Introduction

In today's interconnected enterprise landscape, organizations often operate multiple ERP systems across headquarters, regional hubs, and subsidiaries. While each business entity plans independently, supply constraints are frequently managed centrally. This creates a challenge for planners who need visibility into available supply capacity from upstream organizations before making planning decisions.

To address this challenge, we developed an AI-Assisted Cross-Tier Flexible Constraint Visibility solution using Joule. The solution enables production planners in a subsidiary ERP system (Tier 2) to seamlessly query flexible constraints maintained in the headquarters ERP system (Tier 1) using natural language.

By leveraging SAP APIs and Joule's conversational capabilities, planners can instantly understand:

• Maximum quantity available from headquarters
• Flexible constraint limits for a material or a Production line
• Available supply periods with the constraint quantity

This eliminates manual coordination between planning teams and enables faster, data-driven planning decisions.

Business Requirement

Organizations operating in a two-tier ERP landscape often face challenges in coordinating supply and production planning across headquarters which supplies subassemblies and subsidiaries which consumes subassemblies from HQ and manufactures finished product. Headquarters manages production line constraints and material supply constraints of the subassembly which will be considered for Mid-term/long-term planning using pMRP (Predictive Material and Resource Planning) simulation process, while subsidiary planners require timely visibility into these constraints for accurate planning of the finished product. In many cases, obtaining this information involves manual co-ordination, leading to delays, inefficiencies, and potential planning inaccuracies.

To address this challenge, the Joule-powered AI-Assisted Cross-Tier Flexible Constraint Visibility solution provides real-time access to headquarters-managed flexible constraints of subassembly directly within the subsidiary planning environment via joule, enabling more connected and informed planning decisions across

Two-Tier solution with Business Use-case

Consider a global manufacturing company where the headquarters operates on SAP Cloud ERP Private headquartered at European country produces the subassembly compressor and its subsidiary in APJ region operates on SAP Cloud ERP consumes compressor subassembly to manufacture the finished product (let’s say refrigerator). The headquarters maintains flexible constraints of the subassembly that define the maximum quantities available for supply across different planning periods. A production planner in a subsidiary needs to determine how much of a particular material can be supplied from headquarters before finalizing production plan for the finished product. Traditionally, this information would require coordination with headquarters planners, resulting in delays and manual effort.

With AI-Assisted Cross-Tier Flexible Constraint Visibility, the planner at subsidiary can simply ask Joule a natural language query such as,

“What is the maximum quantity headquarters can supply for Material Compressor?”

Joule retrieves the relevant flexible constraint information of the given material from the headquarters system and displays the available quantities with planning periods directly within the subsidiary environment via joule. This enables faster decision-making, improved collaboration between planning teams, and a more connected planning experience across organizational tiers.

Process Flow

Tier 1 – Headquarters (SAP Cloud ERP Private)

• Supply planners at Tier1 define and maintain Flexible Constraints in SAP Cloud ERP Private.
• Products or materials are assigned to the relevant flexible constraints.
• Constraint periods are maintained with available quantities for each planning bucket (weekly, monthly, etc.).

Tier 2 – Subsidiary (SAP Cloud ERP)

• A production planner at Tier2 initiates a query through Joule.
• Joule interprets the planner's query and identifies the requested data.
• Joule retrieves Flexible constraint details, product assignments, and available quantities in real time.
• Joule consolidates and formats the information into a business-friendly response.
• The planner at Tier 2 leverages the retrieved supply information in pMRP simulations for mid- and long-term planning of finished products, with the simulation results driving operational planning decisions.

Integration Details

The AI-Assisted Cross-Tier Flexible Constraint Visibility solution leverages standard SAP APIs exposed from the headquarters system (SAP Cloud ERP Private) and orchestrated through Joule. Depending on the planner's request, Joule dynamically invokes the relevant APIs to retrieve flexible constraint information and present it in a business-friendly format within the subsidiary environment.

The integration follows a request-response pattern where Joule acts as the conversational interface, the SAP APIs act as the source of truth for flexible constraint information, and the headquarters ERP system serves as the repository of supply commitments and constraint definitions.

This scenario is triggered when a production planner requests flexible constraint information for a specific material. For example:

“What is the maximum quantity headquarters can supply for Material Compressor in plant 1811 in the next quarter?”

Upon receiving the request, Joule identifies the material and invokes the relevant APIs in the headquarters system. The Flexible Constraint API retrieves the constraint header information, while the Flexible Constraint Period API retrieves the available quantities maintained for each planning period. Joule then consolidates the information and presents the available supply quantities to the planner.

APIs Used

Joule Orchestration Logic

Joule serves as the intelligent orchestration layer between the subsidiary planner and the headquarters ERP system. Based on the user's natural language request, Joule automatically invokes the appropriate APIs. The retrieved information is aggregated, interpreted, and presented in a conversational format, eliminating the need for planners to navigate technical applications or manually coordinate with headquarters.

This AI-driven approach provides real-time access to headquarters-managed supply constraints, enabling faster decision-making and more effective collaboration across organizational tiers.

Joule Demo:

To get visibility on the Flexible Constraint Header Data

The screenshot below demonstrates the cross-tier visibility capability, where Flexible Constraint IDs 1402 and 1403, already maintained in the Headquarters system, are retrieved and displayed in real time within the Subsidiary system through Joule.

To get visibility on the flexible constraint quantity for the corresponding period

Business Benefits

• Real-time cross-tier visibility
• Faster planning cycles and decision-making
• Improved supply commitment accuracy
• Enhanced collaboration across business units
• AI-driven user experience through Joule

Conclusion

AI-Assisted Cross-Tier Flexible Constraint Visibility demonstrates how Joule can bridge information silos across enterprise planning systems. By enabling production planners in subsidiary organizations to access headquarters constraint information through natural language interactions, organizations can significantly improve planning efficiency and collaboration.

By enabling real-time visibility into headquarters-managed supply constraints, the solution helps create a seamless planning experience where critical supply information is available instantly, regardless of organizational boundaries.

Hope this blog gives you insights on getting cross-tier visibility on flexible constraints using joule.

Happy Learning!! 🙂