Title
Automatic Load Building

Purpose
Automatic load building is mostly used to facilitate theprocurement of large quantities of merchandise for delivery toretailers while taking into account certain constraints (referred to inthis context as restrictions). An example of a load would be afull truck-load.
For this purpose, the load-building program automatically generates aworklist for the stock planner containing loads that have eitherbeen optimized or loads that have not yet been optimized. The loadsrepresent supply relationships between external vendors andplants. The worklist is displayed in the results list(transaction WLB4) for the stock planner to process.
A load is generated on the basis of a range-of-coverage algorithm
. The system takes existing requirements elements (=purchase requisitions and purchase orders) into accountand may add new order quantities (= additional quantities),while ensuring that the restrictions defined in therestrictions profile are adhered to.
A supply relationship between an external vendor and a plant (adistribution center, for example) or more than one plant (stores in asupply region, for example) is defined by the purchasingorganization, which is entered in the master data or in Customizing.A supply relationship included in automatic load building is referredto as a load-building combination. Each vendor/plantrelationship in a load-building combination is referred to as aload-building component.
Loads can either be a physical (if not simulated) or alogical (if simulated) entry in the results list.
If a load is generated physically, the purchase requisition items andthe additional quantities are converted into order items. The orderquantities of order items included are not changed.
If a load is generated logically, none of the purchase requisitions orpurchase orders are changed. No new order items are created for theadditional quantities. All the values displayed in the results list forload building are simply default values. The user (for example, thestock planner) can examine the proposals and convert them to physicalentries, or reject, or delete them.
The entries representing physical loads in the results list cannot bedeleted directly by the user. Old entries are only deletedautomatically after a certain period of time by the automaticload-building program. You can specify this time period in days in thegeneral Customizing settings for load building (the default period is100 days).
Loads that comply with all the restrictions are flagged in the resultslist as optimized. Purchase orders contained in a physical loadcurrent program run (and not as a result of conversion in the resultslist) can also be flagged as optimized by issuing a collectivenumber. This is controlled by the parameter "Control documentgeneration" in the selection screen.
The program cannot always guarantee that all the restrictions have beencomplied with when a load has been generated. In this case, a load isflagged in the results list with "Processing required"(= notoptimized). When purchase orders are created from the results list forentries in a test run, you cannot flag the purchase orders directlywith a collective number. The purchase orders involved in a physicalload can, however, also be flagged as optimized in manual loadbuilding (transaction WLB5) and in the online planning (forexample, by calling them in the planning workbench) with the aim ofcomplying with the restrictions. In manual load building, the purchaseorders with collective numbers can also be flagged.

Integration
Automatic load building is an Order Optimizing application inthe Retail procurement process (for more information, see SAPLibrary). It replaces the former automatic load-building function(transation WLB3) as of SAP R/3 Release 4.6B.
The program should never be started during production time. It shouldbe started as a background job and at a time (for example, atnight) when the system load is low, as it may generate a large load ifthe volume of data processed is very high.
The program should only be started as an online process inexceptional circumstances (for example, when using load building forthe first time, or when adding new load-building combinations). If yourun it online, be sure to restrict the selection criteria in theselection screen.

Prerequisites

• Before you start the automatic load building, all other automatic and
manual requirements planning processes must be completed if theirresults are to be included in the form of purchase requisitions ororders in the load building.

• The load-building combinations to be included can be restricted on the
selection screen, and by entering (or not entering) the relevantmaterial master data and Customizing settings for plant and vendor.

• The materials for which an additional quantity can be generated using
load building can also be restricted by selection criteria on theselection screen and by maintaining the relevant material master data.

• The prerequisites and restrictions for automatic load building can also
be checked using the analysis program for load building(transaction WLBA).

• If you use dynamic rounding profiles (for more information, see
Quantity Optimizing in the SAP Library) for rounding up orderqunatities to the nearest logistics unit, it is recommended that youalways round up, if possible, to the same logistics unit (for example,you should always round up to pallets if a quantity restrictionpertaining to full pallets exists). This reduces the number of loadsthat are not optimized because restrictions have not been met.

Features
When you run load building, the system always performs the followingactivities:


• Find the valid load-building combinations.


• Find the restriction profile for each load-building combination.


• Find the three earliest possible procurement periods for each load-

building combination. In doing so, it finds the three earliest possibleorder times (the working day according to the factory calendar) and theearliest possible delivery time for these order times (the working dayaccording to the factory calendar).

• Find the vendor service level for each of the three procurement periods
for each load-building combination.

• Find the existing purchase requisitions and purchase orders for each
load-building combination.

• Decide whether automatic load building can be performed taking the
vendor service level into account for each load-building combination.

• Define the load using the range-of-coverage algorithm, possibly
refining the load in a second process for each load-buildingcombination.

• Enter the load that was built in the results list (tables WB01 and
WB02) for each load-building combination.
In automatic load building, you can also make use of other functionsavailable on the selection screen (see Selections).

Selection
The selection screen is divided up into a number of tab pagesseparating the different functions as follows:

Tab page: Load-building combination
Using the following selection parameters, you can restrict theload-building combinations:


• "Vendor"


• "Purchasing organization"


• "Vendor subrange"


• "Plant"

You can only select by vendor subrange if you have activated thepurchase order split according to vendor subrange (see the selectionparameter "New purchase order per VSR").
The vendor subrange restricts (independent of the parameter "Newpurchase order per VSR") the purchase requisitions and orders includedand additional quantities. The purchase requisitions and purchaseorders included may only contain materials assigned to the vendorsubranges you entered. This is also the case for any additionalquantities created for materials.
If you run the load building for more than one plant (= a vendorsupplying more than one plant), a plant group must be entered in thefield:

• "Plant group".

The system only includes load-building combinations for the plants inthis plant group, which means every load-building combination onlycontains load-building components with plants in this group. In thiscase, the plants entered in the "Plant" field are only used to restrictthe plants in the plant group you entered.

Tab page: Requirement element restriction
Using the following selection parameters, you can restrict the purchaseorders and requisitions you want to include:


• "Purchasing group"


• "Material"


• "Material group"


• "Vendor material number"

These restrictions are also included in the selection of materials forwhich additional quantities can be ordered.

Tab page: Control parameters
You can use the following control parameters to activate or deactivateadditional functions that the system performs during load building:


• "Control of document creation"

This indicator controls whether logical or physical loads are built,and whether collective numbers for optimized, physical loads are issuedor not.

• "Plant category"

If you enter a plant category, it restricts the plants that areselected for load-building combinations.

• "Restriction profile"

If you enter a restriction profile, the system does not have toretrieve the restriction profile from the vendor master data forload-building combinations. When building loads using a plant group,you always have to enter a restriction profile, as a restrictionprofile cannot be maintained at plant group level in the vendor masterrecord.

• "Time limit for PO date"

This time limit is taken into account when determining the earliestpossible order time
(For more information, see the F1 help documentation on the selectionparameter).

• "Include planning cycle"

The planning cycle is included in building loads for a particular load-
building combination.
(For more information, see the F1 help documentation for the selectionparameter).

• "Without existing requirement elements"

Loads can also be built without including existing purchase orders orpurchase requisitions for a particular load-building combination.
(For more information, see the F1 help documentation for this selectionparameter.)

• "Released purchase orders"

In determining existing purchase orders for a particular load-buildingcombination, the system includes purchase orders that are flagged asreleased.
(For more information, see the F1 help documentation on this selectionparameter.)

• "Several loads allowed"

Under certain circumstances, more than one load can be generated in theresults list for a particular load-building combination.
(For more information, see the F1 help documentation on this selectionparameter.)

• "New purchase order per VSR"

A separate load-building combination is created for every vendorsubrange (split at vendor subrange level). The loads built for aload-building combination only contain materials that are assigned tothat vendor subrange.

• "Include contract"

In determining existing purchase orders and purchase requisitions, thesystem includes those that refer to a contract. When additionalquantities are generated for a material that is not contained in anitem in an existing requirement element (as a purchase order orpurchase requisition item), the system does not search for thecontract.
(For more information, see the F1 help documentation on this selectionparameter.)

• "Activate log for LB run"

All the activities performed by the program are entered in a log whichis issued after the program has finished.

• "Only use regular vendor"

For a particular load-building combination, additional quantities areonly generated for materials if the vendor of the material is theregular vendor.

Tab page: Technical control
You can control more technical additional functions using the followingparameters in the load building:


• "Program stop if error occurs"

If a serious error occurs, then the program is canceled with the error.Activating this function corresponds to the previous behavior of thisprogram.
(For more information, see the F1 help documentation on this selectionparameter.)

• "Int. program start per vendor"

This starts a new version of the program (using the BAPI command,SUBMIT) for all of a vendor's load-building combinations.
(For more information, see the F1 help documentation on this selectionparameter.)

• "Use parallel processing"

This function allows load-building combinations from various vendors tobe processed in parallel. Using the program start, a job begins theparallel processing (parallel processing cannot be done online).
(For more information, see the F1 help documentation on this selectionparameter.)

• "Number of vendors in each process"

For each parallel process the number of vendors has to be entered whoseload-building combinations are processed in a process.

• "Logon/server group"

Requested logon/server group to be used for the parallel processing.

• "Max. processes to be executed"

Number of processes that can be simultaneously active during theparallel processing.
If the maximum number of parallel processes is reached, no moreparallel processes are started. The system waits in the processinguntil a parallel process is finished and then starts a new parallelprocess.
For more information on the individual selection parameters and theirfunctions, see the F1 help documentation in the selection screen.

Output
The result of the load building can be displayed and processed in theresults list.
By activating the flow trace on the selection screen an additional loglist is issued. However, this function should only be used inexceptional circumstances, as it increases the runtime.
If the program was started as a job, the most important information onthe program run and the processed data is updated in the job log.

Activities
You must make all the necessary settings in Customizing and in themaster data before starting the program. The program "Analysisprogram for load building" (transaction: WLBA) provides assistancein this.
You can start the program periodically as a background job (forexample, daily at night). Your system administrator should plan a jobfor this.
In exceptional circumstances, you can start the program online with theappropriate settings on the selection screen. If you do not restrictthe selection criteria for the load-building combinations enough, thisleads to very long runimes. Depending on the system settings, thesystem can terminate the program run (for more information, contactyour system administrator).

Example
For examples, see the SAP Library.