SAP PP Interview Questions

Dear readers, these SAP PP Interview Questions have been designed specially to get you acquainted
with the nature of questions you may encounter during your interview for the subject of SAP PP. As per
my experience good interviewers hardly plan to ask any particular question during your interview,
normally questions start with some basic concept of the subject and later they continue based on
further discussion and what you answer −

1. What is SAP Production Planning? Why it is used?

SAP Production Planning is one of key module in ERP and deals with planning processes like
capacity planning and material planning and execution of production order, bill of material and
goods movement. SAP PP module handles master data that is required for BOM’s activity, work
center, routing and keep it in a separate component.
2. What is difference between Discrete and Repetitive Production?

Discrete production is known as industry where produce materials changed with each lot and
costs are calculated as per orders and lots.

In Repetitive production, product is not changed for longer time period and production is done
as total quantity and not in the form of individual lots.
3. Explain Production Planning life cycle?
Converting planned order to Production Order
First step is to convert a planned order to production order. When you create a Production
Order, type is defined in SAP PP system.
Issue the production order
To start the production process, it is necessary to issue Production order. Till a production order
is not released, execution of production process is not started.
Issuing goods for production order
Issuing goods is required for providing the goods to execute the Production order. Once goods
are issues, document number can be updated in the system.
Production order confirmation
All the sub processes are executed in accordance with required operations to confirm the
production as per Production order.
Good receipts w.r.t Production Order
Once production order execution is completed, goods produced w.r.t Production Order are
received and placed in storage area.
4. What are the different elements in Org structure under SAP Production Planning?
In SAP PP module, organization structure defined the location of manufacturing plants and
storage locations within the plant. At the top you have company and company code and then
each company code contains different plant and storage locations.
5. Which all modules SAP PP is integrated with? Explain the integrated activities that are
performed with each module under PP?
To perform Production Planning and Control activities, SAP PP is closely integrated with other
SAP ERP modules: SAP Sales and Distribution SD, SAP Material Management MM, Quality
Management, Finance Accounting and Project System.
You can find list of below activities from Production Planning that are related to other SAP
modules and integration with other modules.
SAP PP and SAP Material Management MM

 This involved movement of goods, auto goods receipt.

 It includes creating reservation for Production Order/Planning.
 Raising Purchase orders with MRP Run.
 Quotations and Vendor selection.

SAP PP and SAP SD

 This is used to check the availability of material for production order.

 To perform MRP Run, Requirement Types.
 Bill of Material components and operation.

SAP PP and SAP FICO

 Updating price in material master data

 Defining activity Type in the Cost center
 Assigning activity type to Work Center
 Cost Estimation
 Production cost controlling
 Posting accounting activities related to goods movement, material request, etc.

SAP PP and Project System

 Assigning planning activities to WBS in the Project.

 Running Material requirement planning at Project level (MD51). The procured materials
attached to WBS are reserved as project stock against the particular project.
 The components attached to network are planned at plant level and are reserved as plant
stock.

SAP PP and Quality Management

 Inspection Type 03 for discrete and repetitive manufacturing.

 Inspection Type 04 for both Discrete and Repetitive Manufacturing
6. What are the different master data exists under Production Planning?

 Bills of Material BOM

 Material Master
 Work Center
 Routing
7. What is BOM?

Bill of material master data is related to material requirement planning and provides the list
of components to produce the product.

To produce a product with different variants, you can create super Bills of Material that has
list of components to manufacture different variants of a product and selection of
component depends on details mentioned in planning order.
8. What is the difference between Material and Sales order BOM?
Material BOM
When a Bill of Material is created for a material is known as a material BOM in the SAP.
Material BOMs are mainly used to represent the structure of products manufactured
within your company.
Sales order BOM
Sales Order BOM is used when you specially tailor the make-to-order production of
products as per requirements of the customers. To meet the customer requirements,
you make sales order specific modifications to various assemblies.

9. What are the key charactertics of BOM?

You can create Bill of Material as single level or multiple levels.
BOM type depends on the size, validity dates and production method.
You can create up to 99 Bills of Material as per material type.
You can use material Bill of material for the material available in PP module and
equipment Bill of Material are used in Plant Maintenance module.
As mentioned you can create super BOM for different variants of a product.

10. What is Work Center under Production Planning? Why do we use Work Center?
Work center consists of master data related routing of products. It contains data related
to scheduling, capacity planning and production costing.
All the manufacturing activities are performed in Work Center. Work center can be used
to monitor these activities −
Scheduling
You can schedule the operations in Production order as per operating times in Routing
and formulas mentioned in work center.
Production Costing
You can also check production costing as per formulas mentioned in work center. A
Work center is also linked to cost center and it defines the cost of operation in
Production Order.
Capacity Planning
You can find current capacity and future capacity requirements stored in work center.

11. What is Routing process under Production Planning?

Routine defines the list of activities to be performed for production process. Routing
defines sequence of activities performed at work center. Routing plays in important role
in calculating production cost, machine time and labor time.

12. What is the use of routing in PP or explain ley charactertics of Routing under Production
Planning?
To create routing it is mandate that you first define work center.
Multiple materials can follow single routing group.
Routing is used for scheduling and costing of operation for raw and finished products.
Routing is used for calculation operation cost for finished product.
13. What are different Planning strategies?
Make to Stock Planning strategy
This is planning strategy where stock is produced without sales order. It is used to meet
customer demands in future.
When you use Planning strategy 10, only PIR quantity is considered for MRP run and
sales order are completely ignored. In this PIR requirement type LSF and is reduced
when you deliver stock to customer.
When you use Planning strategy 40, for MRP run maximum of 2 PIR and Sales order can
be considered and PIR is reduced when enter the Sales order. PIR requirement type is
VSF in this case.
Make to Order planning strategy
In this planning strategy, finish products are not produced until you receive sales order
from a customer. For MRP run, you only consider Sales order.
In MTO strategy, you only produce sales order stock and products are delivered as per
sales orders from specific customer.
You use Planning strategy 20 for make to order MTO process and planning strategy 25 is
used to produce product variants when there is request for variant products from
customer.
14. What is Material Requirement Planning under Production Planning?

MRP run or planning run is an engine which is used to fill demand and supply gap. Issues
& Receipts are called MRP Elements. Issues include PIRs, Dependent Requirements,
Order Reservations, Sales Orders, Issuing Stock Transfer Orders, etc. and receipts
include Production Orders, Purchase Requisitions, Purchase Orders, Open Production
Orders, Receiving Stock Transfer Order, Schedule lines, etc.

15. What are the different parameters that are required to run MRP?
MRP parameters are required to run material requirement planning to meet Planned
Independent Requirement PIR and to use Routing information. Different MRP
parameters can be used −

Processing Key

NetChange −
In this run system consider those materials which have undergone some changes from
the previous MRP run.
NetChange in planning horizon −
This run considers the requirement in predefined planning horizon and not like net
change which check the future requirements.
In this run, system considers only that material which has undergone some changes
from their last MRP run.
Regenerative Planning −
In this run, system consider all the material irrespective of changes and it is time
consuming and not common in Production planning.
 Scheduling

Basic Scheduling −
It only calculates basic dates for orders in MRP run and in house production time for
material master in use.
Lead time Scheduling −
In this MRP, production dates are defined by lead time scheduling for planned orders.
16. Is it possible to create Production order without Routing and Work center? How?
Yes, by changing the configuration in OPL8- Order type dependent parameters as
routing optional. When we try to create an order using C001 it may ask for a sales order.
17. What do you understand by Long term Planning? Can we perform Long term planning for
shorter time period?
Long term planning in SAP PP is used to check future demands at all Bill of Material
level. You can check the current capacity and vendor ability to provide the material in
required time period.
This is not actual run but is used to see if all capacity requirement can be fulfilled and
you can also transfer simulative area to operative area if requirements are fulfilled.
Also note that it is not necessary that you perform simulative planning in long duration,
it can be for short term and there is no time restriction.
18. What is Production Order? How do you determine the list of components and operational
data in the order?
A Production order is used to define the material to be produced, plant location where
production has to be done, date and time of production, quantity of goods required. A
Production Order also defines which components and sequence of operations are to be
used and how the order costs are to be settled.
BOM and routing data of the materials are copied into the production order which
determines the list of components and operational data in the order.
19. What are the key steps under Production Order confirmation?
 First step is to convert a planned order to production order. When you create a
Production Order, type is defined in SAP PP system.
 To start the production process, it is necessary to issue Production order. Till a
production order is not released, execution of production process is not started.
 Issuing goods is required for providing the goods to execute the Production order.
Once goods are issues, document number can be updated in the system.
 All the sub processes are executed in accordance with required operations to
confirm the production as per Production order.
20. What are the different ways to create Production Order in PP?
A Production Order can be created in following ways −
Directly from Stock Requirement List
Using Planned Order number
21. What is capacity planning and capacity leveling?
Capacity Planning is done to balance the load at work center and you can calculate
production capacity based on requirement of product as per available capacity.
Capacity leveling is performed for performing detailed production planning purpose.
This is done through planning table which is used to carry detailed planning of
capacity requirements over time in future.
22. How do perform capacity leveling under PP?
You can perform Capacity Leveling using Planning table and orders are processed as
define in work center to meet the Production process.
To perform Capacity leveling, use T-Code: CM21
23. When do you perform Goods Receipt under PP? What is the movement type?
Good receipt is performed when material is produced as per Production order and
goods are placed at storage location. The stock quantity is increased and movement
type 101 is entered.
24. How do you create goods Receipt under SAP Production Planning?
Use T-code: MIGO
25. What happens when a planned order is converted into Production Order?
Planned order is offset by production order and you can see the planned order details in
the Production order.
26. When do you perform a Goods issue under PP? What is the movement type?
In SAP PP, goods issue is done when raw material is consumed to produce material as
per Production order. When goods are issued, system decreases the inventory of
components at the storage location in Production Planning system.
Movement type 261 is used for goods issue.
27. How do perform Goods issues under PP?
To perform goods issue, use T-code: MB1A or go to Logistics → Production →
Production Control → Goods Movement → Goods Issue.
Enter Movement type 261 for goods issue.
28. Can you reverse Goods issue? What is the movement type for Goods issue reversal?
Goods issue reversal is used when you cancel the goods issue for an order. Goods issue
can be cancelled till order status is confirmed CNF in system.
Movement type is 262 in Goods issue reversal.
29. Why do we use Stock Overview?
You can use Stock overview to check the available stock at any point of time. Stock
overview can be checked using T-Code: MMBE
30. What is Material Requirement Planning Controller in Production Planning?
MRP Controller is an individual or group of persons who are responsible to check
material availability.
31. What do you understand by planning horizon?
Planning horizon is used to define the period for the Net change planning in the
planning horizon.
32. When you create a test Production order, you get error message- Control parameters for
scheduling not defined, what could be the reason?
Before Production Order creation, you have to define Order Types, dependent
parameters, backorder scheduling, and level.
33. What is the difference between MD4 and MD05?
MD04 is used for Stock / Requirement list this is dynamic list which reflects even any
small change is made in Master Data, Planned Order & Production order etc. for
respective material for which you have executed stock / requirement list.
MD05 is used to view MRP list which displays results of last MRP run for the material
for which you have executed MRP list.
34. What is SAP Production Planning for Process Industries PP-PI?
 SAP PP-PI provides an integrated planning tool for batch-oriented process
manufacturing and is used in pharmaceutical, food and chemical industry to
planning of production, waste disposal in the plant.
35. How do you check the costing details in Production Order?
You can check this in CO02 select Cost → Analysis and you can check the cost of
Production Order.
36. What is Plan cost, Actual cost and Target cost?
Plan Cost = Planned Quantity X Planned Price
Actual Cost = Actual Quantity X Actual Price
Target Cost = Actual Quantity X Planned Price
37. What do you understand by Sales and Operational planning?
SOP is forecasting tool that allows you to set the sales, production, and other supply
chain targets based on existing, future, or historical data. SOP is most commonly used
for finished goods.
38. What are the different components under SOP?
SPO consists of following two components −
Standard SPO it is predefined in the system.
Flexible SOP You can configure it in multiple ways.
39. Which Transaction code is used to cancel the Production Order?
Use T-code: CO13
Enter order number and click on tick mark at the top. You will be prompted to confirm
the action.
40. How do you check if any work center is overloaded?
Capacity Planning is done to balance the load at work center and you can calculate
production capacity based on requirement of product as per available capacity.
You need to check capacity load on work center and if any work center is overloaded,
we need to move orders to different work centers.
To check Capacity Loads
Use T-Code CM01 or go to Logistics → Production → Capacity Planning → Evaluation
→ Work Center View → Load.
41. Name few of the tables under Production Planning that contains detail about BOM?
MAST Material BOM
STKO BOM Header
STOP BOM Positions
42. Do you have any idea about SAP QM?
SAP Quality Management is part of SAP R/3 system and is integrated with other SAP
modules like SAP Material Management MM, Production Planning PP and Plant
Maintenance. QM is integral part of logistic management and is used to perform quality
functions at incoming material, in process manufacturing process and raw material as
well in the facility.
43. What are different inspections under QM for Production Planning?
Inspection Type 03 for discrete and repetitive manufacturing.
Inspection Type 04 for both Discrete and Repetitive Manufacturing
44. How many BOM’s can be created?
You can create up to 99 Bills of Material.
45. What do you understand by Material staging?
 Material staging is called when you transfer the material from your main store to
production location.
46. What is backflushing in Repetitive manufacturing REM?
This is used to record work process in the system and to get the requirements of
repetitive, mass or flow manufacturing.
47. Explain the difference between stock transport and stock transfer?
Stock transfer: This is known as the transfer of stock for the usage in the same company.
Stock transport: This is known as change of title of stock in the name of the buyer.
48. What are the different costing parameters under Production Planning?
Work Center
Routing
49. What is the Transaction code for changing and displaying Production Order?
You want to change the details in Production Order; you can do this by using below
code.
Use T-code: CO02
To display the Production Order, T-code: C003
50. What are the common tables under Production Planning for MRP and REM?
For Material Requirement Planning MRP −
Table Description
MDKP Document Header data
MDTB Table Structure
MDVM Planning File Details
MDFD MRP Date details
S094 Stock Analysis
For Repetitive Manufacturing −
Table Description
S025 Run Schedule Quantities
S026 Material Usage
S028 Reporting Point Statistics
SAFK RS Header Master Data
51. Production version in SAP PP –C223
The production version is the link between a product BOM (Bill of Material) and the
process Routing. It determines which alternative BOM is used together with which
routing to produce a material or plan a material.
There may be different production versions based on the lot sizes and validity dates.
For example, there may be different versions if you want to produce 1 – 100 liter of
paint than 100 – 1000 liter of paint, as such the different composition of BOM may be
required in both cases.
It comprises of the following data:
 The assignment of routings to the production version
 The assignment of the alternative BOM to the production version
Production versions are used in material requirements planning (MRP), production
order creation, and product costing to select the most suitable routing and the
corresponding bill of material.