SAP Multiresource Scheduling
SAP Multiresource Scheduling enables you to find suitable resources for demands and assign them to the demands. Demands are units of work from the areas of Service, Plant Maintenance, or Project System, for which a resource is to be planned. Possible sources of demand for SAP Multiresource Scheduling are:
CRM service orders Orders from Customer Service Projects from Project System Projects from Collaboration Projects (cProjects) Plant Maintenance orders
SAP Multiresource Scheduling enables you to:
View the status of resource planning Assign suitable employees and tools to requirements (demands) from different areas
SAP Multiresource Scheduling provides the following functions:
An intuitive graphical interface to plan resources manually using information about open demands, the utilization of resources, and possible conflicts with current resource planning Automatic support for resource planning based on availability, qualifications, qualifications, and partner roles, as well as utilization-based automatic assignment creation and intelligent shifting of existing assignment plans Optimization of daily assignment planning, for example, to maximize utilization, utilization, minimize travel times, or adhere to SLAs Capacity management by taking into account the workload at team level and considering planned and unplanned orders, as well as employee availability Integration of geographical information systems to visualize travel routes and support the search for the nearest employee Integration with mobile devices to provide information to employees and track the status of assignments
NOTE For reasons of readability, the term “order” is used in this documentation as a general term for sources of demands for resource planning: When orders are mentioned in the cross-area sections, networks are usually included as well. In
places where the function for network activities is different to that for order operations, the term "networks" is used explicitly. Implementation Considerations
SAP Multiresource Scheduling is based on SAP NetWeaver technology and enables resources to be planned across systems. You can implement SAP Multiresource Scheduling as an add-on based on SAP NetWeaver or SAP ERP. SAP Multiresource Scheduling based on SAP NetWeaver
You can implement SAP Multiresource Scheduling in an SAP NetWeaver system. This could be a system in which you use SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) or Collaboration Projects, for example. In this case, personnel resources are always modeled as business partners with the role “Employee.” SAP Multiresource Scheduling based on SAP ERP
If you implement SAP Multiresource Scheduling based on SAP ERP, you can use the following functions:
Integration with Project System Use of qualifications within SAP Multiresource Scheduling Modeling personnel resources as employees in SAP ERP HR Web-based resource management in Project Systems
SAP Multiresource Scheduling also enables you to transfer the following demands to the system in which SAP Multiresource Scheduling is installed by means of remote function call:
CRM service order Customer Service order Plant Maintenance order
This remote connection is not supported for demands from Collaboration Projects or Project System. If you want to use demands from Collaboration Projects and Project System, you must run SAP Multiresource Scheduling in the same system. SAP Multiresource Scheduling also enables you to plan different types of demands in parallel. For example, you can assign demands from Project System and Customer Service orders to one employee.
Software Components for SAP Multiresource Scheduling
The following table contains the software units that you require to set up your system landscape: Available Versions
SAP Multiresource Scheduling 7.0
Required SAP Basis Enhancement Packages or Software Support Packages SAP ERP 6.0 ERP 6.0, EhP2, EhP3, or EhP4
SAP NetWeaver 7.0
NW 700 or NW 701
The following table contains the software units that you require to use the individual integration scenarios: Integration Scenario: Plant Maintenance/Customer Service (PM/CS) Software Unit Installation
Obligatory or Optional
Comments
SAP Multiresource Scheduling addObligatory on based on SAP NetWeaver 700 SAP Multiresource Scheduling addObligatory on based on SAP ERP 700
SAP NetWeaver 7.0 or the Enhancement Packages for 7.0 SAP ERP 6.0 or the Enhancement Packages for 6.0
Obligatory Obligatory
SAP Multiresource Scheduling Optimizer 700
Optional
SAP HR 6.0
Optional
Only if resources from the HR system are used
Integration Scenario: Project System (PS) Software Unit Installation
Obligatory or Optional
SAP Multiresource Scheduling addObligatory on based on SAP NetWeaver 700 SAP Multiresource Scheduling addObligatory on based on SAP ERP 700
SAP NetWeaver 7.0 or the
Obligatory
Comments
Obligatory or Optional
Software Unit Installation
Enhancement Packages for 7.0 SAP ERP 6.0 or the Enhancement Packages for 6.0 SAP HR 6.0
Comments
Obligatory Only if resources from the HR system are used
Optional
Integration Scenario: Collaboration Projects (cProjects) Obligatory or Optional
Software Unit Installation
SAP Multiresource Scheduling addon based on SAP NetWeaver 700 SAP NetWeaver 7.0 or the Enhancement Packages for 7.0 SAP cProject Suite 4.5 or 5.0 SAP Multiresource Scheduling addon based on SAP ERP 700 SAP HR 6.0
Comments
Obligatory Obligatory Obligatory Optional Optional
Only if resources from the HR system are used
Integration Scenario: CRM Software Unit Installation
Obligatory or Optional
Comments
SAP Multiresource Scheduling add-on based on Obligatory SAP NetWeaver 700 SAP NetWeaver 7.0 or the Enhancement Obligatory Packages for 7.0 SAP CRM 7.0 Obligatory
Resource Planning Execution
This business process allows you to find and assign suitable resources for requirements from the areas of service, maintenance, or projects.
Process
1. As the requester, you create a planning-relevant order that contains the following data: o Operations or suboperations o Tools 2. The system schedules the order. You receive a rough plan for carrying out the order. Depending on the scheduling direction, a start or end date is determined. NOTE Scheduling is a standard SAP function that is not modified by SAP Multiresource Scheduling. The Utilization of Personnel Resources function (transaction /MRSS/UTILREP) provides support when you define the basic dates and select work centers. 3. The system transfers the scheduling data to the systems in which personnel resources and tools are managed. These systems then return data (for example, shift schedules and tool availability), which is included in resource planning. 4. As the resource planner, you plan resources by assigning suitable resources that are required to carry out the tasks to the planning-relevant order operations. You create assignments for resources at the required time in the planning board. Each assignment is checked automatically to detect any condition violations. Condition violations appear as alerts in the Alert Monitor, which is integrated with the Scheduler Workplace. You can change assignments before the system saves them in the database. 5. You monitor the progress of the execution. 6. If there are variances between the planning situation and the execution situation, correct your planning. Master Data
Resource master data (employees, tools, spare parts) is required for scheduling and planning resources for an order. Required Master Function and Transactions Data
You can model personnel resources:
As business partners with the employee role As employees in SAP ERP HR
You specify the option that you want to use at client level in Customizing for SAP Multiresource Scheduling at Basic Settings Configure Basic Settings . You create business partners with the role Employee in transaction BP. Human Resources (personnel NOTE resource, If you use the business partner in the Employee role for employee) personnel resources, this master data must be maintained in the SAP Multiresource Scheduling system. In SAP HR, employees are created in transaction PA30. NOTE To process employee data from an external HCM system, use report /MRSS/HCM_RPTWFMIF.
In resource planning, data about the availability times of an employee is required. Availability data is managed in SAP Multiresource Scheduling Basis. Availability data of human resources
If you model your personnel resources as business partners, you maintain availability in transaction /MRSS/WFM_ADMIN. If you use SAP HR for your personnel resources, transfer the availability information to SAP Multiresource Scheduling Basis from report /MRSS/HCM_RPTWFMIF.
Specific qualifications may be required to carry out some Qualification of operations of an order. You can create qualifications as human resources follows:
If you use standard qualifications, edit them in transaction PPPM. If you use qualifications from SAP Multiresource Scheduling, the following transactions are available: o Qualification catalogs and matrixes form the basis of SAP Multiresource Scheduling profiles. You create these with transactions /MRSS/SQM_CAT and /MRSS/SQM_MAT. o To create employee profiles, call transaction /MRSS/PPPM (you can also create and edit employee profiles that are specific to SAP Multiresource Scheduling using a Web UI). o To create requirements profiles for the demands, call transaction /MRSS/REQM).
In each case, you enter the type and the degree of the qualification as well as the validity time of the qualification. You can group employees in the HR organizational model. A typical example of a group are workshop resources.
Organizational unit/work center
Resource planner
Use transactions PPOCE and PPOME to process the organizational plan. In the order, a work center is assigned to each operation. It is essential to assign these work centers to the relevant organizational unit. You assign the work centers in work center maintenance (transaction CR02) by choosing HR Assignment . You assign a resource planner to the organization unit by choosing Goto Assignment: Resource Planner (MRS) from the context menu. To do so, call transaction PPOME. This assignment is important if you use transaction / MRSS/PLBOTIME to call the Scheduler Workplace. You create tools as material with material type Production Resource/Tool.
Tool as material
To do so, call transaction MM01. For each tool, you can enter the relevance for resource
Tool as equipment
planning. To determine whether the tool is relevant for resource planning, you assign a corresponding control key. In resource planning, you plan tools that are equipment. The tool demand is defined in the order using the tool material (see above), which can be assigned to an operation as production resource and tools. To determine the tool or equipment in the resource planning board, the system requires the equipment material (the corresponding tool as material) and the organizational assignment (responsible work center). To create equipment, call transaction IE25. NOTE You can use tools as equipment for Plant Maintenance (PM) and Customer Service (CS).
If you use master data specific to SAP Multiresource Scheduling (such as qualification catalogs or employee profiles) for your personnel resources or transfer your HR data to master data specific to SAP Multiresource Scheduling, you can use the Functions for SAP Multiresource Scheduling Qualifications such as neighboring-level matching, free employee search, and global demand search. NOTE Qualifications, qualification catalogs and matrixes, and employee and requirements profiles are available if you use the SAP Multiresource Scheduling add-on based on SAP NetWeaver and the SAP Multiresource Scheduling addon based on SAP ERP. Resource Planning for an Order
Resource planning allows you to carry out detailed planning to execute an order. In resource planning, a suitable resource (personnel or tool) that covers the demand is assigned to the demand from the order operation. NOTE
You can use tool resources for Plant Maintenance (PM) and Customer Service (CS). There is a separate user interface for resource planning – the Scheduler Workplace. Each scheduler can configure the workplace as required. The main features of the interface are:
Worklist Item Worklist Planning Board Alert Monitor
Prerequisites
You have configured all of the required settings in Customizing for SAP Multiresource Scheduling. You call Customizing for MRS using transaction /MRSS/IMG. You have created master data specific to SAP Multiresource Scheduling for qualifications if you want to work with this. You have defined the objects (for example, organizational units) that you want to use for your resource planning structure. You have the necessary authorizations for resource planning. You have created an order with the associated operations and production resources and tools.
Process
NOTE Resource planning is a dynamic process that does not always run in the same way. Moreover, depending on the requirements of the task and the complexity of the data, this is not required or even possible. The steps described below apply to all aspects of resource planning. However, the sequence may change and the resource planner may skip or repeat some of the steps with certain assignments. Depending on the source of the demand (CRM service order, order from ERP Customer Service, project from Project System and cProjects, or Plant Maintenance), additional steps may be available or necessary. These are described in the corresponding sections (for example, resource planning in the service). The following process contains the steps that may be relevant regardless of the source of the demand. Steps that refer to tool resources are only relevant for source of demands from Plant Maintenance (PM) and Customer Service (CS).
The process begins after you or the person responsible has created an order that is relevant for planning and this has been transferred to SAP Multiresource Scheduling. 1. You open the Scheduler Workplace. Depending on the main aspects of the work, the resource planner can use various transactions (see Calling the Scheduler Workplace by Work Priority ). 2. The planning horizon is the period for which you plan assignments. It is configured automatically by the selected transaction or you can enter it manually (see Planning Horizon). 3. Once you have opened the Scheduler Workplace, you obtain an overview of the scope of your worklist and the available resources. 4. You check the item worklist to determine whether there are any items classed as urgent. You also attempt to process items with a higher priority first when you plan the resources. 5. You check whether there are personnel resources with a suitable qualification profile to carry out the order operations. The system displays the result of the qualification comparison as a ranking list sorted in decreasing suitability of qualifications and time availability. 6. You check the utilization of the personnel resources. 7. You add personnel resources from other resource planning nodes to the planning board if your own resources do not have the required qualifications or are overloaded. 8. You link demands to other resource planning nodes if you want to assign them to another resource planner, for example. 9. You create teams if several employees are required to complete the task over a longer period of time, or if you want to use capacitive planning. 10.You check whether you have suitable tool resources to carry out the order. 11.You add tool resources from other resource planning nodes to the planning board if your own resources are not sufficient. 12.You create a link between tool and personnel resources if, for example, a resource requires the tool in the field for a longer period of time. The tool is then unavailable for other resources. When you create an assignment, a tool assignment is also created to simplify planning. 13.You create time allocations for unscheduled absences or attendances of resources. If a personnel resource is absent during normal working time, the resource planner can note this in a time allocation on the planning board. The same applies to tools that require maintenance or repair.
14.You create assignments for your personnel resources, taking into account the above criteria. You can copy the dates for the assignments automatically from the order or enter them yourself. 15.The system checks whether the resource type is suitable for the assignment. If a resource does not have the necessary requirements profile, the system generates an alert. 16.You split assignments if an assignment exceeds the normal working time (plus overtime) of a personnel resource, for example. 17.You split demands if you want to distribute them across different resources or resource planning nodes. 18.You can assign several personnel resources to a demand. In this case, the system does not calculate the duration automatically. Instead, you enter the duration of the respective assignments based on your experience. 19.Provided that you do not save your data, you can undo any planning steps you have made and repeat them if required. 20.You use the Alert Monitor to check that planning for your assignments is free of conflicts. The system runs checks while you plan your resources. It generates alerts if errors occurred during the checks and indicates the type of error and its cause in the Alert Monitor. 21.You correct the cause of the alert. To do so, you must check the data (for example, availability) and process assignments again. NOTE You can confirm alerts without having corrected their cause. 22.You save your planning. Only once you have saved your changes in resource planning are they visible to other resource planners who work with the same resources. If you work in the Scheduler Workplace, data can be changed in other applications (for example, new assignments or new order operations), which can affect resource planning. To include this data, update the Scheduler Workplace regularly.
If you want to create an assignment for an order operation or resource, the order or resource may be locked. This is because another resource planner is creating assignments for the order or resource at the same time. In this case, wait and update the data in the Scheduler Workplace or contact the other resource planner. Assignments and time allocations are locked as long as they are being processed by another resource planner. Capacitive Planning of Demands from Service and Project System
The display of demands in the planning board allows you to carry out the following functions for demands from the areas of Plant Maintenance, Customer Service, and Project System:
Create new demands Reschedule demands and simulate rescheduling of the underlying sources of demand Save changed demands and thereby write them back to the order operations and network operations Display dependencies and the capacity utilization of the associated capacity planning nodes NOTE Capacity planning nodes are units that have to be planned capacitively (in PM, CS, and PS of the work center).
Prerequisites
You have defined which projects, WBS elements, and networks can be processed in the demand view in Customizing for SAP Multiresource Scheduling at Sources of Demand Networks (Projects and WBS Elements) Control Integration of Projects and WBS Elements in MRS and Define Resource Planning Relevance for Networks. For PM/CS orders, it is sufficient to define the orders as resource-planning relevant under Sources of Demand Orders Define Resource Planning Relevance for PM/CS Orders . In Customizing for SAP Multiresource Scheduling, under Set Up Scheduler Workplace Workplace Profiles Worklist Profile Create Worklist Profile Fields in Demand Display , you can specify which columns are to be displayed in the demand view. To simulate and carry out demand rescheduling, you have to load the entire order or network to the planning board. Scheduling is active only if
you have selected Manual Scheduling or Automatic Scheduling in Customizing under Sources of Demand Activate Backward Integration of Data . The system can write back changed demands to the order operations and network operations only if you have activated backward integration in Customizing for SAP Multiresource Scheduling under Sources of Demand Activate Backward Integration of Data . To display the capacity utilization of work centers, you have transferred the required information from SAP ERP to SAP Multiresource Scheduling using report /MRSS/SGE_PN_MNT.
Features Calling the Planning Board with the Demand Overview
You can configure the Customizing settings for your UI profile in such a way that the default view when you call the planning board is the demand view. To do so, choose Set Up Scheduler Workplace Workplace Profiles Define User Interface Profiles Settings for Demand Display . You can overwrite this setting in the user settings for the planning board. To call the planning board for specific demands, you can use the initial transaction Planning Board for Demands (/MRSS/PLBOSRV). You can use this transaction to call the demands depending on the work center and plant, for example. In the demand view, you can also display projects and WBS elements for the networks. Adding Capacity Planning Nodes
To add further capacity planning nodes to the dispatching view, navigate to the list of capacity planning nodes in the dispatching view and choose Add Planning Node from the context menu. Creating New Demands
To create new demands, select the required order or network in the demand view and choose the context menu entry Create New Demand . In the Details for Demand dialog box, enter the required data. Alongside the usual demand details, you can also enter a capacity planning node and define restrictions for demand scheduling. Rescheduling Demands
You can change existing demands:
To change the dates of the demand, move it by drag & drop or change the dates in the demand details. You can set the user status. You can change the scheduling restrictions.
Assigning Demands to Capacity Planning Nodes
You can drag demands from the demand view and drop them in the dispatching view to assign them to a capacity planning node. If you set the Set Dispatch Status indicator in the user settings, the demand is assigned the status Dispatched . You can use this status, for example, to display demands that have already been dispatched in the dispatching view. To do so, define a filter for the demand view that excludes demands with the status Dispatched from the display.
Simulating the New Planning Situation
Once you have created a new demand or changed existing ones, the system automatically simulates the effects this has on the capacity of the capacity planning node. The capacity displayed for the capacity planning nodes is independent of the selected orders and projects. All order and network operations that are relevant for the capacity planning nodes and that have been integrated into SAP Multiresource Scheduling are also relevant for the utilization of the capacity planning node that is displayed. For more information, see Capacity View. If relationships have been created for the order or network, you can display the dependencies between the demands in the planning board. The system not only displays dependencies at operation level, but also dependencies for orders. NOTE The system displays alerts in the Alert Monitor only if order-internal relationships are violated. If cross-order dependencies are violated when demands are planned, the system does not display these as alerts in the Alert Monitor. To show the dependencies, choose ( Display All Dependencies.) If you choose this pushbutton again, the system hides the dependencies.
If you have changed demands, you can simulate rescheduling of the source of demand currently in process along with its dependent order and network operations. The simulation is run automatically if automatic scheduling is activated in Customizing for SAP Multiresource Scheduling
under Sources of Demand Define Type of Demand Scheduling . If you have activated manual scheduling in Customizing, you can start scheduling from the planning board. To do so, select the demand and choose the context menu entry Trigger Scheduling. To simulate scheduling without restrictions, choose the context menu entry Remove All Restrictions. Provided that you do not save the changes, you can undo the steps. NOTE When the demand is rescheduled, the system supports only standard SAP scheduling. External scheduling is not supported. Updating the Sources of Demand
The system adjusts the sources of demand (order or network operations) only when you save the planning board. Use of Multiple Back-End Systems
You can connect your SAP Multiresource Scheduling system with Plant Maintenance (PM) and Customer Service (CS) sources of demands from different systems. Demands from Plant Maintenance and Customer Service can, therefore, be integrated into SAP Multiresource Scheduling from different backend systems. The Human Capital Management (HCM) system from which you integrate HR data can also be a remote system. However, HR data can be integrated into SAP Multiresource Scheduling from only one system, either from the SAP Multiresource Scheduling system or a remote system. Features
Demands from different back-end systems are integrated using queued Remote Function Call (qRFC):
If you save a demand in the back-end system, it is automatically integrated into SAP Multiresource Scheduling by means of qRFC. If you save a demand in SAP Multiresource Scheduling, it is backward integrated into the back-end system by means of qRFC. The technical name of SAP Multiresource Scheduling integration queues begins with MRSINT*.
