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ERP SCM / … / Scheduling Agreement

Scheduling agreement release documentation

Created by Arminda Jack, last modified by Diana Dai on Dec 07, 2015

Purpose
The purpose of this wiki is to introduce the Scheduling Agreement Release processing.

Overview
Overall process
Scheduling agreement processing consists of three main steps:
-Material requirements planning
-Release generation (FRC/JIT)
-Output/Transmission of releases

The main points of this wiki are:

• 1. Material Requirements Planning

• 2. Release types / Release generation
• 3. Output / transmission of releases
• 4. Creation Profile
• 5. Programs
• 6. Related SAP Notes/KBAs

1. Material Requirements Planning

The current overall delivery schedule for a material that is procured via scheduling agreement releases changes continuously during an MRP run due to the requirements for that material (dependent
requirements and so on). This results in quantities and delivery dates that are to be transmitted to the vendor in the form of releases against the relevant scheduling agreement.

The prerequisite for automatic creation of schedule lines during requirements planning is that a scheduling agreement is flagged as MRP-relevant in the source list. You can do this in the Purchasing
menu: Master data -> Source list -> Maintain (transaction ME01).
You must maintain a record for the material here and in this record, the field 'MRP' must contain the indicator '2'.

The schedule lines created by the MRP run are assigned creation indicator 'B' and are contained in table EKET in field ESTKZ.
In contrast, manually created schedule lines are assigned creation indicator 'R'.
Another difference between manual schedule lines and schedule lines from requirements planning is that you can only enter a time for manual schedule lines.

2. Release types / Release generation

Basically, release generation 'translates' the current overall delivery schedule in the system into a release. Releases inform the vendor of which quantities of a material are to be delivered on which date.
The individual releases are recorded using the release documentation and can therefore be displayed at any time.

You can only create releases for scheduling agreements with release documentation. (Document type in the standard system is LPA or the Release docu. indicator must be flagged in Customizing for
Purchasing -> Scheduling Agreement -> Define Document Types.)

Note:
There is no release documentation for stock transport scheduling agreements. Even if the Release docu. indicator is flagged for document type LU in Customizing, it has no effect.

Types of releases

Forecast delivery schedule (FRC)

Provides the vendor with information over the longer term about which quantities of a material are to be delivered on which date. Delivery dates are usually specified as calendar months or weeks.

JIT delivery schedule (JIT)

Provides the vendor with information about which quantities of a material are to be delivered at which point in time in the near future. Exact delivery dates (calendar days) or even delivery times are
usually specified.

The suggested quantity for goods receipts is based on the last delivery relevant release transmitted. If you use both types of release, the system suggests the data in the JIT schedule. If you use only
the forecast schedule, the system suggests the data in the forecast schedule.

Note:
In order to work with JIT delivery schedules, you must have set the JIT schedule indicator in the material master record (MARC-FABKZ) and this will be copied in the item while creating a scheduling
agreement. (You do this on the 'Purchasing' view or on the 'MRP 2' view of the material master record.) This indicator controls whether JIT delivery schedules can be created for a material in addition to
forecast schedules.
It is also possible to enter the field FABKZ manually on the additional data screen in the scheduling agreement.

Tables:

EKEK (Header Data for Scheduling Agreement Releases)

EKEH (Scheduling Agreement Release Documentation)

Possible cause of error: Customer cannot create any JIT schedules

If you have set the JIT schedule indicator in the material master record and the scheduling agreement had, however, already been created, you cannot create any JIT schedules for this scheduling
agreement. Check if there are any change documents in the material master record for the JIT schedule indicator and check when the scheduling agreement item was created.
You can also enter this indicator manually in ME32L on the additional data screen.

You can use creation profiles to influence the quantities and dates transmitted. You configure a creation profile in Customizing for Purchasing by choosing Scheduling Agreement -> Maint. Rel. Creation
Profile for Sched. Agmt. w. Rel. Docu. (transaction OMUP). We will go into more detail on these Customizing settings later.
The system stores a transmitted release with a release number and includes the document in the release 'history'. The system then generates the next release of that particular release type with a number
increased by one.
Forecast schedules and JIT schedules have separate number ranges.

Creating a release:

You can create releases using a report RM06EFLB (transaction ME84).

You can also create releases manually. You can do this from the scheduling agreement delivery schedule by choosing Edit -> Generate JIT sched. or Generate forc. schd. as well as from the item
overview screen of transaction ME38 by choosing Edit -> Generate JIT sched. or Generate forc. schd.

Note:

You must note that the system does NOT carry out a tolerance check or backlog determination when you manually create releases.
The system only aggregates scheduled quantities.

In table EKEK, field STAAB (Status of release), you can see how a release was created, manually or by report RM06EFLB.

Release creation basically consists of the following steps:

• Conversion of the current overall delivery schedule in the system into aggregated release dates and quantities where applicable (see also 'Creation Profile' for more information on this)
• Creation of a release (FRC/JIT) in accordance with a particular creation strategy (for example, next creation date reached, current overall delivery schedule has changed). You use both the 'General
parameters' and the 'Creation periodicity' in the creation profile to control this. You can prevent release creation based on a change in the current overall schedule by means of a tolerance check, if
necessary, so that minor changes compared to the last release do not necessarily lead to the creation of a new release.
• Optional calculation or statement of backlogs and immediate requirements, if this function is active.
• In the case of release creation 'Based on changes', optional tolerance check that only allows creation of a release only if changes that lie outside a defined tolerance limit have occurred since
transmission of the last release.

If the system creates a release, it also creates a message record at the same time. This message record is a prerequisite for the output and transmission of the release to the vendor.

3. Output / transmission of releases

You can process the message records for the newly created releases either immediately or in a subsequent collective output. Messages are output immediately if transmission time '4' is set.
Collective processing is possible if you are working with transmission time '1' (output via RSNAST00) or '3' (output via the application-specific output program).

You create message condition records in the Purchasing menu by choosing Master data -> Messages -> Sch. agmt. schedule -> Create.

When the system outputs a message, certain updates take place that designate the release as 'completed and output'. If the system has not yet output a release as a message, any generation of a
further release will cause the last release, which the system has not yet output, to be overwritten.

After the system has output the release using the main message type (see below for an explanation of this), the fields 'Output date' and 'Output time' are filled.
Another important detail that is updated at this point in time is the resetting of the 'Changed' indicator in the scheduling agreement item. This means that after a release is output, the scheduling agreement
item in question is no longer regarded as 'Changed' (as regards the overall delivery schedule in the system) until you

process the schedule again manually or by means of the MRP run.

The system can create a separate message for each release for a scheduling agreement item. This means that the vendor receives one document for each release. This lets you output releases
individually or re-output releases that have already been transmitted.
In order to have the system create a separate message for each release, you must set the indicator 'Rel. mess.' (message per release) in Customizing for Purchasing, by choosing Messages -> Message
Determination Schemas -> Define Message Schemas for Scheduling Agreement Release/Expediter -> Assign Schema to Scheduling Agreement Release/Expediter. You can display the messages
created under these Customizing requirements in transaction ME38 by selecting the relevant item and choosing SA Release docu., then selecting the relevant release number and choosing Messages per
release, NOT via ME38 -> Header -> Messages.

Note:
You can only output messages created at release level via the Purchasing menu, by choosing Outline agreement -> Scheduling agreement -> Delivery schedule -> Print/transmit (transaction ME9E).

If there are messages for the scheduling agreement that have not been output and you subsequently set the 'Messages per release' indicator, you can still find the messages that have not been output via
Header -> Messages. You will find newly created messages via the release documentation (ME38 -> select the relevant item -> SA release docu. -> select the relevant release -> Messages per release).

The system stores the messages for a release in table NAST using the following key:

Object key (this means the document number)

Item
Release type (FRC or JIT)
Release number

Prerequisites for the transmission of scheduling agreements releases as messages to the vendor:
As of Release 4.0, you must define exactly one message type as the 'Main message type' for each release type in Customizing for MM, Message Determination for Scheduling Agreement Schedules.
Field 'U' (Update print-dependent data) must be flagged for the message type in question in Customizing for Materials Management -> Purchasing -> Messages -> Output Control -> Message Types ->
Define Message Types for Scheduling Agreement

Release/Expediter -> Fine-Tuned Control: Forecast Delivery Schedule/Expediter.

You must always use the main message type to create all releases, otherwise the system does not update the print-dependent data. This is particularly important if you use several different message
types.

You can only set the indicator once for each release type. Operation '9' corresponds to the forecast delivery schedule, and operation 'A' corresponds to the JIT delivery schedule.
Example (transaction OMQP):

Operations for Message Type U (Update Print-Dependent Data)

9 999 9 LPH1 x main message type for FRC

9 LPH2 additional message type
A LPJ1 x main message type for JIT
A LPJ2 additional message type

After determination of the message type that updates the print-dependent data for each release type (that is, for each operation), you must make sure that releases are always created with this message
type (called 'main message type').
You are allowed to create a second message type in parallel, whereby the main message type should be the one that is created first (such as LPH2 as the second message type for LPH1).

The messages for scheduling agreement delivery schedules in the standard system:

• LPH1 for FRC; updates data relevant for printing

• LPJ1 for FAB; updates data relevant for printing
• LPET for conventional scheduling agreements without release documentation
• LPMA for scheduling agreement expediters
4. Creation Profile
The extensive configuration options in the creation profile allow you to produce the most varied results within the scope of release generation.

The creation profile is assigned to an SA item. (SA release item overview screen -> Item -> More functions -> Additional data)
You create creation profiles in Customizing for Purchasing via Scheduling Agreement -> Maint. Rel. Creation Profile for Sched. Agmt. w. Rel. Docu.

Creation profiles are plant-dependent and consist of the following:

• General parameters
• Aggregation horizons
• Creation periodicity
• Tolerance profile

General Parameters:

In the general parameters, you specify the following for each release type:

• If and, if so, under which conditions, the system creates a release of this type (Creation strategy)
• If backlogs and immediate requirements are to be calculated and identified

Backlog: Quantities with a delivery date in the past that were transmitted to the vendor by means of a scheduling agreement release, but which have not yet been delivered
Immediate requirements: Quantities that are required immediately (today or earlier) but which have not yet been transmitted to the vendor by means of a scheduling agreement release.

Notes on Creation Strategy:

The settings for the creation strategy in the profile of the scheduling agreement item act as a filter for the creation strategy of the creation run.
This 'filter function' is necessary, since it makes more sense to execute the creation run using the strategy 'Changed or next date'. This selects all scheduling agreements in the plant in question that either
indicate a change in the overall delivery schedule in the system or for which the next transmission date is the same as or earlier than the current date.
The creation strategy in the profile now controls if, and if so, on the basis of which events the system has to create a forecast schedule and/or a JIT schedule for each scheduling agreement item.
Only in this way is it possible, for example, to prevent creation of both a forecast schedule and a JIT schedule during the creation run if the overall delivery schedule for the scheduling agreement is
changed. In the example, the system should only create the forecast schedule based on the next creation date.

Aggregation horizons:
In the 'Aggregation horizons' area, you specify for each release type which time horizon the system uses to determine release quantities and for which periods the system aggregates the quantities to
'period quantities', where applicable.
The example below shows how you would set the parameters in the 'Aggregation horizons' area to transmit monthly requirements quantities for the next nine months in the forecast schedule and daily
quantities for the next ten days in the JIT schedule.
The data entered in this example results in the system determining daily quantities for the next ten working days in the JIT schedule.

The system determines monthly quantities for the next 180 working days (= 9 months, each containing 20 working days) in the forecast schedule.
Comment:

In the field 'Plan. ca' (Planning calendar), you can store a planning calendar. You maintain this planning calendar in Customizing -> Materials Management -> Consumption-Based Planning -> Master Data
-> Maintain Planning Calendar.

Creation Periodicity:

In the 'Creation Periodicity' area, you specify for each release type if, and if so, at what intervals, the system is to create a release of that type.

Every time that the system creates a release, it calculates the next transmission date for periodic transmission based on the date.

Example:

The system is to create a forecast schedule once a month and at least one JIT schedule per week. You need to set the parameters in the 'Creation periodicity'.

Tolerance Profile:

In the 'Tolerance Profile' area, you specify for each release type if the system checks by how much the current release to be created differs from the last release transmitted, and if so, how it carries out
this check.

The purpose of the tolerance check is to limit the frequency of schedule updates.

Notes:

• During the tolerance check, the system compares the release schedule lines in table, not the schedule lines in table EKET and of the latest transmitted delivery schedule (not necessarily to the last
generated delivery schedule).
• During the tolerance check, the system does not check backlogs and immediate requirements.

Difference between individual and overall check:

The example below contains the following schedule lines:

Old schedule line Schedule line changed to the following value

Day Quantity old Quantity new

xx.xx.xx 20 40
xx.xx.xx 30 30
xx.xx.xx 40 36
-------------------------------------------------------
Total: 90 106

In the tolerance check, upper and lower tolerance limits for this period are set to 20%.
If you make these changes to the schedule lines, with a basic overall check with 20% as the upper and lower tolerance limits, the system does not create a new release. The overall quantity of the
schedule lines was 90 pieces and after the changes the total of the new schedule lines is 106. Therefore, the change does not exceed the 20% upper limit. 20% of 90 pieces = 18 pieces and the quantity
has changed by only 16 pieces.

In this example, if you check the schedule lines individually, the system would create a release because you have changed the quantity in the first line by more than 20% and it therefore exceeds the
tolerance limit.

5. Programs
Programs, Reports

SAPLEINL - main program for release documentation

RM06EFLB - Release generation report as of release 4.5
RM06EFAB - as of release 4.0
RM06ELAB - as of release 3.x

Function groups
MEDE - Schedule lines from MRP
EINL - release documentation

Tables

EKET - schedule lines (created by MRP, manual, BANF)

EKEH - schedule lines of the delivery schedule
EKEK - header data of all delivery schedules
EKPO - item data of the purchasing documents

Function modules

ME_CREATE_SCHEDULE_DOC - Creates FRC and JIT delivery schedules

ME_CHECK_TOLERANCE
ME_UPDATE_FROM_PRINTING - makes an update to the print relevant data
ME_UPDATE_SCHEDULE_EKPO - update of the next transmission date
ME_READ_LAST_RELEASE
ME_COMPARE_SCHEDULES

Routines (SAPLEINL) called from ME_CREATE_SCHEDULE_DOC

ANALYSE_PROFIL - analyses transmission profil regarding periodicity

BESTIMMEN_ABRUF_NR - determines release number
FUELLEN_KOPF - creates new EKEK records
FUELLEN_EINTEILUNGEN_NEU - creates new EKEH records regarding ameng (without Release Creation Profile)
AGGREGIEREN_EINTEILUNGEN_NEU - aggregates schedule lines

Related Content
Related SAP Notes/KBAs
SAP Note: 1360549 JIT/FDS: Incorrect last GR date in delivery schedule
SAP Note: 1309001 Incorrect date for last goods receipt in sched. Agreement
SAP Note: 1263278 ME84: No selection with MPR controller in MRP area
mm-pur hk-ok

3 Comments
Guest
Very useful documentation.

I have further query which I hope you are able to clarify.

Under SAP documenation, in the creation profile->Aggregation Horizon->Forecast, for the no aggregation, it state that it's a period where no aggregation are done. Thus expectation will be if I
have mutiple schedule lines for the same date, they should be sent in multiple lines. But when i use this feature, I have no such period in my idoc, my SA have 0 firm zone but still the qty are
aggregated in weekly period.

Guest
Hi Arminda,

very usefull docuentation but I am still a question about a dump I met when I launch the ME84 .

I met a dump when I launch the transcation ME84 to create ORDER/ ORDCHG and DELFOR message.

the dump error message is : SAPSQL_ARRAY_INSERT_DUPREC.

all the Idoc seems been created.

I remark that the release number in the table EKET and EKEH are not the same and the release number makes no sens ( 1,2 and directly 6).

logistic component : SAPKH60506. the sap note 179626 seems to be the good one but any correction for this support package.

could you help me ?

Thank you in adance

best regards,

Guillaume lamy
 Rohit Chauhan
Hi,

Very useful and fine article.

I have a question around JIT schedule release. Is there any way (by means of creation profile or else) to split backlog of JIT sceduled quantities as per schedule line data and not aggregating
them. I tried changing the profile config, but everytime the JIT idoc going to vendor contains cumulative quantity for the backlog.

Thanks,

Best Regards,

Rohit.

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