3381688 - FAQ: Alternative based Confirmation (ABC) with aATP

Symptom

Frequently asked questions about Alternative based Confirmation (ABC) via advanced ATP in S/4HANA Cloud.

Environment

SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Advanced ATP

Reproducing the Issue

Using ABC in S/4 Hana leads to error messages or unexpected behaviour.

Cause

Wrong customizing, missing documentation, false understanding of standard system behaviour.

Resolution

1. ABC has been activated in APP "Configure Alternative Control", but ABC is somehow not executed. Why?

Consider following restrictions

- ABC supports sales orders with SD document category = "C" - Order; (with OP2023 also "I" - Order without charge) only.
- ABC supports "item category usage" = ABC2 (e.g. standard item category configuration TAPA/TAN in transaction VOV4) only.
- The system ignores any substitute products that have another base unit of measure or item category group than a requested product.
- The item is relevant for batch determination and using "force subitem generation" in the ABC strategy: The batch determination has a higher priority than ABC. Inline substitution is possible, but no subitems are allowed for items with batch determination active (verify transaction VOV7 - field automatic batch determination - "CHAUT").
- A follow-up document - like a partial delivery - is existing which prevents item deletion/changes. ABC will be deactivated if a partial delivery exists (regardless of the delivery quantity) as the material and plant of the sales order item can not be changed anymore.
- Quantity distribution is active in the scope of check (transaction OVZ9) field "QUANTITY_DIST". ABC is not supported with "quantity distribution" flag active.
- A variant configuration, configurable product/material and/or characteristics-dependent planning is not supported with ABC - see also restriction notes - (ABC will be deactivated if cuobj or cuobj_ch is filled).
- Order item and plant are assigned to "advanced intercompany sales" - ABC does not fully work within this sceario - the system can not delete a possible created subitem anymore. The error "item xxx is relevant for advanced intercompany and cannot be deleted." - Message no. SD_SLS_INTERCOMPANY050 appears - which means ABC will be deactivated for this order item. Recheck and verify SPRO customizing: Enterprise Structure > Assignment > Logistic General > Assign Transit Plant to Company Code (Advanced Intercompany) and Sales and Distribution > Sales > Sales Document > Integration with Value Chain Monitoring.

Customizing check list

- Activate ABC for the checking group via customizing
- Recheck the setting for the "Consider Alternative" in the APP "Configure Substitution Strategy". The setting "Depends on Execution Context" -> "posted" means that ABC is just active in "change"-mode (e.g. VA02/BOP) - otherwise in "creation"-mode (VA01).
- [Product Substitution] - make sure to allow subitem generation - otherwise ABC will be deactivated.
- Verify the SD customizing for the new subitems - the new requirement class and schedule line category has to have 'ATP check' active and 'transfer of requirements'.
- Verify the master data customizing for all involved materials - verify the assigne "Item Category Group" should be filled - default is "NORM" - to enable the item category determination.
- Verify the characteristics used to trigger ABC (used correct field length for numeric characteristic?): e.g. using a "ship-to party" with numeric values? -> make sure to enter the ship-to party with 10 digits (with leading zeros) in APP "Configure Alternative Control".
- Using sales document type 'OR' in APP "Configure Alternative Control"? For sales document type 'OR' the internal value is 'TA'. Reason: For the VBAK-AUART there is a conversion routine assigned which changes the Input value to the Internal Stored value. So enter 'TA' instead of 'OR'.
- More than one substitution strategy has been found. Recheck the settings in APP "Configure Alternative Control" and make sure the system just finds one substitution strategy.
- Check the maintained validities for the substitutions - the system is using the requested delivery date to verify the validities.
- The requested delivery date is used by default to identify valid substitute products when availability is checked.
- Using "substitution groups"? Please check this link to SAP Help and check the part "Object and Value Determination". Please find also at the end of the KBA the "ABC substitution overview" of the necessary ABC customizing -> make sure to maintain a CVC with “substitution” - usage in APP "Manage Characteristic Combinations" and follow the path with the dotted line in the ABC substitution overview.
- Having maintained sales organization without distribution channel for the plant/storage location substitution? -> The "sales org. and distr. channel" are one unit here - both values have to match! Otherwise you may leave both fields blank to maintain no restriction.

2. Are the plant changes somehow recorded/logged by the system?

- The ATP ABC check does not write a log/record when a plant is substituted. That the plant was changed is visualized in the availability control screen where you see the plant and original plant values. Additionally the message "Plant has been changed" is displayed.

3. Can we activate ABC functionality also for Sales BOMs?

- The ABC functionality is currently not supported for Sales BOMs (not for sales BOM items nor substitution via a sales BOMs). ABC needs to be deactivated for Sales BOMs, as delivery creation is not possible if the item has a different shipping point than the header.

4. The system does not change the plant for free goods subitems after plant change of main item.

- ABC cannot (yet) change/create the subitems - it is planned for a future release (release date unknown).

5. PAL is being consumed for the original requirement (plant), but should consume with the new requirement (new plant).

- Please check release restrictions: e.g. 3205013:
  - Restriction: When checking availability for a substitute, PAC and PAL checks are executed using the customizing settings for the original requirement
  - Explanation: This could have multiple unexpected side effects: PAL quantities are consumed for requirements which are not PAL-relevant. These quantities will remain and will not automatically be removed during further processing. Similarly, PAC checks are executed even if customized.
  - Mitigation: Ensure that all potential alternative plants are configured similarly to the original plant, at the very least with regards to the requirement relevancy setting and ATP relevancy setting in their corresponding requirement classes.
- It is valid for the cloud as well.

6. The system returns a warning message "Item 10 in order 12345 was not scheduled as some data is missing." - Message no. ATP_SCHEDULING001 - and the ABC does not confirm correct. Why?

- - The ship-to party has a shipping condition assigned in the ship-to party master data.
  - The material master data has a loading group assigned.
- Please make sure that the system can determine a shipping point for each plant which you specify as possible substitution within ABC!

7. Why is BOP not confirming my sales order via ABC even if there is enough quantity in the substitution material/plant available according to CO09?

- Verify the BOP result. There can be other orders processed earlier by BOP getting the quantity from the expected substitution material/plant - CO09 will/can not show this information before the BOP has been executed. It can sometimes very difficult to predict which orders getting which substitution material/plant.
- Product Allocation active for the original material? Verify that there is enough PAL quantity available for the original material.
- Some data inconsistency in table VBBE (it is rare).
- Some TQA inconsistency in table ATP_TQA_PAC (it is rare).

8. The subitems having a confirmed quantity in decimal (fraction) values of the requested quantity. Is there a rounding possible?

- The use of a sales unit measure may lead to decimal confirmation as the ATP check is always done in base unit of measure (BUoM).
- The ABC product substitution (with conversion factors maintained) -> can consider the delivery unit (field "MVKE-SCMNG" - material master data / view "sales: sales org. 1") to round the confirmed quantity of the subitems. Please maintain the value according to the required value.

9. The system does not consider the maintained sorting of the substitutions (e.g. if you maintained a chain). What can be the reason?

- Please verify the SAP help link, the system considers a hardcoded/predefined set of sorting attributes (e.g. for plant substitution: 1. Sequence number, 2. same country, 3. same region, etc.). Defining sequence numbers helps to "force" the system to use your "business logic" instead of choosing the alternative from a big set of attributes. Furthermore using rating attributes helps to define the list of alternatives according to your business needs.

10. Can we activate ABC functionality also for Sales BOMs?

- The ABC functionality is currently not supported for Sales BOMs (not for sales BOM items nor substitution via a sales BOMs). ABC needs to be deactivated for Sales BOMs, as delivery creation is not possible if the item has a different shipping point than the header.

11. The customizing which is required for ABC is confusing. How to setup ABC correctly?

- Please find below an overview schema for the ABC substitution setup with the different Fiori-Apps. Please review the SAP help documentation for ABC and/or existing blogs from the SAP community (e.g. ABC Overview; ABC - substitute with strategy; ABC activation).

12. No confirmation by ABC even if the original material/plant confirmation is available. Why?

- If ABC has been activated - the system has to find a valid substitution, otherwise there will be no confirmation given by the ATP check. Even if e.g. the original material might be available - the ABC substitution determination does not return a valid substitute (e.g. due validity period).