concept of alternative items

[Former Member]

dear gurus,

can any body explain the concept of alternative items.ie if 1 material is not there we can use other material.whether it is correct?what are all the other uses in using alternative items.please explain the configuration also

- gide

[former_member184655 · Accepted solution]

Hello Mr.Gide,

I'm not willing to give you definitions & explanations for Alt.Item,

Group,

Priority,

Strategy,

Usage Probability.

Kindly check in SAP Help.

Let me put some practical inputs.

Eg:

If there's a material Alt2 which can be used instead of a material called Alt1,now we will first form an Alternative item group using this 2 material.It can be more than 2 materials also.

Now in our case after u enter Alt1 as the line item for a HALB or FERT,select that entire row and click on Item details or Press F7.In Item data screen,in the bottom under general data u can find the field for Alternative item group.

Click that and enter the values as follows

A-Alt Item Group

2- Priority

2- Strategy

70% - Usage probability ,now come back.

Now enter Alt2 as the line item and after that as i said select that row & press F7.

Click on Alt.Item group button and enter the values.

A,

1,

2,

30%.Now save.

Now let's assume this BOM is used for a HALB.Let's assume 10 quantity is mentioned in the BOM for each of this line item.

Now if there's PIR for say 100 quantity

After running MRP for the HALB the requirements will be seen as Alt1 700 required & Alt2 300 required.

<b>Here for the planning Only Usage Probability comes into picture.</b>

When you are doing the production booking for making 100 quantities,the system shows 1000 quantity of Alt1 and no Alt2 will be seen in good's movement's screen.

Now the priority comes into picture,as we have given priority as 1 to Alt1 the systems proposes 1000 quantity of Alt1.

So while planning Only usage probability is considered and requirements fallas as per that.

While doing Production booking priority comes into picture.

So Here as we have maintained priority 1 and strategy as 2 for Alt1,the systems proposes 1000 quantity of Alt1.

If your strategy is then the planning & production will be as per the usage probability.

<u><i>Second case:</i></u>

If for Alt1 A & for Alt2- A

2 1

2 1

70% 30%

Planning will be 700 & 300 of Alt1 & Alt2.

But for production booking 1000 & 300 of Alt1 , Alt2 will be proposed by the system.Because For Alt1 though the priority is 2,but its strategy is 2.

For Alt2 priority1 but strategy is 1(Manual maintenance).

<b>

So many combinations can be made using this.Dont get confused.</b>

<b>If satisfied,plz reward points to all the answers which helped u and close the thread.</b>

Thanks & Regards

Mangal

Message was edited by:

Mangal

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Mangal for your good example. Really it is good helpful to all of us.

Edited by: Mahesh Garg on Dec 1, 2008 9:46 AM

[former_member184655 · Accepted solution]

Dear Mahesh Garg,

Thanks for your comments.You are welcome.

Regards

Mangalraj.S

[neeraj_ahuja3 · Accepted solution]

Hi Mangal Raj

You have given the right situation in the 70%, 30% usage Probability,and system will give you accordingly.

can you pl more elaborate into this alternate Material into BOM where suppose we are having the

FG-A with RM X,Y,Z Material and we also having the X', X" with Stock of X-100 Qty and X'-100 Qty X"-200 Qty

Now i am considiring the MRP run for the FG-A =1000 Qty now how system will react for the same.

Usage Probabilty is 100 % for X,X',X".

Business Requirement is When we will run the MRP system will consider the Stock of X',X" and give the Net Requirement interm of PR is 600 Qty.one additional requirment is if X" is having Open PO qty suppose -200 qty than system will give the net requirment should be 400.

p suggest how this can be achieved by system.

Rgds

Pankaj Agarwal

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Guru

For This situation may be it is convenient apply item Phanton?

-The Father Product (X), have as component

the Prod A and it is replaced by A1 , using option Discontinuation DATA

The Prod B and it is replaced by B1 using option Discontinuation DATA.

Phanthom X

item A

Item B

Phantom X1

Item A1

Item B1

Constraints

Only we can use simultaneously A with B

or A1 with B1, (We can't use A with B1 or B with A1)

How we must config Built of Material ( Discontinuation Data or Alternative Item Group, using discont group,followup group) and MM02( discontinued parts)

We need use item A/B until the stock was consumed, so we wil use Item A1/B1, and MRP must to calculate needs based on items A1,B1

Thanks for you attention!

Regards

[former_member190992 · Accepted solution]

Hi Mangalraj,

can percentage of parts be more than 100%.

rgds.

[Former Member]

Hi,

There is no spl configuration settings.

In tcode CS02 enter the two alternative items with qty reqd for the base qty of the header.

In cs02 choose one alternative item and goto details screen.

In the first tab itself you can fing alternative item group.

Enter as A1.

Then enter strategy / priority/ usage probability and save.

Repeat the same for other one.

We can define the alternative item based on priority , strategy and usage probability.

Priority:

This defines the priority of the item within the alternative item group.

This determines the priority of planned withdrawls of items.

EX Two items are assigned to alternative item group

item A Priority 1

item B Priority 2

The system reads the item A first.

Strategy:

use the strategy to determine how the planned withdrawl is controlled

within the alternative item group.

The strategy should be same for all alternative items within a alternative

item group.

If the value 2( 100% check) is defined for the strategy the first material in

the defined priority sequence for which sufficient quantities are available

are reserved.

Usage Probability:

MRP Plans these alternative material components according to probability

of use.Material requirements for BOM Components are planned according

to usage probability.

The planned withdrawls for the production order are based on the

reservation lists.These lists are based on the priority and strategy.

Regards,

nandha

[Former Member]

Alternative Items

Use

If you would like to use one or several alternative components in an assembly, you can enter these in the bill of material and combine them by grouping the alternative items.

These alternative items can then be taken into account when exploding the BOM during the planning run.

Prerequisites

You have entered the materials that can be used as alternatives within an assembly in the BOM as components.

You have entered the same grouping key for all alternative items in the item data in the Alternative item group field, thus combining the alternatives (see below).

You have entered the usage probability on the Alternative Item Data screen. This percentage specifies the probability with which the component will be used for the assembly.

Features

The alternative items can be taken into account in MRP according to the defined usage probability or can be defined in the BOM purely for information purposes for the employee.

Activities

Proceed as follows to combine components that you would like to use as alternatives into a group:

Enter the materials as items in the item overview of the BOM.

Double-click on the Item field to call up the item data for the first alternative item.

Enter the key for your alternative group in the Alternative item group field in the Basic data and choose Enter.

Enter the usage probability for the components. Enter a priority and strategy to define the procedure used for the withdrawal posting for the production order.

Alternative Items in BOM Explosion

Use

The alternative items are to be planned in the planning run with certain usage probabilities.

Prerequisites

In the Alternative item data dialog box in the BOM, you have entered a usage probability for each component that belongs to an alternative item group.

Features

The dependent requirements of the alternative items are calculated according to the usage probabilities.

Example

Alternative item 1

Usage probability 60 %

Alternative item 2

Usage probability 30 %

Alternative item 3

Usage probability 10 %

The dependent requirements are passed on in the amount of 150 pieces. The system uses 90 pieces of alternative item 1, 45 pieces of alternative item 2, and 15 pieces of alternative item 3.

[Former Member]

Gide,

An alternative item group is used to group together alternative items in a BOM. Any of the materials in the alternative item group could be included in the assembly. These items are known as alternative items in the BOM.

<b>Alternative items with a usage probability</b>

The alternative items are included with a certain usage probability.

Material requirements planning (MRP) uses the usage probability to determine dependent requirements for the materials.

In the production order, dependent requirements are converted to a reservation.

The withdrawal posting for the reservation in the production order uses either the usage probability or the 100% availability check according to ATP logic.

<b>Alternative items for information</b>

You can enter an alternative item for information only. For example, the item is only relevant to missing parts. The usage probability for the item is 0.

<b>You need to maintain the following in the Item group for each item in the BoM:</b>

<b>Usage Probability</b>

Material requirements planning (MRP) plans the alternative items according to usage probability.

If you use the usage probability to determine the withdrawal posting (strategy 1), the quantities are proposed according to the usage probability. You can change the proposed quantities.

An alternative item is only planned if the usage probability is at least 1%.

If the usage probability is 0%, a dependent requirement with quantity 0 is generated for the material.

The component with the quantity 0 is displayed in the planned order. If required you can increase the quantity there.

It is possible to plan too much for alternative items, because you can enter usage probabilities that add up to more than 100%.

<b>Priority</b>

The priority of an item within an alternative item group determines the sequence in which material components are reserved in the production order.

<b>Strategy</b>

The strategy is only relevant to the withdrawal posting in the production order. The strategy is ignored in MRP.

You use the strategy to determine how the items within an alternative item group are selected for the withdrawal posting. Use the same strategy for all alternative items in an alternative item group.

The following strategies for withdrawal postings are supported:

Withdrawal according to usage probability (manual changes possible)

Withdrawal if availability is 100%

Regards

Ram

[Former Member]

Hi,

Alternate item you can enter in detail of BOM component.

Enter group 1, select strategy, either give percentage of components or 100 %,

give priority, Again for other components also give same group number as 1.If u give % system will consider component as per priority & % If it is 100% system will check the component which is 100% available in unrestricted stock. That will be reserve during creation of order.

See the link

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_erp2005vp/helpdata/en/f4/7d3f9344af11d182b40000e829fbfe/frameset.htm

Regards,

Suhas

Message was edited by:

Suhas Somani