Available To Promise (ATP) and the Scope of Check
This post aims to describe the various components that are included, or excluded, from the ATP check based on the rules defined in the scope of check. A number of these options are fairly self explanatory, but some of them have caveats, behave differently based on other configuration choices, or are less than intuitive. Hopefully this guide helps others in their review of ATP configuration.
Examples of the MRP Elements that are impacted by each option and examples of transactions that generate or modify the MRP Elements are included. The screenshot below is an example of a standard SAP Availability Check for sales orders.
The documentation that follows is based on my own experience, testing in an ECC 6 environment, and with some assistance from the SAP Support Portal. Some useful references are provided at the bottom of this document.
Stocks
All of the options in this area have the ability to impact the general stock quantity that is used to represent the current stock level at the plan and at the storage location level. In addition the Incl.quality insp. Stock and W/o subcontracting options can also impact the MRP elements that are taken into account for availability.
Include safety stock
This option prevents the subtraction of safety stock from available inventory. In the example above Safety Stock would be checked. With this option checked the Stock Line in CO09 should match the Stock Line in MD04. With it un-checked the Stock Line in CO09 should be the result of subtracting Safety Stock from current stock.
MRP Elements Impacted: None
StockIn Transfer
Stock in transfer should not be confused with stock in transit, that is used in the two step Stock Transfer Order process involving a Stock Transfer PO, Outbound Delivery, and subsequent goods receipt. StockIn Transfer only applies to stock put into an in transit status, such as with a manual 313 goods movement to place stock in transit between two storage locations or a 303 to place stock in transit between two plants. With this box checked the quantity in transit is added to the stock line of the destination plant or storage location. Without this checked the stock in transit is completely unavailable and ignored, both at the sending and receiving locations.
MRP Elements Impacted: None
Related Transactions: MIGO, MB1B
Incl.quality insp. Stock
For QM managed materials this will include Quality Inspection lots, maintained through transaction QA02, and will show the lot as available inventory on the Inspection End Date for the lot. Each lot is separately listed with its MRP Element.
For materials that are not QM managed this will include stock that is posted into Quality Inspection Stock. Quality inspection stock can be posted to manually through transaction like MB1C using standard movement types 503, 523, or 563. Quality inspection stock is included as part of the total stock line that is available.
MRP Elements Impacted: QM-Lot
Related Transactions: QA01, QA02, QA03
Include blocked stock
Includes stock that is in a block status, such as stock that is posted into Blocked Stock using movement type 505. This inventory is represented as part of the total stock. This does not impact material that is received into Goods Receipt Blocked Stock, such as material received with movement type 103. Material Received into Goods Receipt Blocked Stock will continue to display as a POItem.
MRP Elements impacted: None
Related Transactions: MIGO, MB1C
Include restricted Use Stock
Applies to batch inventory when batch status management is active. When this flag is checked then batches that have a restricted status are included along with the unrestricted.
MRP Elements impacted: None
W/o subcontracting
With this flag checked stock provided to vendor is removed from the availability check. This also removes and requirements that the subcontracting process may place on component plant inventory, meaning that SubReq MRP Elements will not be reflected in Demand, this would have the greatest impact on a material that was both a subcontracting component for one process and itself a subcontracted material.
This will not impact the inclusion of the POitem or PurRqs elements related to a subcontracting PO being placed with a vendor.
MRP Elements impacted: SubReq
Replenishment Lead Time
Check without RLT
When unchecked then the system will calculate the replenishment lead time for the material. When replenishment lead time is active only requirements that fall within the lead time are considered and everything that falls outside of RLT automatically confirms.
Replenishment lead time is calculated differently for externally procured material and produced material, which is determined based on the Procurement Type of the material. Materials with a procurement type of X are treated as produced materials for RLT purposes.
Externally Procured Material
There are three key fields that are used in determining the RLT for a purchased material.
- Purchasing Processing Time
This is a configured value and assigned to the plant MRP settings through OPPQ. This duration is checked against the factory calendar and applies only to work days. - Planned Delivery Time
This value comes from the Material Master MRP 2 view and is applied without regard to the factory calendar. - GR Processing Time
This value comes from the material master MRP2 view and is checked against the factory calendar, only being applied to work days.
The example below represents a material at a plant with 1 day of Purchasing Processing time, 30 days of Planned Delivery Time and 2 days of GR Processing Time. The factory calendar for the plant is show to the right, with dates in green being non-working days.
Produced Material
There are two different methods for calculating the RLT for produced materials. When the Total Replenishment Lead Time in the MRP 2 view is populated then this is the value that is used. If this value is empty then SAP checks the Production Time, which is a combination of the In House Production Time and GR Processing Time from the MRP 2 view of the material master. Both of these methods use the factory calendar and are applied only to work days.
The following example is for a material with Total Replenishment lead time maintained and a factory calendar that doesn’t include weekends. The Total Replenishment lead time is 20 days.
Storage Location Inspection
No storage location inspection
When the storage location is specified in a transaction then it is ignored when performing the ATP check. This means that if a plant has 100 EA of inventory in storage location A001, and a delivery is created for 100 EA but specifying storage location WM01, then the ATP check will still be successful without storage location inspection.
In/outward movements
Incl.purchase orders
There are three options when including purchase orders, which include all forms of purchase orders, such as purchases from vendors, stock transfer orders, and inter-company stock transfers, and returns to vendor. These options only apply to the receiving quantities for purchase orders. The outbound requirements for stock transfers are controlled through the Incl.rel.order reqs option.
This option controls the inclusion or exclusion of the POitem MRP Element and the ShpgNt MRP Element. When purchase orders are included the ShpgNt is always considered, no matter which option is chosen in the Incl.ship.notificat. option.
Related Transactions: ME21N, ME22N
MRP Element: POitem, ShpgNt, Return
Blank – Do not check
Inbound quantities from Purchase Orders are ignored.
X – Check
Include purchase orders in available inventory.
X works like A if the STO configuration in Purchasing à Purchase Order à Set Up Stock Transfer Order à Assign Delivery Type and Checking Rule is set up for the PO Type and Plant to have the ATP Conf. MRP flag checked or if the Fix Date / Quantity flag is checked in the PO line item.
Availability Date: Delivery Date from PO Line Item + GR Processing Time. GR processing time is calculated based on the factory calendar.
If an inbound delivery / shipping confirmation has been applied to the PO Item then Delivery Date is taken from this confirmed date and then the GR processing time is added. This is reflected by the MRP Element changing from a POitem to a ShpgNt. Shipping Notifications are always recognized for POs when POs are checked, regardless of the subsequent Incl.ship.notificat. option.
A – Check Purch.Orders (If Stock Trans.Ord.:Check Confirmed Qty)
Include purchase orders in available inventory.
Availability Date: Delivery Date from PO Line Item + GR Processing Time. GR processing time is calculated based on the factory calendar.
For STOs each Schedule Line is included on its confirmed date with its confirmed quantity. The GR processing time is added to each of these dates.
If an inbound delivery / shipping confirmation has been applied to the PO Item then Delivery Date is taken from this confirmed date and then the GR processing time is added. This is reflected by the MRP Element changing from a POitem to a ShpgNt. Shipping Notifications are always recognized for POs when POs are checked, regardless of the subsequent Incl.ship.notificat. option.
Incl. purch.requistions
Include Purchase Requisitions in availability check.
Availability Date: Delivery Date from PO Line Item + GR Processing Time.
Related Transactions: ME51N, ME52N
MRP Elements: PurRqs
Incl. dependent reqs
Includes the dependent requirements generated by the component demand of planned orders. These requirements are included for all planned orders, regardless of being MRP generated, Component Checked, or Capacity Scheduled.
Requirement Date: Start Date of the planned order
MRP Elements: DepReq
Include reservations
This is not to be confused with Production Order Component reservations, which controlled by the Incl.depen.reservat. option.
This option will include demand from reservations made through transaction MB21.
Availability Date: Base date of the reservation.
MRP Element: MtlRes
Include Sales Reqmnts
Includes demand generated from Sales Orders, Scheduling Agreements and other types of SD documents that are configured for requirements, depending on configuration this could include Inquiries and Quotes.
MRP Elements: CusOrd, SchAgr
Related Transactions: VA01, VA02, VA31, VA32
Include Deliveries
This option is specific to SD deliveries and does not impact outbound STO deliveries or inbound purchasing related deliveries. This option will place a requirement on the material availability date of the delivery line.
MRP Elements: Delvry
Related Transactions: VL01n, VL02N, VL10G, VL10A
Incl.ship.notificat.
This option is only relevant if the Incl.purchase orders option is blank. This option will only include Purchase Orders that have a shipping confirmation. If the Incl.purchase orders option is set to either A or X then Shipment Notifications are always taken into consideration, regardless of this setting.
MRP Elements: ShpgNt
Related Transactions: ME22N
Incl.depen.reservat.
This option will include component requirements for Production Orders. There are notes from SAP regarding this option and its applicability to purchase orders. I have only used this option to manage reservations related to Production Order components.
MRP Elements: OrdRes
Related Transactions: CO01, CO02
A – Only include withdrawable reservations
This option will only include requirements related to release Production Orders. Order Reservations for production orders that are not yet released will not be considered.
X – Include all reservations
This option will include all production order reservations.
Incl.rel.order reqs
This option is to include the demand for the supplying plant of stock transfers, either related to purchase reqs or purchase orders.
A – Check releases for stock transport orders only
Only include Stock Transfer Purchase Order requirements at the supplying plant.
MRP Elements: Ord.DS
X – Check releases for stock transport orders and requisitions
Include both Purchase Requisitions and Purchase Order stock transfer requirements at the supplying plant.
MRP Elements: Ord.DS, PRqRel
Transactions: ME51N, ME52N, ME21N, ME22N
Incl. planned orders
This option includes the receipts from Planned Orders. This option should be carefully considered as planned orders are often created automatically by the MRP process.
MRP Elements: PldOrd
Transactions: MD11, MD12, MD01
X – Check all planned orders
Includes all planned orders, MRP Generated, manually created, firmed, confirmed, or capacity planned.
A – Check firmed planned orders only
Only include planned orders with the Plnd order flag checked in the Firming section.
B – Only check planned orders that are completely confirmed
Only include planned orders that have been availability checked in order to confirm component availability.
Incl. production orders
This option includes planned receipts from production orders.
MRP Elements: PrdOrd
Transactions: CO01, CO02
X – Take all production orders into account
This option will include all open production orders
F – Only take released production orders into account
This option will only include receipts for open production orders that have been released for production.
Receipts in past
The Receipts in past option impacts all receipt related ( inventory additive ) MRP Elements.
MRP Elements: PrdOrd, PldOrd, ShpgNt, POitem, PurRqs, QM-lot
Include receipts from past and future
This option takes into account all planned receipts, based on the other options that are chosen, regardless of the date of the planned receipt.
A – Include receipts from past and future, with messages
This option takes into account all planned receipts, based on the other options that are chosen, regardless of the date of the planned receipt. A message is presented to the user when the ATP check includes planned receipts that were supposed to have already occurred.
B – Include future receipts only
This option excludes all planned receipts with a date that falls in the past and includes all receipts where there is a current or future date.
C – Include future receipts only, with a message
This option excludes all planned receipts with a date that falls in the past and includes all receipts where there is a current or future date. A message is presented to the user when the ATP check includes planned receipts that are planned for the future.
