Overview
Simplified IT Ecosystem
Picaso is the Scheduling, Demand Management, and Supply Chain monitoring system of the GBU.
The current name of Picaso is actually TPS (Tactical Planning and Scheduling). Picaso is the historical name of this application.
Interfaces (zoom in on Picaso & EP)
Find more about the Picaso→SAP Production Schedule Upload Interface
List of Planning Applications
Picaso Modules
- Demand Management
- Supply / Demand monitoring (aka the Grids)
- Distribution Requirement Planning (DRP) - automated generation of a distribution plan
- Production schedule (hourly buckets) - full manual or automated (Detailed Scheduler)
- (add-on) Dynamic Scheduling - automated generation of a production schedule
Other Apps
- ADM: Advanced Data Management
- EP: Enterprise Planning
- Inventory targeting: calculation of target stock, setting safety stock
- WebDP: Web-based Demand Management
- PicReport: Access-based reporting system
- Management Dashboard
Picaso Modules
Demand Management
- Customer/product/pack/region (month)
- All key figures displayed/modifiable (security depending)
- Sales History: shipped orders
- Open orders: outstanding orders
- Inheritance logic
- Sales Rep -> Account Mgr forecast (manual)
- Adjusted Forecast -> netting (automated) (find the logic here)
- Sales Control goes to SAP for allocation (manual)
- Manger -> Planner forecast (manual)
- Final forecast goes into Supply/Demand
- Real time (no snapshot/frozen period) <-> Supply/Demand
more about Demand Management
Supply / Demand monitoring (daily buckets)
The Grid
The grids are visual alert monitors, that give you a general feel of the projected inventory per product/package/location.
Open a grid
In Picaso, hit this icon: . It opens a list of Grids:
Use the search to find the one you need.
Once you find the one you were looking for, hit: 
The grids are sorted alphabetically.
Each grid's name starts with a number. Find the meaning of these numbers here
You may also create a grid (hit: 
) and/or understand how a grid works by looking at its properties (
)
Grids properties:
The grid properties, beside its name and description, is mostly its filters.
You may add, modify, or delete filters, which are really just selection criteria.
In this example, modifying the first filter (Product Name), shows how it works: this grid selects all products with a 'Product Name' name starting with PVDC. the '%' is a wildcard. (the other filter looks at another product property: product group = 'PREMIX').
Notice the 
checkbox; if activated 
it lets you fill in the value of that filter every time you open the grid:
Color coding & icons
The main screen shows an alert monitor which provides with visual on the projected stock situation:
| Icon / Color | |
|---|---|
| projected inventory negative |
| projected inventory positive, but lower than safety stock |
| projected inventory above safety stock, and below high target (= OK zone) |
| projected inventory above high target (=excess) |
| upper left black triangle shows a punctual receipt (inbound stock transfer, or purchase) |
| lower left black triangle shows a punctual requirement (outbound stock transfer, or sales order) |
| black solid line shows a continuous receipt (production) |
| red solid line shows a continuous requirement (consumption) |
Sorting
Sort items by:
| Sort name | Sort by |
|---|---|
| Product | Product Name / Location code / Package Code |
| Product Description | Prod Description / Location code / Package code |
| Locaiton | Location Code / Prod Name / Package Code |
| Init | Final inventory (see Stats) |
| Min | Min inventory (see Stats) |
| In | Xfers in (see Stats) |
| Out | Orders (see Stats) |
| Forecast | (see Stats) |
| Production | (see Stats) |
| Consumption | (see Stats) |
Each sort can be either ascending or descending.
Stats
Stats shows the key metrics that characterize the situation of a product/location over the horizon defined by the grid.
| Init | Starting inventory |
| Xfers In | Total inbound stock transfer volume over the grid's time span |
| Backord In | Total overdue inbound stock transfer volume |
| Orders | Total outbound volume over the grid's time span |
| Backords | Total overdue outbound volume |
| Final | Inventory at the end of the grid's horizon |
| Low | Lowest inventory point over the grid's time span |
The period of analysis can be found on the bottom of the Stats screen:
If a product/location hits an alert threshold over the time span of the grid, the most critical one is the one that shows on that screen.
Example, TXAU / S5 in AUA goes lower than safety stock towards the end of the horizon, and this is why it shows in yellow.
Months
Finally, the 'By Month' screen lets you show all stats by Month instead of over the entire period. The possible stats are on the bottom of that screen:
In this example, it shows the lowest inventory point of each month.
With or without forecast
This icon (
) non-ironically showing a crystal ball, lets you switch the forecast on or off. It affects what the grids tell you. Just hit the icon to switch it on or off.
with forecast (icon is blue)
without forecast (icon is greyed out 
)
TIME3 in CZ37 has forecast. It shows that when forecast is activated, inventory is globally in the green zone. When forecast is disactivated, it shows excess inventory.
Hammer settings
Hit the bottom right hand key that looks like a vintage hammer (hence, its name):
It lets you pick amongst the following configurations:
| Config | What it does |
|---|---|
| Combine Equivalent Products | The grids shows equivalent products as one single product (=aggregates inventory, receipts and requirements over one product) |
| Combine Equivalent Packages | Same with package codes of a product |
| Combine Equivalent Locations | The grids shows merged locations as one (everything on the parent location) |
| Use Only System-Generated Transfers | DRP Records factored in in the Grid, however only outside of the Time Fence (for more on Time Fences, check out the Inventory Targets and Preference section) |
| Ignore All System-Generated Transfers | DRP Records not factored in at all |
| Use All System-Generated Transfers | DRP Records factored in. |
Change your horizon
Change the Grid horizon with a right click anywhere on the screen. Select Grid Properties.
this is the number of days (here: 60) the Grid shows. You may change it up to 330 days:
This config applies to your user only; it also applies to all grids.
Related grid
Related Grid lets you check out the grid of the product you right click on:
| By Product: all locations for that product |
|
| By Location: all products for that location |
|
Column layout:
RIght click on the column header of the grid; it lets you pick additional columns for display:
Tips: the 'SKU Resp' tells you if a product is defined as MTS or MTO (defined in Inventory Targets and Preferences):
Product / Location specific supply / demand data
A right click on a product/location takes you to the detailed screen that lets you analyze the situation of said product / location.
Plot
A graphical view of the projected inventory.
Legend:
Summary
A monthly breakdown of the in- and outwards movements, with resulting EoM inventory and Days of Sale.
| Description | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Intercoompany | NB Stock transfer Orders DRP records (when activated) |
| SAP Customer Orders | Sales Orders |
| SAP Transport Orders | UB Sock Transfer Orders |
Lots
On hand inventory, broken down by lot.
The 'Used' field indicates whether the lot goes to your available inventory. Here, it shows that both lots are considered available.
It is determined automatically based on the UD code and the stock status of each lot in SAP:
| UD | Stock status | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| A* | Unrestricted | 1 (available) |
| R* | * | 0 (unavailble) |
| * | Blocked or Restricted | 0 (unavailable) |
You may modify the value of that field. A double click on a lot gets you to a window where you can switch the checkbox on or off:
If you switch it off, it'll affect the available inventory in Picaso right away. See below:
| Lot is 'Used' | 'Used' checkbox switched off |
|---|---|
|
|
|
|
The 'used' field will be overwritten overnight.
Inbound and Outbound orders
All inbound (inbound stock transfers) and outbound (sales orders and outbound stock transfers). This screen also shows DRP records.
Use these checkboxes to filter in or out what you want to see.
Ignoring an order:
A double click on an order takes you to the details for this order. From there, you may disable it (without deleting it) by switching the 'Ignore Order' box.
You can also do this with a simple contextual right click on the order 
Status of an order
H: means that the order item has a delivery block (TBC)
Forecast Overview
- From the Picaso forecasting module (real time update)
- Forecast = 1 value per month
- Inv. projection: forecast broken down into daily buckets
A contextual right click on any line 
lets you navigate to the detailed forecast vue of the product / customer / location. It also allows you to redirect the forecast.
Production Schedule Overview
- From the Picaso production schedule module (real time update)
- Picaso schedule copied to SAP overnight
Equivalent
TargetPlot
Inventory Target
- Safety stock and Max Stock setting
- Suggested values (driven by forecast error and service level)
- real time integration with ADM
Distribution Requirement Planning
automated generation of a distribution plan
Production schedule
- Finite capacity. One production line = 1 column
- Production campaign duration driven by qty (manual) and production rate (from master data)
- Production rate updated in Picaso DB (no SAP interface)
- BOM from SAP (daily interface)
- Automatic transition time calculation (optional)
- Each line scheduled individually
- shared resource not supported
- multisep production process to be managed by hand
- No feedback for in-process (manual update of in process runs)
- Daily interface w/SAP (one campaign = one planned order)
- One Schedule table used at a time (sharing conflict)
- Production Scheduling Scenario (what-if analysis)
- Navigation to output- / input product supply/demand balance
- Real time update within Picaso ecosystem
Dynamic Scheduling
- Automated Schedule builder
- embedded in Picaso system (add-on)
- No additional interface channel required
- Transparent to user: one add’l function in the menu
- Result goes into Picaso Schedule Table
- No different from a manual schedule
- Data flow to SAP goes from there
More about the Picaso Production Schedule module.
Conventions in Picaso
Started as conventions, gradually morphed into guidelines.
| Grids | First Digit | Convention |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Aro US | |
| 1 | Aro EU | |
| 2 | Japan | |
| 3 | Greater China | |
| 4 | India | |
| 5 | Korea | |
| 6 | Plastomers, PVDC, PVDF | |
| 7 | Fluids | |
| 8 | ||
| 9 | Tecnoflon |
Other Applications:
ADM: Advanced Data Management
Picaso, EP, and WebDP master data are maintained in this central system.
A few other system monitoring, logging, and configurations are also found in ADM.
More about ADM
EP (Enterprise Planning)
Inventory targeting (calculation of target stock, setting safety stock)
WebDP (Web Demand Planning)
- Web enabled
- Horizon: 12 months(?)
- Accounts assigned to Account Mgrs (via Sales Force, manual synchronization[?])
- Forecast recorded at product / ship-to / month level
- Price: default (statistical), manual override possible
- No ‘forecast snapshot’. Picaso modules consider forecast from DP as soon as updated.
- Forecast accuracy (Sales Reps forecast of M-2, vs actual ship of M0)
PicReport (Picaso Reporting)
PicReport is the reporting environment. We wanted to create our own ad-hoc custom reports.
It gives us access to all database in Picaso.
It is a read-only systems.
More about PicReport here
Management Dashboard
Interfaces
Picaso→SAP Production Schedule Upload Interface
The Picaso production schedule is uploaded into SAP every night (US late evening).
The interface creates one SAP Planned order for each Picaso run.
The production version of the SAP Planned order is either always 0001 or it is determined by the formula used for the run. Table Schedule Upload Unit Parameters drives what the interface works with (fixed PVersion or formula-driven).
The screencopy below is that of a Picaso run.
Its attributes:
- Product: PVDC PV910
- Package: BB5
- the two above determine the SAP Material code (table SKU Code)
- Line: SUSP PKG
- Formula 80 (from possible formulas for that line, determined by Production Standard and Production Standard Effectivity)
- the formula determines the SAP Production version (see above)
- Quantity 176 MT
- Start Date: Dec 02 2022
- End Date: Dec 04 2022 - 12:00 (determined by quantity and rate. Rate from Production Standard Effectivity)
- Customer Order: SAP Planned Order number. This Run has already been interfaced with SAP.
The corresponding SAP Planned order:
- Planned order 1079453469
- Material 161835
- Production Version V01
- Quantity 176 MT
- Start Date: Dec 02 2022
- End Date: Dec 04 2022
- Note that the GR Processing time (2 days) is pulled from SAP Master Data. Nothing to do with the Picaso interface.
The end date of the SAP Planned order is actually driven by multiple factors: the QC Lag, the Schedule upload Lag Adjustment, and the SAP Goods Receipt Processing Time also affect the Planned order. Read the corresponding note to know more about it.
Best Practices
Daily Schedule Update Routine
DRP