Remaining Order Plan.....No SAP Notes Please....

Question

Hi Everyone,
    I want someone who really understands Remaining Order Plan to validate if my understanding of it is correct or not. If it is not correct, I would like someone to explain it. I am not finding satisfactory answers from any SAP PS consultant yet, on Remaining Order Plan. Whenever, I ask this question, they say, they will get back with the answer and the next thing you know is that they have disappeared into Aladdin's Magic Lamp.
    I understand that,
    Assigned = Actual Costs + Commitment + Remaining Order Plan.
    I believe that Remaining Order Plan, basically is the value, that is deduced when we assign activities to WBS elements, and arrive at a certain figure called Planned Costs. At this point, All WBS elements have the status CRTD, .i.e., created.
     So at this stage (CRTD Status), I believe that, Assigned = Planned Costs, or we can also say that,
                                                                        Rem Ord Plan = Planned Costs.
     Now, Once we have released the WBS Elements, Actual Costs are going to be incurred, and we are gonna have additional commitments, apart from planned commitments, (realizing that we missed some commitments we had to assign while creating the plan during CRTD Status).
      So, Now during (REL Status), i.e., Released Status, the formula for Assigned would look like this.
       Assigned = Actual Costs + Commitments + Remaining Ord Plan.
  Now, Referring to the  Assigned Formula, in both the CRTD and REL status, lets analyze how Remaining Order Plan behaves.
     In the Released Status, if Actual Costs = 0 &
                                          Commitment =  0 &
                                          then,
                                          Assigned = 0 + 0 + RemOrdPlan.
                                  ==>  RemOrdPlan = Plan Costs
                               Hence, Assigned = Planned Costs.
       As real costs are incurred (i.e., Actual & Commitments), values move from RemOrdPlan to Actual & Commitments Columns, or say they are apportioned appropriately to these two columns, and what is still remaining of the Planned Costs we would term that Remaining Order Plan.
        Suppose, Actual + Commitment  = Planned Costs, at some stage in the project, It means, we havae reached the threshold value of the Planned Costs, and the combination of both Actual + Commitment, can cross the planned costs. ( not in all cases, but maybe in some cases, as no one can plan a project ideally anyhow ).
        Once the threshold value of Planned Costs has reached, it would mean that RemOrdPlan is completely apportioned appropriately to both Actual and Commitment Columns. Hence, the Assigned column would look like this...
        Assigned = Actual ( % of Rem Ord Plan) + Commitment ( Remaining % of Rem Ord Plan ) + 0.
        Here, 0 means, zero value in Remaining Order Plan, as it has distributed its values to Actual and Commitment in a certain percentage depending on how the project was executed.
Now, During one of the projects, I have noticed that,
if Planned costs was 100,000 during CRTD stage, they were distributed, in a certain percentage like say,
            10 % to Actual & 25% to Commitment. Hence, 65 % is still left with RemOrdPlan Column.
           Hence , Assigned = 100%,
            The problem is that, When you see, the System status, it shows, ISBD, Insufficient Budgeting, even if there is the same 65% amount available in the RemOrdPlan column. My argument, is that, when RemOrdPlan is something still consumable, how can the system show insufficient budgeting, ISBD status, when there is still 65% in Rem Ord Plan, and that same amount available in WBS element, (via budgeting transactions).
              Moreover, the Available Column should show the same amount as RemOrdPlan, that is 65% of the amount, but it does not. Because, in reality, RemOrdPlan is what is available, and still left to be consumed, until it becomes zero. I think, this concept is confusing all the project engineers who are SAP PS, users.
                 Please, can anyone throw more light on the above arguments.
Regards,
Owais.....

Answer 1

Dear Owais,
Let me try to explain my understanding about availability control and residual order plan =) hope it'll help
The problem is that, When you see, the System status, it shows, ISBD, Insufficient Budgeting, even if there is the same 65% amount available in the RemOrdPlan column. My argument, is that, when RemOrdPlan is something still consumable, how can the system show insufficient budgeting, ISBD status, when there is still 65% in Rem Ord Plan, and that same amount available in WBS element, (via budgeting transactions).
Status ISBD is set for any activity which is relevant for availability control which increase the assigned value not actual value.
If you include the activity group 02 (Orders for project) in your availability control setting then any increase you make in order plan value will trigger the availability control ergo it will set the ISBD status if the value exceeds the tolerance limit even it's still a plan value, not an actual value yet
Moreover, the Available Column should show the same amount as RemOrdPlan, that is 65% of the amount, but it does not. Because, in reality, RemOrdPlan is what is available, and still left to be consumed, until it becomes zero. I think, this concept is confusing all the project engineers who are SAP PS, users.
IMO, if the system shows the 65% of the amount in Available column, user will assume that that amount is free to use while in fact the value is already 'reserved' only for material/activity which has been planned, user can't post any cost outside what has been planned
Please correct me if I'm wrong =)
Regards,
-K-
Edited by: Kealin F on Mar 30, 2009 5:54 AM