sales order processing, global ATP uses the
MISL functionality (built via rules-based ATP) to determine whether all the items
requested in the sales orders are available in a single location. If the single location is
not found, the items remain partially confirmed or unconfirmed. During the global
ATP MISL process as seen in Figure 2.9 (accessed via Transaction /SAPAPO/AC04),
the multiple items are not confirmed in the primary location, but are confirmed
in a secondary location. The system automatically updates the location in the sales
order by creating an additional item that shows where the order is confirmed.

Figure 2.9 Multi-Item Single Delivery Using Rules-Based ATP

2.5.3 Production Capable-to-Promise
Working in conjunction with the SAP APO PP/DS functionality, this check method
integrates the ATP check and production functionality. This global ATP solution
is ideal for industries with configured products (steel, paper) or companies with
constrained production due to bottlenecks (chemical).

59


During the sales order processing, if the existing supply cannot cover the demand,
the PP/DS functionality is called in real time as a part of the ATP check to determine
the manufacturing plant capacity (see Figure 2.10). It then creates a simulation pro-
duction plan to find the best possible date for delivering the goods while consider-
ing the capacity of the manufacturing resources. If the plan is accepted, global ATP
generates supply elements that can stock the transport order for nonmanufacturing
sites or the production plan for manufacturing sites.

Sales
Orders

Distribution
Center Inventory

Factory
Manufacturing Capacity

Figure 2.10 Manufacturing Capacity-Based Order Fulfillment

2.5.4 Production Multilevel ATP Check
The multilevel ATP check method is designed for discrete industries that engage
in multilevel assembly for configured products (e.g., PCs). This method is useful
in industries where the assembly items are stocked and only when a customer
sales order is received, the assembly items are assembled for the final product.
The method checks the availability of the components (via BOM explosion of the
primary product) before committing to the delivery date of the order. The differ-
ences between CTP and multilevel ATP are shown in Table 2.3.

60


Business Process Multilevel ATP CTP
Requirement

Availability check on Checks on component Uses the PP/DS pegging
component level product availability as functionality and primarily
defined in the scope of checks the end item
check; supports rules- product availability
based ATP

Characteristics-dependent Does not support Supports characteristics
planning planning

Scheduling of finished Cumulated in daily bucket Plans until lowest level of
goods time (seconds)

Result ATP tree structure PP/DS planned orders

Display of check results ATP result overview Provides planning log

Performance Better Needs close monitoring

Capacity restrictions Daily production rate Finite scheduling on
resource

Scheduling of components Lead-time scheduling Detailed scheduling as the
production order

Lot size Lot-for-lot Fixed/min/max

Block planning Does not support Supports

Table 2.3 Differences between Multilevel ATP and CTP

One major difference between CTP and Multilevel ATP is the use of the ATP tree.
The ATP tree structure is a new object created during multilevel ATP, which prevents
the online creation of the receipt generated by global ATP for system-performance
reasons. The conversion to receipt elements for the confirmed orders can be done
later as a background job.

An example of multilevel ATP is shown in Figure 2.11 and Figure 2.12, where the
order confirmation is done in two dates. The first date is based on the stock avail-
ability, while the balance quantity is based on the planned orders availability date,
taking into account component lead time and resource capacity.

61


Figure 2.11 Order Confirmation Based on the Production Availability Date

Figure 2.12 shows how the BOM is exploded for the parent item, and the compo-
nent’s availability is checked before the final confirmation of the order.

Figure 2.12 Bill of Materials Explosion in a Multilevel ATP Check

2.6 Global ATP Extended Functions

Besides the basic and advanced methods, there are two extended features that are
invariably implemented with any global ATP check methods and across all indus-
tries. The first method is backorder processing (BOP), which is used primarily for
resolving backorder conflicts and re-ATP of the sales orders to reconfirm the delivery
dates based on the latest inventory after the MRP run. The second method is the

62

Global ATP Extended Functions 2.6

scheduling function, which is used for determining the correct material availability
date (MAD) for shipping the goods.

2.6.1 Backorder Processing
BOP is a critical step in sales order confirmations. It aligns the confirmation process
with business goals by prioritizing the sales orders to determine which orders to
ship first. BOP is also critical when the supply is constrained and you must decide
which sales orders to prioritize for shipping. As a reallocation process, BOP aligns
the supply plan and the open sales orders.

The BOP process consists of defining the order processing scope through master
data, and executing the BOP in the following four steps:

1. Identify the business criteria important for prioritization. For example, this could
be the document creation date or material availability date.
2. Filter the scope of BOP by selecting the orders that will be included in the pro-
cessing.
3. The user defines the sort profile for defining the sequence to allocate the avail-
able stocks to the customer orders.
4. Execute the BOP either interactively (manually reconfirming the sales documents)
or as a background job. The BOP monitor provides the tool to analyze the changes
and result of BOP.

In a business scenario, BOP is essential in the following situations:

E Unexpected goods receipts (creates more ATP quantity as a result). This will help
a business confirm customer orders that were not confirmed when orders were
first received.
E Unexpected goods issues (creates less [negative] ATP quantity as a result). This
helps businesses prioritize orders during supply shortage.
E High-priority order (to fulfill the demand, the confirmation of some low-priority
orders must be cancelled). This will help businesses increase the profit margin
by serving important customer sales orders.

The functionality of BOP is enhanced with the event-driven quantity assignment
(EDQA) feature (see Figure 2.13) where BOP occurs automatically if sales orders/
stock inventory is changed. As you can see, when a goods receipt is performed in the
warehouse, global ATP automatically confirms the orders from the order due list.

63


Sales
Orders EDQA

Order Due List (ODL)
Sales Orders
Confirmed
Global ATP
EDQA Backorder Processing

Figure 2.13 Event-Driven Quantity Assignment in Backorder Processing

2.6.2 Time and Scheduling Functions
Transportation and shipment scheduling is an integral part of global ATP and serves
as a scheduling tool for proposing a material availability date, loading date, and
delivery date during the sales order processing. The scheduling (see Figure 2.14)
works backward from the requested date to arrive at the MAD. MAD is the date for
checking product availability. Master data will be required in SAP APO in the form of
lead times between plants/vendors and transportation zones (ship-to party, state).

LEAD

PICK LOAD TRAN

Inform the Material Loading Date PlannedDelivery Requested
Transport Availability Date (Outbound Date ETD Delivery
Carrier (Planning) (MAD) Delivery) (Post Goods Issue) Date ETA

Figure 2.14 Transportation and Shipment Scheduling Lead Time in Global ATP

The feature helps customers with the following functions:

E Schedule the correct ETA for supply availability
E Properly calculate the lead time between supplier and customer points
E Increase the customer-service level and sales based on supply availability at the
committed date

64


Global ATP also provides configurable process scheduling (CPS) as an enhanced
scheduling feature to map the logistics function of the company. CPS uses business
processes that have activities, and these activities have a start date and end date. CPS
should be used in scenarios where transportation and shipment scheduling cannot
be achieved using the condition technique. The only difference is that CPS is a lot
more flexible where instead of fixed activities for shipment scheduling (e.g., pick,
tran), you can add more activities (hold). In addition to duration determination,
CPS can also do calendar determination, time zone determination, and location
determination using the condition technique.

2.6.3 Global ATP Exception Management Alerts
The exception management process identifies issues (exceptions) that will lead to
changes/adjustments in the operational demand and supply plans and improve-
ments in the order-fulfillment process in general. Global ATP provides the SAP
APO Alert Monitor alert management tool (shown in Figure 2.15), which can be
used to model ATP alerts. Custom alerts can also be defined per business require-
ments (e.g., product allocation alerts can be triggered via custom macros defined
in SAP APO DP).

Figure 2.15 Global ATP Alert Profile for Configuring Alerts

65


2.6.4 Global ATP Implementation Approach
A clear implementation methodology is recommended for successful deployment
of the global ATP functionality. The methodology can be divided into five areas,
leading toward the production of global ATP functionality.

1. Implementation scenarios
The implementation of global ATP can be combined either with other modules
of SAP APO or implemented as a standalone with SAP ERP integration. The
viable combinations are listed here:
E DP + global ATP: Combining the forecasting process and allocation process
with ATP.
E DP + SNP + global ATP: Integrating demand and supply planning with order
fulfillment.
E PP/DS + global ATP: Integrating manufacturing directly with the order-fulfill-
ment process.
E Global ATP: Leveraging on advanced check methods capabilities for complex
business scenarios.
2. Big-bang versus phased approach
The majority of global ATP implementations primarily start with a proof of
concept (POC) and develop into a project following business acceptance. The
project implementation times are usually short—spanning three to five months—
and the phased approach is best suited to minimize any business risk and better
understand the global ATP behavior in the productive environment. To mitigate
the business impact of the ATP check running in two environments—legacy and
global ATP—it is recommended to roll out the global ATP solution by customer
and distribution center. This also requires activating the CIF model by distribu-
tion centers.
3. Global ATP check methods selection
It is imperative to map global ATP functionalities according to business-specific
needs to solve order-fulfillment issues. The advantage of global ATP is that you
do not need a single global approach, and each global ATP functionality can be
implemented separately to solve the business problem. The basic and advanced
methods can also be combined to deliver two-step ATP checks on customer
orders.

66


4. Business value versus implementation effort
A matrix (see Figure 2.16) that shows the global ATP functionality ease of imple-
mentation versus business value can accelerate the change management and
business readiness process.

High

Rules-Based Multilevel
ATP ATP
BOP

CTP
Product
Availability
Business
Value Allocation
Potential Planning

Scheduling

Low

Easy to Hard to
Implement Ease of Implement
Implementation

Figure 2.16 Business Value Potential versus Ease of Implementation

5. Performance testing
Global ATP can be technically challenging due to the volume of transaction
processing. It is always advisable to perform scalability/stress testing before
going to production up to a scale of 120% sales-order volume. The stress testing
should focus on the Remote Function Call (RFC) communication between SAP
ERP and global ATP to fine-tune SAP Basis settings with parallel processing, and
also look at options for a disaster recovery plan if the global ATP system is
down.

67


2.7 Summary

This chapter provided an overview of the global ATP capabilities and how different
check methods can solve complex business scenarios related to order promising.
A comparison between the traditional ATP in SAP ERP and global ATP shows the
advantages a company can harvest by implementing the advanced feature to model
its supply chain constraints during the ATP check. Global ATP offers seamless inte-
gration with other SAP ERP modules to support the order-to-cash (OTC) end-to-end
business process. We also discussed the key global ATP functionalities.

The next chapter introduces the global ATP technical architecture, the integration
between the execution system (SAP ERP) and the ATP system (global ATP) using
the Core Interface, and the basic configurations to make it work.

68

Index

A Internal source, 297
Reassignment of order confirmation, 297
Access sequence, 109, 260 Backward consumption, 158
Activity type, 131 BAdI
Advance Planning and Optimization (APO), /SAPAPO/RBA_RBAS, 145
44 CRM_AV_CHECK_APO_01, 284
Technology, 44 CRM_CONFIRM_01, 284
Time series, 51 CRM_ORDERADM_SCENARI, 284
Allocation group, 151 BADI enhancement, 329
Allocation object, 54 BAPI, 72, 325, 328
Allocation sequence, 55 BAPI_APOATP_CHECK, 274
APO liveCache, 305 BAPI_LOCSRVAPS_SAVEMULTI_30A, 328
Application Link Enabling (ALE), 73 BAPI_RULESRVAPS_SAVEMULTI, 330
Application log, 228 Basic global ATP configuration, 83
Application programming interface (API), 290 Batch BOP, 191
ATP check ES bundle, 292 Big-bang versus phased approach, 66
Business process steps, 293 Bill of materials (BOM), 232, 235
Group, 84, 88, 93 Block basis definition, 216
Tree structure, 61, 137, 232, 236, 238, Block planning, 204, 206
253 Block reference cycle, 216
Availability check for kits, 56 Block resource capacity, 207
Availability issue resolution, 295 BOP, 178
Available-to-promise (ATP), 39, 43 Basic configuration, 181
Alerts, 318 Batch simulation, 192
Benefits, 178
Business scenarios, 180
B Customer priority, 188
Different modes, 191
Backorder processing (BOP), 46, 62, 63, 177, Direct update, 191
178, 303, 317, 329 Field criteria (characteristics), 182
Business events recorded on transactional Filter type, 182
data, 181 Filter variant, 185
Business priority during supply shortage, Interactive, 192
180 Key transactions, 190
Changes to product availability dates/ Master data, 184
quantity, 180 Order categories, 182
comparison, 179, 199 Prioritization order, 183
Enhancements, 200 Scenario testing, 187
Product allocation changes, 181 Sequence, 183
Backorder processing ES bundle, 295 Sort profile, 183
Business process steps, 297 Worklist, 184
External source, 297 Business context, 289

341

Index

Business continuity plan, 315 Master data, 79
Business event, 84, 85, 279 Transactional data, 79
Business object, 300 CIF transactions, 74
Business process execution language (BPEL), BD54, 74
301 CFC1, 74
Business process library, 291 CFC2, 74
Business system group (BSG), 73 CFC3, 74
Business value versus implementation effort, CFC5, 77
67 CFG1, 77
CFGD, 77
CFM1, 77
C CFM2, 77
CFM5, 77
Calculation profile, 58, 131 CFP1, 77
Capable-to-match (CTM), 259 CFP3, 77
Capable-to-promise (CTP), 46, 59, 203 NDV2, 74
Carrier allocation, 265 SALE, 74
CBF profile, 248 /SAPAPO/C1, 75
CBF table, 248 /SAPAPO/C2, 75
Characteristic-dependent forecasting, 204 /SAPAPO/C3, 80
Characteristics, 216, 246 /SAPAPO/C4, 75
Concept, 231 /SAPAPO/C6, 81
Characteristics-based ATP, 210 /SAPAPO/CC, 80
Characteristics-based forecasting, 232, 242, /SAPAPO/CCR, 80
247 /SAPAPO/CP1, 75
Characteristics combination, 163 /SAPAPO/CP2, 75
Allocation group, 166 /SAPAPO/CP3, 75
Characteristics value combination (CVC), 160, /SAPAPO/CQ, 80
249 /SAPAPO/CW, 80
Characteristic value assignments, 210 /SAPAPO/OM17, 80
Check control, 84, 89 SCC4, 74
Checking group, 88 SLG1, 77
Checking group MTVFP, 328 SM59, 74
Checking horizon, 84, 89, 91, 92 SMQR, 74
Check instruction, 84, 86 SMQS, 74
Check mode, 84, 85 CIF user enhancements, 73
Determination, 90 Collective product allocations, 160
CIF, 71 Compatibility, 269
CIF delta report, 307 Component availability check, 232, 233
CIF enhancements, 76 Component constrained, 234
EXIT_/SAPAPO/SAPLCIF_PROD_001, 76 Composite application, 300
EXIT_SAPLCMAT_001, 76 Condition record, 108 , 132, 280
CIF integration models Condition technique, 97, 142
ATP check, 78 Condition table, 101
ATP customizing, 78 Condition type, 102

342

Index

Configuration, 100 CPS, 65
Configuration objects, 100 Business activities, 106
Field catalog, 100 Determination procedure, 109
Rule determination, 102 Determining class, 108
Rule strategy/procedure, 102 Enhancements user exits, 114
Scenario testing, 104 Scheduling log, 115
Summary, 105 Scheduling schema, 105, 107
Condition type, 261 CRM, 273
Configurable material, 236 Enhancements, 284
Configurable process scheduling (CPS), 65, Location substitution, 277
97, 105 Rule procedure type, 281
Access sequence, 109 Scenario testing, 282
Assignment of item category to process CTM, 260
alias, 113 Planning run, 259
Condition maintenance group, 111 Profile, 264
Condition table, 109 CTP, 203, 204
Condition type, 110 Basic configuration, 209
Configuration, 106 Basic master data requirements, 217
Determination procedures, 111 Rules-based ATP check, 211
Process alias, 108 Technical backend steps, 205
Scenario testing, 114 CTP basic master data, 217
Summary, 117 Bill of materials, 219
User exits, 114 Block reference cycle, 221
Configuration in CRM, 274 Characteristic propagation, 224
ATP profile, 275 Production process model, 222
Business partner assignment, 277 Production version, 220
Item category, 276 Product location, 218
Item category determination, 276 Resource, 220
Configuration in global ATP for CRM, 278 Routing, 220
Requirements profile, 278 Work center, 219
Configuration profile, 246 CTP business case study example, 206
Configuration templates, 290 CTP configuration
Configure-to-order policy, 234 Global ATP check instruction, 210
Conservative logic, 70 Global ATP rules-based CTP, 211
Consistency check report, 306 PP/DS block planning, 216
Consolidation location, 119 PP/DS production planning procedure,
Case study, 136 212
Core Interface (CIF), 72, 83, 318, 325 CTP configuration
Configuration steps, 73 Global ATP check mode, 209
Enhancement, 325 CTP location determination activity, 227
Correction report for product allocation, 307 CTP mill industry, 205
Correction report for sales orders CTP paper industry, 206
requirements, 307 CTP scenario testing, 224
Corrective tool, 259 Cumulated check, 160
Correlation groups, 179 Cumulative ATP check, 88
Cost profile, 268 Customer service level, 258

343

Global Available-to-Promise with SAP guide

Global Available-to-Promise with SAP guide

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