Frequently asked Questions about SAP SCM and SAP APO

1. Which are the components of the new SAP SCM Solution? SAP SCM 5.0 is the new available Supply Chain Management Solution offered by SAP. The SAP SCM 5.0 System includes SAP APO 5.0 (Advanced Planning and Optimization), SAP ICH 5.0 (Inventory Collaboration Hub) and SAP EM 5.0 (Event Management). 2. How about the architecture of SAP SCM 5.0? SAP SCM 5.0 is based on SAP NetWeaver 2004s. All SAP SCM 5.0 Architecture Components can be installed on one hardware server, as long as this server is sized for all used application components. 3. What does APO mean? SAP APO stands for SAP Advanced Planning and Optimization and is the planning component within the SAP SCM solution. 4. Can SAP SCM be used as a stand-alone solution? No, SAP SCM always requires a backend ERP system for execution functions. In most cases, the backend system is an SAP ECC system. 5. Can SAP SCM and SAP ECC be installed on the same server and use the same database? No, SAP SCM requires a separate server. The actual size of the SAP SCM system may vary and depends on the data volume to be processed. You can find more details on this subject under the alias /sizing on the SAP Service Marketplace (//http:/service.sap.com). 6. How does SAP ECC communicate with SAP APO? Through the APO Core Interface (CIF) which supplies SAP APO with master and transaction data in real time. CIF is delivered through the SAP ECC Plug-In, which is something you have to install in your SAP ECC system. This is the same Plug-In that you need for connecting a BW or a CRM system. 7. What about the exchange of data between the two systems? With SAP SCM you have a real-time integration to SAP ECC. The minute you change something in one system, it is immediately being transferred to the other and vice versa. And that goes for all data, be it a sales order, a production order or a purchase order. You do not have to perform any batch jobs for transferring data between the systems. 8. OK, SAP SCM is a separate system. Do I have to maintain the master data twice? No. You create and change master data exclusively in SAP ECC. If you want to work with SAP SCM, you need to transfer the master data from the SAP ECC system. Depending on the scenario you want to use in SAP SCM, you may have to enhance the transferred data with SAP SCM specific settings, which are not relevant to SAP ECC. 9. What is an easy, cost efficient way of installing some standard SAP SCM scenarios? The answer is: SAP Best Practices for Supply Chain Management. Choose one or more of the SAP SCM business scenarios that SAP Best Practices for SCM provide.