Alternative-based confirmation (ABC) was introduced in Advanced ATP (AATP) in the 1809 release of SAP S/4HANA. Similar functionalities we have in SAP APO – global ATP (GATP). For example, if the material is not available in the sales order plant, then the system automatically proposes its availability in other plants as per the pre-defined system configuration.
We are using this excellent functionality provided by SAP and the business is happy to see the same in the system.
Scenario: If Plant A is non-operational for the next 15 days due to bad weather conditions, we can create location exclusion for Plant A with a validity period of 15 days.
Impact: Sales order confirmation will not happen during this period from Plant A. After 15 days the same plant can be operational and active as usual.
For example, if we set up the chain of location substitution like as Plant A> Plant B>Plant C. And if Sales Order Plant is Plant A and when we set up the same plant as part of location exclusion then during sales order confirmation the chain of location substitution will happen like as Plant A> Plant B> Plant C.
Pre-requisite:
- Substitution strategy should be configured and Substitution method as Plant Substitution.
- Configure Alternative control should have the required configuration set up.
- Master Data needs to be maintained for Location Substitution through the ‘Manage Substitution -Location’ app.
Fiori app: Fiori App ID F5315 Manage Exclusions – Locations need to be used to set up the configuration. You can use this app if the business role of Order Fulfilment Manager (R0226) is assigned to you.
It can be based on Plant and Storage location levels.
For Plant exclusion, it has 2 sections -one as a header and another one is General Information. Header information requires putting the Plant details and it can be specific to Sales Org. and Distribution channel.
And General Information contains Reason (you can create your own reason code and assign the same here like weather conditions etc.), Validity period (From and TO dates with time and time zone) and it can be linked to a group, the system excludes the plant only when the group is used in a substitution.
For Storage Location exclusion, everything is the same except we have Plant and storage location in the header section.
After maintaining the required data, you can make the same as active. You may set the data as Inactive if the same info. is not useful for business.
Database table MDSUBEXC contains the exclusion master data-related information.
Conclusion: We have now covered the basics of exclusions of location substitutions and why & how we use this functionality in real-life scenarios. If the plant is partially shut down or operating with minimum capacity the current solution can’t provide that flexibility.
In the next blog, we will continue to discuss an example of the above scenario.
Please share your questions, comments, and feedback.
Additional information on SAP S/4HANA advanced Available-to-Promise (aATP) and Location exclusion can be found here:
