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SAP Project System – A ready Reference (
Part 1 )
May 9, 2008
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Sheetal Deshmukh
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Being a beginner in SAP PS is a challenge. As a techie, When I started my
ABAP Program in PS Module, I found a lot of scattered information but there is
no article or blog with consolidated information even on basic terminologies of
SAP PS. This blog is my attempt to provide an insight of basic techno-functional
aspects and terminologies of SAP PS to a novice.
In my first blog you will find the important terms of the PS module. I have tried
to explain them with the help of an example. Following this is the next blog SAP
Project System – A ready Reference ( Part 2 ) where the technicalities of the
same are covered.
The Project System (PS) module of SAP is specifically designed to provide
comprehensive and fully integrated project management functionality for SAP
customers. A Project is a complex undertaking, bringing with it huge data of
different type.
At the beginning of each project, whether it involves developing a new product,
make-to-order engineering or internal organization, you need to define and set
up the structures necessary to manage your project and incorporate them into
your existing organizations and processes. Before you can run a project in its
entirety, you must first describe the project goals precisely and create a
structure for the project activities to be carried out. A clear project structure
provides a basis for successful project planning, monitoring and control.
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Organizational Structures in Project System:
”
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You create and manage your project structure in SAP R/3 Project System, by
means of work breakdown structures and networks.The WBS describes
individual phases and functions of a project. Network contains the individual
project tasks and the dependencies between them in the form of activities and
relationships
Some important terms:
Project Definition
Project Definition is general description of the project that you want to manage.
It is a framework laid down for all the objects created within a project. It contains
organizational data that is binding for the entire project.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
WBS is a hierarchical model of the tasks to be performed in the project. It
provides overview of the project and forms basis for the project organization
and coordination.It shows work, time and money spent on the project. You can
use it to plan dates & costs and allocate budget. The Work Breakdown
Structure can be displayed according to:
Phase
Function
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Object
Individual tasks required to carry out the project is called WBS elements.
Network
The network describes project processing. Thus the Network contains
instructions on how to carry out activities in a specific way, in a specific order
and in a specific time period.Main elements of network are activities and
relationships. It forms the basis for planning, analyzing and monitoring time
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schedules, costs, & resources.
Activities
Activities are used to plan project staffing, capacity, material, PRTs, and
service requirements. When activities are assigned to WBS elements, detailed
view of costs, dates, and capacities at WBS element could be obtained. It’s a
task in a network which has a defined start and finish. An activity can be broken
down into activity elements.Three categories of activities in the Project
System:·
Internal Activities
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External Activities
General Cost Activities
Activity element
Activity element is an activity which is subordinate to another activity. Activity
elements contain the same information as activities.Three categories of activity
elements in the Project System:
Work elements
External Elements
General Cost Elements
Activity Type
It’s a physical measure of activity output of a cost center .e.g. hours, number of
units produced, machine times, production times.
Milestones
Milestones are the events in the project to which particular importance is
attached Or which trigger predefined functions. In general they indicate
transition between different departments or phases. Milestones are assigned to
activities and WBS elements:In PS milestones are used to:
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Trigger predefined functions in network activities.
Carry out earned value analysis.
Determine dates in billing plan for sales orders.
Relationships
You use relationships to depict chronological and technical dependencies
between activities. The relationship determines the nature of the link between
the individual activities. :
FS Relationship : An activity does not start until the preceding activity is
completed.
SS Relationship : An activity can not start unless another activity has started.
FF Relationship : An activity can not be completed until another activity has
been completed.
SF Relationship : An activity can not be completed until another succeeding
activity has stared.
Confirmations
It is a part of network control. It documents the state of processing for the
network activities and activity elements. There are two types of confirmations
Partial & Final.Confirmations are used to record:
The work center where the activity was carried out.
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The person who carried out this activity.
The yield and scrap produced in an activity.
The actual values for the duration and dates.
Settlement
As a rule, projects are used to collect and monitor costs, but are not usually the
final cost object. For this reason the costs in atypical project will be settled at
the end of the period.To this end, you store settlement rules in the activity /
WBS element requiring settlement. They contain information on settlement
receivers, cost apportionment and control data. Settlement receivers could be
cost centers, G/L accounts. Etc.
Budget
The budget is the approved cost structure for an action or project in a
particular period.Budgeting differs from cost plan in that it is binding. In the
approval phase you prescribe your project funds in the form of budget. It is
possible to allocate overall and annual budget in parallel.
Work Centers
Work center represents the resources responsible for executing an activity. In
a work center, you can enter the available capacity and an operating time. You
can arrange the work centers in a hierarchy for capacity evaluation purposes.
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Internal activities are assigned to work centers (resources) to be completed.A
work center is a physical unit within a company where an activity is performed.
Profit Center
It is subdivision of business organization which is set up for internal
management control purposes. Profit centers divide business up on a
management basis. The basic aim of profit center accounting is to present
areas of the business as entities operating independently in the market.
Lots of jargons ….let me site an instance of the construction project of a
building..
Let say there is a construction company that is going to construct a MultiStorey building.
The first thing that needs to be created in the system is Project Definition.
The entire activity plan for this project will come under this project definition.
Overall budget needs to be estimated, assigned and get approved for the
project. Project timeline needs to be decided. Project could be then subdivided
into separate parts which are actually WBS elements lets say in this e.g. we
have 4 main WBS elements:
1. Land Acquisition
2. Procurement
3. Construction
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3. Construction
4. General
To every above WBS, budget and time line need to estimated.
Now to take an example we will drill down two WBS elements namely Land
Acquisition and Construction.
– Land Acquisition could be sub divided into activities as in
Generation of request document for the land.
Soil testing
Approval for construction
Preparation of purchase order of the land
Above 4 activities should be done in sequence. As in second activity will start
only after request document for the land is completed and so on. Hence these
activities have FS Relationship between them.
– Now take WBS element Construction.
It could be sub divided in to floor wise tasks. Let say, we have four story
building and each floor has 4 flats. So under WBS element ‘Construction’ we
may create separate sub WBS element for each floor. Each sub WBS element
of floor may be divided further into last level of WBS elements one for each
flat on the floor. This way we will have hierarchy of the WBS elements.Finally
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last level of WBS elements i.e. WBS elements of the flats will have activities like
1. Plumbing
2. Electrical work
3. Flooring
4. Painting
5. Furniture
These activities form the Network.
Let say Plumbing and Electricity work are the external activities as they are
given to a outside contractor. While the other activities are done by company
labor so they are internal activities. Plumbing and Electrical work could be
started simultaneously.While flooring needs be done once the plumbing and
Electrical work is complete. Hence they have FS relationship and so on…. Now
if we talk about milestones:
1. First milestone could be purchasing the land
2. Second could construct the base of the building.
3. Third could be construct the floors
4. Fourth could be completion of plumbing and electrical work for all the flats. And
so on….
As I have said that Work center represents the resources responsible for
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executing an activity For the above activities, work centers could be the
company labor required for the construction, labor provided by the external
service center for plumbing and Electricity work. while Profit Centers could be
the finally constructed flats.
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Sr NO
Project Elements
Examples
1
Project Def
Constructing the Buiding
2
WBS
Generation of request document for the land
Soil testing
Approval for construction
Preparation of purchase order of the land
3
Activities (Under 3rd
Plumbing( external Activities)
WBS)
Electricity work( external Activities)
Flooring (internal activities)
Painting (internal activities)
Furniture
4
Relationship
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Flooring needs be done after the plumbing and
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Electricity work. Hence they have FS relationship
5
Milestones
First milestone could be purchasing the land
Second could construct the base of the
building.T
hird could be construct the floors
Fourth could be completion of plumbing and
electricity work for all the flats
6
Network
Plumbing and Electricity installation are to be one
contractor each. Therefore, there exist a network
within on the activities of it under different WBSs.
( Referencee : The book : Functions in Detail : R/3 System – Project
Management in Engineering & Construction )
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Aditya Varrier
May 11, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Hi Sheetal,
a good blog to understand the terminologies in PS.
Waiting for Part 2.
Great work.
Regards,
Aditya
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Sharayu Kumatkar
May 11, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Sheetak the Blog is really nice n very useful.
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Sharayu Kumatkar
May 11, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Sheetal very good Blog.
and indeed it is very useful.
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Arpil Gupta
May 11, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Nice and concise information on PS. Gr8.
Regards
Arpil
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simranpreet sandhu
May 11, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Very well written for the consolidated information on SAP PS.
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Chetan Ahuja
May 12, 2008 at 3:52 am
A good one . Will really help beginners to understand the concepts of SAP PS.
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Beena Thekdi
May 13, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Hi
Good job.
Both the parts are very much descriptive and can be used as reference for techies.
Starting point for beginners.
Thanks.
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Nayan Kurup
May 19, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Hi Sheetal,
This is a very useful blog for all the techis…Very simple language and a lot of useful content…
Keep it up.
Thanks
Nayan
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SG
June 12, 2008 at 7:55 am
hi sheetal i am working on a report in PS and need to pull the last posting date with amount spend on the
project…. where can i those…. thank you.
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Amaresh Makal
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January 5, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Sheetal,
Wonderful job. Any beginner can understand the concept, terminology, and whole picture of PS.
Amaresh
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Tejaswini Chafekar
February 4, 2009 at 4:55 am
Hi Sheetal,
Very helpful blog!
I am very new to PS, and as per our requirement, i need to send a mail to completion of one step. So i
need to link a workflow to the PS.
Can you help me on this?
Thanks,
Runal
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Kiran Kumar
June 27, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Its Very easy to understand the basic flow of the PS module
Good attempt
Regards
Kiran
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Muthuraman Govindasamy
July 2, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Hello Sheetal
Very nicely presented the Project system
Muthu
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mahesh A
August 23, 2010 at 3:17 am
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Hi shital,
its very gr8 documentation for PS freash consultant.Hope if you have more documentation ,you will
forwards to sdn forum.
Regards,
Mahesh Amale
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subhash sharma
August 10, 2011 at 9:11 pm
The documents created are excellent and very useful to any PS module user.
Can you throw some ligt on how to import network activites from excel sheet. Similarily can i import
Confirmation from a excel sheet.
Regards
SCSharma
GM_Manufactuing systems (using SAP)
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Pranav Trivid
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June 15, 2012 at 8:53 am
Hi Sheetal,
You have a done a great job!!!
Regards,
Pranav
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mahesh A
June 25, 2012 at 10:36 am
Nice Material…….Thanks sheetal
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srikanth ch
June 26, 2012 at 5:02 pm
Hi Sheetal’
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Thank you for giving such a valuable information for easy understanding of PS basics.
Regards’
srikanth.
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Sheetal Deshmukh
Post author
June 29, 2012 at 10:33 am
Thanks all for appreciating my work !
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B P singh
July 3, 2012 at 6:29 am
Its really a great thing.Such an effort to make the jargons and business flow comprehensible is really
commendable!!
Thanks and Regards
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dhayanandha nandha
July 31, 2012 at 9:52 am
Nice Stuff for a beginner.
Great job!
Thanks & Regards
Nandha
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Shekhar Shettigar
December 27, 2012 at 10:42 am
Hi Sheetal,
Nice blog , Its very good for a beginner irrespective of Techincal or fuctional.
Thanks a lot.
Continue the same great Work
Thanks and regards,
Shekhar
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Nifrash Rahmathulla
July 31, 2013 at 6:08 am
Hello…
Thanks for this usefull blog..really i don’t have any idea about PS but after i read this got a basic idea, the
explanation give with the relation of construction excellent and easy to understand..
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Shoaib Tasleem
February 23, 2016 at 6:43 am
Hi,
Extremely good blog. Specially for beginners in PS. Looking forward for more like this.
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Manuel Robalinho
May 20, 2016 at 1:20 pm
Excelent.
Very good work.
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Francisco Leal
March 16, 2017 at 10:55 pm
This is good information, it made my life easier when trying to explain other people with no PS experience.
Thank you!
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