{"id":26215,"date":"2021-09-09T09:38:03","date_gmt":"2021-09-09T07:38:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.test-leogistics.com\/?p=26215"},"modified":"2021-11-17T16:11:29","modified_gmt":"2021-11-17T15:11:29","slug":"sap-s-4hana-embedded-scheduling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leogistics.com\/en\/blog-en\/sap-s-4hana-embedded-scheduling\/","title":{"rendered":"SAP S\/4HANA: The Benefits of Embedded Scheduling (Part 1\/2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Embedded Scheduling vs. VSS Scheduler in SAP S\/4HANA<\/b> Transportation Management <\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A while ago, we spent some time discussing the benefit of S\/4HANA Basic Shipping (now referred to as simply \u2018Transportation Management\u2019) compared to LE-TRA. As LE-TRA will be decommissioned by the end of 2030, you may already be exploring the options that either the basic option of Transportation Management or Advanced Transportation Management is offering you.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIn this two-part blog series<\/a>, we would like to provide you with an overview of the new \u2018Embedded Scheduling\u2019 function in basic Transportation Management. We will also try to define its value, specifically for the basic Transportation Management user.<\/strong>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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As mentioned in our earlier blog article,<\/a> the Basic option of SAP TM did not contain an interactive transportation cockpit. Neither does it include the possibility to select any of the TM optimizer engines, such as for example the VSR optimizer. The direct implication in basic Transportation Management is that planning is to be done manually. For example, you will have to assign individual freight units to a freight order or booking, or you can assign multiple freight units in a standard worklist (POWL) to capacity documents, but both are de facto manual procedures.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Another implication was that the VSS Scheduler wasn\u00b4t available in the Basic version of Transportation Management.<\/a> This turned out to be quite inconvenient, as the scheduler arranges and sets times for activities such as unloading and loading within the requested time slots<\/a> of a freight unit or freight order. Without scheduling, a user must manually adjust dates to incorporate additional time for loading and unloading when assigning freight units to a freight order, or when changing stops in the stages. This means, that on top of manual actions required to perform planning, the user also must be mindful of setting times and durations manually. Alternatively, the user can stick to the default times, which may not consider loading durations and time slots at all.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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To overcome the issue of not having the optimizer engine (and consequently the VSS scheduler) available for the basic Transportation Management option, SAP is providing a new option for scheduling which has been available since S\/4HANA 2020 in both basic and advanced Transportation management. This scheduling functionality is called \u2019Embedded Scheduling\u2019.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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It enables clients who are using the basic version of Transportation Management to schedule loading\/unloading or preparation activities, whilst considering operating times of locations and\/or handling resources. The standard rule-based scheduling configuration can be used for the embedded scheduler, except for scheduling constraints in customizing, which only the VSS scheduler is able to use. The main benefit delivered by the embedded scheduler is that basic Transportation Management users are now able to schedule activities where earlier these times\/dates had to be set manually (or not set at all). All of this can be done with an option to consider earliness and lateness costs, which in its turn is not included in the VSS scheduler.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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What is embedded scheduling?<\/b><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The main goal of Embedded scheduling is to determine start and end times of a set of activities in such a way that the departure and arrival date can be accurately set for a freight order. The VSS scheduler has the same purpose, although there are slight differences in how the scheduling is executed and configured.<\/p>

Embedded scheduling is using a new ABAP engine and as its name suggests, the code of this engine is written in ABAP rather than in C++, which is the code used for the VSS scheduler.<\/p>

SAP emphasizes that these engines are not returning the exact same results, since these two engines are not simply a copy of one another. However, they will both try to schedule activities within the acceptable and requested time slots, considering vehicle availability and operating times.<\/p>

In addition, both engines respect the travel durations which are calculated independently with the Distance and Duration Determination (DDD) function. The duration for transportation is calculated with the distance from the transportation lane and the average speed that is set for the means of transport. Both the embedded scheduling and VSS scheduling engine will plan other activities such as loading, unloading and related activities around the travel durations, as shown in a simplified way in figure 1:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Simplified example of loading and unloading activities, which are planned separately from the duration from location A to B <\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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How to configure embedded scheduling<\/b><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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From a user perspective, the configuration of embedded scheduling is very similar to the setup of the VSS scheduler. With the SAP TM 9.5 release,<\/a> SAP introduced \u2019rule-based scheduling\u2018, which is now the standard option to set up rules for scheduling in S\/4HANA. These rules are used by both the VSS scheduler and the embedded scheduler.<\/p>\n

The configuration of the scheduling options is done in the scheduling settings within the planning profile. Different rules can be set for inbound and outbound operations. To select the embedded scheduler, a different strategy must be used. Instead of the VSS_DEF, the strategy VSS_EMBED should be entered as the scheduling strategy.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Scheduling<\/b> settings <\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The scheduling rules consist of the following elements:<\/p>\n