Interview Questions and Answers for SAP Production Planning (PP)

1. Explain How the PP Module is organized in SAP?

2. Explain How ‘PP’ is ‘Integrated’ with Other Modules?

3. What is a ‘BOM’?

4. What are the ‘BOM Categories’ Supported by SAP?

5. What are all the ‘Technical Types of BOM’?

6. Differentiate ‘Variant BOM’ from ‘Multiple BOM?

7. Is it Possible to convert a ‘Multiple BOM’ into a ‘Variant BOM’?

8. What is a ‘Work Center’ in PP?

9. What is a ‘Routing’ in PP?

10. What are all the ‘Sub-components’ of Production Orders?

11. What is a ‘Product Hierarchy’?

12. Define ‘BOM Group?

13. Define ‘SOP’ (Sales & Operations Planning)?

14. What is known as ‘Demand Management’?

15. What is ‘Capacity Planning’?

16. Explain ‘MRP’ (Material Requirements Planning)?

17. What are the Three ‘MRP Procedures’?

18. What is ‘MPS’ (Master Production Scheduling)?

19. What is ‘Consumption-based Planning’?

  

1. Explain How the PP Module is organized in SAP?

The PP module is made up of the following components:

•  PP- BD Basic Data
•  PP-SOP Sales and Operations Planning
•  PP-MP Master Planning
•  PP-CRP Capacity (Requirements) Planning
•  PP-MRP Material Requirements Planning
•  PP-SFC Production Orders
•  PP-KAN Kanban
•  PP-REM Repetitive Manufacturing
•  PP-PI Production Planning for Process Industries
•  PP-PDS Plant Data Collection
•  PP-IS Information Systems

2. Explain How ‘PP’ is ‘Integrated’ with Other Modules?

‘PP’ is one of the modules in SAP R/3 that is complex as the functions cut across many modules.

The following modules are tightly integrated with PP:

•  CO Controlling
•  FI Financial Accounting
•  MM Materials Management
•  SD Sales & Distribution
•  PS Project Systems
•  PD Personnel Planning and Development

3. What is a ‘BOM’?

A ‘BOM (Bill of Material)’ is nothing but a structured list of components (with the object number, quantity, and unit of measure) that go into the making of a product or an assembly. Depending on the industry sector, they may also be called recipes or lists of ingredients. The structure of the product determines whether the bill of material is simple or very complex.

4. What are the ‘BOM Categories’ Supported by SAP?

The following are the various Categories of BOM:

•  Equipment BOM
•  Material BOM
•  Sales Order BOM
•  Document Structure
•  Functional Location BOM
•  WBS BOM

5. What are All the ‘Technical Types of BOM’?

There are two ‘Technical Types of BOM’ supported in SAP:

•  Variant BOM
•  Material BOM

6. Differentiate ‘Variant BOM’ from Multiple BOM?

While a ‘Variant BOM’ groups together several BOMs that describe different objects (for example, different models of a car) with a high proportion of identical parts, a Multiple BOM groups together several BOMs that describe one object (for example, a product) with different combinations of materials for different processing methods.

The Variant BOMs are supported for the following BOM categories:

􀂃 Material BOMs

􀂃 Document structures

􀂃 Equipment BOMs

􀂃 Functional location BOMs

Multiple BOMs are only supported for Material BOMs.

7. Is it Possible to Convert a ‘Multiple BOM’ into a ‘Variant BOM’?

No. You can only create a ‘Variant BOM’ from a simple Material BOM. No multiple BOMs can exist for a material.

8. What is a ‘Work Center’ in PP?

A ‘Work Center’ in PP (PP-BD-BOM) is an organizational unit that can be a combination of machines or groups of craftsmen, people, and production lines, wherein certain operations are carried out to produce some output. Each of the work centers is assigned to a cost center. A work center can be assigned to a work center in SAP-HR, which will enable assignment of employees, qualifications, etc.

9. What is a ‘Routing’ in PP?

A ‘Routing’ in PP (PP-BD-RTG) is used to define the sequence of operations (work steps) and resources required to perform certain operations in order to produce a material with or without reference to an order. The standard values of planned time for the various operations need to be entered into the routing.

There are two different types of routing:

•  Routing
•  Rate routing

(A similar concept exists in PS where you define a ‘task list,’ which is similar to ‘routing’ in PP.)

10. What are All the ‘Sub-components’ of Production Orders?

The following are the ‘Sub-components of Production Orders’ (PP-SFC):

•  Order Planning
•  Order Execution
•  Order Close

11. What is a ‘Product Hierarchy’?

Used in pricing, a ‘Product Hierarchy’ is an alphanumeric character string consisting of a

maximum of 18 characters. It thus defines the product and its composition.

Example:

A product hierarchy represented by ‘00050002000300040005.’ The first four characters ‘0005’ could indicate that the product is a car. The next four characters ‘0002’ could indicate the plant in which the car is manufactured. The third set of characters could indicate the color of the car. The next set may determine its engine capacity and so on. Thus, the product hierarchy helps in defining the product composition.

12. Define BOM Group?

A ‘BOM Group’ is a collection of BOMs that lets you describe a product or a number of similar products. The value in the BOM group field uniquely identifies the BOM group. You can use the BOM group as an alternative way of accessing the BOM. A BOM group comprises either all the alternatives of a multiple BOM or all the variants of a variant BOM.

When you create a BOM group, the system checks the special characters you use. Apart from the usual alphanumeric characters, you can use the following special characters: ‘-’,‘/’,‘_.’ You cannot use blanks.

13. Define ‘SOP’ (Sales & Operations Planning)?

Suitable for long/medium-term planning, with an aim to streamline a company’s ‘Sales and Operational Planning, SOP’ is a forecasting tool enabling you to set up sales, production, and other supply chain targets based on existing, future, or historical data. SOP is most suitable for planning finished goods, and not for material component planning.

SOP plans are passed on to Demand Management (DEM) in the form of independent

requirements, which in turn is fed into MPS (Master Production Scheduling) and MRP

(Material Requirements Planning). The results of SOP can be passed on to profitability analysis, cost center accounting, and activity-based costing.

SOP contains two application components; namely, Standard SOP (PP-SOP) and Flexible Planning (LO-LIS-PLN). The Standard SOP comes pre-configured with the system. Flexible planning can be configured in a variety of ways.

14. What is known as ‘Demand Management’?

‘Demand Management’ (PP-MP-DEM) helps in determining the requirement quantities and delivery dates for finished goods assemblies. It uses the planned independent requirements and customer requirements (customer requirements come from sales orders). Planning strategies help in deciding the kind of demand program. If production is triggered by sales orders, then it is known as ‘Make-to Order’ production; if is not then it is known as ‘Make-to-Stock’ production.

15. What is ‘Capacity Planning’?

‘Capacity Planning’ aims at economic use of resources. It is integrated with SD, PM, PS, and CS. There are two components within capacity planning: Capacity evaluation and Capacity levelling. Capacity planning supports short-term detailed planning, medium-term planning, and long-term rough-cut planning.

16. Explain ‘MRP’ (Material Requirements Planning)?

‘MRP’ aims to guarantee material availability; it is used to procure/produce the required

quantities on time (both for internal purposes and for sales and distribution). This involves monitoring of stocks and, in particular, the automatic creation of ‘procurement proposals’ for purchasing and production. PP-MRP assists and relieves MRP Controllers (who are responsible for all the activities from specifying when, what, type, etc., of material requirements) in their area of responsibility. With the automatic planning run in MRP, it is possible to determine any shortages so as to create procurement elements. With the system generating messages for critical parts and unusual situations, you can rework the planning results in the specific area with problems.

The material requirements can be planned at plant level or for different MRP areas. With MRP at the plant level, the system adds together stocks from all of the individual storage locations, with the exception of individual customer stocks, to determine total plant stock. In the case of material requirements planning on an MRP area level, only the stocks from the storage locations or subcontractor assigned to the respective MRP areas are taken into account.

17. What are the Three ‘MRP Procedures’?

•  Materials Requirements Planning (MRP)
•  Master Production Scheduling (MPS)
•  Consumption-based Planning

18. What is ‘MPS’ (Master Production Scheduling)?

Executed as that of an MRP, ‘MPS’ is nothing but a special form of MRP, which aims to reduce storage costs and to increase planning stability. With MPS you can flag materials that greatly influence company profits or take up critical resources as master schedule items and check and plan them separately with a series of special tools.

19. What is ‘Consumption-based Planning’?

Using past consumption data, ‘Consumption-based Planning’ aims at determining future

requirements. In the process, it makes use of material forecasts or any other ‘static’ planning procedures. The ‘net requirements’ calculation is triggered when the stock level falls below a reorder point. The net requirements can also be calculated by forecast requirements from a historical consumption pattern.

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