Purpose
Sales and Operational Planning (S&OP) are essential and strategic elements of the ERP Rebuild project design, playing a pivotal role in the overall success of the project. In parallel to this, the Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) project is being executed concurrently, utilizing Kinaxis Maestro, a leading software solution, to implement both Demand Planning and Sales and Operational Planning functionalities within the Syensqo system. This document serves as a comprehensive guide, designed to offer an in-depth understanding of the current "As-Is" planning processes, the integration mechanisms, and the overall system landscape associated with the existing Maestro system, all within the scope of the APS project.
Additionally, the document aims to identify and highlight the critical changes required to ensure that the APS system aligns seamlessly with the ERP Rebuild project’s goals and objectives. It outlines the necessary adjustments and modifications needed in the existing system to accommodate these changes. Furthermore, this document provides a detailed vision for the future state of the integration and system landscape, showcasing how the APS and ERP systems will function cohesively after the rebuild is complete. A proposed approach for data cleansing and cutover, aligned with the ERP rebuild design, is also included to ensure smooth data transition and system upgrades.
As-Is
Scope
APS project has the following categories
- Demand Planning
- Supply and Inventory Planning
- Production Planning and Scheduling
- S&OP / IBP
APS project is planned in Drops with each drop delivering enhanced functionality of the above categories. A high level view of the scope of the APS project is below:
Category | Key Elements | Details |
Demand Planning | Demand Planner Process, Ownership, Cadence, Calendar | Standard procedures, defined responsibilities, and schedules for demand planning activities. |
Demand Plan Targets | Establish targets based on historical data, market trends, and business goals. | |
Statistical Forecasts | Use statistical models to generate baseline forecasts from historical data. | |
Consensus Forecasts | Incorporate input from sales, marketing, and operations to refine forecasts. | |
Reporting and Visualization | Use dashboards and reports to track forecast accuracy, trends, and overall performance. | |
Supply & Inventory Planning | Planner Process, Parameters, and Ownership | Establish roles, responsibilities, and parameters for supply and inventory planning. |
Cadence and Calendar | Define schedules for inventory reviews, planning updates, and collaboration. | |
Ability to Define Key Constraints | Identify production, supply chain, or resource limitations. | |
Constraining the Plan | Adjust plans to align with identified constraints. | |
Pegging and Firming the Supply Plan | Match supply to specific demand and finalize orders for stability. | |
View and Act on Supply Exceptions | Identify and address supply-related issues, such as shortages or surpluses. | |
Ending Inventories | Optimize closing inventory levels to minimize costs and risks. | |
Inventory Exceptions | Identify anomalies in inventory data and take corrective action. | |
Periods of Coverage | Ensure adequate inventory levels to cover demand for a specific period. | |
Publishing the Supply Data to ERP | Share finalized supply plans with ERP systems for seamless execution. | |
Reporting and Visualization | Track and analyze inventory and supply performance using dashboards and reports. | |
Production Planning & Scheduling | BOM Substitutions and Alternatives | Manage flexibility in the bill of materials (BOM) to accommodate material shortages or alternatives. |
Master Production Plan | Create a high-level production plan based on demand forecasts and constraints. | |
Enterprise Scheduling | Detailed planning and scheduling of production activities across facilities. | |
S&OP/IBP | Demand and Supply Balancing | Align demand forecasts with supply capabilities while addressing constraints and trade-offs. |
S&OP Dashboard | Centralized platform for tracking KPIs, aligning stakeholders, and facilitating decision-making. |
Below is the split of the functionalities across multiple drops.
Interfaces
Multiple interfaces are required to connect the Maestro system with SAP ECC (ERP Central Component).
These interfaces will facilitate seamless data exchange and integration between ECC and Maestro, supporting critical business processes such as planning, inventory management, order fulfillment, and reporting. They can be categorized into the following:
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Enterprise Structure Data | This includes organizational data such as company codes, plants, storage locations, sales organizations, and distribution channels. Ensuring alignment between SAP ECC and Maestro allows for accurate representation of the organizational hierarchy and dependencies. |
| Config Data | Configuration data includes system settings, rule definitions, and organizational configurations like MRP settings, delivery priorities, and planning parameters. This ensures that ECC and Maestro operate with aligned business rules and logic. |
| Master Data | Master data encompasses key foundational data such as material master, customer master, BOM's, Routings etc... It ensures consistent and accurate information flows between SAP ECC and the Maestro system for efficient operations. |
| Transactional Data (Demand / Supply) | This category includes real-time transaction data such as sales orders, purchase orders, demand signals, supply plans, and stock movements. It supports demand & Supply planning, inventory management processes. |
| Planning Results | These are outputs from planning activities, including demand forecasts, production schedules, procurement plans, and ATP (Available-to-Promise) data. Planning results support Maestro's decision-making and strategic planning functions while aligning with ECC data. |
Below is an overview of the interfaces.
Note: ECC is represented as one line and it comprised both the ECC's
Below is the detailed list of the interfaces
System Architecture
High-Level Architecture: Integration of Kinaxis with Existing SAP ECC Systems
The integration of the Kinaxis system with the existing SAP ECC systems will involve two distinct Kinaxis instances to support different business needs and geographical requirements:
Kinaxis US:
- This instance will primarily serve the composites GBU (Global Business Unit).
- It will facilitate compliance with export control regulations, specifically ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations), ensuring all ITAR-related processes are managed effectively.
- Hosting Location: This instance will be hosted in the United States to meet ITAR compliance requirements and regional data governance standards.
Kinaxis ROW (Rest of the World):
- This instance will support the other GBUs, including Aroma, Novecare, TS, O&G (Oil & Gas), and Specialty Polymers.
- The ROW instance will manage planning, supply chain, and operational data for these GBUs while aligning with the broader strategic goals.
- Hosting Location: This instance will be hosted in Europe, ensuring efficient regional operations and compliance with European data protection standards.
Both instances will integrate with the existing ECC systems to enable real-time planning, supply chain visibility, and data sharing across multiple GBUs while adhering to regional compliance and operational requirements.
To-Be
Changes in Scope
A comprehensive analysis has been conducted on the functionalities and data structures based on the scope of the APS project and the conceptual design from the ERP Rebuild initiative. The analysis has identified a range of changes that will be necessary to align with the project goals and future-state processes
Functionality
The following topics are identified as potentially requiring changes during the ERP Rebuild project. Note that the below table represents only the functionalities that require a change. Total list of all the functionalities can be found in the attachments.
Area | Key Topics | Current Design | Changes Required (ERP Rebuild) | Change Description | Change complexity |
Demand Planning | Demand forecast unit definition | Packed Material + Ship-to / Sales area | Yes | Packed Material(SKU) + Sold to + Ship To + Sales Area | High |
Demand Planning | Hierarchy definition | Several hierarchies required to facilitate the data entry (forecast entry at aggregated level with automatic disaggregation at lowest level) and analysis. | Yes | Changes are in the data section. Depending on the hierarchy the corresponding functionality also has to change (Aggregation and disaggregation logic definitions might change) | High |
Demand Planning | Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) vs Departure (ETD) | Forecast are entered at ETA level and needs to be converted to ETD for the supply part but also for the revenue projection. AI team support requested to get the most accurate supply offset and financial offset | Yes | The logic to calcuation ETD from ETA or vice versa will change and the data will be have to be consumed from S/4 instead | Medium |
Demand Planning | Disaggregation | Yes | Based on the changes in the data modes / hierarchies | High | |
Demand Planning | Achievable demand | Once the demand consensus published, we can then get back from the SP part, the achievable demand. (= when Consensus demand can not be reached) | Yes | Extra contstrains from S/4 will have to be taken into account ex: Maintenance plans | Medium |
Demand Planning | Allocation | In progress: When there is no option to meet the demand, the allocation process is triggered = Volume allocated to customer - Control of the allocated volume at sales order entry in SAP for SPP. | Yes | PAL Integration | High |
Supply Planning | Netting / Forecast consumption | Reconciliation between order book and forecasts. Including Demand time fence (when do we consider that a non ordered forecast should be ignored ?) and spreading (from a monthly forecast to weekly/daily net demand). | Yes | Order types / Item categories / other critieria to exclude Sales Orders | Medium |
Supply Planning | Distribution network | Escalation of the demand to the distribution sites and upstream to the production plants | Yes | Intercompany / China flow will have to be adopted | High |
Supply Planning | Buffer sizing and positioning | Proactive dimensioning of inventories. Setting up differentiated targets. Simulation of Safety stock adjustments (impact on inventory projection and service level). | Yes | Demand driven buffer sizing will be required | Medium |
Supply Planning | Firming the plan | Monitoring the execution of / derives from the plan : Live view on gap between Operational plan and S&OP. | Yes | Purchase requisitions instead of planned orders | High |
Inventory Planning | Including Tolling & Consignment | Yes | Vendor consignment planning to be included | Medium |
Data
The following topics are identified as potentially requiring changes during the ERP Rebuild project. Note that the below table represents only the functionalities that require a change. Total list of all the data elements can be found in the attachments.
| Data Object Type | Data Object | Current Design | Source | Direction | Changes Required (ERP Rebuild) | Impact | Change Description | Change complexity |
| Master data | Customers | Sold to , Ship To | SAP | To Maestro | Yes | Additional Combinations | All Business Partners | Medium |
| Transactional Data | Sales Orders | SAP | To Maestro | Yes | Additional attributes | Extra attributes ( Incoterm / Transportation mode etc..) | Medium | |
| Transactional Data | Pricing Conditions | SAP | To Maestro | Yes | Additional Combinations | Access sequences might change / Future prices source might change | Medium | |
| Master data | End Use (Market) | SAP | To Maestro | Yes | Different source / definition | To be consolidated with the customer / CMIR | Medium | |
| GBU | SAP | To Maestro | TBD | |||||
| Master data | Parts <> Material x plant | Units, Calendars, Leadtimes (MRP views), Archetype (SHS), Purch group / MRP controllers (resp.) | SAP | To Maestro | Yes | Different source / definition | Material fields are going to change - MDS will determine the impact | High |
| Master data | Workcenters | selected by type for time being focussing on Machines/process lines | SAP | To Maestro | Yes | Additional attributes | Shifts / Times / usage % will have to consumed from work centers | High |
| Master data | Routings | SAP | To Maestro | New | High | |||
| Master data | PIR (Purchase info record) | SAP | To Maestro | Yes | Additional Combinations | Vendor consignment PIR to be included | Low | |
| Master data | Special procurement Key | Derived | To Maestro | Yes | Different source / definition | Should come from S/4 | Medium | |
| Transactional Data | PR | SAP | To Maestro | Yes | Additional Combinations | Document types / additional fields / Status | Low | |
| Transactional Data | PO | SAP | To Maestro | Yes | Additional Combinations | Document types / additional fields / Status | Low | |
| Transactional Data | Deliveries (Sales Order) | SAP | To Maestro | Yes | Additional Combinations | Document types / additional fields / Status | Low | |
| Transactional Data | Planned / process / production orders | SAP | To Maestro | Yes | Additional Combinations | Document types / additional fields / Status | Low | |
| N/A | Source lists | Maestro | To Maestro | To be deleted | To be replaced with the functionality from Quota | |||
| Master data | Quotas | Maestro | To Maestro | Yes | Additional Combinations | Should come from S/4 | Medium | |
| N/A | Transfers between SAP systems | Maestro | To Maestro | Yes | Different source / definition | Information will come from S/4 - To use combination of SPK and Quota | Medium | |
| Transactional Data | Costing (excluding internal margins) | External File | To Maestro | Yes | Different source / definition | Should come from S/4 | High | |
| Master data | Resource hierarchies | External data / derivation based on rules | To Maestro | TBD | ||||
| Transactional Data | Purchasing lead time | External data / derivation based on rules | To Maestro | Yes | Different source / definition | Should come from S/4 | Low | |
| Master data | Calendars (Factory) | External data / derivation based on rules | To Maestro | Yes | Additional Combinations | Should come from S/4 | Low | |
| Master data | Geographic regions | External data / derivation based on rules | To Maestro | Yes | Different source / definition | Should come from S/4 | Low | |
| Transactional Data | Inspection Lot | To Maestro | New | Medium | ||||
| Master data | Product hierarchy | To Maestro | New | Should come from S/4 | Medium | |||
| Master data | Customer Hierarchy | To Maestro | Yes | Different source / definition | Should come from S/4 | Medium | ||
| Master data | Profit Center hierarchy | To Maestro | New | Should come from S/4 | Medium | |||
| Transactional Data | Customer material info record | To Maestro | New | Should come from S/4 | Medium | |||
| Master data | Customer lead time fence | To Maestro | New | Lead time can be managed in Maestro and sent nack to SAP or vice versa.Master slave relationship TBD based on the design | Medium | |||
| Master data | Safety Stock | To SAP | New | Low | ||||
| Master data | Safety period | To SAP | New | Low | ||||
| Master data | Lead Times | To SAP | New | Low | ||||
| Transactional Data | Planned orders | Kinaxis | To SAP | Yes | Additional Combinations | Document types / additional fields / Status | Low | |
| Transactional Data | Purchase Requisitions | Kinaxis | To SAP | New | High | |||
| Transactional Data | Planned Idependent Requirements | To SAP | New | High |
Interfaces
System Architecture
Integration with key functionalities (PAL/ATP) - Meeting Online
Cutover Approach - Meeting Online
Governance / Resources - Meeting Online with Gab
Governance Model
Responsibilities
Business
Kinaxis
ERP Rebuild