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The Level of BOM Planning in the SNP Heuristic and

Low Level Codes
February 4, 2011 by Shaun Snapp

Click Link to Jump to Section 

1. Executive Summary
2. Introduction to the Low Level Code
3. What are Heuristics?
4. Heuristics in APO
5. Controlling Processing Sequence with Low-Level Codes
6. Setting 1: Found Components
7. What Are Low-Level Codes?
8. SAP Documentation Translation Required Stat
9. Directing the SNP Heuristic
10. When to Run the Low-Level Code Transaction
11. Why The Low-Level Codes Should be Re-determined in These Circumstances
12. Setting 2: Temporary Low-Level Codes
13. Setting 3: Source Determination
14. Conclusion
15. Interested in Accessing Our Supply Planning Research?
16. Improving Your Supply Planning, MRP & S&OP Software
17. References
18. Multi-Method Supply Planning in SAP APO
19. Software Ratings

Executive Summary

We de ne a heuristic and how they work with the low-level code in terms
of how it directs the SNP heuristic.
We cover when to run the low-level code transaction and controlling the
processing sequence with low-level codes.

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Introduction to the Low Level Code

The Low Level Code is a way of controlling the heuristic in SNP. You will learn
how this interaction occurs and how and where they are con gured in APO.

What are Heuristics?

Heuristics have a general meaning, which is important to understand before

moving on to what they mean in SAP. We found a nice de nition in Wikipedia
that we wanted to list here rst.

“Heuristic (pronounced /hjʊˈrɪstɨk/, from the Greek “Εὑρίσκω” for

“ nd” or “discover”) is an adjective for experience-based
techniques that help in problem solving, learning and discovery. A
heuristic method is particularly used to rapidly come to a solution
that is hoped to be close to the best possible answer, or ‘optimal
solution’. Heuristics are “rules of thumb”, educated guesses,
intuitive judgments or simply common sense. Heuristics as a noun
is another name for heuristic methods.

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In more precise terms, heuristics stand for strategies using readily

accessible, though loosely applicable, information to control
problem solving in human beings and machines.” – Wikipedia

Heuristics in APO

Heuristics are methods for matching supply and demand. Heuristics exist in
both SNP and PPDS. However, in SNP you have the option of running PPDS
heuristics. In SCM heuristics schedule in nitely, so they are unconstrained
planning. This is the opposite of using the PPDS optimizer optimizes against
xed constraints.

Controlling Processing Sequence with Low-Level Codes

There are some ways to run the SNP Heuristic on planning at di erent levels in
the BOM. I will discuss all three of the following settings, and one transaction in
this article.

Found Components
Temporary Low-Level Codes
Source Determination
Low-Level Code Determination

Setting 1: Found Components

One of the important settings in this area is the “Take into account found
components in planning run” option on the SNP Heuristic screen which can be
accessed from transaction /N/SAPAPO/SNP01.

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This setting controls the depth of the planning run on the BOM and relates to
the product location run sequence called by SAP Low-Level Codes.

“…you can also specify that you want the system to take into
account all BOM components of the selected products during
planning. To do this, set the Take into account found components
in planning run indicator. The system then also plans the

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dependent demand for the products. However, with the location

heuristic, the system only plans components that have been
assigned to the speci ed locations . The planning sequence is
governed by the low-level codes of the location products, which
you determine through the Determine Low-Level Code function
before performing a heuristic run.” – SAP Help

Re-determination of Low-Level Codes can be performed by the following

transaction /N/SAPAPO/SNPLLC.

What Are Low-Level Codes?

Low-Level Codes sound more technical than they are, and they don’t have
anything at all to do with the technical side of APO, and they are not even really
codes. In fact, a better name for them would be “location product run sequence
value.”

The word “code” represents a priority value of the combination of factors such
as product type and location. According to SAP, it is “the BOM level and supply
chain location for which a location product is situated.”

SAP has the following description of low-level codes on how they work with the
SNP multi-level (meaning multi-BOM level) heuristic and with subcontracting.

“If you do not want to plan all BOM levels using the SNP heuristic,
use transaction/SAPAPO/SNPLLC rst to de ne the low-level codes
for your version. The SNPlow-level code gives the maximum
number of stock transfers and the BOM level of a location product.
The low-level codes for Supply Network Planning are determined
via transportation lanes and manufacturing levels. For example,

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1. the nished product in the distribution center is assigned low-level code

0,
2. in the plant following a stock transfer it is assigned low-level code 1, and..
3. the component of the nished product in the plant is assigned low-level
code 2.

You then run Supply Network Planning in the background (with

transaction /SAPAPO/SNP01),selecting the location heuristic for
the locations of the supply chain planner as well as the. Take into
account found components in planning run indicator. Using low-
level codes you can limit the scope of the SNP run to certain
transportation lanes and manufacturing levels.” – SCM230

SAP Documentation Translation Required Stat

SAP is beating around the bush a bit here so that I will translate. This means
that the heuristic will analyze the supply network and arrange the locations per
product in the following sequence:

1. Finished Good at DC
2. Finished Good at the Plant
3. Component at the Plant

Therefore, all DC locations are processed rst, then the plants to the DCs, then
subcomponents to in the plants, or the purchasing portion of the supply
network planning.

This default design makes sense and essentially processes the outlier locations,
having the outlier locations requirements processed, which then causes the
creation of STRs to be created, until they are submitted upon the plants, which
causes the creation of purchase requisitions to suppliers, and production
requisitions for the plants.

Directing the SNP Heuristic

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Low-Level Codes are a map for the heuristic to follow as it works through the
sequence of product location combination for processing. The question might
be why a sequence is necessary to be set. This is two questions in one. The rst
is why a sequence is necessary for heuristics to run, and a second is why SAP has
chosen to expose the determination of the sequence to the con gurator.

1. A sequence is necessary because the way heuristics work (as with MRP,
DRP, and CTM) is to process the overall supply network sequentially.
Imagine a list of product location combinations in Excel. This list is fed to
the heuristic, and it processes one at a time until it gets to the end of the
list. Heuristics treat every location in the supply network as an “island”
and only pass adjusted requirements to the supplying locations. If the
sequence is not correct, then the inconsistent output will result.
2. All supply planning applications have some of the sequences which their
heuristic goes through for processing. However, SAP SNP is one of the few
that I have seen where this complexity is exposed to the con gurator.
Typically, the sequence is encapsulated by the software. However, SAP
has apparently decided to leave the sequence re-determination to the
implementing company. This no doubt saves runtime during the SNP
Heuristic run that does not require Low-Level Code re-determination,
but also exposes the company to inconsistent planning runs if the
complexity in this area is not properly managed by the company.
3. Adjustments to the default low-level codes are simply to remove some
locations from the SNP heuristic run, something which can also be done
when running the heuristic in the background, and this can be seen from
the screenshot below:

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When to Run the Low-Level Code Transaction

This is important if the SNP Heuristic is only run for part of the supply chain
model. Therefore, if a company were to use CTM for some locations and the SNP
Heuristic for others, running the Low-Level Code transaction would be
necessary.

Running the Low-Level Code transaction is also important if PPMs (and by

inference PDSs) or transportation master data changes.

Why The Low-Level Codes Should be Re-determined in These

Circumstances

The SNP Heuristic rst plans the product with the highest low-level code of (a
nished product at a customer location, for instance), then the product with the
second highest low-level code of 1 (a nished product at a distribution center),

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and so on. This ensures that demand can also be ful lled correctly when a
partial model is selected.

Setting 2: Temporary Low-Level Codes

In addition to a particular transaction for Low-Level Codes that I discussed

above, there is a setting on the SNP Heuristic run transaction
/N/SAPAPO/SNPLLC

The rst option simply does nothing to the pre-existing Low-Level Codes. The
second option calculates the codes in a process chain. The third option
calculates Low-Level Codes for the selected location and product combinations
in the SNP Heuristic. (it is unclear if this works the same way when the Network
(for the entire supply network) option, rather than the Location option is
selected.

Setting 3: Source Determination

The Source Determination setting is on the SNP Heuristic run screen. There are
three options for this setting which are listed in the screen shown below.

Setting this to Header Level is used for aggregated planning, where the capacity
check is performed at the header resource level of a resource hierarchy, and
then disaggregation is carried out in the second step. For most companies, All
Levels will be the appropriate setting.

Conclusion

There are three settings on the SNP Heuristic run screen (which can be saved as
part of a variant) that control the depth of the BOM planning and the re-
determination of Low-Level Codes (or translated into English, the location
product heuristic run sequence). This is in addition to the Low-Level Code re-
determination transaction. If only the SNP Heuristic is used, then the predicted
correct setting for these di erent con guration areas is the following:

1. Take into account found components in the planning run (Activated)

2. Determine Low-Level Codes for SNP Relevant Objects (Not Run)
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3. Temporary Low-Level Codes (Do not use temporary low-level codes)

4. Source Determination (All Levels)

In a combination of CTM or the cost optimizer and the SNP Heuristic is used,
these settings would change, and the correct settings would then be the
following (the changed values are in red).

1. Take into account found components in the planning run (Activated)

2. Determine Low-Level Codes for SNP Relevant Objects (Run)
3. Temporary Low-Level Codes (Calculate for current selection before
planning)
4. Source Determination (All Levels)

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References
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https://help.sap.com/saphelp_scm41/helpdata/en/5b/4789bbf49e1340b7723ac
bf5d6a08a/content.htm

SCM230

I cover the SNP heuristic in the following book.

Multi Method Planning Book

Multi-Method Supply Planning in SAP APO

Choosing Supply Planning Methods

Which supply planning method meets your company’s business requirements?

The answer might surprise you! Here’s the truth: There is no one right supply
planning method for all situations, even within one company! In fact, it is
unnecessary to choose only one method, and using multiple supply planning
methods is feasible and in most cases, has many advantages over using a single
method.

Multi-Method Uses
This book explains why no one supply planning process meets all requirements and
lists the many benefits of using multiple supply planning methods. This book gives
practical advice about selecting supply planning methods and method modifiers, and
goes deep into the “how to” of implementing mixed methods, and how specifically to
setup them up in SAP APO, which are approaches taken from real projects. The book

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is also useful as a general document on how multi-methods can be used in supply

planning applications.

Chapters
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: The Different Supply Planning Methods Available within SAP SNP
Chapter 3: Combining Supply Planning Methods Across External Systems and
ERP Systems
Chapter 4: Preparing for the Prototype for Multi-Method Testing
Chapter 5: Prototyping the Multi-Method Supply Planning Model
Chapter 6: Coding the Product-Location Database /Spreadsheet
Chapter 7: Planning Beyond a Single Supply Planning Method Per Echelon
Chapter 8: Creating a Dynamic Master Data Selection for Automatic Product
Location Switching Between Methods
Chapter 9: Overcoming the Human and Information Challenges of the Multi-
Method Approach
Chapter 10: Combining SNP with Inventory Optimization and Multi-Echelon
Planning
Chapter 11: Conclusion

Software Ratings: Supply Planning

Software Ratings
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 SNP
 Low Level Code
 How to Delete Transaction Data from APO and ERP with /N/SAPAPO/RLCDEL
 How to Delete PP/DS Orders

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