TheBestRunBusinessesRunSAP

r3

MerchandiseandAssortmentPlanning
Purpose
MerchandiseandAssortmentPlanning
supportsplanningandreportingforallbusinessactivitiesinvolvingassortmentandmerchandise,asa
smoothlyintegratedprocess.Thisenablesyoutoplanonavalueandquantitybasisonanylevelyou
choose,withinaplanninghierarchy,forexample,purchasingorganization,storegroup,ormerchandise
categorylevel.Youdefine,forexample,yourstrategictargetsatahigherhierarchylevel,andthentransfer
themstepbysteptothemoredetailedassortment,pricebandorevenarticle.Whiledoingso,youcan
comparevariousplanversionsthatwerecreatedmanuallyandthendevelopafinalversionbasedonthese
planversions.
Theplanisusedtoestablishimportantkeyfiguressuchassales,grossmargin,stock,assortmentwidth,
andassortmentdepthforatimeperiodinthefuture,forexample,aseason.Bycomparingplanningdata,
actualdata,andhistoricaldata,youcanplanfuturebusinessdevelopmentsinthebestpossibleway.
Youcandefinetheplanningprocessflow,thestructureoftheplanninghierarchy,andthekeyfigurestobe
includedinplanningtomeetyourownparticularrequirements.

Features
Thestructureofyourplanningprocessandthusthescopeofyourplanningaredefinedintheplanning
scenario.Planningscenariosrepresentselfcontainedplanningprocessesandareusedtomanageall
systemactivitiesinvolvingplanning.Youcancreatemorethanoneplanningscenarioatthesametime.
Networkgraphicssimplifymaintenanceandimplementation,resultinginamoremanageablenumberof
planningprocesses.
YoucanuseSAPBusinessWorkflowtocontrolthetimeframeforyourplan.Thisensuresthatthe
sequenceanddeadlinesforthedifferentplanningactivitiesareobservedbytheassociates.
Planningstepsarethemaincomponentsinaplanningscenario.Youcanchoosewhichplanningstep
methodyouwanttouse.Manualplanningisthemostimportantplanningmethod.Inmanualplanning,you
entertheplanningdataforselectedkeyfiguresinfreelydefinableentryscreens(planninglayouts).The
systemthenusesthisdatatocalculatefurtherplanningdata.
IfyouuseExcelIntegrationinyourplanning,MicrosoftExcelisusedastheinterfaceforenteringplanning
data,thusreplacingtheSAPinterface.ThisallowsyoutocombineSAPfunctionswiththefunctional
flexibilityofferedbyExcel.
Planningcanbedoneonanyleveloftheplanninghierarchy.Planningdatais,however,storedonthe
lowestleveloftheplanningstep.Asaresult,dataisconsistentateveryplanninglevelwhentheplanning
dataisaggregatedordisaggregated.
Timerelateddistributionkeysareusedtodistributeplanningdataamongperiods.

Planversionsenableyoutokeepdifferentplanningstrategiesseparatelyinyourdatabaseinthesystem,
sothatyoucan,forexample,comparehistoricalandcurrentplanningorplanversions.
Automaticplanningisusedtocopyactualorplanningdatatootherplanversions.SAPCopyManagement
canbeusedtoeditthedatayouarecopying.
Planningsteplinksareusedtoexchangeplanningdatabetweenlinkedplanningsteps.
Thedatabasetable(infostructure)containstherequiredcharacteristicsandkeyfiguresforwhichyouwant
togenerateplanningdata.Foreachplanningstep,youdefinewhichofthecharacteristicsandkeyfiguresin
theinfostructurearetorepresentplancharacteristics(forexample,purchasingorganizations,
merchandisecategories)andplanningkeyfigures(forexample,sales,salesquantities).
Planningdata,actualdata,andhistoricaldatacanalsobecomparedusingthereportingfunctionsinthe
RetailInformationSystem(RIS).Standardanalysesareavailableinthe MerchandiseandAssortment
Planning componentandallowyoutocomparethedifferenttypesofdata.
YoucanalsousetheSAPBusinessWarehouseinyourplan,thuscopyingdatafromtheBWsystemto
theinfostructureandsavingplanningdataintheBWsystem,toenableyoutorunuserfriendlyand
efficientReporting(comparisonofplanning,actualandhistoricaldata).
Interfacescanbeusedtocreateallocationtablesandpromotionsinthesystemusingtheplanningdata
thatyouhavecreated.
Youcanalsointegrateyourownprogramsandtransactionsinplanningscenarios.
PlannedarticlescanbecreatedforarticlesthathavenomasterdataintheSAPSystem.Youcanthus
integratetheplannedarticlesinyourplanning.
YoucanusetheBusinessDocumentNavigatortocreateinformationasOfficedocumentsorgraphicsfor
planningscenarios,planningsteps,andplanningsteplinks.Thisallowsyoutodefinetargetsandstrategies
foryourcompany.
Authorizationobjectscanbeusedtoensurethatonlyparticularassociatescancreateanddisplayplanning
data.
Evenifyouusevariouscurrencieswhenenteringdataforyourcompany,allplanningdataforascenariois
storedinthesamedatabasecurrency.

Remarks
MerchandiseandAssortmentPlanningwasanewdevelopmentforRelease4.6A,therebyreplacingOpen
ToBuy(OTB).Release4.5BofSAPRetailstillcontainstheoriginalOTBfunctions.Nonewdevelopments
will,however,bemadetothesefunctionsinthefuture.
FordocumentationontheoriginalOTBfunctions,see
PlanningSystems.
Thisunitconcernstheplanningaspectof MerchandiseandAssortmentPlanning .Formoreinformationon
Reporting,seethegeneraldocumentationforthe LogisticsInformationSystem (LIS)and SAPBW .

Integration
Function:

Requiredcomponent/program:

EnterplanningdatainExcel

MicrosoftExcel

Createallocationtablesusingplanningdata

Allocation

Createpromotionsusingplanningdata

Promotions

ProcessplanningscenarioswithWorkflow

SAPBusinessWorkflow

ReportingwithSAPBW

SAPBusinessWarehouse,LIS

Readactualdata,saveplanningdataandrun
Reportingusinginfostructures

LIS

C OPYR I GH T BY SAP SE OR AN SAP AF F I LI AT E C OM PAN Y. ALL R I GH T S R ESER VED .

PR I N T ED F R OM SAP H ELP POR TAL. (ht t p: / / help. s ap. c om )