Describe the Production Planning and Execution process (as implemented in SAP ERP) starting from sales and operations planning all the way to the receiving of the finished goods into stock. Use a diagram to show the linkages between the different modules.

The diagram above shows the role of the application functionality, Production Planning and Control, within the SAP ERP system. The Production Planning and Control application deals mostly with quantity and time-based planning and controls the production process. Within the Production Planning and Control system, various modules are interconnected to facilitate data exchange and document flow, and to increase functionality. The diagram below shows a breakdown of these main modules within Production Planning and Control.

Sales and Operations Planning contains some of the higher level planning. For example, it includes the overall planning at the company level. The main function of Sales and Operations Planning is to determine the quantities to be produced. To this end, Sales and Operations Planning is a forecasting and planning tool where sales and production goals can be set on the basis of historical, existing, and estimated future data. Consequently, Sales and Operations Planning is mostly useful for medium and long-term planning. Additionally, Sales and Operations Planning gives the user the ability to do rough-cut planning to come up with an idea of the different types of resources and production capacities required to meet the goals set by the Sales and Operations Planning function itself. Once the goals are set, and the production quantities are determined, it is time to utilize the next module, Demand Management.

The main function of Demand Management is to pick up where Sales and Operations Planning left off by calculating the independent requirements for production. To do this, once the data from Sales and Operations Planning is transferred to Demand Management,…