C_TS422_2022 SAP Certified Application Associate - SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Questions and Answers

The order-type-dependent parameters are configuration settings that control various aspects of production order processing, such as number range, scheduling type, availability check, costing variant, confirmation parameters, and so on. These parameters are assigned to a production order type, which is a key that defines the characteristics and business rules of a production order. The order-type-dependent parameters affect the following business processes:

• Check material availability: The availability check determines whether the required materials and capacities are available for the production order. The availability check is controlled by the checking rule and the checking group, which are defined in the order-type-dependent parameters. The checking rule specifies which stocks, receipts, and issues are considered in the availability check. The checking group determines how the system responds to the availability situation, such as issuing a warning or an error message, or rescheduling the order.
• Schedule production orders: The scheduling of production orders calculates the planned dates and times for the operations and the order. The scheduling is controlled by thescheduling type and the scheduling parameters, which are defined in the order-type-dependent parameters. The scheduling type determines whether the system performs forward or backward scheduling, and whether it considers the basic dates or the production dates. The scheduling parameters determine how the system calculates the operation durations, interoperation times, and floats. References: [SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide], page 123; [SAP Help Portal: Order-Type-Dependent Parameters].

• You can use mass processing to set production orders to technically complete. Mass processing allows you to perform the same action for multiple production orders at once, such as changing the status, printing, or confirming. You can use the Set to Technically Complete action to close the production orders that are finished and do not require any further processing. This action updates the order status to TECO and prevents any further changes to the order12.
• You can use trigger points to automatically create rework orders via confirmation. Trigger points are predefined events that occur during the execution of a production order, such as reaching a certain operation or quantity. You can assign actions to trigger points, such as creating a notification, a rework order, or a quality inspection. For example, you can use a trigger point to automatically create a rework order for defective goods when you confirm an operation. The rework order is linked to the original order and inherits the relevant data from it3 .

References:

• 1: SAP Help Portal: Mass Processing
• 2: SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide, Chapter 7: Process Orders
• 3: SAP Help Portal: Trigger Points
• : SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide, Chapter 6: Production Orders

MRP (Material Requirements Planning) is a process that calculates the quantity and timing of material requirements based on the demand and supply situation. MRP performs a net requirement calculation for each material, which compares the available stock and the planned receipts with the requirements and the planned issues. MRP takes into account the following elements during net requirement calculation:

• Safety stock: The minimum quantity of material that should be maintained at all times to avoid stockout situations due to unforeseen fluctuations in demand or supply. MRP considers the safety stock as a requirement and tries to replenish it whenever it falls below the defined level.
• Purchase orders: The confirmed orders from external vendors that are expected to be delivered within a certain time frame. MRP considers the purchase orders as planned receipts and reduces the net requirement by the quantity and date of the purchase orders.

MRP does not take into account the following elements during net requirement calculation:

• Forecast key figures: The projected demand for a material based on historical data, trends, and other factors. MRP does not consider the forecast key figures as requirements, but as a basis for creating planned independent requirements, which are then considered as requirements.
• Maximum stock level: The maximum quantity of material that should be maintained at any time to avoid overstocking and excess inventory costs. MRP does not consider the maximum stock level as a constraint, but as a target value for the lot-sizing procedure, which determines the optimal quantity and frequency of replenishment orders.

References: [SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide], page 86; [SAP Help Portal: Net Requirements Calculation].

 The work center that represents the production line for repetitive manufacturing is maintained in two places: the repetitive manufacturing profile and the production version. The repetitive manufacturing profile is a control parameter that defines the basic settingsfor repetitive manufacturing, such as the planning type, the backflushing method, the confirmation type, and the production line determination. The production version is a combination of a bill of material (BOM) and a routing or a rate routing that specifies how a material is produced. The production version also contains the work center that represents the production line for the material. The production version is assigned to the material master and is used in the planning and execution of repetitive manufacturing. References: Repetitive Manufacturing Profile | SAP Help Portal, Production Version | SAP Help Portal, Make-to-Stock Repetitive Manufacturing | SAP Help Portal.

You can exclude a material from the MRP run by using a specific material status or a specific MRP type. A material status is a user-defined indicator that can be assigned to a material master record to control the procurement and planning activities for the material. For example, you can define a material status that blocks the material from being planned by MRP. An MRP type is a parameter that defines how a material is planned by MRP. For example, you can use the MRP type ND (No Planning) to exclude the material from the MRP run.

References: [SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide], page 87; [SAP Help Portal: Material Status] and [SAP Help Portal: MRP Type].

 The time element of midpoint scheduled operations that can be reduced by reduction strategy settings while dispatching are teardown time and setup time. Teardown time is the time required to dismantle the production equipment after the operation is completed. Setup time is the time required to prepare the production equipment before the operation is started. Both teardown time and setup time can be influenced by the reduction strategy settings, which define the percentage of reduction and the minimum duration for each time element. The reduction strategy settings can be maintained in the work center or the routing. The system applies the reduction strategy settings when dispatching the operations to the resources in the planning board or the product view. References: SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing for Planning & Scheduling - Implementation Guide, page 32; [SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide], page 81.

When you assign a planned order to a production line manually, using the planning table in repetitive manufacturing, the system generates capacity requirements for the planned order. The capacity requirements are calculated based on the production line, the quantity, and the production rate of the planned order. The system also checks the availability of the production line and displays any capacity overload or underload. The planned order is not converted to a production order, nor is the component availability or the picking list affected by the manual assignment. References: SAP Help Portal - Assigning Planned Orders to Production Lines, SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide - Chapter 7: Repetitive Manufacturing

A production planning run in Advanced Planning (PP/DS) is a process that optimizes the supply and demand situation for a set of materials and locations within a given planning horizon. The possible results of a production planning run are:

• Planned Order: A planned order is a proposal for internal production or external procurement of a material. A planned order can be converted into a production order or a purchase order, depending on the source of supply. A planned order can also be firmed, which means that it is not changed or deleted by subsequent planning runs.
• Production Order: A production order is a document that defines the operations, materials, resources, and costs required to produce a material. A production order is created from a planned order or directly by the user. A production order can be released, confirmed, and settled as part of the production process. References: [SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide], page 181; [SAP Help Portal: Production Planning Run].

The subitems of a bill of material (BOM) are the components that make up the product or assembly. You can maintain the following data for each subitem:

• Quantity: This is the number of units of the component that are required for one unit of the product or assembly. You can specify the quantity in different units of measure, such as base unit, order unit, or alternative unit. You can also use variable quantities, such as percentages or formulas, to calculate the quantity dynamically based on the product or assembly characteristics.
• Scrap percentage: This is the percentage of the component that is expected to be wasted or lost during the production or assembly process. You can specify the scrap percentage for each component to adjust the quantity accordingly. For example, if the quantity of a component is 10 and the scrap percentage is 5%, the system will increase the quantity by 0.5 to account for the scrap.

The installation point (A) and the item type (B) are not data that you can maintain in the subitems of a BOM. The installation point is a field in the equipment master record that indicates where the equipment is installed. The item type is a field in the sales document item that determines the processing and pricing of the item. These fields are not relevant for the BOM subitems. References:

https://sapstack.com/pp/bom-in-sap-bill-of-material/

https://skillstek.com/bill-of-material-in-sap/

 A phantom assembly is a material that is not physically produced, but its components are directly consumed in the production of a higher-level material. To set up a material as a phantom assembly, you need to do the following steps:

• Define the special procurement type as 50 (phantom assembly) in the material master of the phantom assembly. This indicates that the material is not procured or produced, but its components are exploded in the BOM of the higher-level material.
• Change the item category of the phantom assembly in the BOM of the higher-level material to N (phantom item). This indicates that the phantom assembly is not relevant for production order or MRP, but its components are.
• Alternatively, you can change the phantom item indicator for the phantom assembly in the BOM of the higher-level material to X (phantom assembly). This has the same effect as changing the item category to N, but it also allows you to use the same BOM for different purposes, such as costing or sales. References: [SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide], page 68; [SAP Help Portal: Phantom Assembly].

Make-to-stock production (10) is a planning strategy that supports the production of a finished good based on a forecast and without any reference to sales orders. This strategy is used when the finished good has a stable and predictable demand, and the company wants to maintain a certain level of safety stock to meet customer orders. If customers order more than the forecasted quantity, this does not affect the production program, as the system does not generate any additional planned orders or purchase requisitions for the finished good. Instead, the system reduces the planned independent requirements by the sales order quantity, and the excess demand is covered by the safety stock or the available stock. This strategy allows for a smooth and continuous production process, and avoids frequent changes in the production plan. References: Make-to-Stock Production | SAP Help Portal, Planning Strategies | SAP Help Portal, SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide, page 52.

A reporting point confirmation is a function that allows you to backflush the material components and activities that have been consumed and performed at a specific operation in a repetitive manufacturing process. It also reduces the dependent requirements for the planned orders. You can use reporting point confirmation for the following purposes:

• To determine the work in progress (WIP) along the production line, by posting the quantity that is on the production line at each reporting point. This helps you to calculate the volume and value of unfinished products.
• To provide timely updates of inventory management for the staged components, by recording the withdrawal of components at a time that is close to the time of the operation in which they are used. This helps you to avoid discrepancies between the actual and planned consumption of materials. References: Reporting Point Confirmation, Repetitive Manufacturing Confirmation

You can set up the supply source for the Kanban process in SAP S/4HANA by using different replenishment strategies, depending on whether the material is procured internally or externally. For internal procurement, you can use run schedule quantities, which are calculated based on the Kanban quantity and the number of Kanbans. For external procurement, you can use purchase orders, which are created automatically when a Kanban status changes to EMPTY. For stock transfer, you can use stock transfer reservations, which are also created automatically when a Kanban status changes to EMPTY and trigger a goods movement from the supplying plant to the receiving plant. References: Replenishment Strategies, Stock Transfer with Kanban, External Procurement with Kanban

 If the operation of a production order is dispatched, the DSPT Dispatched status is set for the operation. This means that the operation has been assigned to a resource and scheduled with a start and end date and time. The options to reschedule the operation are as follows:

• You can reschedule the operation using finite scheduling in a planning table. Finite scheduling considers the capacity availability of the resources and the dependencies between the operations. You can use the planning table to manually drag and drop the operation to a different time slot or resource, or use the automatic dispatching function to optimize the scheduling of the operation. Finite scheduling updates the DSPT status and the dates and times of the operation.
• You can reschedule the operation in the Manage Production Operations app. This app allows you to view and edit the production orders and operations in SAP S/4HANA. You can change the start and end date and time of the operation, as well as the resource, in the app. However, the app does not check the capacity availability of the resources or the dependencies between the operations. Therefore, you need to ensure that the changes are feasible and consistent. The app updates the DSPT status and the dates and times of the operation. References: Identifying the Basic Principles and Tools of Capacity Planning; SAP Help Portal

 In make-to-order production, the production planning is initiated only when a sales order is received. The system does not perform a net requirements calculation between individual sales orders or with the make-to-stock warehouse stock1. Therefore, option B is correct. Additionally, production orders are created with sales order reference, which means that the costs and revenues of the sales order are settled at the end of the production process2. Therefore, option E is also correct. The other options are not valid for make-to-order production. Storage location MRP areas are not required for sales-order-specific stock, as the stock is managed at the sales order level3. The reduction of make-to-order stock and requirements does not occur on delivery, but on goods issue to the sales order1. Sales orders do not have to be ATP-confirmed to be saved, as the availability check is optional and can be performed later. References: 1: Strategies for Make-to-Order (MTO) Production | SAP Help Portal(https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_CLOUD/2bba750d1e124e1ea2a039bb1cd9b6c5/3b24bf53d25ab64ce10000000a174cb4.html) 2: Outlining Make-to-Order Production - SAP Learning(https://learning.sap.com/learning-journeys/discovering-the-basics-of-sap-s-4hana-manufacturing/outlining-make-to-order-production_be788c36-6fd4-4f1e-b054-635435247918) 3: Storage Location MRP Areas | SAP Help Portal. : Availability Check and Requirements in Sales and Distribution Processing | SAP Help Portal.

Alternative item strategies are used to define how the system selects the alternative items in a BOM during the planning run or the order creation. The following alternative item strategies are available in SAP S/4HANA:

• Manual maintenance: The system does not select any alternative item automatically. You have to manually select the alternative item in the BOM or the order. This strategy is useful when you want to have full control over the alternative item selection and when the selection depends on factors that are not known to the system1
• 100% check: The system checks the availability of all alternative items and selects the one with the highest priority and sufficient stock. If none of the alternative items has enough stock, the system selects the one with the highest priority and the smallest shortage quantity. This strategy is useful when you want to optimize the material availability and reduce the procurement costs2
• First in First out (FIFO): The system selects the alternative item with the highest priority and the earliest availability date. If several alternative items have the same availability date, the system selects the one with the highest priority. This strategy is useful when you want to use the oldest stock first and avoid obsolescence3
• Simultaneous: The system selects all alternative items simultaneously and distributes the requirement quantity among them according to the usage probability. The usage probability is a percentage value that indicates how often an alternative item is used. This strategy is useful when you want to balance the demand and supply of multiple alternative items and when the usage probability is known.

References:

• Alternative Item Group - SAP Help Portal
• Alternative Item Group - SAP Help Portal
• Alternative Item Group - SAP Help Portal
• [Alternative Item Group - SAP Help Portal]

To support a GMP-compliant production process, you can use the following features in SAP S/4HANA:

• Digital signature: This allows you to electronically sign documents and transactions that are relevant for GMP compliance, such as production orders, process orders, batch records, and quality inspections. Digital signatures ensure the authenticity, integrity, and non-repudiation of the documents and transactions12.
• Batch record: This is a document that records the entire production process of a batch, including the materials, resources, operations, quality data, and signatures involved. Batch records provide traceability and documentation for GMP compliance3 .
• Recipe approval: This is a process that ensures that only approved recipes can be used for production. Recipes are approved by authorized users who sign them digitally. Recipe approval prevents unauthorized changes and ensures consistency and quality of the products .

References:

• 1: SAP Help Portal: Digital Signature
• 2: SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide, Chapter 8: Product Compliance
• 3: SAP Help Portal: Batch Record
• : SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide, Chapter 8: Product Compliance
• : SAP Help Portal: Recipe Approval
• : SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide, Chapter 7: Process Orders

You can select the following standard item categories inside a bill of material (BOM):

• Variable-size item: This item category is used for materials that have variable dimensions, such as pipes, wires, or fabrics. The system calculates the quantity of the variable-size item based on the formula and the dimensions entered in the BOM. You can also use the variable-size item to define a scrap percentage for the material.
• Non-stock item: This item category is used for materials that are not managed in inventory, such as consumables, services, or subcontracting items. The system does not create any reservations or stock movements for the non-stock item. You can use the non-stock item to trigger purchasing requisitions or purchase orders for the material. References: Bill of Material Item Category; Bills of Material in Production Planning

A routing operation is a step in the production process that defines the work center, the duration, and the sequence of the operation. A routing operation consists of several time elements that are used to calculate the operation start and finish dates, as well as the capacity requirements. The time elements that are part of a routing operation are:

• Move time: The time required to move the material from one work center to another, or from the storage location to the work center.
• Setup time: The time required to prepare the work center for the operation, such as changing tools, adjusting machines, or cleaning the work area.
• Processing time: The time required to perform the operation, such as machining, assembling, or testing the product.
• Teardown time: The time required to restore the work center to its original state after the operation, such as removing tools, resetting machines, or disposing of waste.
• Queue time: The time that the material waits at the work center before the operation starts, due to the work center being occupied by another operation or having a fixed start date.

The pick/pack time and the float before production are not part of a routing operation. The pick/pack time is the time required to pick the material from the storage location and pack it for delivery, which is usually part of the outbound logistics process. The float before production is the time buffer before the scheduled start date of the production order, which can be used to compensate for delays or changes in the production plan.

References: [Production Planning with SAP S/4HANA], pages 177-179; [SAP Help Portal: Routing Operation].

Mode selection is a feature that allows the system to choose the best mode for an activity based on the mode priority and the available capacity of the resources. A mode is a combination of a resource and a formula that determines the duration and quantity of an activity. An operation can have multiple activities, each with multiple modes. Mode selection can be used when an operation contains several activities, each of which is assigned several modes for different resources, and the system needs to determine which resource to use for each activity. Mode selection can also be used when an activity hasseveral modes for the same resource, and the system needs to determine which formula to use for the activity. Mode selection can be performed during the planning explosion or during the interactive planning. References: Mode Selection | SAP Help Portal, Mode Selection | SAP Help Portal

 You have to use batch management in SAP S/4HANA to be able to track and use the information about materials whose specifications differ for each manufacturing process in all areas of logistics. Batch management is a function that allows you to manage materials that are produced or procured in batches, where each batch has a unique identifier and can have different characteristics or specifications. With batch management, you can:

• Define the batch characteristics and specifications for each material, such as color, potency, or shelf life.
• Assign a batch number to each batch of material and record the batch characteristics and specifications in the batch master record.
• Use the batch number as a key for tracking and tracing the batch throughout the logistics processes, such as goods receipt, production, quality inspection, goods issue, or delivery.
• Use the batch characteristics and specifications as criteria for batch determination, which is a function that automatically selects the suitable batches for a requirement based on predefined rules and conditions.
• Use the batch characteristics and specifications as input for batch valuation, which is a function that allows you to valuate batches of the same material differently based on their quality or market value.

References: [SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide], page 92; [SAP Help Portal: Batch Management].