Introduction

This blog post provides a description of an use case of Characteristic Dependent Planning (CDP) in embedded PP/DS  for SAP S/4HANA (Advanced Planning) in the Automotive Pre-Series business

It focuses on the Automotive pre-series business and is an overview to run the Planning with  SAP S/4HANA Characteristics capabilities.

The article is not a detailed description of Characteristic Dependent Planning (CDP) in PP/DS for SAP S/4HANA (Advanced Planning) and does not replace the SAP help nor the SAP Service notes

Target audience are project team members and key user who are interested in PP/DS  for SAP S/4HANA (Advanced Planning or responsible for the implementation of production planning with SAP  S/4HANA.

Overview

Business requirements in the Automotive prototype and pre-series production

The Automotive pre-series business is characterized by different material versions / engineering level (drawing, etc.) from the same material. These material versions are different engineering status of the same materials and therefore no new material number.

The material number is not sufficient for a unique identification of a part

The different engineering level of a material number will be identified by additional attributes like the hardware-level, software-release or drawing status.

In the Automotive pre-series business these different statuses; releases or levels below the material number have separately be planned (MRP), produced, procured, stored, installed and documented.

The core SAP S/4HANA ERP logistic processes Material Requirements Planning (MRP), Purchasing and Warehousing are only supported consistently at the level of the material number.

 

Picture: Vehicle BOM (changed components à> new Material number)

In this example each changed engineering level of a material results in a new material number.
Each new material number has to be planned (MRP), produced, procured, stored, installed and documented separately.

 

Planning with Characteristics

The main purpose of Planning with Characteristics / Characteristics-Dependent Planning (CDP) is to use characteristics for planning products.

Certain products are planned using characteristics.

Receipts are consumed with requirements, based on identical characteristic values.
The system includes the configuration when planning and consume requirements with the matching receipts (production orders, purchase orders, purchase requisitions, batch stock)

When assigning a requirements element to a receipt element, the system compares the characteristics of both elements for characteristics-dependent planning (CDP).

The system checks the following data:

• Characteristic Requirements (singe value)
• Characteristic value assignment, if no requirements were defined (multi-valued)

You can also assign receipt and requirements elements to each other if no characteristic value assignment exists for an element (the characteristic values are not inconsistent in this case).

 

For details about Planning with Characteristics / Characteristics-Dependent Planning (CDP) refer to the SAP Help Portal SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling (PP/DS) à Planning with Characteristics

Picture: changed component -> same Material & changed Characteristic

In this example a multifunctional steering wheel has different Hardware level in the material requirement.
This attribute (hardware level) is maintained in SAP as characteristic

When assigning a requirements element to a receipt element, the system compares the characteristics of both elements. The requirements and receipt element must be assigned to the same class.

With ‘Advanced Planning’ PP/DS for SAP S/4HANA you can transfer the following transaction data with characteristics to ERP on SAP S/4HANA:

• Batch stocks
• Production orders (process orders)
• Purchase requisitions
• Purchase orders

As the SAP S/4HANA Planned order cannot have its own configuration, orders with CDP characteristics are created in SAP S/4HANA as Production Orders.

CDP characteristic values transferred from PP/DS cannot be changed in SAP S/4HANA.

Following you will see the planning with characteristics and Pegging via Characteristics

Picture: Pegging with Characteristics

 

It could be a Problems in Planning with Characteristics that a requirement is not covered because a suitable receipt/stock is consumed by another requirement (with which this is pegged).

There are other receipts /stock available for this other requirement that are not suitable for the first requirement due to the characteristic value assignments.

As a result, a shortage is created, which would not occur or the shortage would be lower at least, if the distribution of the pegged quantities was better

There is no correction function in the system available for this problem, rather you must prevent it by making organizational adjustments.

For more information, refer to SAP Note  526883 – CDP: Unspecified characteristics in planning and pegging

Picture: Pegging with Characteristics (optimal Pegging)

 

This writing should provide an overview of CDP and describes an use case of Characteristic Dependent Planning (CDP) in PP/DS for SAP S/4HANA (Advanced Planning) in the Automotive Pre-Series business.

As mentioned, it doesn’t replace the SAP Help or SAP Consulting Notes.

For more information about Planning with Characteristics see the SAP Help Portal
Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling (PP/DS) –> Planning with Characteristics

I hope you enjoyed this blog post and gained an overview about the Planning with Characteristics with PP/DS for SAP S/4HANA (Advanced Planning).