SCM 445: Operations Planning and Control

This course is intended to give managers detailed information on planning and control systems for business operations. In the course, the students will become familiar with aggregate production planning procedures, disaggregation methods in hierarchical production planning, master production scheduling, material requirements planning (MRP), production activity control, lot-sizing, and capacity planning. The use of SAP R/3 Enterprise Resource Planning system will be an integral component of this course. Students will complete numerous lab projects consisting of hands-on assignments in the use of the SAP R/3 Logistics application. SAP assignments will include the processing of material master records, sales orders, creating/maintaining Bill-of-Materials (BOMs), running MRP, maintaining work stations, and processing manufacturing orders and shop floor control jobs.

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Describe the various Manufacturing Planning and Control (MPC) modules, their functionality, and interfaces to other modules.
• Describe the benefits of a well-run MPC system along with the problems associated with an undisciplined MPC system.
• Execute a Material Requirements Planning (MRP) “explosion” process using various order policies and parameters.
• Identify the critical aspects of a Just-in-time MPC environment and design a “lean” manufacturing process flow.
• Describe the various levels of capacity planning and utilization techniques and determine the applicability based on the business environment.
• Select appropriate production activity control scheduling priority rules for different business environments.
• Identify demand management customer interaction processes and perform basic forecasting calculations.
• Generate an optimum aggregate production plan taking into consideration various business constraints.
• Generate a disaggregated Master Production Schedule (MPS) for various business environments.
• Describe how to maintain optimum independent demand inventory levels.
• Demonstrate hands-on working knowledge of SAP processes, transactions, terminology, and data fields as they relate to course content and material.

Course Components

This course will consist of homework assignments, SAP assignments, and two exams.

Exams

There will be two exams. Exams will be open note/book and will be administered through Canvas. Exams are individual assignments and there should be no collaboration between students. The Canvas exams will be assigned on a specific day and will have a time limit. You can start the exams any time between 6:00AM and 11:00PM during the day of the exam. The exam will automatically submit and close if you have not completed within the allowed time limit. Exam questions will be randomly selected from a pool of questions and you will have no immediate feedback when the exam is submitted. After exams have been graded, you will be given the permission to view the exam results and your specific feedback by opening the exam.

Homework Assignments

It is very hard to understand the concepts and decision making in production/operations without discussing the review questions and solving problems. Each module will include assigned homework problems. The module folders will contain documents and video recordings that will explain problems similar to the assigned homework. You will download an Excel spreadsheet answer template from Canvas and complete the homework questions/problems. After you have completed the homework assignment, you will then answer the associated Canvas homework quiz. The quiz will contain select questions relating to your homework. You may also be required to submit your homework answer sheet to a Canvas drop box or within the associated homework quiz.

SAP Lab Assignments

Seven SAP lab assignments have been scheduled during the semester. Lab assignments will generally be cumulative and must be completed in sequence. All SAP assignments will be posted on the Canvas class web site. SAP assignment solutions are expected to be submitted electronically through the Canvas class web site. Each SAP assignment will be contained within a unique Canvas module/folder. Each SAP assignment folder will contain the assignment instructions along with video examples of how to run each transaction. Prior to beginning the SAP assignment, you should read through the assignment in its entirety and view each of the transaction video tutorials. It is much easier to take the time up front and understand the required steps, than fixing problems after they have occurred. On the other hand, if you run into problems with the SAP assignments and need to “fix” the SAP results, you will certainly learn more about SAP. If you run into problems, you should have patience, and expect to spend time resolving the problem. SAP assignments generally will be due on Sundays, but you should be disciplined to begin the assignments early in case you have problems which need to be resolved.

Check Your Understanding Quizzes

Check Your Understanding quizzes are embedded in the course content and are intended to be low-stakes quizzes to guide you during your learning process.

Grading

The final grade for the course will be based on the student’s performance on the two exams, SAP assignments, and the homework/quizzes. The points assigned to each of the course components are as follows: (Assignments/points may be added or eliminated.)

• Exams: 100 (two exams)
• SAP Assignments: 150
• Module Homework Assignments / Quizzes: 170
• Check Your Understanding Quizzes: 15.5

Grading Scale

  The instructor reserves the right to modify the total course point by adding or eliminating assignments based on the class progress. Opportunities for earning extra credit may be made available throughout the semester. Late assignment policy: Assignments submitted after the due date will not be accepted.

On-Line Course Notes

On-line courses are delivered in a different, more flexible format than a traditional face-to-face course, but it is very important that you should expect to spend the same amount of your time on an online course as you would spend on a face-to-face course. You should normally expect to spend two to three hours on your own, for each one hour of in-class instruction. For a three-credit course, you should expect to spend a minimum of nine hours per week. The nine hours per week should be your expectations for this course! Therefore, you should be sure to begin assignments early and work through the course material throughout the week. Periodically, some students get into the bad habit of waiting until the end of the week to begin the assignments… this is a recipe for failure! Waiting until the end of the week to begin the weekly assignments will cause you to skim material and if you run into a problem and need time to resolve the assignment issue and ask questions, you will not have the time. You must be disciplined to begin all assignments early. Much of the course content is posted on Canvas in video format. You will have the capability to view the web based videos and in many cases hear the instructor through the associated audio. The best way to listen to the videos is to use headphones. If you plan on viewing the videos in the labs, the use of the headphones is a must not to disturb your fellow students.

• The use of the SAP R/3 enterprise resource planning system is an integral part of this course. You will not only learn the concepts of operations planning and control, but you will also gain hands-on experience using the most popular global industry ERP application. It is very important to follow the correct process when working on the SAP assignments. First step: thoroughly read the SAP assignment, second step: view all of the associated videos for the SAP assignment, third: complete the SAP assignment, fourth: complete the associated SAP assignment quiz located in Canvas. If you have a problem with an SAP assignment, your sequence of resolution is:
  1. Review the assignment to be sure that you are following the steps as required.
  2. Review the video associated with the transaction you are having problem with.
  3. Attempt to resolve the problem on your own… this is the best way to learn!
  4. Discuss with other friends/students enrolled in the same class. This is the only time that you can collaborate with other students on assignments.
  5. Scan the Course Discussion forum to see if other students have had a similar issue and if there is a solution/recommendation already posted.
  6. If you cannot resolve the issue, post your question on the appropriate Canvas Discussion Forum. Pay close attention to the discussion forum post requirements. Note that I will look very favorably upon students who review the discussion board and answer the questions of other students – this demonstrates true understanding of the material.
  7. I will respond to your question using the discussion forum. You can also send the instructor an email with your question through Canvas.
• All of the SAP transactions that you will need to run have step-by-step demonstrations included in the videos. You can always pause, rewind, or go back to the video file demonstration if you run into trouble. The SAP transaction videos are for reference only, they are not the instructions for your assignments. All SAP assignments include an MS-Word document containing the instructions. Do not open the videos and run the transactions with the same data that is included in the transaction demonstration.
• Be sure to pay close attention to the SAP master data naming conventions. You will be assigned a four digit number that will be used when creating all of your unique master data. I will grade all SAP assignments by looking on the SAP database for the specific data you are required to create. If you run into a problem, it is your responsibility to fix the problem based on the seven step process defined above. As an alternative to fixing your problem, you cannot decide to pick a new master data naming convention and in essence start the assignment over by using the new data. Please do not send me an email stating that you used a different master data naming convention than was assigned to you as that is not acceptable. If you have a problem, you must fix the problem… that is part of the learning process in this course. If you decide to use an alternate naming scheme, you assignment will still be graded on the assigned naming convention with no exceptions.
• Very important: You are not allowed to change or delete any materials or master data except for those that you personally created tied to your assigned four digit number.
• You should read your email frequently and sign into the SCM 445 Canvas class on a daily basis. It is the student’s responsibility to understand assignment due dates and course requirements.

Student/Instructor Communication

Students are expected to review their Canvas course e-mail on a daily basis. Note that you have the ability to set up your Canvas email to automatically forward to another e-mail address. All student e-mail messages to the instructor should be sent via Canvas e-mail. My policy is to respond to email and discussion forum posts in 24 hours (often sooner). If I am traveling and do not have Internet access, I will communicate this to you in advance. Schedule changes and assignment notes will be communicated electronically through Course Announcements and it is the student’s responsibility to monitor for all Course Announcements. You can schedule virtual meetings using Zoom with the instructor. Zoom will allow us to share PC desktop views.

SAP Certification

This course is one of three available courses that can be used to attain SAP certification. Penn State Behrend is one of approximately 12 Universities across the country that offers the SAP sanctioned certification. Talk to your instructor about the SAP certification.