There are three available-to-promise (ATP) checks globally employed by best-in-class supply chain organizations. Essentially, these checks are done to confirm sales orders can be filled. The type of check you perform depends on your needs. SAP experts have captured all three types of ATP checks in a solution that deploys with a fixed-price in a matter of weeks. Get ready for part 6 of this series covering:
SAP Global ATP Check rapid-deployment solution
Key take away: A short profile of the solution driving customer satisfaction, business values as experienced by one of our customers and further information on this pre-packaged offering.
The global available-to-promise (ATP) check ensures that your company can provide to your customers the requested product, at the requested time, and in the requested quantity. With an ATP check you can determine, more safely and reliably, if a requirement and, thus, ultimately a sales order can be confirmed.
This rapid-deployment solution provides configuration for three ATP check methods, executed in the SAP APO system.
- Global ATP with product availability check: This is a real time check to determine if the requested quantity can be fulfilled for a given time and location.
You can determine Defining different scopes of the check, you determine which elements should be checked in the scope, for example, check against stock or check against receipt elements depending on category type
- Global ATP with check against product allocation: This check helps you to allocate certain product quantities – typically short in supply - to certain groups, e.g., regions or key customers, based on pre-defined allotment criteria.
- Global ATP with rules-based availability check: A rule-based ATP check for product substitutions or location substitutions or a combination of both, based on pre-configured condition rules delivered with this RDS, e.g., key customers for which a location substitution should be allowed.
A successful ATP check triggers a sales order confirmation in your SAP ERP system, with the quantity of the sales order being reserved for on-time delivery. The system calculates preparation and execution of transportation, so that you can ultimately confirm the customer sales order, as shown below.
SAP Global ATP Check rapid-deployment solution – process flow covered
Notice in the blue box, that a powerful sales order backorder processing step is included. This ensures that all open, unconfirmed requirements are fulfilled as early as possible. Backorder processing is helpful, for example, with individual or prioritized sales orders.
With Global ATP Check functionalities, SAP provides clear value to its customers: You can work with more accurate and reliable order promise dates. Imagine the positive impact on your customer service levels. You also have your order fulfillment process streamlined, e.g., by using online real-time availability checks and reducing you order backlog. Think of the benefits to the order fulfillment team while you also reduce your finished goods inventory and costs related to it.
Every one of these ATP check processes and functionality can be implemented with SAP Global ATP check rapid-deployment solution in only 12 weeks.
Manual MS Excel based planning processes with a low visibility on planning data, inaccuracy in properly allocating products, and scattered planning environments - just some issues, Bonfiglioli, a producer of industrial component and equipment, business unit Mobile and Wind solution, had to tackle with before turning to an SAP integrated software solution like SAP APO. Their resume after having implemented SAP Global ATP and SAP Demand Planning rapid-deployment solutions:
“In the old world, before starting our project and designing a new planning system,
we were weakly connected, often with different targets,
we talked different planning languages and acted in inconsistent ways:
in the new one this is not possible anymore,
thanks to SAP APO DP and GATP rapid-deployment solutions implemented in as little as 17 weeks.”
Simone Bonantini, Sales Logistics Manager, Bonfiglioli
After the SAP rapid-deployment solution package was deployed, Bonfiglioli reduced planning activities by around 70%, for example, by facilitating loading and storing massive volumes of planning data. They significantly lowered their planning errors due to quota allocation misalignments by 100 %. The company now makes use of planning KPIs and alerts to improve the reliability of the master plan, leading to a more accurate forecast and a more stable plan. They also reduced the response time to evaluate changes required to the demand plan by 50 %. Ultimately, the company managed to reduce the number of systems used for planning from four to one and can now even profit from the optimized system synchronization, because the SAP solution facilitates the exchange of planning and sales data between SAP ECC and SAP APO seamlessly.
Proven to be successful, this new centralized and standardized model for planning, which provides increased higher transparency and on demand availability of planning data, is in the process of being rolled out as the to-go solution to other plants within the company, at the time this book went to press.
Alternatively watch the customer testimonial
video from Bonfiglioli.
Find further information on this solution:
This completes the overview on demand driven supply chain rapid-deployment solutions. You should now have an understanding on the solution and how these pre-packaged offerings can bring value to your business, for example based on experiences customers have made with selected solutions.
The final question remains: How and where do I get started? This I will answer in the last and final blog of this series: Part 7.
Missed the other parts of the blog series? Find them here: