Category Archives: T-Codes

Organize SAP Transaction Codes with Remember The Milk

Posted on by


Organize Your SAP

There are several ways to save SAP transactions. One way is to create shortcuts in the SAP GUI. However, if you move between SAP systems a lot as consultants do this is not as helpful (although the shortcuts can be exported and imported).

Keeping transactions codes in a Word or .txt document is ok, but again not all that convenient if you need get access to them quickly when you are not on your home computer.

Remember The Milk

Remember the Milk is certainly not designed to manage SAP transaction codes. It is in fact a todo and list manager. We began using Remember the Milk (RTM) quite by accident when we started adding a few transaction codes. However, soon we found it to be our favorite place to locate transaction codes. The nice thing is that now our transaction codes are in the same place as our other lists. Here is a sample view of some of our transaction codes in RTM.


And of course there is also a search feature, so you can easily find the exact transaction code you are looking for. The search box is in the upper right corner.


Furthermore, you can add notes to each of the T-Codes, by selecting it and then selecting the detail box to the right.


To setup RTM for yourself, just go to their website and sign up for a free account at http://www.rememberthemilk.com


Material Master MRP Tabs

Posted on by

Most of the following is taken from the SAP Library and the Performance Assistant in SAP, and thus is not original content. I felt it value added to have it organized in this manner below, because it is setup differently in the SAP Library and lacks screen shots.

The MRP tabs in the material master are the most important for planning tabs in ECC. There are four tabs and each holds the following planning relevant fields:


MRP 1

Purchasing Group: The buyers who are responsible for the item

MRP Group: Groups materials together to allocate them special control parameters for planning (these control parameters include the strategy group, planning horizon and the creation indicator)

MRP Type: Controls the MRP procedure (MRP or reorder point to be used for planning a material). This needs to be set to X0 in order for the product to be externally planned in SCM. However, this is not enough to make the product be planned in SCM all by itself. Rather the MRP Type of X0 must also be selected in the CIF Integration Model in order for it to be relevant for SCM.

Reorder Point: If a reorder point MRP Type is selected, the Reorder Point tells the system how far to let inventory decline until a reorder is placed. The reorder point should cover the average material requirements expected during the replenishment lead time. Safety Stock, Average Consumption and the Replenishment Lead Time work to define the Reorder Point. Reorder point planning can be setup either manually or automatically. Manual is essentially hard coding the value, automatic allows the system to calculate based upon the factors listed on line three of this paragraph.

(Reorder point planning is one of the three consumption based planning methods available in SAP – the other being Forecast Based Planning and Time Based Planning – connecting up to the same cycles as your suppliers i.e. if a supplier always delivers a material on a particular day of the week, material planning can be set to the same cycle)

Planning Cycle: Sets the planning cycle (often to match suppliers delivery dates) listed above.

Lot Size: The ordering methodology

Min Lot Size, Max Lot Size: Self explanatory quantity fields

Takt Time: Control parameter for takt based scheduling:

Definition of Takt Time from Answer.com

“Takt time can be defined as the maximum time allowed to produce a product in order to meet demand. It is derived from the German word taktzeit which translates to clock cycle. There is a logic therefore to setting the pace of production flow to this takt time. Product flow is expected to fall within a pace that is less than or equal to the takt time. In a lean manufacturing environment, the pace time is set equal to the takt time.

History

Takt Time is defined as:

Where: Ta = Net Available Time to Work eg. [minutes of work / day] Td = Total demand (Customer Demand) eg. [units produced / day] T = TAKT Time eg. [minutes of work / unit produced]“


MRP 2

Procurement type: Codes if the item is configured for internal, external or both internal and external procurement.

Special Procurement: Codes for whether the material uses particular procurement such as (Consignment, Subcontracting, Phantom Assembly, etc…) It defines external procurement or in house production more precisely.

Quota Arr. Usage: Configures the quota arrangements for (POs, PRs, Sched Agreements, Planned Orders, MRP and Prod Orders)

In House Production: Lead time in days

GR Processing Time: Time to receive the goods into the facility

Planned Delivery Time: Self evident delivery lead time

Safety Stock: Can be hard coded or calculated. Definition of Safety Stock:

Safety Stock

Extra units of inventory carried as protection against possible stockouts. The safety stock must be carried when the firm is not sure about either the demand for the product or lead time or both. In the case where demand is uncertain, safety stock is the difference between the maximum usage and the average usage multiplied by the lead time. For example, assume that a store is faced with an uncertain usage for its baseballs. Lead time is constant at two weeks. Normal weekly usage is 700 dozen but it can go as high as 850 dozen. – Answers.com

Service Level Used to autocalc safety stock, the higher the level the higher the safety stock required to satisfy this level.


MRP 3 Strategy Group: The strategy group groups all the planning strategies that can be used for a particular material. The planning strategy represents the procedure used for planning a material and is (technically speaking) controlled by the MRP types. Standard values include (Make to Stock, Prod by Lot, Planning with Assembly, Planning w/o Assembly, Make to Order / no Assembly Order, Assembly/Service Order)

Period Indicator: Specifies the period of time the consumptive values are to be stored in the system

Consumptive Mode: Indicator in demand management that controls the direction on the time axis in which sales orders or dependent requirements are allocated to and consume planned independent requirements.

Forward Consumption Per (period):

Planning Material: Material number whose planned independent requirements the system uses to consume the sales order of the material in question if you use the planning strategy, “planning with planning material”.

Conv. factor f plng material: Factor that the system uses to convert the quantity of the current material, measured in the base unit of measure, to the base unit quantity of the planning material.

Bwd Conumption Period: Determines the consumption period (in workdays) for backward consumption. Using backward consumption, sales orders, dependent requirements, or material reservations are assigned to and consume planned independent requirement quantities which lie within the consumption period and before the requirements date.

Mixed MRP: Determines whether the material is available for (subassembly planning with final assembly, gross requirements planning, subassembly planning without final assembly)

Planning Part: Key which specifically identifies the plant from which the planned independent requirements of the reference material comes from.

Planning matl BUnit: Unit of measure in which stocks of the planning material are managed

Availability Check: Specifies whether and how the system checks availability and generates requirements for materials planning.

Total Replenishment Lead Time: After all BOM levels have been procured or produced, it is not calculated in the system, but defined in this field as the total in-house production and or planned delivery times of the longest production path. This time is necessary if, for materials produced in-house, the replenishment lead time is to be taken into consideration in the availability check.


MRP 4 BOM explosion/dependent requirements

Selection method: Indicator determining the selection of the alternative BOM when requirements are exploded in material requirements planning.

  • With Selection by order quantity, the system chooses the alternative BOM into whose lot size range the order quantity falls. The lot size range and area of validity of the BOM apply.
  • With Selection by explosion date, the system chooses the alternative BOM into whose area of validity the date falls according to the setting BOM via dates.
  • With Selection by production version, the system chooses the alternative BOM defined in the valid production version. The lot size range and area of validity of the production version apply.
  • With Selection only by production version, the system chooses the alternative BOM defined in the valid production version. The lot size range and area of validity of the production version apply. If no production version is found, no production orders or process orders can be created.

Individual coll: Determines whether the requirements for the material are individual requirements or collective requirements.

Component scap%: Percentage of scrap that occurs during production, if the material is a component.

Requirements Group: Defines if the system groups together dependent requirements for the material on a daily basis.

MRP dep.requirements: Controls whether dependent requirements are relevant for MRP or not. Dependent requirements include dependent reservations and stock transfer requirements.

You only use this indicator in connection with planning strategies for make-to-stock production, assembly planning. Note that the indicator Dependent requirements not relevant to MRP should only be used when, for example, planned independent requirements exist for an assembly. In this case, no receipt elements for the dependent requirements in MRP should be created as receipts have already been created for the planned independent requirements.

Repetitive manufactring

Fair share rule: If demand exceeds supply, DRP uses fair share logic to calculate deployment based on on the available to deploy (ATD) quantity, the open sales orders, the safety stock, and the forecast.

REM profile: Repetitive manufacturing profile

Controls, via order type, whether you are working with make-to-order repetitive manufacturing, based on sales orders, or with make-to-stock repetitive manufacturing, based on no specific orders. Controls, via order type, whether you are working with make-to-order repetitive manufacturing, based on sales orders, or with make-to-stock repetitive manufacturing, based on no specific orders.

The repetitive manufacturing profile also determines;

  • how the system deals with activities when backflushing
  • which movement type is used to post goods receipts and goods issues
  • how planned order and run schedule quantities are reduced in the backflush transaction
  • how BOM corrections are made – if errors should occur when posting quantities to be backflushed

Push Indicator: If there is excess inventory, surplus stock is retained at its place of origin or is distributed according to push logic.

  • If you leave the field blank, the system uses pull distribution; the demand of the current day is met through deployment, but excess stock is not distributed.
  • If you select P, the system uses pull/push distribution; excess stock is distributed to meet the demand existing within the demand horizon according to the forecast in the DCs. Distribution begins on the first day for which requirements exist in the system and ends with the last day of the demand horizon.
  • If you select X, all the requirements defined in the system are met through deployment. Distribution begins on the first day when requirements exist and continues until all the requirements defined in the system are met.

Backflush Profile: (Backflush is the non manual posting of an issue of components some time after their actual physical withdrawal for an order.) The backflush profile groups together control parameters for the production backflushing process for the discrete industry. In DI backflushing, this profile replaces the repetitive manufacturing profile that was used previously. You add new control parameters for the DI backflusing process to the backflush profile only.