Aggregated Constraints

Using Conversion Factors

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Conversion factors are available for aggregated constraints for production resources, transportation resources,

and inventory. They relate the capacity consumption of specific location products to the minimum and

maximum aggregate values (for production and transportation resources). For inventory, the conversion factor

is user-defined.

You can define aggregated constraints using a conversion factor of capacity consumption to allocate minimum

and/or maximum resource utilization to production and transportation resources. For example, you could

allocate at least 200 hours of capacity to manufacture a certain product group on a specific production line.You

do this with the following aggregated constraint key figures, using attributes to define the product, location, and

source production (amongst others):

 MINAGGPCAPAUSAGE and MAXAGGPCAPAUSAGE for production resources

 MINAGGTCAPAUSAGE and MAXAGGTCAPAUSAGE for transportation resources

You can also define a conversion factor for the aggregated inventory key figures
(MINAGGINVENTORY and MAXAGGINVENTORY). As opposed to the conversion key figures for aggregated

constraints for production or transportation resources, the conversion key figure for the aggregated constraints

for inventory can be flexibly defined. It can represent the unit cost or volume of products, for example.

Production

You may want to allocate minimum and/or maximum resource utilization or consumption at an aggregate level

for certain products and resources. For example, you may want to ensure that specific high grade products are

manufactured on a specific production line, but you don't know in advance how long it takes to manufacture

them. To ensure they're produced, you can allocate a certain number of hours on the production line for them,

defined as a production capacity usage aggregated constraint. You can also specify the period to which this

production capacity usage aggregated constraint applies.

Example

If plant 101 (LOCID = PLANT101) has a capacity of 2000 hours in October, you can specify a minimum

capacity consumption of 800 hours in the MINAGGPCAPAUSAGE key figure and a maximum capacity

consumption of 1200 hours in the MAXAGGPCAPAUSAGE key figure to reserve this amount of time on any

production line in plant 101 for high grade products. Define the attributes as shown in the following table:

The conversion factor is defined in the capacity consumption rate of the production resource
(PCAPACONSUMPTION) key figure or in the CAPACONSUMPTION attribute of the production source resource. It

serves to reserve adequate capacity for production.

If the production of one unit of high grade product A consumes 20 hours, and the production one unit of high

grade product B consumes 30 hours, you can use the production lines of plant 101 for the production of

different combinations of products A and B, for example, any of the following:

40 (product A)*20 hours = 800 hours

20 (product A)*20 hours + 12 (product B)*30 hours = 1160 hours

15 (product A)*20 hours + 30 (product B)*30 hours = 1200 hours

Alternatively, if you wanted to manufacture the products on a specific production line in the plant, you could do
this by specifying the production line in SOURCEID.

Transportation

When planning transportation of your products, you may want to take into account shipping lane capacities and

carrier contracts. Carrier contracts typically contain minimum shipping volumes, and to ensure that enough

products are manufactured and transported as soon as they reach this minimum volume, you can specify the
minimum shipping volume as an aggregated constraint. It could comprise, for example, a product group, mode

of transport, shipping plant, and receiving plant. You can add the capacity consumption rate of the mode of

transport as a conversion factor to this aggregated constraint so that adequate capacity is reserved for

transportation.

Example

If a transportation resource such as a truck (RESID) is carrying products from a plant (LOCFR) to distribution

centers DC101 and DC102 (LOCID), you can allocate or reserve space in the truck for a group of products in a

certain period, even if you're not sure in advance how many products are needed, or what the combination of

products will be. The capacity consumption rate is based on that defined for the truck (resource) in
the TCAPACONSUMPTION key figure.

If the truck has a capacity of 500 cubic meters, you can specify a minimum capacity consumption of 140 cubic
meters in the MINAGGTCAPAUSAGE key figure and a maximum capacity consumption of 420 cubic meters in

the MAXAGGTCAPAUSAGE key figure to reserve this amount of space in October 2019.

If one unit of product A consumes 1 cubic meter of the 500 available, one unit of product B consumes 2 cubic

meters, and one unit of product C consumes 3 cubic meters, you can fill the space in the truck with different

combinations of products A, B, and C, for example, any of the following:

40 (product A) * 1m  + 40 (product B) * 2m  + 5 (product C) * 4m  = 140m

3 3 3 3

20 (product A) * 1m  + 30 (product B) * 2m  + 15 (product C) * 4m  = 140m

3 3 3 3

60 (product A) * 1m  + 90 (product B) * 2m  + 45 (product C) * 4m  = 420m

3 3 3 3

You specify MINAGGTCAPAUSAGE and MAXAGGTCAPAUSAGE as shown in the following table:

 Inventory

The conversion key figure for the MINAGGINVENTORY and MAXAGGINVENTORY is user-defined. You assign it

in the Settings for TS Supply Planning app.

Example

At the and of Q4, you would like to have a projected intenvory of not more than 600 million $ in your network for

a particular brand. The unit cost of the product is the conversion factor. The optimizer calculates how many

units to keep on stock.

Aggregated Constraints
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Aggregated constraint key figures let you model constraints for the time-series-based supply planning optimizer

at an aggregate level for the following attributes:

 Product

 Customer

 Location

 Resource

For example, you could specify the following:

 Minimum constrained demand (transports) that must be satisfied for the combination of product family

and customer region.

 Maximum production allowed for defined production sources of supply at a particular plant.

Example

If you set the value for the aggregated constraint key figure Minimum Aggregate Customer

Receipts (customer transports) for product group PG1 between region R1 and customer group CG1 to be

greater than 1,000 tons in week 10, it ensures that in planning week 10, the sum of all transport quantities from

all locations in region R1 to all customers in customer group CG1, added together for all products, is equal to or

greater than 1,000 tons.

 By default, aggregated constraints are modeled as hard constraints. If required, you can model minimum

aggregated constraints as pseudo-hard constraints by making the necessary settings in the optimizer profile

(see TS-Based Supply Optimizer under Other in the Optimizer Parameters section).

The conditions defined by aggregated constraint key figures are evaluated on the underlying basic master data

entities and their key figure values, so that the optimizer can add the relevant constraints.

Note

Unlike other key figures, aggregated constraint key figure values are stored only at the aggregate level (that is,

the planning level where you entered them in the Excel planning view), and there is no disaggregation. This

means that aggregated constraint key figures can be viewed in the Excel planning view only at the level at

which you stored them. It's therefore important to remember this planning level, for example, by using planning

view favorites.

You can store aggregated constraint key figures at multiple planning levels in parallel.
Tip

To facilitate the identification of aggregated planning levels, we recommend to use the AGGREGATE attribute of

the Aggregate Constraint master data type. You have to create an AGG planning level with

the AGGREGATE attribute as a root attribute and the AGG key figure assigned to it. Then add

the AGGREGATE attribute as a root attribute to all aggregated planning levels. You can use the SAP4 sample

planning area as a reference to check the configuration and to take it over to your planning area.
Caution

 Aggregated constraint key figures and optimization

o When aggregated constraints are modeled as hard constraints, they may create conditions

that can’t be fulfilled due to other issues. For example, the MINAGGPRODUCTION key figure may require a

production quantity that can’t be reached due to limited resource capacity. This leads to an infeasible

optimization problem, that is, the optimizer ends without any solution at all.

o In general, aggregated constraints add more interdependencies between previously

independent variables in the mathematical model. This makes it harder to find optimal solutions, usually

resulting in prolonged optimization times. If you model minimum aggregated constraints as pseudo-hard

constraints, additional variables are added to the mathematical model. These variables complicate the model

further, which may also lead to longer optimization times.

 Aggregated constraint key figures and simulation

Aggregated constraint key figures do not support simulation. Save the key figure values before running the

planning algorithm.

 Aggregated constraint key figures and calculations

Aggregated constraint key figures do not support calculations. If an aggregated constraint key figure has

calculations defined, they will not be considered by the S&OP operator.

 Aggregated constraint key figures and planning level configuration

When planning levels are defined for aggregated constraint key figures, certain dependencies have to be taken

into account (for example, dependencies with the key figures to which the aggregated key figures correspond).

For more information, see Configuring Planning Levels for Aggregated Constraint Key Figures

If you copy one of the following aggregated constraint key figures, you must use exactly the same name.

Minimum Aggregate Customer Receipts

(MINAGGDEMAND)

Base planning level: Period – Product – Location – Customer

You can use this input key figure to specify the minimum constrained demand in a defined period for any

combination of product, location, and customer. For example, you can specify a minimum constrained demand

for the combination of product family and customer region. The optimizer ships at least the specified amount of

the corresponding products to these customers.

Maximum Aggregate Customer Receipts

(MAXAGGDEMAND)

Base planning level: Period – Product – Location – Customer

You can use this input key figure to specify the maximum constrained demand in a defined period for any

combination of product, location, and customer. For example, you can specify a maximum constrained demand
for the combination of product family and customer region. The optimizer ships at most the specified amount of

the corresponding products to these customers.

Minimum Aggregate Production Receipts

(MINAGGPRODUCTION)

Base planning level: Period – Product – Location – Production Source of Supply

You can use this input key figure to specify the minimum amount in a defined period for any combination of

product, location, and production source of supply. For example, you can specify the minimum production

amount for several products of a specific color at defined plants. If you specify a minimum amount of 50, at

least 50 such products are produced using the defined production sources of supply.

Maximum Aggregate Production Receipts

(MAXAGGPRODUCTION)

Base planning level: Period – Product – Location – Production Source of Supply

You can use this input key figure to specify a maximum amount in a defined period for any combination of

product, location, and production source of supply. For example, you can specify the maximum production

amount for several products of a specific color at defined plants. If you specify a maximum amount of 100, at

most 100 such products are produced using the defined production sources of supply.

Minimum Aggregate Transport Receipts

(MINAGGTRANSPORT)

Base planning level: Period – Product – Location – Ship-From Location

You can use this input key figure to specify the minimum quantity to be transported in a defined period for any

combination of product, location, and ship-from location. For example, you can specify the minimum quantity of

a product family to be transported from a group of ship-from locations to another group of locations.

Maximum Aggregate Transport Receipts

(MAXAGGTRANSPORT)
Base planning level: Period – Product – Location – Ship-From Location

You can use this input key figure to specify the maximum quantity to be transported in a defined period for any

combination of product, location, and ship-from location. For example, you can specify the maximum quantity of

a product family to be transported from a group of ship-from locations to another group of locations.

Minimum Aggregate Inventory (MINAGGINVENTORY)

Base planning level: Period – Product – Location

You can use this input key figure to specify the minimum amount in a defined period for any combination of

product and location. For example, you can specify the minimum inventory level for a specific product at

defined distribution centers. If you specify a minimum inventory level of 100, at least a total amount of 100 is

held on stock at these distribution centers for this product.

Maximum Aggregate Inventory (MAXAGGINVENTORY)

Base planning level: Period – Product – Location

You can use this input key figure to specify the maximum amount in a defined period for any combination of

product and location. For example, you can specify the maximum inventory level for a specific product at

defined distribution centers. If you specify a maximum inventory level of 200, at most a total amount of 200 is

held on stock at these distribution centers for this product.

Minimum Aggregate Production Capacity Usage

(MINAGGPCAPAUSAGE)

Base planning level: Period – Product – Location - Resource - Source - Aggregation

You can use this input key figure to specify the minimum production capacity usage in a defined period for any

combination of product, location, resource, and production source of supply. For example, you can specify a

minimum number of hours of consumption for a specific product on a defined production line.
Maximum Aggregate Production Capacity Usage
(MAXAGGPCAPAUSAGE)

Base planning level: Period – Product – Location - Resource - Source - Aggregation

You can use this input key figure to specify the maximum production capacity usage in a defined period for any

combination of product, location, resource, and production source of supply. For example, you can specify a

maximum number of hours of consumption for a specific product on a defined production line.

Minimum Aggregate Transportation Capacity Usage

(MINAGGTCAPAUSAGE)

Base planning level: Period – Product – Ship-From Location – Location – Transportation Resource –

Aggregation

You can use this input key figure to specify the minimum capacity consumption in a defined period for any

combination of product, ship-from location, location, and transportation resource. For example, you can specify

a minimum capacity consumption for a specific product on a defined mode of transport.

Maximum Aggregate Transportation Capacity Usage

(MAXAGGTCAPAUSAGE)

Base planning level: Period – Product – Ship-From Location – Location – Transportation Resource –

Aggregation

You can use this input key figure to specify the maximum capacity consumption in a defined period for any

combination of product, ship-from location, location, and transportation resource. For example, you can specify

a maximum capacity consumption for a specific product on a defined mode of transport.