45 Important SAP PP Interview Questions Answers | Set 1

In this article, we have embarked to list down some of the most frequently asked SAP PP interview questions for you. So, if you heading towards SAP PP Interview anytime soon, it would be great to read through this list of most as often as possible asked SAP PP Interview questions with answers.

The SAP PP (Production Planning) is one of the most important module in the SAP System and it allows the production department to automate some of the main activities in production like planning controlling and scheduling.

As part of SAP ECC’s logistics function, SAP PP plays a vital role in the manufacturer’s supply chain and integrates with other ECC components, including materials management, distribution, and quality management (QM), Finance (FI), Controlling (CO) and Human Resources (HR).

SAP PP Important topics for interview

1. Master Data
2. SAP PP configuration
3. MRP
4. Important tables
5. Planning
6. Production orders
7. SAP PP reports
8. Variant configuration
9. Batch management
10. Integration with other modules
    
    

Here are some important  SAP PP  interview questions and answers to help you to prepare yourself 

Q1. How many implementation project have you done? Explain your role?

Based on experience you can answer this question. Try to explain each project briefly and also mention your role in that project. If you don’t have any experience then you could show them your demo implementation, done during your training period.

Example:- I have 6+ year of experience in sap pp module as a functional consultant. I have done 2 full life cycle SAP-R/3 implementation and also I supported those projects. During Implementation I was involved in business requirement analysis, mapping clients’ business process to SAP processes (As Is-To Be), GAP analysis, Configuration, Re-engineering, Prototyping, Testing, Training, Documentation & Post-Go-Live Support.

Q2. What are the different type of manufacturing/production processes in SAP?

Manufacturing is the conversion (PROCESS) of certain INPUT into OUTPUT. 
There are three types of manufacturing process handled in SAP.

1. Discrete manufacturing –  Discrete manufacturing is the frequent switching from one manufactured product to another. The products are typically manufactured in individually defined lots and Costs are calculated on the basis of orders and individual lots. 

2. Repetitive manufacturing – In Repetitive Manufacturing, products remain unchanged over a longer period and are not manufactured in individually defined lots.

3. Process Industries – Process manufacturing is a type of manufacturing that is associated with formulas and manufacturing recipes. Process manufacturing is common in the food, beverage, chemical, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, consumer packaged goods, cannabis, and biotechnology industries.

Q3. Difference between discrete and repetitive production?

Discrete manufacturing	Repetitive manufacturing
It is Order based production /Lot based production	Period based production
Product changes frequently	The product remains unchanged over a period of time
Cost is calculated as per lot or prod order	Period based cost controlling.
GR movement type -101	GR movement type – 131

Q4. What do you mean by gaps in project implementation? Have you found any gap during implementation?

A gap during the project is referred to as “the space between where we are and where we want to be.” Gap analysis is undertaken as a means of bridging that space. GAP analysis is done in Blue Print stage. It aims to understand what can be done with the standard SAP and how the client actually wants a particular scenario to be processed. To Fill This Gap, We Use The Enhancements Like User exits, Field Exits, Screen Exits, Menu Exits, and etc. 

You can give an example of any client specific requirement. It could be Report, interfaces, screen development, workflow, enhancements, class creation, function modules or in data migration areas.

Q5. What are the different documents we prepare in all phases during sap implementation?

Business Blue Print document, As-Is Document, TO-BE document, Gap Document, Configuration Document, Functional spec Technical Spec, Cut over document, Testing document, etc.

Q6. What are the steps of production execution process?

They are :

1. Converting planned order to production order
2. Releasing the production order
3. Goods Issue for the production order
4. Confirmation of production order
5. Goods Receipt against the production order

Q7. What are the basic difference between MTS and MTO?

Q8. In SAP project the customization comes under which phase? 

Realization.

Q9.What Is the meaning of customized Reports?

When the standard reports provided by SAP does not meet the Business requirements, then we develop customized reports as per user requirements, often called Z reports. Developing reports can be done through ABAP custom reports / through Report Painter / ABAP Query.

Q10. What are the Master data in production planning ?

Material master – Material master contains information related to different material types like the finished product, raw material. A material master can be used for identifying a product, purchase material, goods issue or good receipt, MRP, and production confirmation.

BOM – A formally structured list of the components that make up a product or assembly. The list contains the object number of each component, together with the quantity and unit of measure.

Routing – Routing defines the sequence of activities performed at the work center. Routing plays an important role in calculating production cost, machine time, and labor time.

Work center – Work center consists of master data related to the routing of products. It contains data related to scheduling, capacity planning, and product costing.

Q11. Describe different types of scrap. Where all different types of scrap can be maintained on SAP user screens?

There are three types of scraps used in SAP PP:

1. Assembly Scrap
2. Component Scrap
3. Operation Scrap

Assembly Scrap – During the production of an assembly, a certain amount of scrap always occurs due to various reasons. To produce the required lot size it is always necessary to increase Quantities and activities used by the system.

Settings – You have to maintain the assembly scrap in the material master (MRP1 view) as a percentage in the Assembly scrap field

Component Scrap – Some times a particular component always consumed more during a production process than the planned one. In that case, we use component scrap quantity to achieve the production quantity. Component scrap increases the dependent requirements quantity of the component.
You can maintain component scrap:

• In the BOM item – In this case, the component scrap is only relevant for this particular BOM.
• In the MRP 4 view of the material master record – In this case, the component scrap is relevant for all the BOMs that contain this material.

Operation Scrap – During Production process after a particular operation, you may get some loss. Now you need to adjust the qty, standard values and other values of the subsequent operations. For this Operation, scrap is used in production.

Settings – You can enter operation scrap (in %) in the routing and in the BOM.

Q12. What is the difference between by-product and co-product and how do you differentiate them in a BOM?

Co-Product – A co-product is a product that is produced in conjunction with other products. The system creates a separate order item in the production order for each co-product.

By Product – It is an output from a production process which can be useful/sellable or sometimes can be waste. The System Does not create a separate order item for each by-Product

BOM Settings- negative sign is used for co-products and also co-product indicator should be active in BOM. And the byproduct has only the -ve quantity in BOM component.

Q13. Difference between BOM group and group BOM?

BOM Group – It is a collection of bills of material that lets you describe a  
product or a number of similar products.

Group BOM – It is a BOM wherein u do not assign any plant while its creation. This means this BOM can be later assigned to any plants as per requirement.

Q14. What is super BOM?

The BOM which we maintain for Configurable materials is called as Super BOM. It contains all the possible components that are required to manufacture the material.

The BOM contains components that are only used in specific variants (variant parts), as well as components that are used in all variants (non-variable parts). This is why BOMs for configurable materials are known as super BOMs.

You can use the dependency to select the exact component based on the conditions given in the dependency.

Q15. What do you mean by variant BOM?

Several similar materials which have common parts can be created as SAP variant BOM. SAP variant BOM will have BOM technical type “V”. BOM group for all these variant bills of materials will be the same. This helps business users to simplify BOM maintenance.

Q16. What is the use of t-code CS20 in BOM?

CS20 t-code (mass change BOM) used to change items in several BOMs at once.
In this transaction code, you can –

1. Mass change BOM item data
2. Mass delete items
3. Mass create materials etc.

Q17. How many maximum no. of alternative BOM can be created?

99

Q18. How you can attach drawing to BOM?

One can attach a document to a BOM in one of the following three ways:
1) Attach document as an item in the item overview,
2) Attach the document to an item and 
3) Attach the document to the header material.

Create Document with using T-code CV01N and attach your drawing to this document. Now, in BOM select Item category D and insert your document number.

Q19. Why their is need of production version ?

A production version determines which alternative BOM is used together with which task list/master recipe to produce a material or create a master production schedule. In a production version, you can maintain the combination of BOM and routing. You can use the production versions based on:
1. Lot size qty.
2. BOM explosion dates
3. Based on MRP Group

Q20. What is the Difference between TECO and CLSD?

TECO means Technically complete. By setting status TECO; the order from the logistics point of view is set as complete. However, You can carry out Variances, settlements on the order.

CLSD – Once the order is TECO and all the settlements are completed then the order will be set to Close. Until unless all the settlements are done on the order; the order cannot be closed

Q21. What is a phantom assembly ?

Phantom assemblies are assemblies that have their own product structure, but whose assembly does not physically exist. The components of the phantom assembly are incorporated directly in the superordinate product. The product structure of the superordinate product contains a reference to the phantom assembly. In simple words SAP, a phantom assembly is a special non-stock material that has its own components.

Q22. What are the Costing Parameters in SAP PP?

Work Center: Activity types and the formulas, cost center
Routing: The time, activity types

Q23. What is Backflush and the places where the backflush is used?

In simple word, Backflushing is automatic goods issue. The system will automatically post the goods issue when you confirm the operations. You have no need to make the manual issue. Basically, backflush is used where it is having a fixed relationship. 

In SAP, backflushing can be carried out in 4 ways:

Material Master-MRP 2 View
Work Centre- Basic data
Routing-component assignment
Production Order- Component overview

Out of the above 4 options, the material master takes the highest priority if the backflush indicator is set at multiple places.

Q24. What is the movement type for Goods issue reversal?

Movement type is 262 for Goods issue reversal.

Q25. What is MRP profile?

SAP MRP profile is defined as a key that contains a set of MRP view field values to be maintained during material master creation. It helps to minimize the repetitive task of maintaining the MRP fields. This profile has two types of values – fixed values and default values.

Create – MMD1
Change – MMD2
Delete – MMD6

Q26. Difference between MRP and MPS ?

Material requirement planning (MRP) is a set of techniques that uses the bill of material data, inventory data, and the master production schedule to calculate requirements for materials. 

Master production scheduling (MPS) is a form of MRP that concentrates planning on the parts or products that have a great influence on company profits or which dominate the entire production process by taking critical resources. These items are marked as ‘A’ parts (MPS items) and are planned with extra attention. In simple words, MPS helps you plan the manufacturing process of Independent Demand Items. 

Q27. What is MRP controller ?

The MRP Controller in SAP, Material Requirements Planning Controller, is a mandatory field in Material Master.

It represents the person, or group, that will be responsible for controlling the workflow scheduling.

Q28. What is planned cost, Actual cost and target cost

Planned cost = Planned qty X Planned cost
Actual cost = Actual qty X Actual cost
Target cost = Actual qty X Planned cost

Q29. What are the different standard MRP types in SAP PP?

PD – Normal MRP
ND – No planning
VB – For manual reorder point
VM – Automatic reorder point
MPS – For A category material

Q30. What are the key fields in MRP1 View?

General Data
MRP Procedure
Lot Size data

Q31. What are the key fields in MRP3 View?

Forecast Requirement
Planning
Availability Check

Q32. Difference between Customer Independent requirement (CIR) and Planned Independent requirement (PIR)?

PIR: Planned Independent Requirements are planned production or sales quantities that are based on some sort of forecast procedure (e.g. Material Forecast or SOP procedure). These values are used in MRP to calculate procurement and production quantities for a material. As the name suggests, PIR is not dependent on any requirement. We use T-code MD61 for maintaining the quantity based on the forecast (Past history and future trend). It is mainly used in MTS scenario

CIR: In Customer independent requirement the customer details are not required, only details like date and requirement type are required and when planned order gets created has assigned to the CIR and the material you receive to Stock goes to special stock E. it is created by using T-code MD81 and It is mainly used in MTO scenario. The customer requirements that you create in MD81 have the same requirement as the customer order created in VA01. This option is mainly used to simulate or when you don’t have the SD module.

Q33. Difference between NETCH,NETPL & NEUPL?

NETCH – Net change for a total horizon
Those materials will be planned which have undergone a change relevant for MRP since the last planning run like a change in stock, material master or creation of new receipt, etc. 

NETPL – Net change for a planning horizon
All requirements will be planned which falls under the planning horizon from the day of the MRP run irrespective of changes were done or not.

NEUPL – Regenerative planning
MRP is run for all the materials if they have a change in planning or not. AS the name suggests this is regenerative. System plans for all the materials in the planning file.

Q34. What is Schedule Margin key?

Schedule margin key is used to define the production order floats to determine the production dates in Production Order /Planned Order.

Opening period – The opening period represents the number of workdays that are subtracted from the order start date in order to determine the order creation date.

Float before production– It represents the number of workdays that are planned as a float between the start date (planned start date) and the production start date (target start date).

Float after production – The float after production should provide a float for the production process to cope with any disruptions so that there is no danger that the planned finish date will be exceeded.

Release period – The release period represents the number of workdays that are subtracted from the order start date in order to determine the production order release.

Q35. What is availability check?

The availability check in Shop Floor Control checks whether the components, production resources/tool or capacities required for a production order are available.

Q36. What is planning fence time?

The planning time fence specifies a period within which no automatic changes are to be made to the master plan. It is maintained in workdays.

Q37. What is difference between MD04 and MD05 t-codes?

MD04 (stock requirements list) – Dynamic in nature ie. It shows the current situation for stock. In other words, the stock requirements list shows the most up-to-date stock and requirements situation. stock requirements lists are not saved in a fixed state in the system, but are subject to change and only exist in the working memory.

MD05 ( MRP list) – Static in nature, The MRP list always displays the stock/requirements situation at the time of the last planning run and it also provides a work basis for the MRP controller. Changes that are made after the planning date are not taken into consideration. MRP lists are stored in the system until they are either deleted manually or replaced by new lists from a subsequent planning run.

Q38. What are different Planning strategies?

Make-to-Stock Production (10/11 ) – As the name implies, Make-to-Stock Production is a strategy that utilizes forecasts as the basis to drive production of end items and components. It is particularly useful for mass production environments. Make-to-Stock Production is defined in SAP as two different Planning Strategies, 10 and 11.  They differ in the way they treat Available Stock.  Planning Strategy 10 will consider  Stock  (net requirements planning) while Planning Strategy 11 will not (gross requirements planning).

Make-to-Order Production (20/ 21/ 25/ 26) – As the name implies, Make-to-Order Production is strategies that utilize Sales Orders as the basis to drive production of end items and components. These strategies are useful when production orders need to be directly linked to sales orders. The differences between the several MTO strategies are combinations of how costs are settled (in all cases to Sales Orders versus stock) and the degree with which configuration of the Sales Order (for a configurable material) is required. Strategies 20 and 21 do not allow configuration, 25 requires it, and 26 makes it optional.

Production by Lot Size for Sales and Stock Orders (30)– This strategy is particularly useful for companies that mainly produce for major customers but who also require the option of selling smaller requirements from stock.  Several sales orders, depending on the dates, can be grouped together to be produced in one single lot.  In addition to the recognition of Sales Orders, this strategy will also plan to cover Planned Independent Requirements like the Make-to-Stock Strategy.

Q39. What is COGI report/error?

COGI stands for Controlling Goods Issued and is a standard SAP transaction which shows a report of automatic goods movement errors. Automatic Goods Issues are carried out by the production confirmation if the Backflush indicator is set on the MRP1 View. 
Common COGI Errors are:

• Storage location field empty
• Material does not exist
• Deficit of SL Unrestricted-use of material

Q40. What are all the steps involved in Variant Configuration?

Variant Configuration is a special feature of SAP which helps to simplify the complex manufacturing of a final product with more varieties and variation of the input material.

1. Create a material (MM01) – KMAT type with Item category (002)
2. Create a Characteristic (CT04)
3. Create a class (CL01) and assign characteristics to class – In the variant configuration class type (300) is used.
4. Attach the above class to KMAT Material.
5. Create a Configuration Profile (CU41) – It contains control data for the configuration process and result.
6. Create a super BOM (CS01) – Contains all the component required to manufacture all variants of the product.
7. Create a super routing (CA01) – Contains all the operations for producing all variants of the product.
8. Create dependency (CU01) – Create dependency for all the material of BOM.
9. Assign the dependency to material in BOM.
10. Assign the same object dependency to the super routing operations.
11. Scenario testing (CU50) – Check whether the system is selecting appropriate BOM material and operations for given characteristic values.
12. Maintain pricing and condition record for each variant – use T-code VK11. Create a sales order for variant material and select its characteristic value assignment in the sales order.
13. Run MRP for the sales order, you will get planned order. Convert it to production order.
    

Q41. Dependency types in variant configuration?

Dependencies let you Control which components are selected from a bill of material (BOM) and which operations are selected from a task list

The SAP system supports the following types of dependencies:

1. Preconditions – to hide characteristics and its values
2. Selection conditions – to select characteristics or values
3. Actions – to infer a value for characteristics but obsolete.
4. Procedures – to Infer value for a characteristics
5. Constraints – It provides value assignment and consistency check in a single level and multi-level configuration. Additional reporting options for equations, variant tables, and variant functions.

Q42. Integration between sap PP and SD modules?

Integration between PP and SD happens in the following scenarios –

A) Demand Management: Make to order manufacturing

B) Variant Configuration: Based on the characteristic values assigned in the sales order, picking of the components from Super BOM and picking of the operations from Super routing

C) During availability check

Q43. Integration between PP and MM Module?

Integration between PP and SD happens in the following scenarios:

Bill of Materials (BOM) – Once we define the BOM for the Header material (such as the finished good), we can get the exact requirement for the quantity of inventory.

Material Requirement Planning for External Procurement (MRP) – Once we maintain the MRP views in Material Master, we can generate the automatic reservation and Purchase Requisition after running the MRP.

Stocks Determination – when we issue and receive material to production order.

Q44. Integration between PP and QM Module?

Integration between PP and SD happens in the following scenarios:

In process inspection during Production – This is used when you required to check the product at regular intervals. Need to activate Inspection type 03 in material master Quality management view.

Inspection after Goods Receipt for Production order – This is used when it’s required to check the product after completion of the production process. select Inspection Type 04 in the quality management view in the material master.

Q45. What are the important tables in SAP PP?