By adding new key figures, tweaking existing names, and making other modifications like elements that change to indicate critical conditions, the interactive planning table in Figure 1 has been customized in a way that makes the interface an even more useful tool. These changes are not difficult to make.

Figure 1

Customized SNP interactive planning table

I will show you how to adjust the SNP interactive planning table so it is easier to read as well as more user friendly. Starting with the standard delivered planning book (9ASNP94) and the view SNP PLAN, you can provide users with the enhancements and functionality that allow them to focus on areas that are unique to your company.

1. Create your own planning book. In most cases, custom planning books are set up at implementation. If not, then you need to do so before you can customize your own planning book.

Follow Supply Network Planning> Environment>Current Settings>Design Planning Books or use transaction code /SAPAPO/SDP8B. Create a planning book (e.g., PBSNP) and data view (e.g., PBSNP(1)) by copying these with reference to the standard book (9ASNP94) and data view (SNP94(1)).

Specify the newly created planning book PBSNP and click on Edit. In the Planning book tab (Figure 2), rename the planning book in the Planning book text field. Then repeat the process for data view 1 on the Data view tab. Select the Key figures tab and click on Yes in the Planning wizard dialog box that asks Should planning book and data view be completed? and save (Figure 3).

Figure 2

Planning book text field allows you to rename customized planning book

Figure 3

Dialog box in Planning wizard confirming customization

In the same transaction, select the Assign Planning Area option under Edit. In the next pop-up screen, the system displays the first existing planning area alphabetically, not the one currently assigned to the planning book. Select planning area 9ASNP02 and click on Enter. Then click on Back and exit the transaction.

In the final step, follow Supply Network Planning>Environment>Current Settings>Macro Builder or use transaction code /SAPAPO/ADVM. Select the planning book view PBSNP(1) and click on Execute. Next click on Generate Macros, followed by Back, and exit the transaction.

2. Rename key figures to suit your system. There is nothing wrong with the key figure names that SAP uses, but they may not be in line with the vocabulary at your company. Moreover, it's not always clear what the corresponding name in R/3 is for a certain object. While I can't offer you any hard-and-fast rules, the following sample scenario should provide you with some food for thought when it comes to establishing a naming scheme that your users will value.

After a deployment run, orders are sent to R/3 where they create purchase requisitions. SNP planning results, however, are not transferred to R/3. You can rename the key figures DistrReceipt (Confirmed) and DistrDemand (Confirmed) so that it is easier to understand what they are called in R/3. Remember, it's often the small things that make the biggest impact.

Use transaction code /SAPAPO/SDP8B or follow menu path Supply Network Planning> Environment>Current Settings>Design Planning Books. Specify planning book PBSNP and click on Edit. Choose key figure 9AFSHIP (DistrReceipt (Confirmed) ) on the Key Figure Attributes tab and set the Free Text radio button. Next, define the new name DistrReceipt (P/Req).

Now, select the key figure 9ADMDDF (DistrDemand (Confirmed)), and set the Free Text radio button. Define the new name DistrDemand (P/Req Rel) . Click on the Save Settings button, select the Key figures tab and click Complete. As described earlier, click on Yes in the Planning wizard pop- up box and save.

3. Make sure planning periods meet your requirements. The response time of an interactive planning table is directly proportional to the number of periods shown in its grid. The more items in the grid, the longer the response time. You should closely scrutinize the number of periods being displayed and create planning bucket profiles with the optimum number of periods.

Follow the menu path Supply Network Planning>Environment>Current Settings> Maintain Time Bucket Profiles for Supply Network Planning or use transaction code /SAPAPO/TR30. Enter the name of the planning buckets profile in the Time buckets prfl ID field (PBP) and its description in the Short text field (8 Weeks in Days) (Figure 4).

Figure 4

Define new time bucket profiles

Then press Enter on the keyboard. Type 8 in the first line of the Number column and W in the Display Periodicity field. Pressing Enter again opens the second line of the displayed table and populates the Basic Periodicity field by automatically matching the settings of the Display Periodicity field in the first line. Again, set the Number field to 8 and in the second line enter T in the Display Periodicity column. Click on save.

Now, select Supply Network Planning>Environment>Current Settings>Design Planning Books or access the next screen via transaction code /SAPAPO/SDP8B. Specify planning book PBSNP and click on the Edit button. On the Data View tab, set the TB profile ID (future) field to PBP (Figure 5). Select the Data view PBSNP(2) and repeat this last step. Continue to the last tab and click on the Complete button. Once again, confirm the save query in the dialog box by clicking on Yes.

Figure 5

Update the Data view tab with the new time bucket profile

4. Hide non-essential key figures. In most cases, not all of the key figures available are necessary. Key figures for joint production, for example, or those related to target stock levels are somewhat extraneous because only a handful of companies use them. Others, such as the ATD receipts and ATD issues key figures, don't need to be monitored because for the most part they only support background planning jobs. The two key figures that I just noted are only used in a deployment planning run and do not require a place in your SNP interactive planning table.

You can suppress the display of unwanted key figures rather than deleting them to avoid future problems if you decide to display them later. Here's how to hide key figures related to stock levels.

Follow the path Supply Network Planning>Environment>Current Settings>Design Planning Books or use transaction code /SAPAPO/SDP8B. Specify planning book PBSNP and data view PBSNP(1) and Edit. Next, click on the Target Stock Level row, and right-click on the same row to activate the context-sensitive menu (Figure 6). Chose Selected rows in the menu and then Hide.

Figure 6

Right-click on a row to activate the context-sensitive menu to access settings

To make a row visible again, click on the name SNP PLAN located on the top left of the screen. Right-click on the cell to activate the context-sensitive menu, and select Manage Hidden Rows. In the upcoming screen, drag the rows you want to display from the Hidden Rows folder to the Shown Rows folder (Figure 7).

Figure 7

The Manage Hidden Rows screen allows you to display rows after they have been hidden

5. Refine the Days' supply key figure. The Days' supply key figure displays the number of days that the current day's stock will last after all known future requirements and demands have been factored in, such as forecast or actual sales. This key figure's shortcoming is that it rounds to the next full day, and some industries require more precise forecasting. You can create a new unit of measure that adds one decimal to the Days' supply value and use that instead of the SAP supplied UoM.

In the mySAP SCM tree structure, select Tools>Customizing>IMG>Edit Project or use transaction code SPRO. Click on the SAP Reference IMG button and select General Settings>Check Units of Measurement. Select the Time dimension and click on the Units of Measurement button. Press function key F7 (Create) and define the following in the next screen:

On the keyboard, press Enter and confirm the onscreen warning message (ISO code DAY is already used for measurement unit D) by pressing Enter again. Click on the save icon and the warning message will appear again. You must confirm it again by pressing the Enter key. Exit the customizing transaction and return to the APO tree structure.

Select Supply Network Planning>Environment>Current Settings>Design Planning Books or use transaction code /SAPAPO/SDP8B and specify planning book PBSNP. Click on Edit, select the Key Figure Attributes tab, and choose the key figure Cover to maintain the Days' supply value. Change the Unit of Measure from D to DS. Click Save Settings and continue to the Key Figures tab. Click on the Complete button and click on Yes in the dialog box to save.

6. Add an Available Stock key figure. The main goal of every planner is to ensure that enough stock is available at any time on any day. "Available stock" is defined as the projected physical stock minus the safety stock requirements.

Unfortunately, no key figure exists for available stock. You can create one and make it so its field color changes to reflect stock levels when displayed in the planning table. If, for example, the projected physical stock level falls to zero or below, the color changes to red. Yellow indicates some projected physical stock remains, but it is below the safety stock requirement. If you do not like displaying colors, you can still use the macro to calculate the available stock. It can also be used to add a warning icon to the backlog key figure whenever a backlog exists.

Via transaction code /SAPAPO/SDP8B or following Supply Network Planning> Environment>Current Settings>Design Planning Books, specify planning book PBSNP and click on Edit. Select the Key figure attributes tab and type in the name of the new key figure Available. Set the Free Text radio button and define the new name Available Stock.

Then press the Enter key on your keyboard, set the UoM from product master flag and click on the Save settings button. On the Key figures tab, drag the newly created key figure AVAILABLE from the Planning book list on the right to the Data view list on the left in the Assign key figures to data view area (Figure 8). Determine its appropriate location within the list and place the new key figure in the desired position. Click on the Complete button and confirm the settings by clicking on Yes in the dialog box noted earlier.

Figure 8

Move the new key figure to the desired position of the Data view list

You have created the new key figure to display the available stock. Now let's define the algorithm to calculate the available stock, and also the conditions under which the colors are set.

Use transaction code /SAPAPO/ADVM or follow Supply Network Planning>Environment> Current Settings>Macro Builder. Select the planning book view PBSNP(1) and click on Execute. Modify the existing macro Days' supply. Add the new step Available Stock (Figure 9), then add Highlight Available Stock (Figure 10) and click on Generate Macros to generate them. Click on the Back button to exit the transaction.

Figure 9

Modify the Days’ supply macro by adding the Available Stock step

Figure 10

The second step added to the Days’ supply macro is Highlight Available Stock

7. Highlight non-working days. Monitoring multiple sites across an international supply network requires accommodating workdays, holidays, non-workdays, etc. that are not consistent in all locations. You can indicate non-workdays by displaying the key figure Total Demand with a green background via a macro that uses is the shipping calendar defined in the Location Master Calendar tab.

Use the transaction code /SAPAPO/ADVM or follow Supply Network Planning> Environment> Current Settings>Macro Builder and select the planning book view PBSNP(1) and click on the Execute button. Modify the existing Determine Workdays macro by adding the new step Highlight Non-Workdays in the same way you modified Available Stock (Figure 11). Click on the Generate Macros button to generate the macros. Then click on the Back button and exit the transaction.

Figure 11

Modify the Determine Workdays macro by adding the Highlight Non-Workdays step

Wolfgang Eddigehausen

Wolfgang Eddigehausen is a highly experienced expert in the areas of business process design, re-engineering, and user adaption, as well as process realization in complex SAP-centric environments. He has experience in solution and enterprise architecture and project management (PRINCE2 certified) domains defining enterprise capabilities with a focus on delivering effective and efficient solutions to organizations. Wolfgang's industry knowledge includes public sector, utilities, mining, distribution, general manufacturing, process and steel industries, and consumer goods.

In most roles his task is not only to architect a solution but also to evaluate and define strategic options with a focus on end-to-end solutions rather than systems. This also includes strong emphasis on the user acceptance through an innovative user experience and mobility enablement.

His career includes successful participation and management of projects in Australia, Europe, India, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, and the US. These projects required interaction with all levels of an organization, from the shop floor or office through to the CxO level. Throughout his career, Wolfgang has put emphasis on a holistic approach bringing together people, processes, information, and systems in project management, architecture, and implementation roles.

You may contact the author at we@avox.com.au.

If you have comments about this article or publication, or would like to submit an article idea, please contact the editor.