SAP C_TS422_2023 - SAP Certified Associate - SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, Production Planning and Manufacturing

In SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, alternative items in a BOM (transaction CS01/CS02) allow substitution of components based on predefined strategies. These are maintained in the BOM item data (Alternative Item Group and Strategy fields). The available strategies are:

Manual maintenance(C): This strategy (Strategy field: "1" - Manual Maintenance) allows planners to manually select which alternative item to use during production order processing (e.g., in CO02). The system does not automate selection, relying on user intervention based on availability or preference.

100% check(D): This strategy (Strategy field: "2" - 100% Check) ensures that only one alternative item is used per order, with the system checking availability (via ATP) for 100% of the required quantity. If the first item isn’t fully available, it moves to the next in the priority sequence (Priority field).

First in first out (FIFO)(A) is a stock management concept (e.g., in WM or batch determination),not a BOM alternative item strategy.Simultaneous(B) is not a standard strategy—alternative items are sequential or selective, not used simultaneously unless custom-developed. This aligns with SAP’s BOM functionality documentation.

Simple discontinuation in SAP S/4HANA (material master, MRP 4 view, fields: Discontinuation Indicator, Effective-Out Date, Follow-Up Material) replaces a discontinued component with a follow-up material when stock is depleted. If the available stock is zero and the discontinuation date is in the past:

Material requirements planning(C): MRP (MD01/MD02) is affected because it checks the discontinuation settings. When stock is zero and the effective-out date has passed, MRP stops generating requirements for the discontinued material and creates them for the follow-up material instead (visible in MD04). This ensures planning continuity with the replacement.

Backflushing(A) (e.g., during CO11N) uses existing stock or reservations, not directly impacted by discontinuation unless stock is unavailable—but it’s a downstream process.Kanban(B) relies on replenishment triggers, not discontinuation logic, though stock-outs could disrupt it indirectly.Production order release(D) (CO02) checks material availability, but discontinuation is handled in MRP, not at release. This is per SAP’s discontinuation process.

In SAP S/4HANA, MRP usesbackward schedulingto calculate the basic dates for dependent requirements (e.g., components needed for production). Backward scheduling starts from the requirement date of the finished product and works backward to determine when components must be available. The key time elements considered are:

Planned delivery time(A): This is maintained in the material master (MRP 2 view, field: Planned Delivery Time) for externally procured materials. It represents the time required by the vendor to deliver the material, and MRP uses it to calculate the start date for procurement to ensure the component is available when needed.

In-house production time(D): For materials produced in-house, this is maintained in the material master (MRP 2 view, field: In-house Production Time). It defines the total time required to produce the material, independent of quantity, and MRP uses it to determine the start date of production for dependent requirements.

Total replenishment lead time(B) (MRP 2 view, field: Total Replenishment Lead Time) is an optional field that includes all procurement and production times but is typically used as a fallback or for special cases, not as a standard element in backward scheduling for components.Operation duration(C) is specific to routing data (e.g., setup, processing times) and is considered in detailed scheduling (e.g., production order scheduling), not MRP’s basic date calculation, which relies on material master data. This aligns with SAP’s MRP scheduling logic as per official documentation.

In SAP S/4HANA, a production order (transaction CO01) requires a valid production version (material master, MRP 4 view). If none can be selected, possible reasons include:

The order lot size is NOT within the validity range of a production version(A): Each production version specifies a lot size range (e.g., 100-1000 units). If the order quantity (entered in CO01) falls outside this range, the version is invalid, and the system cannot select it.

All production versions for the material are locked(C): If production versions are locked (MRP 4 view, field: Lock indicator), they are excluded from planning and order creation, even if otherwise valid, preventing selection.

NO production lines assigned(B) is irrelevant—production versions link BOMs and routings, not production lines (a repetitive manufacturing concept).NO BOMs assigned(D) would invalidate a version, but the system checks BOM validity within the version, and this is typically caught during version creation (C223), not order creation. This is per SAP’s production version validation rules.