Exception messages and traffic lights - SAP ERP Tutorial

- [Instructor] As I mentioned in the last section, Exception Messages are how SAP will communicate to you, the planner, that a potential issue exists for a material. Let's explore the messages in more detail. SAP has a total of 35 different Exception Messages, all of which communicate information to you. These messages are grouped together into one of eight different Exception Groups. The messages are grouped together based on the similarities of the issue and/or the action required of you to resolve. The messages are assigned to a default group, but you can reassign any message to a different group based on your organizational needs. And just like the group assignment, your organization can change the priority assignment given to any single exception message. This is helpful if an MRP element, such as a planned order, has multiple exceptions logged. Let's review the eight exception groups. First, Group 1 will contain messages that are related to the opening period. The opening period is defined through the scheduling margin key assigned to the material master. If your organization does not have an opening period defined, then Group 1 messages will be irrelevant. Next, Group 2 messages are related to the start date of an order being in the past. Again, the order could be a planned production order or a purchase requisition. The type of order is irrelevant. What matters is that the order should have been started at some point in the past. Orders with a Group 2 exception could still be delivered on time, but they will most likely require expediting to do so. Group 3 messages are reserved for orders that are past due. The finish date of an order is equivalent to the date the goods are expected to be delivered. If not delivered soon, the impact could have a ripple effect through the BOM structure. Group 4 is the group we will be least concerned with. Most of the messages in this group are informational only and do not allude to a potential cause for concern. Group 5 messages relate to issues with the material's BOM. Each individual exception message will provide further clarity for the specific issue, but left unresolved, an SAP may not be able to generate dependent requirements. Issues with inventory will be be consolidated into Group 6. The most common exception message in Group 6 will indicate when the available stock has dropped below the safety stock quantity specified on the material master. How MRP responds to these messages will depend on the specifics of the message which will be evident when reviewing the MRP list. Any time demand signals change, MRP will reschedule any un-firmed receipts as part of the planning run, but firmed receipts, such as live production orders or live purchase orders, cannot be automatically rescheduled by MRP. In these cases, MRP will generate an exception message assigned to Group 7, alerting you, the planner, that rescheduling the order is recommended. And finally, Group 8 only contains a single message. Message number 98 indicates an abnormal end of materials planning. This is SAP's cryptic way of communicating that the planning run failed to execute. The most common reason I have found for this failure is linked to a cross-plant material status that blocks the planning functions, but the materials MRP type is still active for planning. When reviewing the MRP list, SAP will provide further information indicating why the planning run failed to complete. Now that you understand each exception message group, let's evaluate how you define the severity of those exception messages to what's important to you. Traffic lights will visually communicate urgent issues through the use of a red light, important issues through the use of a yellow light, and inconsequential issues through the green light. Which is which being completely up to you and your organization but the settings shown here are my recommendation as a good starting point. SAP provides two methods for defining the severity of an issue. First is the range of coverage for inventory. You will define the minimum days, target days, and maximum days of supply by setting the limits like you see here. With each planning run for a material, SAP will calculate the day's supply for each material and then assign a traffic light based on these limits in order to alert you if and when available inventory drops below these limits. In this example, SAP will provide a red light if the day's supply of any material drops below 30 days. Coming back to the exception groups we just discussed, here is where you define what is an urgent exception versus those that aren't. Keep in mind that green lights don't necessarily indicate a problem doesn't exist. It could simply mean it's not an issue you should bother with immediately. Using this example, messages in Group 2, Group 3, Group 5, six, and Group 8 will trigger a red light assignment so that the planner sees these materials first in the list with the highest level of urgency. These settings are made at a user level meaning planners have the ability to have different priorities based on the materials that they manage.