Release 9.5 added the option to create shifts in the Labor Management module and assign processors to them. This makes it possible to get performance analytics not only for an individual processor, but for the shift as a whole.

Let us look at the settings you need to make in order to use this functionality.

1. First you have to make the global settings in SPRO
2. Then create the shifts and the shift sequence in the user menu
3. Assign the processor to the shift sequence in the Warehouse Management Monitor.

So, in order: a new «Shift Management» branch has appeared in SPRO, it is located here:

First you need to define the available capacity variants. According to the documentation, at least one variant has to be assigned for shift management to work. There is nothing serious in this setting: you can only pick one of two statuses, and it has no effect on EWM at all – it is used exclusively in SNP:

Then, in the next menu item «Maintain Default Values for Shift Management», you have to assign the variant you created to the warehouse number:

The «Working Days» indicator means that later, when assigning a processor to a shift sequence, it will be possible to assign a working day to a day off according to the factory calendar. If the indicator is not set, days off in the factory calendar take priority over the configured shift sequence.

Next, in the item «Maintain Tolerance Limits for Shift Determination», we define the tolerance limits for shift determination:

I entered 15 minutes before and 15 minutes after the shift. What does that mean?

• If an employee works one shift only, say from 8:00 to 20:00, then all the work they perform between 07:45 and 08:00 and between 20:00 and 20:15 is also assigned to that shift.
• If an employee works two shifts, for example from 08:00 to 16:00 and from 16:15 to 23:00, then the shift closest to the execution time of the task is determined. That is, a task completed at 16:07 is assigned to the first shift, while one completed at 16:08 already belongs to the second.
• If an employee works two shifts, for example from 08:00 to 16:00 and from 17:00 to 23:00, then a task completed outside the tolerances – at 16:16, for instance – is not assigned to either shift.

All the SPRO settings are done, so we can create the shifts themselves. This is done in the menu:

«Extended Warehouse Management - Master Data - Shift Management - /SCWM/SHIFT - Maintain Shifts»:

First of all you have to create what is called a «shift sequence». It is this object that is assigned directly to the processor. I will create a typical 5/2 schedule with a lunch break from 14:00 to 15:00. All settings are maintained at warehouse number level.

I create the shift sequence POSH_SS_01 and copy it so that I end up with 5 working days:

Besides that you specify the validity period of this shift sequence and whether it may start or end outside working hours. Option 2 means «Start and end are only possible during working hours». To assign a shift to each day, the shift first has to be created on the second tab. I will create the first shift POSH_1, from 9:00 to 19:00:

At shift level you also assign a «break schedule» and a «shift factor».

On the next tab we create the break schedule POSH_14_15 – lunch from 14:00 to 15:00:

Note that you can enter arbitrary break times, but there must be no more than 9 of them.

On the last tab we create what is called the «shift factor», in which the «utilization rate» is defined.

If I understood it correctly, this is the percentage of actual productive time. For example, suppose you work on a stacker that has to be prepared for operation at the beginning of the day, and this preparation takes a certain amount of time that does not depend on you. If such idle periods amount to roughly 10% of the total time during the day, then the utilization rate is 90%. Just in case, here is the information from the SAP help:

This parameter is taken into account when calculating an employee's productive time. If out of an 8-hour working day the employee performed operations lasting 4 hours in the system, that does not mean they were slacking – not if the utilization rate is 50%.

We go back to the «Shifts» tab and set the values we created:

And on the «Shift Sequence» tab we set our shift for each working day:

As you have realised, you can create different shifts for each day.

So, the shift sequence is created; now it has to be assigned to a processor. But first the shift supervisor has to be assigned to the shift sequence. This is done in the Warehouse Management Monitor – transaction /SCWM/MON, in the branch «Labor Management - Shift Management - Shift Supervisor»:

If there is in fact no shift supervisor, you still have to perform the operation – just leave the field empty:

After that you can assign the shift sequence to a processor in the next branch, «Assigned Processors»:

We enter the required parameters:

«Overwrite calendar»:

If it is empty, the working days follow the calendar specified in SPRO at warehouse number level, in the branch «Define Warehouse Number Control».

If it is set to «1», the factory calendar is ignored and only the shift settings are taken into account.

After that you can look at the individual work schedule of the processor in transaction /SCWM/SHIFT_WS - Maintain Work Schedules:

So what is the verdict? The feature is a decent one and can be used for planning employee work schedules and analysing the performance of shifts as a whole.