Crazy topic

I guess you gonna all think I'm crazy, but that would be amazing to

merge ATP/ARUN/Order scheduling in a same tool !

Mehdi

APO and AFS Options

Hello,
 
I'm a traditional AFS consultant working exclusively in the ECC/R3
system. I've been involved several times in different discussion for
using both APO and AFS.
Stock category management is an important/major feature within the AFS
solution, as it is potentially strongly used in modules SD/MM/PP/WM/QM/
WM. When I first looked at APO, to my surprise, I discovered that such
a function was not supported by APO SNP ! With a couple of
enhancements it's possible to plug APO DP and to handle categories,
however, it was much more complex/costly in regards to SNP. Actually
SAP recommends to not use AFS categories with APO SNP.

Mehdi

Urgent query about AFS MRP run (PR: pur.group) Options

Hello all,
 
Perhaps, you have faced or still face the same problems as described
below and can tell me how you resolved it:
Our distribution center can be used by multiple purchasing depts.
working with the same materials, but different stock categories.
Hereby, the purchasing org. is (normally) the same, but they use
different purchasing groups.
MRP does generate individually pur.requisitions for each stock
category. However, the pur.group gets defaulted from the material
master (see LJ3AMF8M, FORM versorgen_eban) and is therefore the same
for all PRs per plant/material combination.
Consequently, we face difficulties to control access and daily
operation (e.g. selection) with these PRs as we have to give all
pur.depts. authorization for the pur.group of the material master.
Hereby, we can not prevent that a pur.dept. does process PRs they are
not responsible for.
As far as I know there is neither a BADI at MRP nor at PR creation
available to change the pur.group or control authorization on stock
category level.
Right now, I am thinking about a modification of the FORM-routine
above.
It would be great if I can get feedback from the group
1) if you have faced the same problem and how you have resolved it or
2) if you still face this problem so that we can address this to the
AFS team for a cont. improvement.
Many thanks in advance!

Kind regards,
Klaus Leisgang

VAS handling in MM (AFS 6.3 functionality) - knowledge sharing

Hello All,

Being on ASF 6.4 since end of last year we plan to use VAS handling in MM
later this year. During the implementation project we are facing a
significant no. of challenges.
Well, I know that some addition features will come with AFS 6.5.
Despite of, I would like to know if there is any other AFS customer out
there who has looked into this topic or even is using it already today.
It would we great if we could share our experience in this group. Ideally,
we can consolidate our lesson learned and provide constructive feedback to
AFS to further improve this function to better meet common business
requirements.
Remark: Please find below some ideas for improvements we have identified so
far.
• Mass data maintenance for vendor master is missing VAS fields
•  IDoc for vendor master creation is missing VAS fields (See screen
shot below for the VAS fields in vendor master)
• VAS data long text is not supported in sales order Idoc
• Customer master mass change function does not support VAS fields
• In Purchase order transactions ME21n, ME22n easy manual
maintenance screens for VAS codes similar to sales order (3 Tabs) is missing
(covered by AFS 6.5 in a different way)
• IDoc for customer master does not have the VAS fields (similar to
the vendor master Idoc)
• Currently, if the VAS data in PO is not from condition records,
then a PO change triggers an update termination
• Ideally, VAS data in PO should not be considered as master data.
It should be considered as transactional data, and allow for changes in PO
(for stand alone POs only)

• For TPO and PTO processes, the VAS changes made in SO should be
updated/copied to the account assigned PO without the use of texts (if PO
exists). The use of texts should be avoided (the copy function should be, if
possible , with configurable rules)

Many thanks in advance,
Klaus

SAP IM and AFS

Hello Guys,

Did anybody know if SAP IM (Invoice Management) is supported by AFS ?

Regards,

Mehdi

AFS and WM/EWM

Hello,

Is there any chance to see EWM enhanced in future for AFS ? (I looove

WM, but EWM looks much more funny)

Mehdi

Source Allocation and quota arrangement

Hello,

Officially, quota arrangement is not fully supported by AFS as this is

a separate function, "the source allocation". I think this function

never evolved since the first releases of AFS and from what I know,

(unfortunately) no major changes (except maintenance) will be done in

future to this application. Hence, we have tow function that partially

work (quota splitting is not supported by AFS), and source allocation

is pretty...old...

I understand that new requirements went to APO, however the mid-market

still need function like this.

Mehdi

PIR Consumption

Hello,

In AFS, PIR are reduced after posting sales order goods issue. Like

most of SAP feature, PIR are plant dependent. Let's say you have two

plants (one DC and one production plant), PIR are created in the DC

and both plants have a shipping area. Then depending on the customer

ship to country, it could be interesting to ship the goods from the

production plant because you have there some available quantity. In

such a case, ATP/ARUN substitution could be used but PIR could be

never reduced due to a PGI that happens in the "wrong" plant (not the

DC).

Mehdi

AFS STO Rescheduling

Hello,

In release 6.5, AFS rescheduling was enhanced for STO, however I don't

see the benefit of getting ATP rescheduling if the MM ATP is not

redesigned, of course we don't need all SD features, but in my opinion

the current MM ATP is pretty poor and does not cover any customer

requirement in STO. Whatever you use STO for production or for central

external procurement (you receive the demand from several DC and

create one big PO on a central DC), ATP is something that all

customers require. Currently, if your PO or Prd.Order is too early or

too late in a plant then your sales order is never updated with

realistic dates.

Mehdi

MM ARUN

Hello,

Currently the MM ARUN (called during AFS background processing)

encapsulated in MJ3AVFDL_DELIVERY_POSSIBLE_MM is more technical than a

real AFS function. It would be good to make it more flexible than what

it is now. VL10B offers some functions but that's very limited, also

sometimes customers don't want to get STO & SO on the same plant for

the same sku with different rules. Customer and plant should or could

be part of the same ARUN.

I got several times this requirements and had to replace STO by PO-SO,

however this works depending on the SCM business processes and of

course if the volume is not too huge (not good to get to many IDOCs).

Mehdi

Stock/Requirement List API

Hello,

I guess we all faced the same issue. Sometimes you need to collect

data from stock/requirement list for reporting topics. A wrong

approach would be to try to select data from database and reproduce

standard calculation. This is almost impossible due to the complexity

of the current MRP design, moreover if you do that it will be more

complex to explain the calculation to the users and of course to fix

issues. The second option is to follow SAP strategy and use service/

API for this purpose.

In standard SAP, we have function module MD_*_API (sorry I don't

remember right now the exact name :-(, in AFS we have

J_3AM_DISPOSITION_DISPL. The standard one calls the AFS FM and then

performs a mapping between standard MRP element and AFS MRP element.

Standard and AFS stock/requirement list are based on those functions.

In release 6.0, view filter was added to AFS MD04, which is nice,

however from my opinion the best thing would have been to add

selection rules as this speed up a lot data processing. If you just

want to pick up supply elements (whatever the MRP status), SAP always

load everything such as demand & supply. In standard, selection rules

are filter before database selection.

Of course, I understand that this kind of changes would require an

effort in the AFS PP-MRP are.

Production time at sku group

Hello Guys,

In AFS, it's possible to define a RLT at sku group for in-house

production, this is used during ATP check. In release 6.4, an

GREAAATTTTT enhancement was done in PP, which is the support of

production version at sku group. Let's say you spend 1 day to produce

a finished goods for size XXS, and 1,5 for size XXL (maybe more true

for bags or underwear). XXL is longer to produce because you have more

components and more operations, therefore the production time also

depends on the sku group, I would have expect a field "production

time" at sku group too, currently there's only one field at material

level, which is not consistent based on all feature that exist in AFS.

Mehdi

Minimum Lot Size

Hello,

I'm back in this great group !

I'd like to talk about minimum lot size. Currently, this functionality

is supported at material and sku level which is pretty cool. Material

planning was also enhanced to support sku group, this function is very

helpfull for external procurement where multi sourcing is done at

dimension level. For instance, you have one material with two

dimensions (color & size) relevant for MRP application (see function

MRM) but you want to group PR per color because of multi-sourcing

(several vendors due to capacity, price etc...).

Here comes the issue, if you decide to run MRP at sku group level

then, there is no minimum lot size check...nor at sku, article or sku

group level...Officially, this function is not supported by SAP at sku

level, however this is not consistent from a MRP prospective,

especially with two AFS functions. It would be good to get some

enhancements in this area.

Mehdi

Sequence screen layout change in CM10, CM25, CM27 etc

I would like to change the fields displayed in the screen for adding

in sequence numbers in production orders via the planning table. Eg.

- Tcd: CM25 - Overall profile SAPCRPG002

-Mark production order and go to the Menu: Goto -> Order -> Sequence

number

Do anybody know if this can be done via customizing, programming??

Thanks in advance

Br

Linda

Stock Category Management

Greetings,

I'd like to introduce an new discussion for talking about stock

category management across SD/MM/PP/WM modules.

Mehdi

Mass update GR proccessing time in planned orders and prod Orders

Hello All.

I am facing one issue when we change in material amster the Gr

processing time and wnat it reflected in the existing planned and

production orders.

Do  you know or have some tips how can we do this mass update to the

existing planned and production orders, using a standard transaction

from SAP?.

All suguestions are welcomme.

Thansk to you all.

Best Regards

Manuel Antonio

Automatic conversion from PR to PO for direct shipment

Hello AFS Gurus,

In stantard SAP, while using direct shipment in SD (item category

TAS), it's possible to get a PR automatically converted into PO by

assigning a fixed vendor to the right place. For some technical

reason, this is not supported. If my memory is not bad, conversion

from PR to PO is done through workflow task and I don't see any "huge

technical" reasons that could explain why this was never enhanced for

AFS. Of course it's not hard to schedule ME59N or to develop an in-

house add-on for this, I (customers) would prefer to get that part of

the AFS package.

PS: Mahesh asked me to make that group active, that's what I'm trying

even if I don't have the level of knowledge that most of you have !

Regards,

Mehdi LAHMER

Batch Management

Greetings,

Let's say you decide to use a "real" batch management (activating the

right checkbox in material master, AFS MRP views) then depending on

your business requirements, you could require to get the capability to

change batch number in outbound delivery. This being not supported by

SAP (and did not want to go with modifications), I had to define in a

previous project AFS finished goods as AFS materials and raw materials

as non AFS materials.

In another project I've seen a modification to the VL* delivery

programs to handle this scenario for finished goods. I understand why

the customer did that, it did not make sence to buy IS-AFS if you

cannot run the (great) ARUN/ARUN Optimizer !

Mehdi LAHMER

Long term planning

Hello,

Did anybody think about enhancing the long term planning for AFS (even

with custom development) ? I've seen that MPS will be supported in

release 6.5, however I never heard anything regarding this topic.

I've been working for the last ten years in AFS (from 2.5 to 6.4) and

to be honest, this kind of request is pretty limited, I mean, it's

mainly required for AFS companies doing production, for others where

they mainly use purchasing/subcontracting it's not that difficult to

find a workaround with custom reports.

Mehdi LAHMER

Over picking handling in STO

Greetings,

This is my first post, please be nice with me :-) I just want to make

that group active.

I'd like to discuss about an important topic that is not yet supported

by AFS (at least till 6.4), over picking in STO processing. In the

fashion/sportswear industry, in case a real production process is

involved it's is pretty obvious that when you cut some raw materials,

sometimes you could pick more than what was assigned by the ARUN.

Right now I had to find some workaround through MM ARUN to handle that

scenario, however that is not really "elegant". The thing is, some

customers found a way to bypass that restriction by changing some

settings in the IMG and perform picking through standard picking

processing (not done in the AFS tab), thus creating, from time to

time, data inconsistencies. This was initially done by consultants

that did not know AFS restrictions.

Mehdi LAHMER