Lesson 1 of 5
Demand in SAP
10 min
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Production planning starts with demand. SAP Learning names three basic kinds: planned independent requirements (PIRs), sales orders, and stock transfer requirements from other plants or distribution centers. Together they form the demand program that MRP plans against. Demand management is the part of SAP S/4HANA that holds the PIRs and decides how they interact with real customer orders.
Planned independent requirements
A PIR is a quantity of a product needed in a plant in a period, independent of any specific customer. It can come from a forecast or be entered by hand. Contoso's planner plans 400 CMC-ALT-100 per month in plant 1710 for the next six months. PIRs are created in transaction MD61 (change MD62, display MD63) or in the Fiori app for planned independent requirements, where the name and layout depend on your release.
| Field | Meaning | Contoso example |
|---|---|---|
| Product and plant | What and where | CMC-ALT-100, plant 1710 |
| Version and active flag | Several versions can exist; only active ones are planned | Version 00, active |
| Requirements type | Derived from the strategy; decides consumption and planning behavior | Proposed from strategy group 40 |
| Period and quantity | Monthly, weekly or daily buckets | 400 pc per month, October to March |
The key fields of a PIR.
The requirements type matters more than it looks. SAP Learning explains that the behavior of PIRs and customer requirements is controlled by requirements classes, which are determined from the requirements type in Customizing. Normally the type is proposed from the planning strategy in the product master. Overriding it by hand changes how the PIR is consumed and planned.
Versions, periods and housekeeping
PIR versions let planners keep alternatives, such as an optimistic and a cautious forecast, and activate one for MRP. Period splits matter: a monthly PIR is due on the first workday of the month, so MRP plans the whole month's quantity for that day unless you plan in weeks. Old PIRs that were not consumed stay in the system as demand in the past. SAP Learning mentions MD74 to reorganize them (reduce unconsumed quantities); run it on a schedule so last quarter's forecast does not keep driving production.
- MonthlyS&OP sign-offSales and operations agree the volume plan for the next six months
- MonthlyTransfer to PIRsPlanner updates version 00 for CMC-ALT-100 in 1710
- DailySales orders arriveCustomer requirements consume PIRs according to the strategy
- DailyMRP LivePlans the remaining demand program
- Month endReorganizeUnconsumed past PIRs reduced (MD74 or equivalent)
Customer requirements
Sales orders enter demand management through their schedule lines: the confirmed or requested quantity and date for the delivering plant. Whether a sales order is relevant to MRP at all, and whether it consumes a PIR or gets its own segment, is decided by the requirements type the sales order item receives, which again comes from the strategy. That is why Maria's order-to-cash tests and the planner's tests meet here: the same sales order is a revenue document for her and a demand element for planning.
What would you do?
After a forecast upload, MRP creates no planned orders for CMC-ALT-100, although 400 pieces per month are visible in the planning table. What is the first thing to check?
Where the forecast comes from is changing. In ECC, many plants used Sales and Operations Planning (SOP) or a spreadsheet; in SAP S/4HANA, SOP is not future technology and SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) is SAP's successor for demand and supply planning, typically sending PIRs to SAP S/4HANA through standard integration. Planners maintain PIRs in MD61 to MD63 or the Fiori Manage PIRs app; in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition only the Fiori route exists. Whatever the source, the test question is the same: does the PIR arrive in the right plant, version, requirements type and period?
| Check after every forecast load | Where | Expected for CMC-ALT-100 |
|---|---|---|
| Plant and version | PIR display or Manage PIRs | Plant 1710, version 00 active |
| Requirements type | PIR item | VSF (proposed by strategy 40) |
| Periods | Schedule lines | Monthly, first workday, 400 each for six months |
| Total | Sum of schedule lines | 2,400 for the six-month horizon |
A four-line check after each PIR load, run before any MRP test.
- Demand = PIRs + sales orders + stock transfer requirements; together the demand program.
- PIRs are per product, plant, version and period; only active versions are planned.
- The requirements type, proposed from the strategy, controls consumption through requirements classes.
- Reorganize unconsumed past PIRs regularly so old forecasts stop driving production.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which three basic demand types does SAP Learning name?
2. Which transaction creates planned independent requirements?
3. Two PIR versions exist for the alternator. Which one does MRP plan?
4. What does MD74 help with?