Springer sap apo

Supply Chain Management with APO

Jörg Thomas Dickersbach

Supply Chain Management with APO
Structures, Modelling Approaches and Implementation of SAP SCM 2008
3rd edition

Dr. Jörg Thomas Dickersbach E-mail: dickersbach@gmx.de

ISBN 978-3-540-92941-3 e-ISBN 978-3-540-92942-0 DOI 10.1007/978-3-540-92942-0 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York
Library of Congress ControlNumber: 2009926885 © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof ispermitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, thatsuch names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: WMXDesign GmbH, Heidelberg Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

Preface

This book rather addresses the question ‘how to implement SAP APO™’ than ‘why to implement SAP APO™’ and is written for people who areinvolved in SAP APO™ implementations. It is based on the SAP APO™ release SAP SCM™ 2008. The aim of this book is to provide the reader with the necessary background to start with first own steps in the system in the right direction by explaining the architecture and some basic structures of SAP APO™ and introducing common modelling approaches. Although there are already several books published aboutSAP APO™ and there is a detailed documentation of the functions in the system, we have experienced a distinct need for explanations regarding the structure and the interaction of systems, modules and entities. The understanding of the possibilities and necessities on entity level is the basis for the modelling and the implementation of the business processes. This book mentions additionally manyissues which have a great relevance in implementations, but are not mentioned in the literature. In our experience with SAP APO™ projects we noticed an ever greater need (which remains more often than not unaware for much too long) to clarify the implications of the SCM approach for the implementation projects. Since SCM projects with SAP APO™ differ significantly from SAP ERP™ projects, there aresome typical traps in which even experienced SAP ERP™ project managers are apt to fall which cause severe problems up to project failure. Especially in the first chapter common mistakes in SCM projects are pointed out. The book does not claim to describe all SAP APO™ functionalities and modelling possibilities – since the modelling approaches are nearly unlimited and the product is still evolving,this would be impossible. Instead the focus is set on explaining common approaches especially for the high tech, the consumer goods and the chemical industries. Not included into the scope of this book are the scenarios and functionalities especially for automotive industry, repetitive manufacturing and aerospace and defence, and some other functionalities as VMI to third party customers,container resources and campaign planning. Since the focus of the book lies on the practical use of SAP APO™, SCM theory in general as well as in connection with SAP APO™ is not within the
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scope of this book. Therefore instead of the SCM literature the SAP notes of the online service system (OSS) are quoted. Working with the OSS is anyhow inevitable for any implementation...