Consumption-Based Materials Planning and Control

Chapter 5

Consumption-Based Materials
Planning and Control
Setting up requirements planning for a new plant
Settings for master data
Settings for planning
Settings for procurement proposals
Settings for analyses
Settings for forecast

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Consumption-Based Materials Planning and Control: Objectives

Chapter 5

Objectives
After working through this chapter, you will be able to
set up the requirements planning facility for a plant
list important settings for materials planning and

control and implement them with the aid of the

Implementation Guide (IMG)

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Activation of Requirements Planning

Activation of Requirements Planning

11

Activate requirements planning for plant

22

Set up planning file

Consistency check for planning file

33

Maintain plant parameters

Define reference plant for master data

44

Create MRP groups for plant

Define MRP group for each material type

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In order for you to be able to carry out material requirements planning in a plant, the following
preconditions must be satisfied:
Requirements planning must be active for the plant in question and the requirements planning
parameters for this plant must have been maintained.
The MRP data on the materials subject to automatic planning must have been maintained.
Entries for the material numbers relevant to MRP must exist in the planning file.

You can subject the planning file entries to a consistency check by means of a background job. The
program deletes or alters no-longer-required entries.

Via the MRP group, you can assign a material to a group of materials with special MRP parameters if,
for example, the specification of these parameters at plant level is too rough.

For further settings for requirements planning (in particular, the program-controlled procedures), refer to
the Customizing menu for PP Materials Planning.

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Defining MRP Types

Defining MRP Types

Reorder

point procedure

MRP

Procedure
Type of firming of
planning results
Regular planning?

MRP type
Use of forecasting
Calculation of safety
stock/reorder level
Screen sequence
detailed header

No

materials planning
planning
MPS
Time-phased planning
Forecast-based

No

firming
(only MPS)
Automatic firming with/
without order proposal
Manual firming with/
without order proposal
Mandatory/optional/no

forecast?

Unplanned/total

consumption

Unplanned/total

requirements

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The MRP type belongs to the plant data of a material. It determines the planning/inventory control
procedure that is to be applied with respect to a given material and which materials planning and control
parameters can be entered when a material master record is maintained.

You can alter the parameters of the MRP types supplied with the standard SAP R/3 System to suit your
needs. You can also add new MRP types.

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Taking Account of External Requirements

Taking Account of External Requirements

Situation:

50
40

In addition to any shortfall

quantity below the reorder point,
requirements planning covers
the following:

40

Indicator
"Incl. ext. reqts."
Reservation

Sales order

Reservation

Sales order

30

Today

Addl.
qty.

_
1
2

0
160
80

Time
End of
replenishment lead
time

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This indicator determines whether external requirements (such as reservations and sales orders) are
additionally taken into account in the case of consumption based materials planning/control.

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Further Settings for Master Data

Further Settings for Master Data

Responsibility

Materials planners/controllers

Special procurement types

planning

for monitoring the

Notification

in case of GR
involving missing parts

Fine-tuned

control (in-house
production/external procurement)

Flexible

Planning calendar

period lengths for

procurement in reqts. planning

Representation

analyses

of period totals in

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The procurement type of a material is determined via the material type. The special procurement type
belongs to the plant data for the material and allows finer control of the procurement type.

Using a planning calendar, you can define your own period splits (e.g. from Wednesday to Tuesday) for
planning and procurement purposes.
The planning calendar is assigned to a material with the relevant lot size in the material master record.

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Settings for Net Requirements Calculation

Settings for Net Requirements Calculation

Planning horizon per plant/
MRP group

Time period for "net-change planning

in planning horizon".

Availability of:
- safety stock (percentage)
- stock-in-transfer/blocked stock

How are these stocks taken into

consideration in the planning run?

Rescheduling horizon per plant/

MRP group

Time period in which the system checks

whether or not more automatically
changeable receipt elements should be
rescheduled.
Result: exception messages

Error handling:
- Max. no. of order proposals/date
- Substitute materials planner
- Deletion of material earmarking

How does the system react to errors

during the planning run?

Define range-of-coverage profile

Facilitates computation of the dynamic

safety stock

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In the case of net-change planning within the planning horizon, planning is only carried out for those
materials that have a net-change indicator in the table of planned changes. This indicator is set in the
event of MRP-relevant changes within the planning horizon.

If part of the safety stock counts as available for MRP purposes, an order proposal is not generated
until there is a shortfall below the MRP-available safety stock level.

Within the rescheduling horizon, the system checks whether the existing dates still fit in with the
requirements situation with regard to receipt elements that the planning run can no longer automatically
change. If necessary, exception messages are generated.

With the dynamic safety stock, you can determine a requirement-oriented and range-of-coverage-oriented
safety stock level. It adjusts itself automatically to changes in requirements and counts as fully available
for materials planning and control purposes. It is taken into account in the planning of the proposed
order quantity.

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Settings for Lot-Size Calculation

Settings for Lot-Size Calculation

Procedure

in short-term horizon
in long-term horizon
Definition of end of short-term and
beginning of long-term horizon
Determination of dates for period lotsizes
Interpretation of time-spots
Splitting in case of quota arrangement?
Storage costs percentage
Procedure

Lot-sizing procedure

Rounding profiles

Per

level:
threshold value/rounding value

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Via the indicator for the MRP lot size, you specify how the order quantity is to be determined for a
material during the planning run.
The MRP lot size is defined in Customizing from the combination of procedure and lot-size indicator.

With rounding profiles, you can define for a material that rounding up or down is to be carried out in
accordance with suppliable quantities. You can define this rounding in several steps.

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Further Settings for Planning

Further Settings for Planning

Creation indicator per MRP
group

Purchasing
Substitute

dept. processing time

purchasing group

Determination

Parameter for extern. procurement

per plant/MRP group

of planned del. time

from info rec. or outline agreement

Creation

of scheduling agreement
schedule lines

Acct.

Floats

Item

Determination of basic dates

assgt. cat. for non-val. mat.

numbers

Always backward scheduling?

Activate run-time statistics

Define maximum MRP interval

For regularly planned materials (also

without MRP-relevant change)

Fix (firm) transmitted sched.

agmt. schedule lines only?

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You use the creation indicator to determine whether purchase requisitions are created (always or only in
the opening period for planned orders) or whether planned orders are always created, whether scheduling
agreement schedule lines are generated, and so on, for the purposes of the planning run.

The floats facilitate the determination of basic dates for the planned orders. They are assigned to the
material via the scheduling margin key in the material master record.

For the determination of the basic dates, you can specify that the system is not to switch to forward
scheduling if the order start date should slip into the past.

For the run-time statistics, you can define for each plant
- whether they are generated
- the precision with which they are generated (how many materials).

The specification of a maximum MRP interval is especially important if a material is planned on a longterm basis with a different lot-sizing procedure than short-term.

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Settings for Order Proposals

Settings for Order Proposals

Application

Customizing

Create planned order

Order

Order type

profile

Procurement type
Special procurement
Account assignment category

Maybe new
order profile

Conversion of planned order

into requisition

Conversion of requisition into

purchase order

Number of planned orders

for mass conversion
Item numbers

User parameter EVO:

select/adopt/post
automatically?

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The order profile specifies the procurement.

You can also refer to the Purchasing IMG for the setting of user parameters.

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Settings for Analyses

Settings for Analyses

Application function

Customizing
Generate?
Priority

Planning run and error

handling

Exception
messages

Assignment to
selection group
Create MRP list?

Define texts for MRP elements

MRP list, stock/requirements

list:
Display period totals
Dsp. receipt coverage range
Display detailed header

Sequence of periods in case of

period switch
Individual period split
Receipt elements f. computation
Screen sequence

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During the planning run, exception messages are generated in situations that require checking by the
materials planner. Error handling according to the groups of messages defined in Customizing can be
carried out from the collective display of the MRP list(s).

The standard SAP R/3 System supplied contains the period splits standard, daily, weekly and
monthly. You can define new period splits.

The receipt range of coverage shows the number of days the current plant stock (plus the predefined
receipt elements) of a material will last.

The detailed header shows master and transaction data relating to the material in question. These data
are set out in individual screens. You can define screen sequences and assign them to the MRP types.

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Settings for Forecasting

Settings for Forecasting

Customizing
Weighting
group

Application

Weighting factor 1
...
Weighting factor n

- Forecast model "moving

weighted average"
- Weighting group

Breakdown of forecast
requirements for MRP:

Planning run:

Per splitting indicator and

period indicator:
- Number of days

- Breakdown of forecast
requirements into finer time
periods
- No. of periods to be taken into
account

- Number of months
- Periods
Assignment of forecast errors
to error class

Material master/forecast:

Error handling for forecast:

- Selection by error classes

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The weighting group in the material master record makes it possible for past consumption/usage values
to be taken into account to a greater or lesser degree in forecasting.

The period indicator specifies the periodicity of the consumption/usage and forecast values.
If this periodicity is too rough for MRP purposes, it can be broken down into finer time intervals by
means of the splitting indicator.

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Consumption-Based Materials Planning and Control: Summary

Chapter 5

Summary
Requirements planning must be activated for each plant.

Programs for background processing are available for

setting up and checking the consistency of the table of
planned changes.
Copying functions are available for the maintenance of

plant- and MRP-group-dependent requirement planning

parameters.
The individual settings for consumption-based materials

planning and control are subdivided into those for the

master data, those for planning, those for procurement
proposals, those for analyses, and those for forecasting.

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Chapter 5, Consumption-Based Mat. Planning: Exercises

Exercise 1, Chapter 5
Plant Parameters and Master Data for Materials Planning and
Control
1. Have the plant parameters for requirements planning been
created for plant TM##?
_______________________________
If not, copy the parameters from plant 1000.
Maintain the plant parameters for plant TM##:
Define materials planner/controller T##.
2. Copy the MRP group 0000 from plant 1000 to plant TM## as
MRP group 0000.
Define this as the default MRP group for material type ROH
and plant TM##.
3. How do the settings for MRP types VB and VM differ?
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
How is the forecast with MRP type VV used for materials
planning and control purposes?
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
4. List the special procurement types that are defined for plant
TM##. Which of them are relevant to external procurement?
__________________________________________________
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Exercise 2, Chapter 5
Requirements Planning
1. Activate requirements planning for plant TM##.
Is it necessary to set up the planning file for plant TM## as a
result of this activation?_______________________________
(Read the text for the corresponding IMG node in this
connection.)
2. Specify 40 days as the planning horizon for plant TM## and
100 days for your MRP group 0000 in this plant.
For this MRP group, up to 50% of the safety stock is available
for the net requirements calculation.
In plant TM##, the planning run for a material is to be
terminated if the run generates more than five order proposals
for certain a date.
3. When procurement proposals are generated in a planning run
in plant TM##, 2 days must be allowed for processing by the
purchasing department. Substitute purchasing group is 0##.
The planned delivery time is always determined by reference
to the material master record.
Start dates for order proposals lying in the past are allowed in
this plant.

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4. Create the materials planning/control and forecast data

relating to a raw material for plant TM##. Note that the
following materials planning/control data applies:
Base unit of measure piece, MRP type VV, materials
planner/controller T##, planned delivery time 10 days, exact
lot-size calculation, scheduling margin key 000.
Which MRP group is suggested by the system?
___________
The forecast is to be performed monthly using the trend
model.
Enter the following consumption figures (menu bar: Extras):
Current period:
150
VP2: 274
Prev. period (VP1):
280
VP3: 270
Material number:
_______________________________
5.
Carry out an individual forecast for this material in plant
TM## for the current period.
For how many months does the system calculate forecast
values? ___________________________________________
Save the forecast values.
6.
Carry out single-level, individual planning for this
material for plant TM##. Enter the processing key NETPL(net
change planning in planning horizon).
As a basic rule, purchase requisitions are to be generated.
7.
Display the current stock/requirements list for this
material for plant TM##.
For which period have purchase requisitions been created?
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1. Try to analyze and explain the scheduling for one of these

purchase requisitions.
8.
Carry out single-level, individual planning for the
material for plant TM## again. Choose the processing key
NETCH (net-change planning in entire horizon). As a basic
rule, purchase requisitions are to be generated.
9.
Display the current stock/requirements list again.
For which period have purchase requisitions been created?
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Exercise 3, Chapter 5
Forecasting
1. Define a splitting indicator for forecast requirements for the
purposes of materials planning and control in plant TM##which, if the period indicator is M(onth), causes the forecast
requirements for the first month to be broken down by the
exact day, those of the second month to be shown per week,
and which takes into account a further 7 months.
2. Enter this splitting indicator on the second MRP screen for
your material from the previous exercise.
3. Carry out single-level, individual planning for the material for
plant TM## again. Choose the processing key NETCH (net
change planning in entire horizon). As a basic rule, purchase
requisitions are to be generated.
4. Display the current stock/requirements list again.
For which period have purchase requisitions been created?
__________________________________________________
In what other ways does this result differ from the result of the
previous exercise? __________________________________
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Chapter 5: Solutions to Exercises

Solutions to Exercise 1, Chapter 5

Plant Parameters and Master Data for Materials Planning and
Control
1. Perform the display, copying, and maintenance functions for
the parameters of plant TM## one after another in the IMG
under Materials management --> Consumption-based
planning --> Plant parameters --> Maintain all ...
2. You will find the copying functions for the MRP group in the
IMG under Materials management --> Consumption-based
planning --> MRP groups --> Maintain all .... In the next IMG
line, it is possible to specify the default value for each material
type.
3. You will find the settings for the MRP types in the IMG under
Materials management --> Consumption-based planning
--> Master data --> Check MRP types. In the standard system,
differences between the settings for the MRP types VB and
VM primarily involve the use of forecasting. In the case of VM,
the reorder point and, in some cases, the safety stock are
determined by means of a forecast, whereas this is not so in
the case of VB.
In the case of MRP type VV, the forecast determines the
requirements that are to be covered by a planning run.
4. You will find the definitions of the special procurement types in
the IMG under Materials management --> Consumption-based
planning --> Master data --> Define special procurement
types.

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Solutions to Exercise 2, Chapter 5

Requirements Planning
You will find all the settings for this exercise in the IMG under
Materials management --> Consumption-based planning -->
Planning.
1. You activate requirements planning for a plant under Activate
material requirements planning.
After this activation, you must set up the planning file if
materials with defined MRP parameters have already been
created for the plant.
2. You will find the necessary set-up functions under:
MRP calculation --> Define planning horizon,
MRP calculation --> Stocks --> Define safety stock av...,
MRP calculation --> Define error processing.
3. You will find the necessary set-up functions under
Procurement proposals --> Define external procurement
and under
Parameters for determining the basic dates (start dates of
order proposals in the past).
4. Use the function Material --> Create (general)
--> Immediately in the Material Master application menu.
The system suggests MRP group 0000, which you predefined
in Exercise 1 for this purpose.

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5. You will find the function for carrying out an individual forecast
in the Material Forecast application menu.
The forecast values are computed for a period of 12 months
(cf. parameter value in the material master record).
6. You will find the function for carrying out single-level individual
planning in the Materials Planning - External Procurement
application menu.
7. You can display the current stock/requirements list for this
material for plant TM## using the same menu.
As a result of the processing key NETPL and the planning
horizon defined in part 2 of this exercise, purchase requisitions
have been created for 100 days.
The purchasing department processing time defined for your
plant has been taken into account in the scheduling in addition
to the planned delivery time and the GR processing time for
the material.
8. You remain in the Materials Planning - External Procurement
menu (likewise for 9).
9. This time, purchase requisitions have been created for the
period for which forecast values are available.

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Solutions to Exercise 3, Chapter 5

Forecasting
1. You can define splitting indicators for forecast requirements
for materials planning and control purposes in the IMG under
Materials management --> Consumption-based planning -->
Forecast --> Define splitting of forecast reqmt for MRP....
Enter 1/1/7 for your indicator.
2. Use the function Material --> Change --> Immediately in the
Material Master application menu.
3. You can start the individual planning run in the Materials
Planning - External Procurement application menu.
4. You can also display the current stock/requirements list using
the latter menu.
This time, purchase requisitions have been created for 9
months. The requirements covered are broken down into daily
figures for the first month, into weekly figures for the second
month, and shown as monthly totals for the subsequent 7
months.
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