Project items in Enterprise Planning

This topic describes how Enterprise Planning handles the planning of project items.

Planning of derived versus nonderived project items

If an item's project segment is filled (that is, the item is a customized item or a standard-to-order item, the way in which this item is treated in Enterprise Planning depends on whether or not the item is derived from a standard item. (For a derived project-specific item, the Derived-from Item field in the Items (tcibd0501m000) session is filled; for a non-derived item, it is empty).

In master planning, the planning of a standard item includes all project-specific items that are derived from this item as indicated in the Items (tcibd0501m000) session. This holds good for all master-planning data (demand, supply, inventory, ATP). You cannot maintain a separate item master plan for a derived project-specific item. For a non-derived item, you can maintain a master plan.

Project structure of derived project items

You can directly enter orders for to-order items in the Sales Orders (tdsls4100m000) session. When you save the sales order line for the order, you can start the Generate (Project PCS) Structure for Sales Orders (tdsls4244m000) session where you can customize the to-order item structure of a project. In addition to the bill of material (BOM) and the routing, LN also automatically customizes the supplying relationships, sourcing strategies, and supplying strategies. In other words, the structure for the derived-from item is used as a template for the customized item. As soon as the item is customized, all the relations to this item in Enterprise Planning are also customized.

However, the customization method is different, if you generate a project structure for a project item with one of the following sessions:

  • Copy Standard Product Structure to Customized Structure (tipcs2230m000)
  • Copy Customized Product Structure to Customized Structure (tipcs2231m000)
  • Copy Customized Product Structure to Standard Structure (tipcs2232m000)

If you go through the previously mentioned sessions, LN searches for the warehouse linked to the derived from item in the Items - Ordering (tcibd2100m000) session and for the related plan item in the Items - Planning (cprpd1100m000) session. Next, LN customizes the corresponding general item and the plan item in the planning cluster to which the warehouse belongs, as you defined in the Items - Ordering (tcibd2100m000) session. This means that you must still customize the underlying supplying relationships, so that LN can plan for the project item. You can use the Copy Multilevel Supplying Structure (cprpd7200m000) session to do so.

In order planning, a derived project-specific item is not included in the planning of the standard item from which it is derived: both are planned separately.

Module planning

You can define modules for projects in the Project Control module in Manufacturing.

If you select the Fixed Plan Quantity check box in the Module Planning (tipcs4120m000) session, you can enter the required quantity directly in the Plan Quantity field. If you clear the Fixed Plan Quantity check box, LN determines the required quantity based on the BOM.

LN determines the date of the requirement on the basis of the network planning in the Project Control module.

If you plan a customized item with order-based planning, the plan quantity of the module is the basis for the generation of planned orders.

If you want to generate orders on the basis of the module planning, the item must have an item master plan. You must not use this master plan for master-plan simulations; the master plan is only used to temporarily store the requirements.

If you transfer planned orders from Enterprise Planning to the execution level, LN automatically reduces the plan quantity in the Module Planning (tipcs4120m000) session by the order quantity, so that you can plan the remaining plan quantity during a following RRP calculation.

ATP and CTP for customized items

LN supports ATP and CTP checks for project items. To do so, LN takes into account the generic BOM and the generic routing of the generic item if the project item is a derived-from item. If the project item is not derived from a generic item, LN uses the normal bill of material (BOM) and the normal routing of the item to perform CTP checks.

Note: To perform ATP and CTP checks on generic items configured in the CPQ Configurator you must generate a generic BOM and routing in the Generic Planning Bill of Material (cprpd3145m000) and Generic Planning Routing (cprpd3150m000) sessions for use in Enterprise Planning.