SAP Multiresource Scheduling

SAP Multiresource Scheduling enables you to find suitable resources for

demands and assign them to the demands. Demands are units of work from the
areas of Service, Plant Maintenance, or Project System, for which a resource is
to be planned. Possible sources of demand for SAP Multiresource Scheduling
are:

 CRM service orders

 Orders from Customer Service
 Projects from Project System
 Projects from Collaboration Projects (cProjects)
 Plant Maintenance orders

SAP Multiresource Scheduling enables you to:

 View the status of resource planning

 Assign suitable employees and tools to requirements (demands) from
different areas

SAP Multiresource Scheduling provides the following functions:

 An intuitive graphical interface to plan resources manually using

information about open demands, the utilization of resources, and
possible conflicts with current resource planning
 Automatic support for resource planning based on availability,
qualifications, and partner roles, as well as utilization-based automatic
assignment creation and intelligent shifting of existing assignment plans
 Optimization of daily assignment planning, for example, to maximize
utilization, minimize travel times, or adhere to SLAs
 Capacity management by taking into account the workload at team level
and considering planned and unplanned orders, as well as employee
availability
 Integration of geographical information systems to visualize travel routes
and support the search for the nearest employee
 Integration with mobile devices to provide information to employees and
track the status of assignments

NOTE

For reasons of readability, the term “order” is used in this documentation as a

general term for sources of demands for resource planning: When orders are
mentioned in the cross-area sections, networks are usually included as well. In
places where the function for network activities is different to that for order
operations, the term "networks" is used explicitly.

Implementation Considerations

SAP Multiresource Scheduling is based on SAP NetWeaver technology and

enables resources to be planned across systems. You can implement SAP
Multiresource Scheduling as an add-on based on SAP NetWeaver or SAP ERP.

SAP Multiresource Scheduling based on SAP NetWeaver

You can implement SAP Multiresource Scheduling in an SAP NetWeaver

system. This could be a system in which you use SAP Customer Relationship
Management (SAP CRM) or Collaboration Projects, for example. In this case,
personnel resources are always modeled as business partners with the role
“Employee.”

SAP Multiresource Scheduling based on SAP ERP

If you implement SAP Multiresource Scheduling based on SAP ERP, you can
use the following functions:

 Integration with Project System

 Use of qualifications within SAP Multiresource Scheduling
 Modeling personnel resources as employees in SAP ERP HR
 Web-based resource management in Project Systems

SAP Multiresource Scheduling also enables you to transfer the following

demands to the system in which SAP Multiresource Scheduling is installed by
means of remote function call:

 CRM service order

 Customer Service order
 Plant Maintenance order

This remote connection is not supported for demands from Collaboration

Projects or Project System. If you want to use demands from Collaboration
Projects and Project System, you must run SAP Multiresource Scheduling in the
same system.

SAP Multiresource Scheduling also enables you to plan different types of

demands in parallel. For example, you can assign demands from Project System
and Customer Service orders to one employee.
Software Components for SAP Multiresource Scheduling

The following table contains the software units that you require to set up your
system landscape:

Required SAP Basis Enhancement Packages or

Available Versions
Software Support Packages
SAP Multiresource SAP ERP 6.0 ERP 6.0, EhP2, EhP3, or EhP4
Scheduling 7.0 SAP NetWeaver 7.0 NW 700 or NW 701

The following table contains the software units that you require to use the
individual integration scenarios:

Integration Scenario: Plant Maintenance/Customer Service (PM/CS)

Obligatory or
Software Unit Installation Comments
Optional
SAP Multiresource Scheduling add-
Obligatory
on based on SAP NetWeaver 700
SAP Multiresource Scheduling add-
Obligatory
on based on SAP ERP 700
SAP NetWeaver 7.0 or the
Obligatory
Enhancement Packages for 7.0
SAP ERP 6.0 or the Enhancement
Obligatory
Packages for 6.0
SAP Multiresource Scheduling
Optional
Optimizer 700
Only if resources from
SAP HR 6.0 Optional
the HR system are used

Integration Scenario: Project System (PS)

Obligatory or
Software Unit Installation Comments
Optional
SAP Multiresource Scheduling add-
Obligatory
on based on SAP NetWeaver 700
SAP Multiresource Scheduling add-
Obligatory
on based on SAP ERP 700
SAP NetWeaver 7.0 or the Obligatory
 Obligatory or
Software Unit Installation Comments
Optional
Enhancement Packages for 7.0
SAP ERP 6.0 or the Enhancement
Obligatory
Packages for 6.0
Only if resources from
SAP HR 6.0 Optional
the HR system are used

Integration Scenario: Collaboration Projects (cProjects)

Obligatory or
Software Unit Installation Comments
Optional
SAP Multiresource Scheduling add-
Obligatory
on based on SAP NetWeaver 700
SAP NetWeaver 7.0 or the
Obligatory
Enhancement Packages for 7.0
SAP cProject Suite 4.5 or 5.0 Obligatory
SAP Multiresource Scheduling add-
Optional
on based on SAP ERP 700
Only if resources from
SAP HR 6.0 Optional
the HR system are used

Integration Scenario: CRM

Obligatory or
Software Unit Installation Comments
Optional
SAP Multiresource Scheduling add-on based on
Obligatory
SAP NetWeaver 700
SAP NetWeaver 7.0 or the Enhancement
Obligatory
Packages for 7.0
SAP CRM 7.0 Obligatory

Resource Planning Execution

This business process allows you to find and assign suitable resources for
requirements from the areas of service, maintenance, or projects.
Process

1. As the requester, you create a planning-relevant order that contains the

following data:
o Operations or suboperations
o Tools
2. The system schedules the order.

You receive a rough plan for carrying out the order. Depending on the
scheduling direction, a start or end date is determined.

NOTE

Scheduling is a standard SAP function that is not modified by SAP

Multiresource Scheduling. The Utilization of Personnel Resources
function (transaction /MRSS/UTILREP) provides support when you
define the basic dates and select work centers.

3. The system transfers the scheduling data to the systems in which

personnel resources and tools are managed. These systems then return
data (for example, shift schedules and tool availability), which is included
in resource planning.
4. As the resource planner, you plan resources by assigning suitable
resources that are required to carry out the tasks to the planning-relevant
order operations. You create assignments for resources at the required
time in the planning board. Each assignment is checked automatically to
detect any condition violations. Condition violations appear as alerts in
the Alert Monitor, which is integrated with the Scheduler Workplace.
You can change assignments before the system saves them in the
database.
5. You monitor the progress of the execution.
6. If there are variances between the planning situation and the execution
situation, correct your planning.

Master Data

Resource master data (employees, tools, spare parts) is required for scheduling
and planning resources for an order.

Required Master
Function and Transactions
Data
 You can model personnel resources:

 As business partners with the employee role

 As employees in SAP ERP HR

You specify the option that you want to use at client level in
Customizing for SAP Multiresource Scheduling at Basic
Settings Configure Basic Settings .

You create business partners with the role Employee in

transaction BP.
Human Resources
(personnel NOTE
resource,
employee) If you use the business partner in the Employee role for
personnel resources, this master data must be maintained in
the SAP Multiresource Scheduling system.

In SAP HR, employees are created in transaction PA30.

NOTE

To process employee data from an external HCM system,

use report /MRSS/HCM_RPTWFMIF.

In resource planning, data about the availability times of an

employee is required.

Availability data is managed in SAP Multiresource

Scheduling Basis.
Availability data
of human If you model your personnel resources as business partners,
resources you maintain availability in transaction
/MRSS/WFM_ADMIN.

If you use SAP HR for your personnel resources, transfer the

availability information to SAP Multiresource Scheduling
Basis from report /MRSS/HCM_RPTWFMIF.
Specific qualifications may be required to carry out some
Qualification of operations of an order. You can create qualifications as
human resources follows:
  If you use standard qualifications, edit them in
transaction PPPM.
 If you use qualifications from SAP Multiresource
Scheduling, the following transactions are available:
o Qualification catalogs and matrixes form the
basis of SAP Multiresource Scheduling profiles.
You create these with transactions
/MRSS/SQM_CAT and /MRSS/SQM_MAT.
o To create employee profiles, call transaction
/MRSS/PPPM (you can also create and edit
employee profiles that are specific to SAP
Multiresource Scheduling using a Web UI).
o To create requirements profiles for the
demands, call transaction /MRSS/REQM).

In each case, you enter the type and the degree of the
qualification as well as the validity time of the qualification.
You can group employees in the HR organizational model. A
typical example of a group are workshop resources.

Use transactions PPOCE and PPOME to process the

organizational plan.
Organizational
unit/work center In the order, a work center is assigned to each operation. It is
essential to assign these work centers to the relevant
organizational unit. You assign the work centers in work
center maintenance (transaction CR02) by choosing HR
Assignment.
You assign a resource planner to the organization unit by
choosing Goto Assignment: Resource Planner (MRS)
from the context menu.
Resource planner
To do so, call transaction PPOME.

This assignment is important if you use transaction

/MRSS/PLBOTIME to call the Scheduler Workplace.
You create tools as material with material type Production
Resource/Tool.
Tool as material
To do so, call transaction MM01.

For each tool, you can enter the relevance for resource
 planning. To determine whether the tool is relevant for
resource planning, you assign a corresponding control key.
In resource planning, you plan tools that are equipment. The
tool demand is defined in the order using the tool material
(see above), which can be assigned to an operation as
production resource and tools. To determine the tool or
equipment in the resource planning board, the system
requires the equipment material (the corresponding tool as
material) and the organizational assignment (responsible
Tool as
work center). To create equipment, call transaction IE25.
equipment

NOTE

You can use tools as equipment for Plant Maintenance (PM)

and Customer Service (CS).

If you use master data specific to SAP Multiresource Scheduling (such as

qualification catalogs or employee profiles) for your personnel resources or
transfer your HR data to master data specific to SAP Multiresource Scheduling,
you can use the Functions for SAP Multiresource Scheduling Qualifications
such as neighboring-level matching, free employee search, and global demand
search.

NOTE

Qualifications, qualification catalogs and matrixes, and employee and

requirements profiles are available if you use the SAP Multiresource Scheduling
add-on based on SAP NetWeaver and the SAP Multiresource Scheduling add-
on based on SAP ERP.

Resource Planning for an Order

Resource planning allows you to carry out detailed planning to execute an

order. In resource planning, a suitable resource (personnel or tool) that covers
the demand is assigned to the demand from the order operation.

NOTE
You can use tool resources for Plant Maintenance (PM) and Customer Service
(CS).

There is a separate user interface for resource planning – the Scheduler

Workplace. Each scheduler can configure the workplace as required. The main
features of the interface are:

 Worklist
 Item Worklist
 Planning Board
 Alert Monitor

Prerequisites

 You have configured all of the required settings in Customizing for SAP
Multiresource Scheduling. You call Customizing for MRS using
transaction /MRSS/IMG.
 You have created master data specific to SAP Multiresource Scheduling
for qualifications if you want to work with this.
 You have defined the objects (for example, organizational units) that you
want to use for your resource planning structure.
 You have the necessary authorizations for resource planning.
 You have created an order with the associated operations and production
resources and tools.

Process

NOTE

Resource planning is a dynamic process that does not always run in the same
way. Moreover, depending on the requirements of the task and the complexity
of the data, this is not required or even possible. The steps described below
apply to all aspects of resource planning. However, the sequence may change
and the resource planner may skip or repeat some of the steps with certain
assignments. Depending on the source of the demand (CRM service order, order
from ERP Customer Service, project from Project System and cProjects, or
Plant Maintenance), additional steps may be available or necessary. These are
described in the corresponding sections (for example, resource planning in the
service). The following process contains the steps that may be relevant
regardless of the source of the demand. Steps that refer to tool resources are
only relevant for source of demands from Plant Maintenance (PM) and
Customer Service (CS).
The process begins after you or the person responsible has created an order that
is relevant for planning and this has been transferred to SAP Multiresource
Scheduling.

1. You open the Scheduler Workplace. Depending on the main aspects of

the work, the resource planner can use various transactions (see Calling
the Scheduler Workplace by Work Priority).
2. The planning horizon is the period for which you plan assignments. It is
configured automatically by the selected transaction or you can enter it
manually (see Planning Horizon).
3. Once you have opened the Scheduler Workplace, you obtain an overview
of the scope of your worklist and the available resources.
4. You check the item worklist to determine whether there are any items
classed as urgent. You also attempt to process items with a higher priority
first when you plan the resources.
5. You check whether there are personnel resources with a suitable
qualification profile to carry out the order operations. The system
displays the result of the qualification comparison as a ranking list sorted
in decreasing suitability of qualifications and time availability.
6. You check the utilization of the personnel resources.
7. You add personnel resources from other resource planning nodes to the
planning board if your own resources do not have the required
qualifications or are overloaded.
8. You link demands to other resource planning nodes if you want to assign
them to another resource planner, for example.
9. You create teams if several employees are required to complete the task
over a longer period of time, or if you want to use capacitive planning.
10.You check whether you have suitable tool resources to carry out the
order.
11.You add tool resources from other resource planning nodes to the
planning board if your own resources are not sufficient.
12.You create a link between tool and personnel resources if, for example, a
resource requires the tool in the field for a longer period of time.

The tool is then unavailable for other resources. When you create an
assignment, a tool assignment is also created to simplify planning.

13.You create time allocations for unscheduled absences or attendances of

resources.

If a personnel resource is absent during normal working time, the

resource planner can note this in a time allocation on the planning board.
The same applies to tools that require maintenance or repair.
 14.You create assignments for your personnel resources, taking into account
the above criteria.

You can copy the dates for the assignments automatically from the order
or enter them yourself.

15.The system checks whether the resource type is suitable for the
assignment. If a resource does not have the necessary requirements
profile, the system generates an alert.
16.You split assignments if an assignment exceeds the normal working time
(plus overtime) of a personnel resource, for example.
17.You split demands if you want to distribute them across different
resources or resource planning nodes.
18.You can assign several personnel resources to a demand. In this case, the
system does not calculate the duration automatically. Instead, you enter
the duration of the respective assignments based on your experience.
19.Provided that you do not save your data, you can undo any planning steps
you have made and repeat them if required.
20.You use the Alert Monitor to check that planning for your assignments is
free of conflicts.

The system runs checks while you plan your resources. It generates alerts
if errors occurred during the checks and indicates the type of error and its
cause in the Alert Monitor.

21.You correct the cause of the alert.

To do so, you must check the data (for example, availability) and process
assignments again.

NOTE

You can confirm alerts without having corrected their cause.

22.You save your planning.

Only once you have saved your changes in resource planning are they
visible to other resource planners who work with the same resources.

If you work in the Scheduler Workplace, data can be changed in other

applications (for example, new assignments or new order operations), which can
affect resource planning. To include this data, update the Scheduler Workplace
regularly.
If you want to create an assignment for an order operation or resource, the order
or resource may be locked. This is because another resource planner is creating
assignments for the order or resource at the same time. In this case, wait and
update the data in the Scheduler Workplace or contact the other resource
planner. Assignments and time allocations are locked as long as they are being
processed by another resource planner.

Capacitive Planning of Demands from Service and Project System

The display of demands in the planning board allows you to carry out the
following functions for demands from the areas of Plant Maintenance,
Customer Service, and Project System:

 Create new demands

 Reschedule demands and simulate rescheduling of the underlying sources
of demand
 Save changed demands and thereby write them back to the order
operations and network operations
 Display dependencies and the capacity utilization of the associated
capacity planning nodes

NOTE

Capacity planning nodes are units that have to be planned capacitively (in
PM, CS, and PS of the work center).

Prerequisites

 You have defined which projects, WBS elements, and networks can be
processed in the demand view in Customizing for SAP Multiresource
Scheduling at Sources of Demand Networks (Projects and WBS
Elements) Control Integration of Projects and WBS Elements in MRS
and Define Resource Planning Relevance for Networks. For PM/CS
orders, it is sufficient to define the orders as resource-planning relevant
under Sources of Demand Orders Define Resource Planning
Relevance for PM/CS Orders .
 In Customizing for SAP Multiresource Scheduling, under Set Up
Scheduler Workplace Workplace Profiles Worklist Profile Create
Worklist Profile Fields in Demand Display , you can specify which
columns are to be displayed in the demand view.
 To simulate and carry out demand rescheduling, you have to load the
entire order or network to the planning board. Scheduling is active only if
 you have selected Manual Scheduling or Automatic Scheduling in
Customizing under Sources of Demand Activate Backward
Integration of Data .
 The system can write back changed demands to the order operations and
network operations only if you have activated backward integration in
Customizing for SAP Multiresource Scheduling under Sources of
Demand Activate Backward Integration of Data .
 To display the capacity utilization of work centers, you have transferred
the required information from SAP ERP to SAP Multiresource
Scheduling using report /MRSS/SGE_PN_MNT.

Features

Calling the Planning Board with the Demand Overview

You can configure the Customizing settings for your UI profile in such a way
that the default view when you call the planning board is the demand view. To
do so, choose Set Up Scheduler Workplace Workplace Profiles Define
User Interface Profiles Settings for Demand Display . You can overwrite
this setting in the user settings for the planning board. To call the planning
board for specific demands, you can use the initial transaction Planning Board
for Demands (/MRSS/PLBOSRV). You can use this transaction to call the
demands depending on the work center and plant, for example. In the demand
view, you can also display projects and WBS elements for the networks.

Adding Capacity Planning Nodes

To add further capacity planning nodes to the dispatching view, navigate to the
list of capacity planning nodes in the dispatching view and choose Add
Planning Node from the context menu.

Creating New Demands

To create new demands, select the required order or network in the demand
view and choose the context menu entry Create New Demand. In the Details for
Demand dialog box, enter the required data. Alongside the usual demand
details, you can also enter a capacity planning node and define restrictions for
demand scheduling.

Rescheduling Demands

You can change existing demands:

  To change the dates of the demand, move it by drag & drop or change the
dates in the demand details.
 You can set the user status.
 You can change the scheduling restrictions.

Assigning Demands to Capacity Planning Nodes

 You can drag demands from the demand view and drop them in the
dispatching view to assign them to a capacity planning node. If you set
the Set Dispatch Status indicator in the user settings, the demand is
assigned the status Dispatched. You can use this status, for example, to
display demands that have already been dispatched in the dispatching
view. To do so, define a filter for the demand view that excludes demands
with the status Dispatched from the display.

Simulating the New Planning Situation

 Once you have created a new demand or changed existing ones, the
system automatically simulates the effects this has on the capacity of the
capacity planning node. The capacity displayed for the capacity planning
nodes is independent of the selected orders and projects. All order and
network operations that are relevant for the capacity planning nodes and
that have been integrated into SAP Multiresource Scheduling are also
relevant for the utilization of the capacity planning node that is displayed.
For more information, see Capacity View.
 If relationships have been created for the order or network, you can
display the dependencies between the demands in the planning board.
The system not only displays dependencies at operation level, but also
dependencies for orders.

NOTE

The system displays alerts in the Alert Monitor only if order-internal

relationships are violated. If cross-order dependencies are violated when
demands are planned, the system does not display these as alerts in the
Alert Monitor.

To show the dependencies, choose (Display All Dependencies.) If you

choose this pushbutton again, the system hides the dependencies.

 If you have changed demands, you can simulate rescheduling of the

source of demand currently in process along with its dependent order and
network operations. The simulation is run automatically if automatic
scheduling is activated in Customizing for SAP Multiresource Scheduling
 under Sources of Demand Define Type of Demand Scheduling . If
you have activated manual scheduling in Customizing, you can start
scheduling from the planning board. To do so, select the demand and
choose the context menu entry Trigger Scheduling. To simulate
scheduling without restrictions, choose the context menu entry Remove
All Restrictions. Provided that you do not save the changes, you can undo
the steps.

NOTE

When the demand is rescheduled, the system supports only standard SAP
scheduling. External scheduling is not supported.

Updating the Sources of Demand

The system adjusts the sources of demand (order or network operations) only
when you save the planning board.

Use of Multiple Back-End Systems

You can connect your SAP Multiresource Scheduling system with Plant
Maintenance (PM) and Customer Service (CS) sources of demands from
different systems. Demands from Plant Maintenance and Customer Service can,
therefore, be integrated into SAP Multiresource Scheduling from different back-
end systems.

The Human Capital Management (HCM) system from which you integrate HR
data can also be a remote system. However, HR data can be integrated into SAP
Multiresource Scheduling from only one system, either from the SAP
Multiresource Scheduling system or a remote system.

Features

Demands from different back-end systems are integrated using queued Remote
Function Call (qRFC):

 If you save a demand in the back-end system, it is automatically

integrated into SAP Multiresource Scheduling by means of qRFC.
 If you save a demand in SAP Multiresource Scheduling, it is backward
integrated into the back-end system by means of qRFC.
 The technical name of SAP Multiresource Scheduling integration queues
begins with MRSINT*.