SAP Fiori Apps for Variance Analysis in Manufacturing

Variance analysis compares production order actual and target costs and explains the difference
with variance categories.

There have been many improvements in SAP Controlling with S/4HANA, including:

• Cost elements are now included in General Ledger accounts with a cost element category
• SAP Material Ledger is mandatory, while SAP Actual Costing is optional
• SAP Margin Analysis based on account-based CO-PA and the universal journal, has
advantages over costing-based CO-PA. All new SAP CO-PA development will take place
on Margin Analysis.

Controlling manufacturing order variance analysis is also improved with two new SAP Fiori apps
with enhanced views of variance at the order and work center and operation levels, which are now
included in the universal journal. Let's examine the two new Fiori apps:

• Production Cost Analysis App ID F1780

• Analyze Costs by Work Center/Operation App ID F3331

Production Cost Analysis App

The Production Cost Analysis app in Figure 1, replaces SAP GUI order selection report
S_ALR_87013127.

Figure 1: Production Cost Analysis - Summary View

You select the primary report filters at the top to display a summary of production order costs.

A list of orders is displayed with target costs, actual costs, and variances. Double-click an order to
display order detailed costs. This view is similar to the SAP GUI order detail report KKBC_ORD.
Click on ">" (last column) to switch to an individual order.

Figure 2 displays a report for order 1003133.

Figure 2: Production Cost Analysis - Order Details

You can group costs by GL account, business transaction, and cost component.

A special view displays order WIP.

This app accesses universal journal actual and target order costs.

• SAP GUI reports S_ALR_87013127 and KKBC_ORD access summary

tables COSS and COSP.
• SAP Fiori actual costs access Table ACDOCA and target costs access ACDOCP.

A plan category defines the purpose of the plan data. In cost center planning, a plan category is
assigned to actual cost center plans, while others are assigned to forecast plans. Two plan categories
are for manufacturing orders: PLANORD01 and PLANORD02.

PLANORD01 plan values use the order preliminary cost estimate, generated during order creation.
Order target costs are calculated based on this plan and represent expected costs using the bill of
material and routing task list assigned to the order during creation. When the order is processed,
variances using these targets represent manufacturing performance. These differences correspond to
variance calculations for Target Cost Version 1.
PLANORD02 costs are based on the standard cost estimate, and differences from targets represent
total variances for the order. This is similar to Target Cost Version 0 view in previous [Link]
variances are relevant for settlement.

Target costs are calculated from ACDOCP regardless of order status. SAP GUI reports rely on
summary tables, target cost calculation is only performed on orders not processed by the variance
calculation transaction KKS1. Once this is processed, target costs are set and will not change until you
run variance calculation next. This can lead to issues interpreting variance data if activity occurs after
VCAL status is set.

Immediate target calculations were only made for orders twithout VCAL status. Doing this for all
orders results in increased report time. Plan table ACDOCP and the speed of HANA allow targets to
be recalculated when the report is executed.

Plan Category selection determines the variance view shown. Figure 3 shows the two options.

Figure 3: Selecting How Target Costs are Calculated

Production Order Standard Costs targets are calculated based on the standard cost estimate for plan
category PLANORD02 in ACDOCP.

Production Order Plan Cost uses the preliminary order cost estimate values with PLANORD01. Order
Status determines the differences that show up in the report: Open status refers to orders which are
released (REL) but not fully delivered (DLV) or technically complete (TECO). Differences for these
orders are Work in Process (WIP).

Closed status orders are either DLV or TECO and differences represent variances. Order Status
selection narrows the list to either open or closed [Link] can also select both open and closed
status to display all orders. The report displays order status.

The SAP GUI order selection report allows you to use a status selection profile to define a range of
order status to include or exclude orders from the report. For example, when an order reaches CLSD
status, you do not need to include the order in variance reports.
You can achieve this with SAP GUI report S_ALR_87013127 and status selection profiles. The
Production Cost Analysis app does not yet include this functionality.

Analyze Costs by WorkCenter/ Operation App

The Analyze Costs by Work Center/Operation app provides a greater level of detail than available in
ECC. This app uses the universal journal additional fields of work center and operation to provide
variance management at a more detailed level.

This report contains chart and tabular report sections which are both displayed when you first run the
app as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Analyze Costs by Work Center/Operation Initial Report Window

You can expand each section to display more information. The chart section at the top is useful for
comparing the performance of work centers to identify areas for further review.

These examples use bar charts. You can also select pie charts, stacked bar charts, line charts, and
scatter charts.

A bar chart view comparing plan/actual debit variances with target/actual debit variances by work
center is displayed in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Analyze Costs by Work Center/Operation Chart View

The tabular report shown in Figure 6 details costs at the work center based on both activity posting
and material goods issues.

Figure 6 shows the Work Center Summary view. You can select other views.

Figure 6: Analyze Costs by Work Center/Operation Tabular View

Production managers now have a view of performance at the work center level.
Component allocations in routings and recipes determine how goods movements are assigned to
specific work centers, and the goods issues are displayed along with the activity postings at the work
center level.

Like the Production Cost Analysis app, you select the plan category when you execute the report,
which allows you to use order-based targets rather than financial targets for analysis.

The data is cumulative for a fiscal period, and the results of corrective actions may not be apparent
until the next period. However, having the ability to aggregate this data by work center is helpful for a
production manager and opens up new possibilities to control the manufacturing environment.