General Discussion - Why to choose APO over R/3 for planning?

Question

Hi All,
Why do we choose APO over R/3 for planning? What are the inputs or other factors that make APO a better planning tool?
Are the factors which make APO a better tool not available foe R/3 planning?
Thanks in advance
Changed subject suitably.
Message was edited by:
        Somnath Manna

Answer 1

I do aggree what other have mentioned .Here are specific inputs on newly desined process in APO in comparisosn with R/3
1. Existing Processes in SAP R/3
<b>Forecasting</b>
Forecasting enables companies to run statistical forecasting model, aggregate and disaggregate forecasts, as well as the capability to modify forecasting numbers manually
Newly-Designed Processes
Demand Planning DP (SAP APO)
Demand Planning adds to forecasting capabilities to manage promotions, product introductions and phase outs, as well as the impact o causal factors, like weather or macro economic data.
Additional forecasting techniques are available like Linear Regression (Causal Factors), Croston Method (Slow Moving Items) and Weighted Average
Consensus based Planning enables Marketing, Sales, Logistics to share and collaborate on their forecast and create a final consensus forecast
Forecasting based on characteristics instead of SKU for configured products
2. Existing Processes in SAP R/3
<b>Sales & Operations Planning</b>
SOP allows to consolidate forecast based on supply capabilities, through reporting and interactive planning capabilities.
Newly-Designed Processes
Supply Network Planning SNP (SAP APO)
Demand and Supply Plans can be intelligently balanced leveraging cost or/and revenue based optimization techniques
Trade-off Analysis to determine product-mix, inventory build ups for seasonal demand, capacity allocations for alternative manufacturing locations etc.
Web based information sharing and collaborative interactive planning environment
KPI Reporting
3. Existing Processes in SAP R/3
<b>Distribution Requirements Planning</b>
Traditional DRP logic allows to calculate requirements for a single stage distribution network
Newly-Designed Processes
Supply Network Planning SNP (SAP APO)
Supply Network Heuristic enables to run DRP across the complete supply network generating requirements (production and purchasing) at each node.
The planner can easily navigate through the network to view and modify demands and supply‘s in their different categories
Demand Planning Units and Stock Keeping Units mapping can be done on quotations.
4. Existing Processes in SAP R/3
Not available
Newly-Designed Processes
<b>Deployment SNP (SAP APO)</b>
The ability to deploy products through the supply network based on pull or push concepts. Different heuristics like fair share logics are supported.
Transport Load Building allows to combine different products to a single load, interactive, as well as via heuristic to create full truck loads.
5. Existing Processes in SAP R/3
<b>Master Planning</b>
Master Planning allows to plan production at an aggregated level including rough cut capacity planning.
Newly-Designed Processes
Supply Network Planning SNP (SAP APO)
Supply Network Planning allows to consider distribution, production and transportation constraints concurrently.
In addition to a generic SNP Optimizer based on Linear Programming and capacity leveling algorithms, industry specific optimization is available for
Campaign Optimization
Capable to Match
6. Existing Processes in SAP R/3
<b>Material Requirements Planning</b>
MRP calculates material requirements based on BOM structures, lead times, lot sizes etc.
Capacity Planning
CRP in a second step looks at the capacity requirements
Newly-Designed Processes
Production Planning PP/DS  (SAP APO)
Production Planning allows to consider material and capacity constraints simultaneously to derive material, capacity requirements and dynamic lead times. BOMs and lot sizing will be also considered
Pegging relationships between customer order, production orders, purchase orders will be stored and enable bi-directional propagation if changes occur on the demand or supply side
7. Existing Processes in SAP R/3
<b>Transportation Planning</b>
Manual Planning of shipments, including predefined master routes.
Newly-Designed Processes
Transportation Planning TP/VS (SAP APO)
Transportation Planning enables companies to determine the right shipment mode and route based on demand and supply situation, considering transportation constraints and costs.
8. Existing Processes in SAP R/3
<b>Shop Floor Scheduling and Assembly Processing</b>
Planning Table to view in a Gant Chart the schedule.
Heuristics like forward/backward scheduling (infinite)
Manual scheduling
Newly-Designed Processes
Detailed Scheduling PP/DS  (SAP APO)
Finite and infinite scheduling, considering material, capacity, time and market constraints.
Manual scheduling
Scheduling optimization via optimization algorithms, like
Genetic Algorithm
Constraint based Propagation
Kiran Kute