8th Feb’18:

Following are new concepts in AATP Product Availability Check:

 Temporary Quantity Assignments (TQA)

o ATP during sales order creates TQA so that it is not available for ATP in other orders
o Due to some reason, if system crashes and transaction closes abruptly there is a high
possibility that TQA might get stuck creating inconsistency
o Inconsistent TQA’s out of sales orders are automatically deleted within 8 hours
o However, TQA’s out of certain transactions like Release for Delivery are not removed
automatically
o Report ATP_TQA_PAC_DEL_DISPLAY provided by SAP to delete inconsistent TQA’s
o Today we use a custom functionality which calls program SDRQCR21 to clear VBBS
inconsistent requirements

 High Running Materials

o Materials encountering ATP locks are logged and if the number of such instances cross
10 then the material is flagged as a high running material
o In AATP, we perform group product availability check i.e. all materials are ATPed
together
o For sales orders with schedule lines > 20, high running materials are separated from
group availability check
o Following is the high running material validity rule, post which it expires:

o This is taken care automatically by AATP

Product Allocation (PAL)

 General Observations
o Material Master changes not required to activate / deactivate PAL
o No control at customer master level
o Once PAL configuration under AATP is activated, PAL configuration under Sales
Distribution is obsolete
o Setup of PAL is managed via 4 Fiori Apps rather than configuration and hence no TR
required

o Like ZPT_ALLOC_ITEM table we can define characteristics like Sales Org, Customer,
Plant etc and combine to create characteristic value combination (CVC). This is also
referred as Product Allocation Object
 o Concept of collective allocation….. the 1st record above is an example of collective
allocation where both records are mutually exclusive based on Sold to Party
o Real time analytics to view the consumption

o Constraint Status has the following values:

Restricted availability means confirm as per remaining open allocation qty

Unrestricted availability is similar to clicking YES on the allocation pop-up and allowing
confirmation more than the open allocation qty

o Backward / Forward consumption – Not relevant for ABC

o Concept of allocation sequence – Multiple allocation objects assigned in a way that

each will be checked in a sequence until entire requirement is confirmed. Similar to
how we have different allocation types I, D, S which are checked in particular sequence

o Ultimately the allocation sequence is assigned to Material – Plant combination

o We can use ‘No availability’ constraint for zero confirmation i.e restricting one customer
to buy a certain material .

 Recommendation:
o Make use of the record setup for allocation to do away with huge allocation custom
tables
o Customer Master allocation control can be moved to condition record setup to avoid
master data change for activation / deactivation
o This will help us to make use of embedded analytics
o Enhance the PAL logic to suit ABC requirement of Pop-up for override and rejection of
EA
o Check how collective allocation can be used to address group allocation logic
Product Allocation:

Pros:

Most settings are established via SAP Fiori apps. Configurations, master data, and
transaction data reside in the same application, SAP S/4HANA. Unified and simplified data
model.

Embedded Analytics

Standard Allocation object setup can be used instead of the huge Z-tables for allocation
records

Cons:

Standard allocation logic does not meet ABC requirement

Impacts/Benefits:

Opportunity to revisit the allocation logic and see how we can maximize the use of PAL
provided in S/4 HANA

Will require enhancements in the existing allocation logic similar to Listing Exclusion in ECC

Fit/Gaps to:

User/end customer experience

Most settings are established via SAP Fiori apps

Embedded analytics available at the click of a button

Cost savings/Additional costs/maintenance costs

AATP requires a separate license

Functionality/technical benefit

Characteristic Value Combination record setup can replace Z-tables for product allocation
records
 Constraint Status can be used to decide whether to over allocate or not

Allocation sequence / Collective allocation could be used to setup layered allocation

Will require enhancements in the existing allocation logic similar to Listing Exclusion in ECC

Back Order Processing (BOP)

Pros:

Most settings are established via SAP Fiori apps. Configurations, master data, and
transaction data reside in the same application, SAP S/4HANA. Unified and simplified data
model.

Profitability based ATP confirmation via BOP expected in the near future

Cons:

BOP changes stock situation across orders depending on the confirmation strategy

If a particular BOP run fails then need to check how the alert will be sent out to Helpdesk

Impacts/Benefits:

Make use of GAIN confirmation strategy and rule of First come first served (orders to
ascending manner to be fulfilled) to meet ABC requirement

Will require enhancements in the existing BOP logic similar to check licensing / listing
exclusion

Fit/Gaps to:

User/end customer experience

Most settings are established via SAP Fiori apps

Cost savings/Additional costs/maintenance costs

AATP requires a separate license

HANA Rule Framework may need a separate license

Functionality/technical benefit

Make use of GAIN confirmation strategy and rule of First come first served (orders to
ascending manner to be fulfilled) to meet ABC requirement

BOP run can be scheduled for every plant. No separate CPS scheduling required

BOP Monitor to check the results of the run

 If a particular BOP run fails then need to check how the alert will be sent out to Helpdesk