Professional Documents
Culture Documents
For any SCM/APO implementations, planning horizon is one of the first threesubjects we have to discuss and understand. In SAP APO, there are more
than 20 planning horizons. It is very confusing for most of us including
experienced consultants.
The Definition
The planning horizon is the length of time companies can plan into the future with
validity, validity means what works need to be accomplished and what resources are
required for the work to be accomplished and what resources are available to the work
to be accomplished which enables the project manager to created a detailed schedule.
This is the definition in business terms. The planning horizon can be further divided into
Short-Term, Mid-Term and Long-Term planning horizon. Within each horizon, we can
define if we should plan in daily, weekly or monthly bucket.
defined correctly.
Supply Network Planning (SNP) is normally used for mid-term planning. If there is
supply shortage within the SNP Production Horizon, SNP Planned Orders are created
outside of SNP Production Horizon. In short-term, PPDS will re-replan the SNP Planned
Orders depending on heuristic settings. Please note that there is fixed period called
Planning Time Fence. New planned order will not be created during this fixed fence.
SNP Production Horizon can be defined in days, weeks or months. PPDS Horizon is
defined in calendar days. It is recommended to have SNP Production Horizon defined
in-sync with planning cycle. For example, if the SNP is planned once a week, the SNP
Production Horizon should be defined in weeks. In this way, SAP will adjust the partial
week accordingly.
mode. In Stage 2, CTM creates SNP planned orders and stock transfers in
unconstrained mode. A overlap period is still needed to ensure the smooth transition
from short-term planning to mid-term planning. CTM only observes SNP Production
Horizon. If CTM is used in PPDS mode, it is recommended to have SNP Production
Horizon same as Planning Time Fence. The chanllenge is SNP Production Horizon is in
Calendar days while Planning Time Fence is in Working Days.
Conclusion
In order to ensure planning consistency and avoid planning gap, the best practice
is to maintain an overlap in planning horizons for short-term and mid-term
planning. If CTM is used for constrained planning, it is recommended to use CTM
for both short-term and mid-term planning.