Lesson 1 of 5
Estimated, planned and actual costs
10 min
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Every maintenance order carries three cost figures, and they answer three different questions. Estimated costs answer "what did the planner think this would cost before planning it in detail?" Planned costs answer "what does the detailed plan say it will cost?" Actual costs answer "what did it really cost?" SAP's training describes the order's costs view as showing all three by value category, with a technical view and a controlling view, and a breakdown by cost element.
| Cost figure | Where it comes from | When it appears | Contoso use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estimated | Entered by the planner, by value category | Early, often before operations exist | Rough sizing of large repairs and shutdown work |
| Planned | Calculated from operations (hours × activity rate), components (quantity × price) and external services | When the order is saved with its plan | Basis for comparing plan and actual |
| Actual | Goods issues, time confirmations, goods and service receipts, invoices | As work happens, up to and after technical completion | What settlement moves to the receiver |
The three cost figures on a maintenance order.
Value categories
Value categories group cost elements into buckets that make sense to maintenance: internal labor, stock materials, non-stock materials, external services and so on. They are configured once and used for every maintenance order, so a planner can see at a glance that a repair is over plan because of external services, not labor. Controlling sees the same costs by cost element. If the value category mapping is incomplete, costs land in an "unassigned" bucket, a common finding in conversion testing when new cost elements were added in the project.
| Value category | Planned | Actual | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internal labor | $570.00 | $617.50 | +$47.50 (bearing replacement took longer) |
| Stock material | $127.00 | $127.00 | $0.00 |
| Non-stock material | $310.00 | $310.00 | $0.00 |
| Total order 4001250 | $1,007.00 | $1,054.50 | +$47.50 (4.7%) |
Where to review costs
- On the order: the costs tab of the order (Change Maintenance Order or
IW32/IW33). - Across orders: order list editing (
IW38/IW39) with cost fields in the layout, or the Maintenance Order Costs app (F4603), which compares estimated, baseline, planned and actual costs per order and value category. - Over time and by object: the Plant Maintenance Information System cost analysis (
MCI8), based on the standard cost evaluation information structure. - In controlling: order line items and the receiver cost center reports after settlement.
A maintenance manager reads cost variance differently from a cost accountant. Rosa wants to know which orders went over plan and why: a missing part, a wrong time estimate, an unexpected contractor. Dan wants to know whether the month's maintenance spend on line 1 is within budget and whether all of it reached the cost centers. Both views read the same postings, which is why their numbers must reconcile.
- EstimateRosa enters $1,000 for a winding machine repair
- PlanOperations and parts give planned costs of $1,007
- Commit and spendRequisition and PO for the sensor; parts issued; hours confirmed
- Actual$1,054.50 on the order after the sensor invoice
- SettleActual costs moved to cost center 17101107
Costs in a conversion test
Contoso's conversion adds two cost questions. First, do the activity rates of the maintenance work centers exist for the fiscal year the tests post in? A missing rate gives zero labor cost on every confirmation, which looks like a cheap repair rather than an error. Second, do orders that were in progress at cutover keep their ECC-era actual costs, so that plan and actual can still be compared and the full amount settles? Priya's team checks both on a sample of in-flight orders after each mock conversion: actual costs by value category in SAP S/4HANA compared with the same order in ECC.
Walkthrough: reviewing one order's costs
Rosa reviews order 4001250 (bearing replacement on the winding machine, rotor line, plant 1710) the morning after the sensor invoice posts. The steps are the same in every cycle, so they make a good test script.
- Open the order in Change Maintenance Order (or
IW32) and go to the costs view. Switch between the technical view (value categories) and the controlling view (cost elements). The totals must be identical. - Compare planned and actual by value category. Internal labor is $47.50 over plan: the confirmation shows 5 hours instead of the planned 4.5. Record the reason (seized bearing) in the order long text.
- Open Maintenance Order Costs (F4603) filtered on planner group and plant 1710 to see whether this order is an outlier or part of a pattern on the rotor line.
- Drill into the actual line items (for example from the order's cost report or
KOB1) to confirm that each posting has the expected origin: goods issue 261 for the bearing, confirmation for the hours, invoice for the sensor. - Check the settlement rule: one line, cost center 17101107 Detroit Rotor Line, 100%, periodic. A missing rule now becomes a settlement error at month end.
| Symptom in testing | Usual cause | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Labor actual is zero although hours were confirmed | No activity price for the work center's activity type in the posting fiscal year | KP26 / activity price planning; the confirmation's line items |
| Costs in the "unassigned" value category | New cost element (G/L account of type secondary or primary cost) not mapped to a value category | Value category assignment in Customizing |
| Planned costs missing on a released order | Costing not triggered (no costing variant, or the order was saved without calculating costs) | Order type costing parameters; recalculate costs on the order |
| Actual material cost differs from plan for a stock part | Moving average price changed between planning and issue | Material price history; not a defect if explained |
| External service cost appears twice | Service entry sheet and invoice posted against a PO without GR-based invoice verification | PO item settings; the order's line items |
What goes wrong with order costs in testing, and where to look first.
- Estimated costs are manual; planned costs are calculated from the plan; actual costs come from postings.
- Value categories group costs for maintenance; controlling sees the same costs by cost element.
- Review costs on the order, across orders, in PMIS cost analysis and in controlling after settlement.
- Maintenance and controlling read the same postings, so their totals must reconcile.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which cost figure on an order is entered manually by the planner?
2. What groups cost elements into buckets such as internal labor and external services on a maintenance order?
3. Which postings create actual costs on a maintenance order?
4. Which PMIS transaction analyzes maintenance costs?