SAP C_TS422_2022 SAP Certified Application Associate - SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Exam Practice Test

• Run PP/DS heuristic for repetitive manufacturing: PP/DS (Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling) is a component of SAP S/4HANA that provides advanced planning and scheduling functions for complex production scenarios. You can run the PP/DS heuristic for repetitive manufacturing to automatically assign planned orders to production lines based on the available capacity, material, and sequence constraints. The PP/DS heuristic also optimizes the line utilization and minimizes the setup times and costs.
• Assign planned orders manually in the planning table: The planning table is a graphical tool that allows you to view and manipulate the production plan for repetitive manufacturing. You can assign planned orders manually to production lines by dragging and dropping them in the planning table. You can also adjust the start and finish dates, quantities, and sequences of the planned orders. The planning table shows the capacity situation and the material availability for each production line.

You cannot plan both quantities and capacities during line loading in repetitive manufacturing by using the following options:

• Run MRP with quota arrangement: MRP (Material Requirements Planning) is a process that calculates the quantity and timing of material requirements based on the demand and supply situation. You can run MRP with quota arrangement to distribute the total requirements for a material among multiple sources of supply, such as vendors, plants, or production lines. However, MRP does not consider the capacity constraints or the sequence dependencies of the production lines, and therefore cannot plan the capacities during line loading.
• Assign planned orders manually in the planning table: This option is identical to option C and therefore cannot be a correct answer.

References: [SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide], pages 105-106; [SAP Help Portal: Line Loading in Repetitive Manufacturing].

 A work center hierarchy is a business object in PP/DS that defines the structure and sequence of resources that are used for a production process. You use this object to represent the logical and physical dependencies of the resources and to control the scheduling and sequencing of the operations or orders. A work center hierarchy allows you to modelthe production flow and capacity more realistically and ensure the technical feasibility of the production plan1

A work center hierarchy can also be used to cumulate the available capacity and capacity requirements of the resources in capacity planning. You can cumulate the available capacities from subordinate work centers to a superior work center level in order to determine the total available capacity for the superior work center. This way, you can use a work center hierarchy as a group of alternative work centers that provide a cumulative available capacity for production23

References:

• Work center hierarchy | SAP Help Portal
• Work Center Hierarchy - SAP Help Portal
• Highlights for Manufacturing in SAP S/4HANA 2021 – Part 2: Production Planning, Engineering, Operations | SAP Blogs

Pegging is a term used in Advanced Planning to describe the relationship between the receipt and the issue elements of a product within a location. Receipt elements are planning elements that increase the stock of a product, such as production orders, purchase orders, or stock transfers. Issue elements are planning elements that reduce thestock of a product, such as sales orders, planned independent requirements, or reservations. Pegging links the receipt and issue elements according to the bill-of-material structure of all related products and represents the material flow through all levels of production. Pegging enables the system to identify and display quantity and date/time problems, such as shortages or delays, and to forward scheduling changes to other dependent elements. Pegging also forms the basis for the availability check and the capacity check in Advanced Planning12.

References:

• 1: SAP Help Portal: Pegging
• 2: SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide, Chapter 4: Advanced Planning

Phantom assemblies are assemblies that have their own product structure, but whose assembly does not actually physically exist. The components of the phantom assembly are incorporated directly in the superordinate product. The product structure of the superordinate product contains a reference to the phantom assembly. You can use phantom assemblies for the following purposes:

• To simplify the structure of bills of material: Phantom assemblies allow you to group components that belong together logically or functionally, without creating an additional level in the product structure. This can make the product structure easier to maintain and understand.
• To reduce the number of material masters: Phantom assemblies do not require a material master record in SAP S/4HANA, as they are not physically produced or stored. This can save storage space and reduce the effort of creating and updating material masters.
• To reduce the number of changes required in bills of material: Phantom assemblies can be used to represent common subassemblies that are used in multiple products. This way, you only need to maintain the product structure of the phantom assembly once, and any changes will be reflected in all the products that reference it.

Phantom assemblies do not increase the number of planning levels, as they are not considered as separate planning objects. They also do not make the assignment of components easier, as the components are assigned to the superordinate product, not to the phantom assembly. References: Phantom Assembly | SAP Help Portal, Phantom Assembly | SAP Help Portal, Planning Phantom Assemblies | SAP Help Portal.

 In make-to-order production, the production planning is initiated only when a sales order is received. The system does not perform a net requirements calculation between individual sales orders or with the make-to-stock warehouse stock1. Therefore, option B is correct. Additionally, production orders are created with sales order reference, which means that the costs and revenues of the sales order are settled at the end of the production process2. Therefore, option E is also correct. The other options are not valid for make-to-order production. Storage location MRP areas are not required for sales-order-specific stock, as the stock is managed at the sales order level3. The reduction of make-to-order stock and requirements does not occur on delivery, but on goods issue to the sales order1. Sales orders do not have to be ATP-confirmed to be saved, as the availability check is optional and can be performed later. References: 1: Strategies for Make-to-Order (MTO) Production | SAP Help Portal(https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_CLOUD/2bba750d1e124e1ea2a039bb1cd9b6c5/3b24bf53d25ab64ce10000000a174cb4.html) 2: Outlining Make-to-Order Production - SAP Learning(https://learning.sap.com/learning-journeys/discovering-the-basics-of-sap-s-4hana-manufacturing/outlining-make-to-order-production_be788c36-6fd4-4f1e-b054-635435247918) 3: Storage Location MRP Areas | SAP Help Portal. : Availability Check and Requirements in Sales and Distribution Processing | SAP Help Portal.

 To identify all affected finished goods stocks that contain a deviated raw material batch, you can use the following tools:

• The Batch Information Cockpit (BIC) is a central tool that provides an overview of all relevant information and documents related to a batch. You can use the BIC to display the batch genealogy, which shows the hierarchical relationships between batches along the production and distribution process. You can also use the BIC to display the batch traceability, which shows the chronological sequence of events and transactions that affect a batch. The BIC allows you to analyze the batch history and the batch usage across different plants and systems.
• The batch where-used list is a tool that determines how a batch is created and used in Production Planning (PP) through various stages of production and displays the result in a list. You can use the batch where-used list to find out in which other batches a batch was used and from which other batches a batch was created. This is important in the case of complaints and questions about product safety if the composition of semi-finished and finished products has to be documented across all production levels.

Batch derivation and batch determination are not tools to identify affected finished goods stocks, but rather tools to assign batches to production orders or sales orders based on certain criteria. Batch derivation is a process of transferring characteristics or values from one batch to another, while batch determination is a process of finding suitable batches for a requirement based on predefined conditions. References: Batch Information Cockpit | SAP Help Portal, Batch Where-Used List | SAP Help Portal.

A reduction strategy is a method of shortening the lead time of an order by reducingcertain time elements in the order scheduling1. The time elements that can be reduced by a reduction strategy are move time, wait time, and queue time2. Move time is the time required to move a material from one operation to another. Wait time is the time between the end of an operation and the start of the next operation. Queue time is the time before an operation can start at a work center due to the work center’s capacity utilization3. These time elements can be reduced by a percentage or a fixed value in the reduction strategy. References: 1: Reduction Strategy | SAP Help Portal(https://blog.sap-press.com/4-strategies-for-make-to-stock-production-with-sap-s4hana) 2: 4 Strategies for Make-to-Stock Production with SAP S/4HANA(https://blogs.sap.com/2022/03/22/highlights-for-manufacturing-in-sap-s-4hana-2021-part-2-production-planning-engineering-operations/) 3: Scheduling | SAP Help Portal(https://blogs.sap.com/2022/04/26/manufacturing-in-sap-s-4hana-cloud-planning-strategies/).

 The alert monitor in Advanced Planning allows you to monitor and analyze the planning situation and identify any problems or deviations from the desired state. To use the alert monitor, you need to configure the following elements:

• Overall profile: This defines the scope and content of the alert monitor, such as the planning objects, the alert types, the alert categories, and the alert levels. You can assign one or more alert profiles to an overall profile to specify the alerts that you want to monitor.
• Alert profile: This defines the criteria and parameters for generating alerts, such as the time horizon, the planning version, the planning mode, and the alert threshold. You can create different alert profiles for different planning scenarios or objectives.
• Authorization profile: This defines the access rights and restrictions for the alert monitor, such as the planning objects, the locations, the products, and the resources that a user can view or edit. You can assign an overall profile to an authorization profile to control which alerts a user can see or process.

Therefore, to set up the alert monitor, you need to assign the alert profile to the overall profile (B) and assign the overall profile to the authorization profile (D). Creating an object selection variant for priority-category-related alerts (A) or production-planning-related alerts © is not a configuration step, but a selection option in the alert monitor to filter the alerts by different criteria. References:

A production planning run in Advanced Planning (PP/DS) is a process that optimizes the supply and demand situation for a set of materials and locations within a given planning horizon. The possible results of a production planning run are:

• Planned Order: A planned order is a proposal for internal production or external procurement of a material. A planned order can be converted into a production order or a purchase order, depending on the source of supply. A planned order can also be firmed, which means that it is not changed or deleted by subsequent planning runs.
• Production Order: A production order is a document that defines the operations, materials, resources, and costs required to produce a material. A production order is created from a planned order or directly by the user. A production order can be released, confirmed, and settled as part of the production process. References: [SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide], page 181; [SAP Help Portal: Production Planning Run].

 A line hierarchy in repetitive manufacturing represents the structure of a production line that consists of multiple work centers. A line hierarchy is a master data object that defines the sequence and the relationship of the work centers that are involved in producing a material. A line hierarchy can be split into different levels, such as line segments, processing stations, or takt areas, to reflect the complexity and the variability of the production line. A line hierarchy can be used for planning and scheduling operations, controlling material flow, and monitoring production performance12.

The other options are not correct for the following reasons:

• A production line with prioritized work centers (B): This is not correct. A line hierarchy does not define the priority of the work centers, but the order and the dependency of the work centers. The priority of the work centers can be determined by other factors, such as the capacity availability, the production rate, or the scheduling parameters.
• A production line with a parallel sequence in the routing ©: This is not correct. A line hierarchy does not represent the parallel sequence in the routing, but the linear sequence of the work centers. A parallel sequence in the routing means that two or more operations can be performed simultaneously on different work centers for the same material. A parallel sequence in the routing can be modeled by using alternative sequences or parallel sequences in the line hierarchy3.
• A production line with an alternative sequence in the routing (D): This is not correct. A line hierarchy does not represent the alternative sequence in the routing, but the main sequence of the work centers. An alternative sequence in the routing means that there are different options for performing an operation on different work centers for the samematerial. An alternative sequence in the routing can be modeled by using alternative sequences or parallel sequences in the line hierarchy3.

References:https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_ON-PREMISE/48b24fbadbee4e0b9dae0e2b72762e68/db8151ba8ca14106bf037a1546cde6a9.html

https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_ON-PREMISE/f899ce30af9044299d573ea30b533f1c/9231f9504a62eb5ee10000000a44538d.html

The system checks the master data selection settings during the creation of planned orders and production orders in the following places:

• In the bill of material (BOM), the system checks the selection ID, which determines which alternative BOM is selected for the material. The selection ID can be maintained in the material master or in the production version.
• In the routing, the system checks the selection ID, which determines which alternative routing is selected for the material. The selection ID can be maintained in the material master or in the production version.
• In the production version, the system checks the validity period, the lot size, and the selection profile, which determine whether the production version is valid and applicable for the material. The production version combines the BOM and the routing for a material and can be maintained in the material master or in the production version master data. References: SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing for Planning & Scheduling - Implementation Guide, page 16; [SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide], page 75.

 Infinite planning is a method of material requirements planning (MRP) that creates new orders without checking the capacity availability of the work centers. This means that the capacity requirements of a new order are created regardless of the existing capacity load or constraints of the work center. Infinite planning assumes that the required capacity canbe increased or adjusted as needed. Infinite planning is suitable for situations where the capacity supply is flexible and the demand is urgent or unpredictable. However, infinite planning can also result in capacity overloads or unrealistic schedules that need to be resolved later by capacity leveling or rescheduling. References: SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing II, Unit 1: Material Requirements Planning; [SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide], page 77.

• Increase the capacity supply in a time-phased interval: You can use the capacity planning table or the capacity planning board to increase the available capacity of a resource by changing the shift sequence, the shift duration, or the number of individual capacities. You can also use the capacity leveling function to distribute the capacity requirements over a longer time horizon. This way, you can avoid capacity overloads and create a balanced capacity load.
• Determine a time period with available capacity on the planning board: You can use the planning board to visualize the capacity load and the capacity availability of a resource in a graphical Gantt chart. You can use the filter and zoom functions to focus on a specific time period and resource. You can also use the capacity evaluation function to display the capacity situation in a tabular or graphical form. This way, you can identify the time periods with available capacity and plan the operations accordingly.
• Form optimum sequence to reduce setup times: You can use the setup matrix or the setup group key to define the setup times and the setup categories for a resource. You can also use the setup optimization function to determine the optimum sequence of operations that minimizes the total setup time. This way, you can reduce the capacity consumption and increase the throughput of the resource. References: Identifying the Basic Principles and Tools of Capacity Planning; SAP Help Portal; [SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide], page 82.

MRP (Material Requirements Planning) is a process that calculates the quantity and timing of material requirements based on the demand and supply situation. MRP performs a net requirement calculation for each material, which compares the available stock and the planned receipts with the requirements and the planned issues. MRP takes into account the following elements during net requirement calculation:

• Safety stock: The minimum quantity of material that should be maintained at all times to avoid stockout situations due to unforeseen fluctuations in demand or supply. MRP considers the safety stock as a requirement and tries to replenish it whenever it falls below the defined level.
• Purchase orders: The confirmed orders from external vendors that are expected to be delivered within a certain time frame. MRP considers the purchase orders as planned receipts and reduces the net requirement by the quantity and date of the purchase orders.

MRP does not take into account the following elements during net requirement calculation:

• Forecast key figures: The projected demand for a material based on historical data, trends, and other factors. MRP does not consider the forecast key figures as requirements, but as a basis for creating planned independent requirements, which are then considered as requirements.
• Maximum stock level: The maximum quantity of material that should be maintained at any time to avoid overstocking and excess inventory costs. MRP does not consider the maximum stock level as a constraint, but as a target value for the lot-sizing procedure, which determines the optimal quantity and frequency of replenishment orders.

References: [SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide], page 86; [SAP Help Portal: Net Requirements Calculation].

 A phantom assembly is a material that is not physically produced, but its components are directly consumed in the production of a higher-level material. To set up a material as a phantom assembly, you need to do the following steps:

• Define the special procurement type as 50 (phantom assembly) in the material master of the phantom assembly. This indicates that the material is not procured or produced, but its components are exploded in the BOM of the higher-level material.
• Change the item category of the phantom assembly in the BOM of the higher-level material to N (phantom item). This indicates that the phantom assembly is not relevant for production order or MRP, but its components are.
• Alternatively, you can change the phantom item indicator for the phantom assembly in the BOM of the higher-level material to X (phantom assembly). This has the same effect as changing the item category to N, but it also allows you to use the same BOM for different purposes, such as costing or sales. References: [SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide], page 68; [SAP Help Portal: Phantom Assembly].

The Advanced Planning flag is a field that indicates whether a data object is relevant for planning with Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling (PP/DS) in SAP S/4HANA. PP/DS is a component of Advanced Planning that provides more precise and flexible planning capabilities for critical products and resources. You can set the Advanced Planning flag for the following data objects:

• Work Center: This is a master data object that represents a location where operations are performed. A work center can have different capacities, such as machine, labor, or power, that are used for scheduling and capacity planning. You can set the Advanced Planning flag for a work center to enable it for PP/DS planning. This means that the work center can be used as a resource in PP/DS and its capacity can be optimized by PP/DS heuristics or optimization tools.
• Material: This is a master data object that represents a product or a component that is produced, procured, or consumed in a business process. A material can have different views, such as basic data, MRP, sales, or production, that contain different attributes and parameters for planning and execution. You can set the Advanced Planning flag for a material to enable it for PP/DS planning. This means that the material can be planned with exact times and quantities in PP/DS and its availability can be checked by PP/DS pegging.

The production version (B) and the plant (D) are not data objects that can have the Advanced Planning flag. The production version is a master data object that defines the combination of a bill of material (BOM) and a routing or a production process model (PPM) for a material. The production version does not have a separate flag for PP/DS, but it inherits the flag from the material and the work center. The plant is an organizational unit that represents a physical location where materials are produced or stored. The plant does not have a flag for PP/DS, but it is assigned to a location in PP/DS that represents the geographical or logical grouping of plants for planning purposes. References:https://blogs.sap.com/2018/02/12/ppds-for-sap-s4hana-advanced-planning-a-powerful-planning-and-scheduling-tool/

https://learning.sap.com/learning-journeys/explore-integrated-business-processes-in-sap-s-4hana-/advanced-planning_ae824eb6-4bf8-4720-a48f-ba86929a14de

• One-off events: These are special events that affect the demand for a product, such as promotions, holidays, or product launches. You can use the one-off events function in SAP S/4HANA to create and maintain events and assign them to products. The system considers the events when generating the forecast and adjusts the demand accordingly.
• Past sales order quantities: These are the historical data of the actual sales orders for a product. You can use the past sales order quantities as the basis for forecasting the future demand. The system applies statistical methods and algorithms to analyze the past sales order quantities and identify the trends, patterns, and seasonality of the demand.
• Market intelligence: This is the external information that influences the demand for a product, such as market research, competitor analysis, or customer feedback. You can use the market intelligence function in SAP S/4HANA to import and integrate market data from various sources into the forecast. The system adjusts the demand based on the market intelligence data and the weighting factors that you define. References: Exploring the Steps of Supply Chain Planning; SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing II, Unit 2: Demand Management; [SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide], page 76.

 The time element of midpoint scheduled operations that can be reduced by reduction strategy settings while dispatching are teardown time and setup time. Teardown time is the time required to dismantle the production equipment after the operation is completed. Setup time is the time required to prepare the production equipment before the operation is started. Both teardown time and setup time can be influenced by the reduction strategy settings, which define the percentage of reduction and the minimum duration for each time element. The reduction strategy settings can be maintained in the work center or the routing. The system applies the reduction strategy settings when dispatching the operations to the resources in the planning board or the product view. References: SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing for Planning & Scheduling - Implementation Guide, page 32; [SAP S/4HANA Production Planning and Manufacturing Certification Guide], page 81.

 If you have created a new MRP-relevant material that supports both in-house production and external procurement, you need to specify the procurement type for the material in the material master record. The procurement type determines how the material is procured, either in-house, externally, or both. If you do not specify the procurement type, the MRP run does not consider the material, and it has to be planned interactively using the MRP Live app or the MD04 transaction. In interactive planning, you can manually assign a procurement type to the material and create the corresponding order proposals, such as planned orders or purchase requisitions. Alternatively, you can maintain a production version for the material, which defines the procurement type and the BOM and routing to be used for in-house production or external procurement. The production version can be assigned to the material in the material master record or in the MRP Live app or the MD04 transaction. The production version allows the MRP run to plan the material automatically based on the specified procurement type123. References: Procurement Type | SAP Help Portal, Production Version | SAP Help Portal, Material Requirements Planning with SAP S/4HANA, page 79-80.

If the available stock is zero and the discontinuation date is in the past, the material requirements planning (MRP) process will be affected. MRP will not create any planned orders or purchase requisitions for the discontinued component. Instead, it will create a discontinuation indicator in the MRP list and a discontinuation message in the exception message list. This will inform the planner that the component is no longer available and that a follow-up material should be used instead. References: [SAP Help Portal] - Discontinuation of Materials.

A routing operation is a step in the production process that defines the work center, the duration, and the sequence of the operation. A routing operation consists of several time elements that are used to calculate the operation start and finish dates, as well as the capacity requirements. The time elements that are part of a routing operation are:

• Move time: The time required to move the material from one work center to another, or from the storage location to the work center.
• Setup time: The time required to prepare the work center for the operation, such as changing tools, adjusting machines, or cleaning the work area.
• Processing time: The time required to perform the operation, such as machining, assembling, or testing the product.
• Teardown time: The time required to restore the work center to its original state after the operation, such as removing tools, resetting machines, or disposing of waste.
• Queue time: The time that the material waits at the work center before the operation starts, due to the work center being occupied by another operation or having a fixed start date.

The pick/pack time and the float before production are not part of a routing operation. The pick/pack time is the time required to pick the material from the storage location and pack it for delivery, which is usually part of the outbound logistics process. The float before production is the time buffer before the scheduled start date of the production order, which can be used to compensate for delays or changes in the production plan.

References: [Production Planning with SAP S/4HANA], pages 177-179; [SAP Help Portal: Routing Operation].

Collective orders are used to represent multilevel production structures for materials produced in-house, where the manufacturing order for the highest material in the structure automatically generates manufacturing orders for the semifinished products in the structure. This allows for an integrated view of the production process and avoids unnecessary placements in storage or removals from storage between production levels. Collective orders can consist of planned orders, production orders, or process orders, and each order has its own order number. Collective orders can be processed with or without automatic goods movements, depending on the business scenario. References: Collective Orders | SAP Help Portal, Collective Order | SAP Help Portal, Combined production order Vs Collective production order in SAP PP

Alternative item strategies are used to define how the system selects the alternative items in a BOM during the planning run or the order creation. The following alternative item strategies are available in SAP S/4HANA:

• Manual maintenance: The system does not select any alternative item automatically. You have to manually select the alternative item in the BOM or the order. This strategy is useful when you want to have full control over the alternative item selection and when the selection depends on factors that are not known to the system1
• 100% check: The system checks the availability of all alternative items and selects the one with the highest priority and sufficient stock. If none of the alternative items has enough stock, the system selects the one with the highest priority and the smallest shortage quantity. This strategy is useful when you want to optimize the material availability and reduce the procurement costs2
• First in First out (FIFO): The system selects the alternative item with the highest priority and the earliest availability date. If several alternative items have the same availability date, the system selects the one with the highest priority. This strategy is useful when you want to use the oldest stock first and avoid obsolescence3
• Simultaneous: The system selects all alternative items simultaneously and distributes the requirement quantity among them according to the usage probability. The usage probability is a percentage value that indicates how often an alternative item is used. This strategy is useful when you want to balance the demand and supply of multiple alternative items and when the usage probability is known.

References:

• Alternative Item Group - SAP Help Portal
• Alternative Item Group - SAP Help Portal
• Alternative Item Group - SAP Help Portal
• [Alternative Item Group - SAP Help Portal]

 The work center that represents the production line for repetitive manufacturing is maintained in two places: the repetitive manufacturing profile and the production version. The repetitive manufacturing profile is a control parameter that defines the basic settingsfor repetitive manufacturing, such as the planning type, the backflushing method, the confirmation type, and the production line determination. The production version is a combination of a bill of material (BOM) and a routing or a rate routing that specifies how a material is produced. The production version also contains the work center that represents the production line for the material. The production version is assigned to the material master and is used in the planning and execution of repetitive manufacturing. References: Repetitive Manufacturing Profile | SAP Help Portal, Production Version | SAP Help Portal, Make-to-Stock Repetitive Manufacturing | SAP Help Portal.