SAP SCM Planning

As with biology, all products have a lifecycle.

Where Can PLM Be Found in SCM?

There is a solution provided by SAP called PLM. It resides in SAP ERP. This post covers why we are not a big fan of this solution.

http://spplan.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/is-sap-plm-for-real/

However, there are also PLM capabilities in the SAP SCM side although they are often not conjectured or presented in the context of PLM

PLM in Demand Planning

For some reason PLM has become highly associated with SAP ERP as a solution, even though there is not a lot there. There is however more significant PLM functionality in SAP SCM, even though it is not actually called PLM. This post will describe a few areas where PLM exists in SCM.

1. Like Profiles: This is used when attempting to use the demand history of an old item and superimpose it as the demand history for a new item which has no history. This is performed in the following
2. Phase In – Phase Out: This functionality exists both within DP and within SPP. This essentially groups products by historical demand into profiles. Phase in profiles are increasing in quantity over time, while phase out profiles are decreasing in quantities over time. However, the angle of incline (thinking graphically) depends upon the profile selected. That is some profiles increase or decrease more rapidly. This is a profile that is assigned per material.

Path = SAP APO – Demand Planning – Environment – Life Cycle Planning

A Phase Out Planning Service – exists in SCM, but it is in SPP, not in DP and is executed from the Planning Service Manager or PSM

http://sapplanning.wordpress.com/2008/12/18/spp-planning-profiles/

Another area which deals with PLM in SCM is the supersession functionality in SPP – the specialized planning module for service parts. This is beyond the scope of this article, but is fully explained here.

http://sapplanning.wordpress.com/2009/04/18/spp-supersession/

http://sapplanning.wordpress.com/2007/12/13/part-supersession-in-sap/

Furthermore phase in phase output planning, which is also related to life cycle planning is covered in this post.

Product interchangeability, which is a far less sophisticated version of SPP supersession, is said by SAP to exist in the following modules:

• DP
• SNP
• CTM
• PPDS
• GATP

In one of our next posts we will address product interchangeability in SCM across all the modules.

References

http://www.amazon.com/Sales-Inventory-Planning-SAP-APO/dp/1592291236

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_scm70/helpdata/EN/8e/d4ef37e9a4ba6ee10000009b38f842/frameset.htm