You run CIF Delta report (CCR) in APO using transaction /SAPAPO/CCR for manufacturing order and result in error

/sapapo/cif161 - order difference for receipt date in SAP APO and SAP R/3

The following are the possible reasons and solutions

1) PUBLICATION SETTINGS:

APO is the default scheduling leading system and that means that every order coming from R/3 system will be scheduled in APO and the new scheduled dates will be sent to R/3 in order to make the system consistent.  In order to send the data, the publication settings has to be maintained . Execute T-code /SAPAPO/CP3 in APO system, and maintain the following setting 

Publication type – In-House production

Block size – 600 (based on business scenario)

Retransfer – Always retransfer

Refer to the notes 423626 and 1803658

2) DISTRIBUTION DEFINITION

By maintaining the objects in the distribution definition the planning results are published from APO to an external system. Execute T-code /SAPAPO/CP1 in APO system and maintain the following setting

Publication type – In-House production   
Location number – Location of the order

Logsystem - The integrated R/3 system

SAPRel - Release for the connected R/3 system

3) TIME ZONE

The plant which has the order should have the same time zone maintained in APO and R/3 system

a) Execute T-code OX10 for the plant and check the time zone of the plant in R/3 system

b) Execute T-code /SAPAPO/LOC3 and check the time zone of the plant in APO system

4) FACTORY CALENDAR

The factory calendar maintained for the resource should be maintained the same in R/3 and APO system so that the shift and other work center parameters of the order are consistent between the
systems

a) Execute T-code CR03 and enter the work center of each operation, and check the factory calendar under the scheduling relevant capacity header

b) Execute T-code /SAPAPO/RES01 and enter the same work resource to check the factory calendar under the “General” tab

5) SOURCE OF SUPPLY

Check if the order is using source of supply (PPM / PDS) in APO and that it is consistent between APO and R/3 systems. 

a)  Check if the operations of the R/3 order are present in APO order; there are cases where some of R/3 operations do not exist in APO order

I) The operations may go missing in APO order if it is not relevant to scheduling in APO; refer to note 367658 for filtering of operations 

ii) If business scenario doesn’t want some operations to be in APO then it can be made not relevant to APO. In this case dates inconsistencies may happen because the end date of an order is determined by the end date of the operation. Since some operations are present in R/3, but not in APO, the end dates may differ between the systems

b) If the order do not use source of supply then refer to note 788266 for creation of manufacturing orders with no source of supply

6) OTHER CIF DELTA REPORT ERROR

Execute T-code /SAPAPO/CCR in APO system for the material and plant in the order and check if there are other related errors to the order which could be the cause for the date inconsistency

7 )  IMPLEMENTATIONS

Check in R/3 and in APO system if there is any customer exit or BADI implemented that modifies the dates that are sent across

Refer to note 645597 that has the user exit solution to activate the comparison of order deadline in the CIF delta report

A deep dive into the Procure To Pay Processes and the automation thereof by ERPGenie. Brief whitepaper summary:

• Introduction to Supply Chain Maturity
• About Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) including standards definition, mapping, typical advantages, common hurdles to overcome when implementing
• PTP Process: Purchase order > PO confirmation > ASN > Gods receipt > Invoice receipt
• PTP Order Management: Automating the PO and the PO confirmation or acknowledgement
• PTP Fullfilment: Automating the advance ship notice (ASN), application advice and leveraging with Goods receipt (GR)
• Vendor Compliance: Vendor scorecard – Perfect order

Download the whitepaper >> http://goo.gl/43yr4L

Big data offers tremendous potential to improve many aspects of a company’s business, and can have a major impact on a company’s overall operating and financial performance.

According to a recent Global Operations Megatrends Study (Big Data Analytics in Supply Chain: Hype or Here to Stay?) by Accenture, most companies have high expectations of incorporating analytics on big data in their supply chains, but adopting it has been a challenge. In fact,  97 percent of the executives surveyed understand how big data analytics can improve their supply chain, but only 17 percent have implemented it.

SAP is conducting a research study on Big Data across the Extended Supply Chain with the goal of determining how companies can capture and leverage big data to:

• Design products that incorporate sensory technology
• Continuously improve the performance and design based on consumer preferences and automated feedback
• Drive more effective S&OP process and decision making?
• Respond faster and have more effective reaction time to supply chain issues based on actual supply and demand events and triggers?
• Improvement in customer service and demand fulfillment
• Increase in supply chain efficiency
• Optimize inventory and asset productivity
• Improve customer and supplier relationships?
• Turn data into information with improved analytics and decision support analytics

As part of this study we are inviting executives and business practitioners to take the "Big Data in the Extended Supply Chain Survey" to provide your perspective.

The survey is targeted at decision makers and business experts from logistics, supply chain management, operations, R&D, asset management and Environment, Health and Safety who are concerned with capturing, analyzing and using Big Data to improve their business processes.

Take the Survey by clicking here.

Follow me @howellsrichard

Today, turbulent and volatile markets are now the norm. We face continuous fluctuations in consumer demand, and increasing complex supply chain networks. We encounter endless advancements in technology and increasing levels of globalisation, and as a result, we find that our businesses are now competing in an unpredictable world. So, given such challenges how should we still seek to ensure supply chain stability? And how do we optimise our supply chains to ultimately remain competitive?

Until recent times, a vast array of applications have been build within the constraints of existing databases and platforms. Systems have been built separately, with different systems, and as a result it's been both difficult and time consuming for businesses to obtain real time demand information, and operate with agility.

Yet, these aren't the only consequences. As many of these systems are unable to manage the vast amounts of data our organisations now obtain, our businesses have often made decisions based upon inaccurate, incomplete and outsourced data. Clearly, if we are to strengthen our market position and maximize our efficiencies, we need to evolve. But, how do we do this?

SAP HANA

"Simplify. Accelerate. Innovate."

In today's world, our businesses are only able to go as far as our IT infrastructure lets us. However, SAP HANA seeks to change this. HANA breaks businesses free from the limitations they face in order to allow firms to manage, monitor and analyse their processes like never before.

SAP HANA is a new platform based upon an in-memory data base, which enables real-time decision making to become a reality. By accelerating core processes, HANA allows firms to monitor their business processes in an up to the second fashion, and therefore enables users to make key decisions easier, faster and more accurately. In addition, by operating in real time, businesses can respond to unexpected events with unprecedented agility, to ensure that they remain ahead of the competition. HANA also has an ability to manage high volumes of data. No longer must users rely upon their own judgement and intuition when making decisions, as HANA enables firms to utilise all the data their businesses acquire to validate and improve the accuracy of their decision making.

Why Run APO on HANA?

Making Supply Chain Faster & Responsive

SAP Advanced Planning and Optimisation (APO) is an application at the heart of Supply Chain Management. APO offers businesses a fully integrated pallet of functions that enable firms to plan their end to end supply chain processes. With APO, businesses can collaborate on a tactical and operational planning level to continuously optimise their supply network efficiency.

By placing APO on HANA, Supply Chain Management Issues are turned into Opportunities.

- With APO on HANA, accessing timely information is no longer a major problem for businesses. The application increases productivity through providing faster planning processes and improved user experiences.

• - By installing liveCache on the same HANA server, the need of a separate maxDB server is eliminated, hence reducing TCO and simplifying set-up and administration.
• - Before HANA, many decisions made by firms have been based on incomplete, inaccurate and outdated information. However, with APO's real-time reporting Supply Chain Info Center, businesses can increase the speed and accuracy of their analysis to improve the effectiveness of their decision making.

Every year, the adoption of APO on HANA continues to increase and these users continue to gain tangible benefits from their upgrade. In January 2015, a major communication technology provider made the decision to implement APO on HANA, and as a result increased the performance of their back Order Processing by 5 times. Before HANA, this process took the company over 30 minutes, but through the use of HANA, such processes was reduced to 6 minutes.

In addition, a major apparel industry player also chose to implement SAP APO on HANA, and found more than a 30% improvement in end-to-end Demand Planning and Supply Network Planning processes. Another leading consumer appliance company also reaped the benefits of APO on HANA as they were able to reduce their MRP Process Run in PP/DS by almost half. Clearly, these results have had a major impact upon both productivity and decision making capabilities within the firm, as they have largely enhanced both the strength and stability of their supply chains.

The evidence is therefore clear. Run data in Real-time, in reinvent your business processes, and reimagine your business decisions with APO on HANA.

At SAP Insider Prague I listened into a session delivered by Tandeep Sandhu from Bombardier, he was talking to us about how Bombardier used SAP PLM and SNC to enable them to release a new line of aircraft for the 100-149 seat market and increase their market share in the process.

To give some background, Tandeep began by painting the picture of the company. Bombardier are the 3^rd largest aerospace company, they design, build and support both business and commercial aircraft. As expected for a company in this position, they operate on a global scale and employ over 35,000 people.

Before embarking on this project, Bombardier outlined the key challenges that would have to be overcome in order to be successful in their bid to enter a new segment of the aircraft market.

• There was no cross communication between the existing systems.
• Whatever solution they picked had to run using ECC to fit alongside their current set up
• A system was needed that could enable the engineering department to trigger a BOM change and manage the knock-on effect that this causes
• A necessity was to create a seamless process to integrate with their tier 1 supplies, this would enable them to be a ‘paperless’ organisation and be able to manage a JIT delivery process
• Due to the set-up of the particular industry, engineering own the change management process and the BOM is extremely large

After discussions with SAP, a comprehensive solution of PLM and SNC was chosen. Each solution covered all the challenging areas that Bombardier had outlined using various capabilities.

• Supplier collaboration was possible and a communication platform was created using SNC
• Paperless document exchange using PLM C folders alongside SNC
• Visibility of shipments using SNC advanced shipping notification functionality
• Enhanced inbound process and reduced manual entry of data through goods receipt with barcode scanning

Tandeep wrapped the session up nicely by providing us with the key things that should be taken away from his presentation.

• Trends such as increased global sites and suppliers, more competition and higher customer expectations are driving supply chains to be more efficient
• Prototyping is crucial in projects introducing new technologies
• Get hands-on experience as soon as possible
• Do extensive testing to discover where the issues are with your process and technology as early as possible
• Avoid customizing the system to a point where it cannot accommodate the future roadmaps
• Ensure there is enough support from the business and IT to resolve possible integration issues
• There are significant advantages to a well-tested integrated solution

It was great to hear yet another customer talk so positively about how SAP have enabled their business to achieve targets that were previously beyond their reach. Many attendees went up to Tandeep after the session to thank him for providing an insight into the Bombardier journey, I would like to express my gratitude too for the fascinating story of his experience with SAP.

Unilever will present their story at the the International SAP Conference for Supply Chain on 1 October, 2015 in Darmstadt, Germany. Here is a brief session outline:

• Learn about Unilever’s advance collaboration model with SAP to use best in industry IT implementation practices
• SAP Extended Warehouse Management as a business growth enabler
• How can applying Unilever’s real life experiences to your business allow you to:

               - Implement proven technologies, methodologies, and tools

               - Reduce total cost of implementation, including project cycles

               - Reduce total cost of ownership

• Road map and next steps

Check the full conference agenda >> http://goo.gl/8iYrvk

If you are contemplating implementing SAP Event Management, you will need to be prepared to answer a series of questions in order to be able to establish a design that caters to your needs. The following list of questions is a good start (although there are more based on the answers to some of these):

1. Which processes do I want to track?

2. Which objects of these processes should be monitored?

3. Which events within my processes am I interested in tracking?

4. Are my events date and time driven?

5. Where should the planned dates and times for my expected events come from? (...)

This whitepaper is provided by ERPGenie.com and is available for download here > http://goo.gl/85Fx5Z

Today, turbulent and volatile markets are now the norm. We face continuous fluctuations in consumer demand, and increasing complex supply chain networks. We encounter endless advancements in technology and increasing levels of globalisation, and as a result, we find that our businesses are now competing in an unpredictable world. So, given such challenges how should we still seek to ensure supply chain stability? And how do we optimise our supply chains to ultimately remain competitive?

Until recent times, a vast array of applications have been build within the constraints of existing databases and platforms. Systems have been built separately, with different systems, and as a result it's been both difficult and time consuming for businesses to obtain real time demand information, and operate with agility.

Yet, these aren't the only consequences. As many of these systems are unable to manage the vast amounts of data our organisations now obtain, our businesses have often made decisions based upon inaccurate, incomplete and outsourced data. Clearly, if we are to strengthen our market position and maximize our efficiencies, we need to evolve. But, how do we do this?

SAP HANA

"Simplify. Accelerate. Innovate."

In today's world, our businesses are only able to go as far as our IT infrastructure lets us. However, SAP HANA seeks to change this. HANA breaks businesses free from the limitations they face in order to allow firms to manage, monitor and analyse their processes like never before.

SAP HANA is a new platform based upon an in-memory data base, which enables real-time decision making to become a reality. By accelerating core processes, HANA allows firms to monitor their business processes in an up to the second fashion, and therefore enables users to make key decisions easier, faster and more accurately. In addition, by operating in real time, businesses can respond to unexpected events with unprecedented agility, to ensure that they remain ahead of the competition. HANA also has an ability to manage high volumes of data. No longer must users rely upon their own judgement and intuition when making decisions, as HANA enables firms to utilise all the data their businesses acquire to validate and improve the accuracy of their decision making.

Why Run APO on HANA?

Making Supply Chain Faster & Responsive

SAP Advanced Planning and Optimisation (APO) is an application at the heart of Supply Chain Management. APO offers businesses a fully integrated pallet of functions that enable firms to plan their end to end supply chain processes. With APO, businesses can collaborate on a tactical and operational planning level to continuously optimise their supply network efficiency.

By placing APO on HANA, Supply Chain Management Issues are turned into Opportunities.

- With APO on HANA, accessing timely information is no longer a major problem for businesses. The application increases productivity through providing faster planning processes and improved user experiences.

• - By installing liveCache on the same HANA server, the need of a separate maxDB server is eliminated, hence reducing TCO and simplifying set-up and administration.
• - Before HANA, many decisions made by firms have been based on incomplete, inaccurate and outdated information. However, with APO's real-time reporting Supply Chain Info Center, businesses can increase the speed and accuracy of their analysis to improve the effectiveness of their decision making.

Every year, the adoption of APO on HANA continues to increase and these users continue to gain tangible benefits from their upgrade. In January 2015, a major communication technology provider made the decision to implement APO on HANA, and as a result increased the performance of their back Order Processing by 5 times. Before HANA, this process took the company over 30 minutes, but through the use of HANA, such processes was reduced to 6 minutes.

In addition, a major apparel industry player also chose to implement SAP APO on HANA, and found more than a 30% improvement in end-to-end Demand Planning and Supply Network Planning processes. Another leading consumer appliance company also reaped the benefits of APO on HANA as they were able to reduce their MRP Process Run in PP/DS by almost half. Clearly, these results have had a major impact upon both productivity and decision making capabilities within the firm, as they have largely enhanced both the strength and stability of their supply chains.

The evidence is therefore clear. Run data in Real-time, in reinvent your business processes, and reimagine your business decisions with APO on HANA.

With only one week to go for our much-awaited International SAP Conference on Supply Chain, here is a final reminder of the 7 event highlights to help you register and secure your place.

Join Aeroflot, Arcelik, Autoliv, Boehringer, Bowers & Wilkins, Caterpillar, Covestro, DHL, Roche, Johnson & Johnson, KSB, Medela, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Philips, RWE, SBB, Shell, Sulzer Chemtech, Thames Water, Unilever, Volvo, VWR, Whirlpool and more!

Taking place in Darmstadt on 1-2 October, this business-focused event is packed with:

• Inspiring keynote talks from thought-leaders on how to transform your supply chain   
• Honest and practical case studies from leading companies on their unique approach   
• Interactive and live demos of the latest innovations from SAP experts and partners   
• Pre-conference workshops to equip you with in-depth expertise of SAP applications   
• One to one meetings with peers and experts to share challenges and successes   
• Cross industry learning from co-located events – SAP Conferences on PLM and Manufacturing   
• An unforgettable evening event giving you the opportunity to meet over 250 senior supply chain executives all under one roof

This is the only event in Europe giving you a business perspective on supply chain transformation with customers sharing their insights.

Register now and join us at 2015’s landmark event for the SAP supply chain community >> http://goo.gl/R52tGn

Today, at the International SAP Conference on Extended Supply Chain I listened to a great presentation by Phil Cottrell, from Mondolez International about his companies roll out of S&OP processes.

First Phil provided a little background on Mondolez, who are a “global snacks powerhouse who, in 2014, generated revenue of more than $30 billion”. Thy market products in 165 countries and have approximately 100,000 employees worldwide.

Phil explained that “Nearly 85% of revenues come from the fast-growing snacks cate

gories and over 75% of revenues come from outside North America.  The company have household brands such as Cadbury, Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Milka, Toblerone, Trident and Halls.

What does Integrated Business Planning mean to Mondelez?

Integrated Business Planning (IBP) processes enables Improved Business Results through Integration, alignment and synchronization. Phil explained that Mondolez define IBP as “a process led by senior management that evaluates and revises time-phased projections for demand, supply, new product development, strategic projects and the resulting financial plans”. At Mondolez, this is done on a monthly basis, on a planned 24+ month rolling horizon.

Mondolez see IBP as a decision making process that realigns the tactical plans for all business functions in all geographies to support the company’s business goals and targets.

A primary objective of the process is to reach consensus on a signal operational plan, to which executives of the management team hold themselves accountable, and allocates the critical resource of people, equipment, inventory, materials, time and money to most effectively satisfy customers in a profitable way.

Aligning Company Plans Every Month

At Mondolez, IBP is a “common sense process for aligning company plans every month”. This involves several steps:

• The Portfolio Management Review (PMR)assesses the sufficiency of the innovation pipeline and the resources required to execute it.
• The Demand Review (DR) is a process where sales and marketing determine what we will sell over the next 2 years. Determines where we have gaps in the plan and proposes possible solutions to those gaps. Focuses on controlling demand.
• The Supply Review (SR) creates a supply plan that solves for the demand created by the DR and PMR. Addresses any potential resource gaps with options and recommendations.
• The Integrated Reconciliation process quantifies the financial implications of the PMR, DR, and SR output. Identifies any key decisions that need to be made at the MBR.
• The Management Business Review approves plans proposed in the PMR, DR, and SR. Engages the category leadership team on any decisions that still need to be made. Reviews any other gaps that still exist and assigns actions to close them.

Across all steps Mondelez enforces several consistent attributes.

- Planing is done in monthly buckets

- They plan at an aggregate family level

- They have a 24 month horizon with a focus on 4-24

- The processes are executive led to ensure that there is linkage between strategy to tactical

- Monthly Cadence to enable constant replanning based on changes to demand and supply

- Ownership is key , with champions and leads for each step

Identified Benefits

Phil highlighted numerous benefits as a result of this deployment.

• Reduces financial resource requirements in normalizing and aggregating data.
• Facilitates a “One Number” plan by making the system the single source of the truth.
• One system eliminates the need to use/maintain multiple reporting mechanisms.
• Simulation of Volume & Revenue adjustment and Risk & Opportunity scenarios
• Improves organizational collaboration with transparency of data.
• Capacity constraints are identified earlier.

Thanks to Phil for a great overview.

Today, at the International SAP Conference on Extended Supply Chain I listened to a great presentation by Raffaele Gianola, GIS Director, Manufacturing and Supply Chain at Whirlpool EMEA, who presented on the companies demand management and S&OP processes and solutions.

Why Integrated Business Planning?

Raffaele explained that 5 factors led to Whirlpool embarking on their IBP journey:

• Acquisition of the Indesit company put Whirlpool in a position were they had to identify a go forward solution
• Upgrade of existing systems were long overdue
• Poor adoption of existing processes & systems by end users
• Exciting Roadmap for IBP from SAP
• Wanted to “innovate to simplify” current processes and solutions

Implementing IBP Processes

Whirlpool started with a phased approach with the mentality of “aiming high, but starting small”.

Phase 1 focused on thedemand management process in 5 countries. This involved:

• Cleansing of demand data to establish good basis for forecasting
• Statistical forecasting to enable unbiased input
• Measure and identify new KPI’s to improve accuracy, bias and stability
• Foundation of basic services across all phases
• Baseline of requirements and content by gathering demand planner inputs
• Connectivity through Hana Cloud enabled interfaces
• Enrichment through collaboration and augmentation

There was initially a 4 weeks design step which included a design workshop, master data modelling, detailed design and mock ups and a data flow design. This was followed by a 12 week “realization” phase to configure the system, design templates, interfaces and testing of the system. Raffaelle pointed out that  this phase also included training of users on both the tool, “which was minimal” and change management “which took most of the time”. The pilot and go live took a further 3 weeks.

The Roll Out

The company is currently going through an aggressive roll out of 32 further countries in 11 months, based on the templates agreed and tested in the initial pilot countries. They are currently live in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, UK and Germany. The rest of the countries will be rolled out by the end of 2015.

Key Takaways

In conclusion Raffaelle left the audience with several takeaways.

• “IBP is ready for business. Whirlpool has done it, you can too”!
• “Be ambitious, but it‘d be wise to start small”
• “A new implementation is an opportunity to simplify processes “
• “Prototype, prototype, prototype”
• “The excel based UI of SAP Integrated Business Planning is a great opportunity for smart visualizations to aid planning tasks”
• “Don’t underestimate work required for creation of high quality templates for planning views”

Thanks to Raffaele for a great presentation.

All,

Working in a Success Factors Sales/Partner Demo system, there is an additional step to add JAM access to the users loaded in BizX. The attached guide goes through the steps to add (or change) users in BizX, and the process to create subsequent JAM users.

There is also an embedded video in the document that goes over the steps. Though, if you're not able to view the video, please follow the steps outlined in text in the guide.

Thanks,
Jamil

Following on from the previous blog, which sought to highlight the benefits from implementing Advanced Planning and Optimization (APO)on HANA, in this blog we will seek to explore the technical implications of this transition.

..............

An an existing APO customer, under what circumstances should I choose to implement APO on HANA?

• If you are upgrading to the release of SCM 7.0 Enhancement Pack 03
• If you are seeking to implement the Supply Chain Info Center
• If you are facing performance issues in the end-to-end DP, PP/DS, or Back Order Processing in gATP
• If you are seeking to change your database vendor and move to an inMemory Platform

Are there any prerequisites for implementing APO on HANA?

• SAP HANA runs natively only on Unicode. Unicode conversions can be done during the database migration but preparatory steps are required

Additionally, for the migration the following are also required/ recommended:

• Custom Code Adjustment and Optimization (Required)
• Data Volume Reduction (Recommended)
• Evaluation of Restricted Add-Ons, Scenarios, and Processes (Required)
• Dual-Stack Split (Required if Dual-Stack Source System)

Resource Requirements

• Certified and Experienced Migration Specialist Required

How Should I Start?

Step 1: Implement APO on HANA PoC

PoC is a start smart into the HANA world. With APO-on-HANA PoC, you can establish a well-founded argument for a GoLive Decision as it enables users to experience the benefits of a HANA powered system landscape. In addition, as APO has less risky process in comparison ERP, users of APO-on-HANA can minimise risks and be prepared for the next steps.

Step 2: APO on HANA Go-Live Project

In this stage users can profit from the preparation and know how gained in the PoC stage as, due to the previous implementation of APO-on HANA PoC, the Go-Live stage will be smoother and less risky.

Step 3: ERP and Other SAP Modules Go-Live Project (Optional)

In this stage users can minimise risks on their further SuiteonHANA implementations. This is because they can utilise the HANA experience gained from the migration/ update and operations in the APOonHANA Go-Live stage. In addition, in this stage users businesses can benefit from having a faster interaction between their systems, can profit from HW cost savings, and can obtain a positive experience from the Go Live augmentation of ERP. Users can then add additional SAP modules on HANA Go Live.

..........

What is the typical time required for the APO on HANA Migration?

There is no fixed amount of time. Yet, in the past the previous customer projects have taken around 6 months. This time period has included preparation, technical upgrades, migration and functional stability testing and performance comparisons.

See below for a typical migration project plan for the implementation of APO on HANA.

In addition, here's an example of a project plan for implementing PoC SCM on HANA in a HEC environment:

What is the hardware impact of the migration?

Switching to SAP has no impact on application servers or on front end. In addition, the transition has no impact on the data model or the custom extensions used. The only change, however, is the migration of database to SAP HANA Appliance which on the database server side needs special HANA Hardware.

What is the sizing of SCM on HANA?

Use SAP Note 1793345- Sizing for Suite on HANA to understand sizing guidelines

HANA Appliance Memory

• Expect a compression factor of 4 (compared to a standard AnyDB
• Expect a compression factor of 2,5 (compared to a compressed AnyDB)
• In addition factor 2 for temporary memory usage (e.g. for delta merges, intermediate results, in complex queries etc.)
• (Source DB/4) x2= Needed HANA Appliance.  For example Source DB with 2 TB (tables plus indexes) (2/4) x 2=1 TB HANA Appliance

HANA Appliance CPU & Disks

• The appliance is configured in such a way that CPU power and the I/O capacity is sufficient

What is the scaling of SCM on HANA?

- Scale-up (scale vertically)- Increases the size of the hardware (main memory, number of CPUs)

Ensure: Availability of suitable hardware (up to 4 TB cache)

- Scale-out (scale horizontally)- several nodes (servers) are switched together for one database and the data is distributed over the main memories of these different nodes

Ensure:

• To avoid cross-node joins/ views as cross-node communication is expensive. Table distribution has to be customer/ usage pattern specific
• Dynamic re-distribution must be allowed
• Regarding availability of multi node scenarios (scale out) for Suite on HANA please refer to SAP note 1825774

With SAP HANA, they are both very small and very server clusters:

How is the migration carried out for APO on HANA?

Below is an example of a one-step migration via database migration option. DMO is supported from SCM 7.0. to SCM 7.13 on HANA

..........

Special thanks to Alexander Greb for sharing his key insights and providing this valuable information.

Feel free to contact Sujeet Acharya (email: sujeet.acharya@sap.com) if you have any further questions on this topic.

To view the previous blog on the "benefits of implementing APO on HANA", use the link below:

http://scn.sap.com/community/scm/blog/2015/08/25/why-now-is-the-right-time-for-apo-on-hana

PPG is the company you never knew touched you so many times every day. From soda cans, auto and airplane paint, passport paper, hot wheels, NFL helmets, and smartphones.

PPG is the world’s largest paint company and generates over $15.4 billion dollar in annual revenues as a global supplier of paints, coatings, optical products, specialty materials, glass and fiber glass.

At the Global SAP Inventory Optimization User Group meeting this week, PPG shared their amazing journey to become a “Best-in-Class” Supply Chain.                                               

*Missing many participants

Scott Sinetar, VP Architectural Coatings (think paint cans for homes) inspired us with his view on the criticality of the Supply Chain function to executing the Corporate Strategy. “It will either enable us to meet our objectives or hold us back.” Peter Ten Hagen, Head of Supply Chain and Global Director, Supply Chain and Operations for Automotive Refinish shared techniques to drive “Best-in-Class” Supply Chain governance and adoption.

Scott also shared the challenges of managing PPG’s Supply Chain and industry business challenges:

• PPG’s Architectural business has expanded 150% through the Akzo Nobel Architectural acquisition.
• PPG Architectural Coatings is now selling through all three major channels:  big box retailers, company owned stores and a network of dealers.
• Architectural paints with all the stores, big box retailers is super competitive and sales are highly impacted by weather (wet and hot).
• PPG has transitioned the company’s profile to focus on Coatings which has meant an aggressive acquisition and divestment strategy, and this has changed their supply chain requirements.
• The business units each run their own P&L and the company is run in a decentralized manner.  There is not a central supply chain organization, but best practices are shared through a Supply Chain Council that includes representatives from each business unit and key functions.

PPG’s Overall Business Scope:

• 11 Strategic Business Units
• ~175,000 SKUs

PPG Architectural has ~1,000 stores in the United States and Canada

The User Group explored how the global enterprise level Supply Chain Council (SCC) improves the supply chain by breaking down the functional silos and eventually enables a more integrated business model.

The approach to driving performance across the entire enterprise involves completing cross business assessments of metrics through a scorecard. The scorecard is reviewed by Executives (red is bad) and the key stakeholders are driven to “You are what you measure.” Business stakeholders are asked to come up with action plans and to self assess their performance against those action plans.

The nice part of the SCC is that it provides a path to improvement with formal programs, tools, and support structures for all the supply chain processes. Cross-business sub-teams focus in on establishing best practices for the entire enterprise. These guides are then provided as roadmaps to success.

Recently, PPG top executives set a 10 day reduction in inventory challenge.

Luckily, the SCC has a 6-Step Inventory Management Program:

1. Model
2. Clean up (unhealthy inventory)
3. Simplify (your portfolio)
4. Understand Drivers
5. Optimize through SAP Inventory Optimization Software
6. Monitor

And, of course, those that implemented the program had the quantifiable benefit of reduction in Days on Hand. So why not do it!

The keys to PPG’s Supply Chain Transformation success:

• Secure Executive Sponsorship
• Keep metrics front and center.
• Keep Business Unit leadership up to date on initiative progress.
• Provide a path to success to those who are behind.

Thanks to all who attended and contributed to the event, the PPG team for hosting, especially Thomas Oberhauser, Lisa Vincenty, and Dan Kohler for coordinating, and to Scott Sinetar and Peter Ten Hagen for inspiring us to achieve supply chain and business success!

*SAP Inventory Optimization Solutions include SAP Enterprise Inventory and Service-level Optimization and SAP Integrated Business Planning for inventory

Gaining real time End 2 End Supply Chain visibility

Today, supply chain managers are facing big challenges with complex supply chains in a global environment.

Market volatility, demand fluctuation, long lead times, need for fast responsiveness, high service levels are just some of today critical factors.

Speed is the key. Not only organizations need to have a real time network visibility, but also they need to identify problems in advance and understand the reasons behind those issues.

More and more organizations are looking at the Supply Chain Control Tower as the way to achieve this.

The Supply Chain Control Tower is a single central HUB for visibility, decision-making and action, based on real-time data powered by new in memory and cloud technologies.

The Supply Chain Control Tower is not another Business Intelligence tool. It enables companies to identify potential issues in advance, understand their causes and find the best resolution. This is supported by a system of alerts, simulations and recommendations.

SAP Supply Chain Control Tower connects data from different systems (in house or external, execution or planning systems; including SAP Integrated Business Planning, SAP Event Management and SAP Transportation Management). For short-term issue handling, it allows organizations to obtain instant insights into demand, inventory and supply across the entire supply chain. It provides predefined real time KPI and dashboards, to have real time supply chain visibility.

Since the SAP Supply Chain Control Tower is built on the same platform as SAP Integrated Business Planning (SAP IBP), it can leverage SAP IBP capabilities such as planning and simulation. Comparing different options with what-if analysis and scenario planning, enables better decision making and effective actions (i.e. simulate year end inventory projection by making demand or supply adjustments; make on the fly simulations for inventory value if price changes).

SAP Supply Chain Control Tower also takes advantage of IBP usability capabilities such as its Excel plug-in interface for scenario planning. It provides an event resolution mechanism, “Case and Task Management,” in which supply chain users can collaborate on a problem to agree on the path to undertake, start the resolution and monitor the results. It thus enables fast problem resolution, by quickly identifying issues with prioritized alerts.

For more information, visit SAP and SDN.

http://go.sap.com/solution/lob/supply-chain.html

http://go.sap.com/solution/lob/supply-chain/extended-insights.html

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-65781

Today, SAP is proud to announce that SAP Transportation Management 9.3 (SAP TM) and SAP Extended Warehouse Management 9.3 (SAP EWM) is now generally available to customers.

SAP TM offers customers holistic, end-to-end logistics process support, including integrated planning, orchestration, execution, tracking and settlement of the physical movement of goods across all modes of transport.

With the latest release, the application has been extended to enable the transit warehouse scenario as well as introducing group company logistics that enable the establishment of internal logistics acting like service providers. Further innovations cover enhancements in strategic freight management, in load and pallet building as well as resource planning integration for better visibility and planning of the container fleet.

SAP EWM offers an end-to-end support for the operational value chain. It is a software system for warehosue management and stock control in all warehousing activities. With SAP EWM 9.3, customers can plan, source, transport and deliver better than ever with the latest innovations.

With the introduction of transit warehouse capabilities, logistics companies can manage complex movements of goods from origin, to consolitdation points to destination. It allows to unload, consolidate and load packages instead of products. Further enhancements introduce billing of warehouse services for both, logistics service providers as well as for shippers contracting warehouse services.

Additional information on SAP TM and SAP EWM can be found below:

• Link to SAP TM on sap.com
• Link to SAP EWM on sap.com

Digitization will reinvent the world economy; individuals, businesses and societies are becoming interconnected in real time, leading to a new Digital Economy that is more collaborative, intelligent, responsive, and efficient with dramatic increases in productivity and economic value.

The Digital Economy will transform the way we live and work, how business runs, and how society functions – and do this in a time frame that is radically shorter than any other major economic transition in history.

Over the past few years, networks have evolved that have connected individuals, groups and organizations.  We started with “People Networks” like Facebook and linked in. This was followed by “business Networks” such as the Ariba business network.  The IoT made these networks even more connected by bringing connectivity to literally “everything”.

This has resulted in a new digital economy where:

• Everything is becoming digitized
• Everything, and everyone is connected
• Everything is being shared via the cloud
• Everything is now personalized
• Everything is directly available

There are many examples in business today:

• Uber is the world’s largest taxi company but owns no taxis.
• Airbnb is the largest accommodation provider but owns no real estate
• Alibaba is the world’s largest e-commerce company but owns no inventory
• Netflix is the world’s largest movie house but owns no cinemas
• Apple is the world’s largest music distributor but owns no music
• Amazon is the world’s largest book distributor but owns no books

To be in a position to capture and create these opportunities, companies must develop an environment in which they can manage information and processes across the extended supply chain.

This new evolution of supply chains are more connected, more intelligent, more responsive and more predictive. This transformation has, and will continue to, transform the business processes and systems that are required to remain competitive. It will change how we design, plan, respond, make, ship and operate our products and assets.

SAP is conducting a research study to determine where companies are in their journey to "Digitize the Extended Supply Chain" with the goal of determining how companies can capture and leverage big data to determine:

• How far is your enterprise with the Digital Transformation?
• Where do you get started?
• What benefits do you expect?

The findings results will be published in December. 

To take part in the discussion click here.

On November 20, as part of our transportation & logistics platform, we have launched the first release of SAP Yard Logistics. Yard Logistics enable companies to connect to activity in the yard, on the docks, and at the gates – improving the flow of goods in and out of the facility. It gives companies visibility to the whole process from the time goods arrived in the yard to the time they were unloaded.

SAP Yard Logistics is based on the SAP HANA / Legacy Database and is integrated with the SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM) and SAP Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM) applications for a logistics fulfillment platform. The solution helps prioritize shipment arrivals, identify trailer contents, manage yard jockey activity, standardize yard processes, reduce the time needed to allocate vehicles to loads, and avoid unnecessary vehicle movements. Our SAP solution supports mobile users and is integrated with charge calculation and settlement in SAP TM. A graphical layout enables monitoring, visualization of the yard’s actual situation.  By an easy to use desktop and mobile UI the business user is supported in deciding and taking immediate actions known as “see and act “.

Objectives

• Increase visibility of all yard processes
• Improve efficiency for user roles such as dispatchers; truck, train, and vessel drivers; the internal and external workforce; and security
• Provide planning, execution, and settlement functionality in one central system
• Integrate with existing business processes

Solution

• Simple-to-adapt yard processes for different means of transports
• Integration with the SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM) and SAP Extended Warehouse Management applications for a logistics fulfillment platform
• Integration with charge calculation and settlement in SAP TM
• Support for mobile users
• Flexible deployment scenarios

Benefits

• Comprehensive, scalable yard management
• Faster speed of operation with intuitive UIs and mobile access
• Reduced paper-based work
• One central system for all various yards, integrated to existing landscape

For more details please refer to http://help.sap.com/yl  or get in contanct with me.

Christian Reinhardt

christian.reinhardt@sap.com

Product Owner SAP Yard Logistics

Implementing multi-stage inventory optimization successfully requires centralization, harmonization and cleansing of data. Success involves developing a robust baseline of the current situation and compare against optimization application results.  However, companies can face challenges capturing such robust baseline. For instance, at times, business data reports capture incomplete inventory data such as total and not by product, limited to units of measures or currency, not available in some locations/nodes of the supply chain, or measured in purchasing costs.

As shown in the supply chain network graph drawn directly from the data, the ABC Supply Chain Network services five customers from three packaging / finished goods warehouses and supplied by one raw material warehouse. .  Reported inventory data at the raw material warehouse only include total monetary value expressed in currency, not by raw material product nor in units.  While, the processing/finished goods warehouses have inventory data by product in different units of measure, but they are missing the monetary value of such.

In such cases, multi-stage inventory optimization applications like SAP Integrated Business Planning for inventory (http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-65688) can help companies capturing incomplete data.  How?

• SAP integrated Business Planning for inventory offers single-stage inventory optimization that produces target inventory recommendations for selected nodes in the supply chain network.
• That is, for each individual node of the supply chain with incomplete inventory data, a company can run a single-stage optimization in order to produce the missing data expressed in units, velocity (days of supply) and/or value (currency).
• With the resulting single-stage optimization data, the company can complete a robust inventory data baseline needed for bench-marking against the results of implementing a multi-stage inventory optimization of its end-to-end supply chain network.

If my family’s buying habits are any indication, Omni-channel Marketing and Commerce are the two most important things that retailers and consumer product companies should be working on right now. Today being Cyber Monday, Omni-channel Commerce is the topic du jour.

The essence of Omni-channel Commerce is to allow customers to buy products anywhere at anytime and let the customer get the product(s) in the most convenient manner as soon as possible. It certainly takes more than building and deploying a responsive and scalable commerce website and mobile application to support Omni-channel Commerce profitably.

While Omni-channel Commerce is clearly essential for retailers amid the onslaught of Amazon and other pure-play e-tailers, it is also increasingly necessary for consumer products companies and brand owners. Take for example Dollar Shave Club, which is boisterously attacking the mens’ shaving category. It is an unusual and potentially profit-sapping competition for a company like Gillette, a division of P&G, which relies primarily on traditional retail distribution channels. Gillette might lose marketshare and mindshare if it does not respond to competition from the likes of Dollar Shave Club. These type of competitive puzzles abound in many Consumer and Business-to-Business product categories.

The answer clearly for retailers and brand owners is to develop Omni-channel Commerce capabilities, continually experiment and improve those capabilities. They key goal, of course, is to support Omni-channel Commerce profitably. The Webvan debacle of dot com era continues to cast an ominous shadow, however. Fortunately and thanks to the likes of Uber, Google Express, Postmates and Deliv, the last mile ecosystem to support Omni-channel Commerce is getting better, ubiquitous and cheaper.

At the same time, the design and implementation of the rest of the supply chain, including distribution centers, transportation options, inventory placement, is just as crucial to ensure profitable Omni-channel Commerce. The picture below shows a highly simplified supply chain designed to support Omni-channel Commerce (and/or a consumer product company that is operating in an Omni-channel environment).

It is clear that behind the glossy and responsive website and mobile application is a substantial real world infrastructure that makes Omni-channel Commerce possible. The key, however, is to have a supply chain that can fulfill the promise of Omni-channel Commerce profitably.  Omni-channel Commerce adds a number of complexities that are usually not present in traditional retail or pure e-tail channels, including

• Order online and pick up from store
• Product availability in stores for online order fulfillment
• Integration of non-traditional, low cost last mile delivery options
• Inventory positioning
• Retail store as a warehouse
• Returns processing
• Short-term inventory rebalancing

High customer acquisition costs and logistics costs continue to make life difficult for pure play e-tailers as they struggle to earn a reasonable return on investment. On the other hand, a well designed and operated Supply Chain for Omni-channel Commerce builds on the strengths of traditional retailers and provides a competitive edge that cannot easily be replicated by pure play e-tailers or category specialists like Dollar Shave Club.