SAP IBP best practice time dependent planning object initialization

[peter_casper]

Hi all,

I am currently asking myself if there is already any kind of best practice solution for a time dependent planning object initialization in and for SAP IBP demand available?

Let me sketch out the situation which is more or less common for demand planning processes.

We are initializing the planning objects, i.e. combination of customer + product + location + (technical week) via key figure load and a holistic subsequent time period creation job. This works perfectly fine. However there is no real time component availabe which refers to the validity of a planning object.

Example:

If now new combinations are already getting introduced in 2019 as season preparation for 2020, those combinations can't be differentiated from the rest.

I am wondering how it is foreseen to handle this topic in an appropriate way. (idea: like additional master data attribute which populates a 0 or 1 value into a stored key figure at the respective planning level to indicate wether a combination is input enabled or not. But all of this is more or less a custom solution to be build)

Best regards, Peter

[mkorndoerfer · Accepted solution]

Hi Peter,

Good question! I think you could even create an enhancement request in the Customer Influence Program for IBP as it might be a relevant topic for other customers as well.

Regarding how to model this, what if you create a new Attribute (e.g. PORTFOLIO) in MDT Product and add the exact values of the last column of your screenshot?

Or does your requirement also includes that the "obsolete" combinations in 2020, for example, should not be considered by some planning operators?

Best regards,
Matheus

[peter_casper · Accepted solution]

Hi Matheus,

I already had some similiar idea like you just using a master data attribute in order to simplify selection. However this will always be an approximate solution only because a lot of planning steps are related to the validity time frame. E.g. changeability of cells, automated jobs, data reorganisation etc etc

In essence it's something like a portfolio (planning combination) lifecycle.

In SAP SCM we attached the time dependency to the respective control cockpit for CVCs which we maintained in SAP ECC. This control table was the central hub for CVC creation, CVC deletion, input/output control and so on. Subsequently all relevant macros we built accessed this information being read by a central function module.

The deinitialization process was a little bit more complex.

regards Peter

[mkorndoerfer · Accepted solution]

Hi Peter,

Right, I agree that the the maintenance could be quite big.

I'm out of ideas for now, so maybe other colleagues can also share their insights. But again, submitting an enhancement request for a feature to achieve such behavior would be interesting.

Best regards,
Matheus